The Mark of the Godly — Carter Conlon

This morning, if you'll turn in the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and the last chapter of Malachi, the last thing that is spoken, really, for 400 years, until the voice of John the Baptist rises up.

I've entitled this message, The Mark of the Godly. The Mark of the Godly. So Father, I thank you this morning, Lord, for your presence. I thank you for the evident drawing of your Holy Spirit. Lord, you're drawing us to something of yourself.

You're giving us the ability to make a difference in the future. You're encouraging our hearts, Lord, by telling us that all will be well, no matter what our eyes see or our ears hear. You are still God.

You are in control of everything, and nothing happens that you haven't allowed for a reason. Teach us today, Lord, from your word. Give us the grace, Lord, to recognize when our ways are not your ways.

If our heart is not your heart, if our speech doesn't match your speech towards us, then Lord, teach us. Don't let us be hard-hearted in these things. Give us great grace to see where your power truly lies.

And Father, we thank you for it. Give me the ability to speak this. Give every heart the ability to hear it. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. The Mark of the Godly, Malachi chapter four, speaking of a day that might be coming in the not-too-distant future.

The Day of the Lord and the Turning of Hearts

For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly will be stubble, and the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch.

But to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts.

Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commended him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

You know, there are some very, very powerful teachings in the word of God that we can miss. We can assume that we know what they mean when we read them and we just kind of glance over it. We're always calling out and crying, God, send your power, give me your power, send your Holy Spirit, which is a terrific cry for every heart, I have no doubt about that.

But there are clues of where the power of God is found oftentimes all throughout the scripture. And in this, particularly in this last verse of the Old Testament, it talks about the day of the Lord that is coming, a day of destruction, a day of burning, a day of fear, no doubt, it's called the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

But there's something spiritual that will be happening as well in those times that can turn back for a moment the curse of sin. It can be as if it can be the hand of God saying, another moment of mercy, another season of grace.

And it's as simple as the hearts of the children turning to their fathers, the hearts of the fathers turning to the children that can cause a moment, a respite as it is, something of God's blessing, life, provision, protection, a moment of mercy.

And who can doubt that we need a moment of mercy today in our nation right now. Now, there's a lot of conjecture about this verse of scripture. There are some who would say that in the last days, Israel, symbolic of the fathers, we would have no Bible without Israel, we'd have no savior, do you understand?

Everything that we have today, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the nation of Israel. Other than for one writer, the books of the Bible are all given to us by Jewish writers. So you understand the incredible debt we have to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

And some would say, and there's a measure of truth in it, that in the last days, the fathers, Israel and the church are going to be united together. And even today in Israel, there's many, many people are beginning to understand that the true friend of the nation of Israel and to the Jewish people are the believers, the genuine believers in Jesus Christ.

And I thank God for that with all of my heart, I really do, I really do. There's others who would argue that this father's heart turning to the children, the children to their father speaks about the early church who laid down for us doctrine, theology, practice, illustration of what the church should look like.

And in these days, obviously, if you read the book of Acts, we have greatly deviated as it is from the pattern that was set for the people of God. And it's as if the voice of the fathers is calling out to the children and it speaks to some.

And there's a great truth in it that in the last days, there were probably because of hardship. Gospels of fluff would be just gone with the wind, may I put it that way, that have no substance. The Bible says clearly that which outweighed is just gonna be blown away by the winnowing fork of God himself.

And there will be a people who simply gravitate back to the truth that was conveyed to us from the founders of the church of Jesus Christ, the early church who fasted and prayed even to set apart people to serve tables.

Everything was through prayer, everything. They turned to God, their lives were given as a living sacrifice so that the gospel could be brought to the four corners of this world. They died in arenas, you can read about it in history.

And yes, we have greatly deviated from that understanding of the call of the cross of Jesus Christ, but I personally believe that in the last days, there will be a gravitation back to truth, even if it's just out of desperation.

The hearts of the fathers are still reaching to the children and the hearts of the children, it says we'll reach back to their fathers. We'll reach back and say, oh, this is the way it looks. This is the way it's done.

This is what the Christian life looks like. These are the values that were implanted in the early church, the yielding of oneself for the benefit of others, an all-consuming concern of the human heart for the glory of God and for the souls of men that caused people to give up the life that they thought would bring them happiness on the earth to lay hold of a life in Christ that cannot be lost.

And yes, there's great truth in that. But there's a third thing that God's been speaking to my heart about. Because all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness that the man or woman of God might be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

So what is in this for me? I know that Israel and the church may have a closer unity in the last days. I know that the present church with the past church may come back together theologically. And we might end up once again in the last days looking like the church did in the beginning.

But what about me? What part can I have in this? How can it affect my life? Now, in order to understand this, I wanna go to a story, a true story, in the book of Acts chapter 15. So if you'll keep a marker in Malachi and go to Acts chapter 15.

Paul, Barnabas, and Mark’s Separation

I wanna share with you something about the journey of the apostle Paul. And you will begin to understand in greater measure, I believe, how this truth can play out in your life. Because we all have a part in this.

A truth that if we will fully embrace it, it has the power to push back the curse of sin on the earth. It has the power to restrain the hand of God from judging the earth. It has the power to give a season of reprieve if you can understand it.

And I'll show it to you. Acts chapter 15. Let's begin at verse 35. Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they're doing.

Now, Barnabas was determined to take with them John, called Mark. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

The contention became so sharp that they parted one from another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Then he came to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy. In verse 38, there was this young man called Mark, and he was traveling with the apostle Paul.

Now you have to understand, let me paint a picture for you. Paul was a zealot. He was so zealous for what he believed was godliness that before he was converted to Christ, he went about torturing, killing, dragging people out of their homes, causing them to blaspheme.

He was so enraged against anything that went against his viewpoint of what he thought religion should be. And folks, he brought a measure of that with him into the kingdom of God. We don't change immediately when we get saved.

Thank God we do change eventually. Thank God. But we do bring a measure. So Paul brought that same zeal into the kingdom of God. I have no doubt about it. It was bear fruit or burn, do or die, onward, Christian soldiers.

I don't care if we end up under a pile of rocks. I'm not only willing to testify at Jerusalem, but I'm willing to die in Jerusalem if that's what God requires. So Paul's got that same zealotry, that same unique, single focus.

And so this young man called Mark comes along with him, and there is no room in Paul's life at this point for anything other than the way he sees things should be. And the Bible doesn't tell us that Mark backslid.

He just said he had a different viewpoint. Paul insisted they not take him. He'd left them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And I don't know why Mark didn't go. The scripture doesn't tell us.

Maybe he was afraid. Paul's not afraid of getting almost killed everywhere he goes. But somebody young in the faith that might be 17, 18, 19 years old, maybe is not there yet. And maybe Mark said, you know, good luck, all the best to you, but I feel God calling me somewhere else.

Maybe he just had another leading. Maybe he thought of another way things could be done. Maybe he had been in prayer and he just saw another course for his life, something else that God wanted him to do.

And you know, we're so quick to criticize people when they don't see things our way, aren't we? We're so quick, we can write off whole denominations because they have maybe another emphasis, another focus.

Maybe their method of warfare is a little different than ours, but we know we have the truth and nobody else has it. That's the human heart. That's what was going on with Paul. I know where God is leading.

And you go your own way if you want to, but I know where God is sending us. And so maybe Mark just had another way of doing things. Or maybe he just found Paul too harsh. There's a whole church movement in America today that has arisen because of the harshness in Pentecost and other denominations, and especially the holiness viewpoint of things.

Just the harshness. Portraying God is always angry. Portraying God is intolerant of weakness. Portraying God is ready to judge at the drop of a hat. And there's another young generation that say we can't serve a God like that.

We're simply not there. We believe that God has a greater measure of mercy, Paul, than you have conveyed so far. And we see another way of doing things. It's not necessarily wrong. It's just another way.

He was young, you see, and Paul had never had to be a father. Paul never married. He didn't understand yet the father's heart. Now he did later in life. When you follow sequentially the life of the apostle Paul, you're gonna see harshness turned into this most incredible Christ-like tenderness.

You're gonna see. See, what happened is he wrote off Mark as useless. So much so that he split with his best friend Barnabas over it. Barnabas says, oh, come on, Paul, bring him. He's just a kid. Maybe he was scared.

Maybe he had another idea, but he's ready to go with us again. And Paul says, no, he had his chance. He blew it. We're not taking him. Just because he didn't go to this one particular town that we're going to.

And Barnabas says, Paul, be reasonable. I am being reasonable. There's no room for error and failure in the body of Christ. And so Barnabas says, Paul, I'm sorry, but I have to reach out to this young man.

Well, you reach out to him then if you want. I'm not. And that's exactly the way it went. I'm almost sure of it. The contention was so sharp between them. The Bible says they parted. And Paul took another young man called Silas and Barnabas took Mark.

Timothy and the Necessity of Spiritual Fatherhood

And you see, but the interesting thing is in chapter 16 and verse one, immediately after the split and this contention, Paul goes into another area and a certain disciple was there named Timothy. Now we know from history and from the witness of scripture that Timothy was fearful.

His stomach was always upset because he was so scared. We know that his mother was a believer. We doubt that his father was. It says his mother was a believer. His father was a Greek. We know that Timothy was afraid for Paul had to say, Timothy, God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

Don't be ashamed of the gospel or me, his prisoner, but be a partaker of the sufferings of the gospel, sufferings of Christ with me. And Paul, the point is when you make a mistake, when you write off a Mark, there's a Timothy coming your way.

And here's the deeper point. Paul wrote off Mark, but God didn't write off Paul. And you may have written off somebody along the journey, or maybe you're sitting here and you're one of those who was written off by somebody that you esteem to be spiritual.

But even though Paul wrote off this young man called Mark, God did not write off Paul and he brought a Timothy. And in order to correct us, in order to teach us, in order to get us to where we need to go, all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose.

God does not forget. He doesn't change his mind. And when he wants to work something into your character, you may resist it, but he'll bring it right back. You turn the corner and there it is again. This young man is often sick.

Paul even has to tell him, take a little wine for your stomach's sake and for your often infirmities. He's fearful, we know that, but he really loves God. You remember Paul says, oh, Timothy, my son in the faith, I'm so remember your tears.

I so remember how passionately you wanted to live for God and serve God. And I recall the faith that was in your mother and in your grandmother, and I'm convinced is in you now. Oh, Timothy, you hear the call of a father now, no longer just an instructor, no longer just a mentor, but a father calling out to this young man, recognizing that he needed something a little more than just the harshness that had been part of Paul's life in those early stages.

It's through Timothy that Paul learns about the power in the voice and the instruction of a father. As he encourages him and watches him grow into a leader, he begins to recognize that leaders are not born immediately.

Paul got up off the ground. He was a leader before he had his Damascus road experience and he was a leader immediately after. The scripture tells us he's going right into the temple and starts to teach and preach about the Lord Jesus Christ.

People are immediately following him, but not everybody is like that. A lot of people have to learn to follow for a long time before they can lead. And he knew that a father's voice had an incredible power in it.

The tenderness of God had to be worked into his character. We have been too quick to judge one another in this generation. We've been too quick to push away people that we see as deficient or inferior.

We don't like the way they do things. We look at church services around the country and because they don't do things our way, but so quick to judge them, just as Paul was so quick to judge Mark. Now, at the same time, Paul is learning to be a father and a father's voice to this fearful young man.

Christ’s Voice to Paul and the Lesson of Mercy

He comes into contact with his own need of hearing the voice of his heavenly father. A little later on in the book of Acts in chapter 18, verses nine and 10, the Lord himself, it says, the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision.

And here's what Jesus said to Paul, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent. And when you look at that, Jesus doesn't come and just speak words for nothing. There had to have been a fear mounting in this man's heart.

Maybe he was starting to be sympathetic to what happened to Mark along the way. Maybe he was starting to experience it now for the first time in his own life. The inclination, remember Mark drew back from the work and Paul himself now is in a place where I think he's contemplating drawing back, being silent.

Maybe he just got tired of being beaten up and whipped and tied to pillars and having his back scarred. Maybe he just thought, well, I'm just going to stay quiet. You see, he himself is now drawing back the very same thing that he accused Mark of.

He's now in danger of doing. And the father had to come. Jesus Christ had to come to him and speak to him and said, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent for I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you for I have many people in this city.

So obviously Christ is dealing with something in Paul's heart. Paul's afraid to go forward, afraid he's going to be attacked, afraid his body is in probably such pain by this point from so many beatings and so many abusings that he had to take that he is now having to deal with the very thing that Mark was probably dealing with much earlier in the journey.

And Paul at this point needs the voice of God, needs the voice of a father to keep him going forward. And so he's becoming aware of his own need. He wasn't aware of his own need. He thought he was strong enough to do it all on his own only to find out he's not strong enough to do it on his own.

He discovers his own need of mercy as he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1, verses 15 and 16, he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

However, for this reason, I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern. Paul now is becoming increasingly aware of his own failing. And I tell you something, listen to me, the longer you walk with God, the more you become aware of the fact that you don't deserve to be walking with God.

You become aware that this is all mercy. Oh God, oh Lord. Suddenly the Lord draws near and you become aware he should have withdrawn from you a thousand times for the things that you thought, the things that you said, the things that you may have done.

Paul becomes aware along this journey of his own need. He's not been quick to give mercy in the early years, but he's become over the point of his journey, aware of his own need of mercy. Again, in 2 Timothy chapter two, Paul is learning about the power of gentleness.

Verses 24 and 25. Now he's still writing to Timothy. Remember this fearful young man that he's mentoring now. Here's what Paul says. And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel. Now think back a bit.

The contention between them was so sharp that they parted company with his best friend. Do you not think that when he's writing these words to Timothy, he's not thinking about his broken friendship with Barnabas and the way he treated Mark?

You can be sure he is. You see, he's growing in grace. He's learning about the heart of God. The servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth.

And in 2 Timothy chapter four and verse nine, he says to Timothy, be diligent to come to me quickly for Demas has forsaken me. Having loved this present world and has departed for Thessalonica, Crescens for Dalmatia and Titus for Galatia, rather than Titus for Dalmatia.

Only Luke is with me. You see, he himself now is learning the pain of being left alone. Elsewhere in the scripture, he says, at my first defense, no one stood with me. Later on, he writes in one of his epistles, all have forsaken me.

Paul Welcomes Mark Back into Ministry

You see, Paul would have been aware of how Mark felt when he left him alone. You see, grace teaches, God will always instruct us. And there's such a great truth in this. Then he says something that blesses my heart beyond measure in 2 Timothy chapter four and verse 11.

He says, only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you. For he is useful to me for the ministry. Praise God. Forgive the play on words, but Paul is becoming more of a godly man and Mark is the mark of a godly man.

When you become godly, you become aware of people who are behind you. People who are weaker maybe than where you are in faith. People who need to be nurtured. They need to be lifted up. You become aware of your own frailty and subsequently become aware of the value of every person to the kingdom of God.

And he tells Timothy, this young man, that I love this because he's been nurturing this young man all along. And the more you read about Timothy, the more you realize that Timothy is just another Mark, maybe even more so fearful than Mark was.

And it's Timothy, he says, get Mark and bring him. Bring Mark. You see, Paul's become a father now. The voice of the father. Remember Malachi says, I'll turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Paul is now reaching back and he understands the value now of this young man. And he brings Mark on board and you can bet, it doesn't tell us in the scriptures, but you can be sure that Paul nurtures this young man now.

I feel the first part of their interaction, it's not in scripture, it's only in my heart, is that Mark, Paul's saying, Mark, forgive me. Forgive me how I spoke to you and forgive me what I did and the foolishness of quarreling with Barnabas in your presence over you and making you feel so unworthy.

Just forgive me. God's taught me a lot of things since that moment and I want to be able to impart some of them to you. And God, I don't fully understand it, but I feel that God has a wonderful place for you in his kingdom.

And the heart of the father reaches back to one of his sons. The heart of the son reaches forward to Paul, who would have been the spiritual father to almost everybody at that time. And Mark wrote the gospel of Mark, do you understand?

How many people have been pushed away from the curse of sin who have read the gospel of Mark since those days, 2000 years ago? How many people have been turned to Christ through the gospel of Mark? How many people have found Christ as savior?

How many people have turned from wrong and decided to do right? How much of the curse has been pushed back? Because Paul reached back to a young man that once had failed in his sight. And when you and I choose to reach back, when we choose to become aware of the younger ones that are with us, and we choose to become mothers and fathers, the voice that comes from those who have found the father heart of God or the mother heart of God, may I put it that way, and begin to speak for God, the one who nurtures, the one who died for us, the one who loves us with an everlasting love, the one who will never leave us or forsake us, when we start to speak with his voice, there's a power of God that is unleashed in the earth.

You never know what young person, what one young person coming back to Christ because you've chosen to invest in them. You don't know what great good will be done. But I know that my Bible says that when the hearts of the fathers turn to the children and the children turn back to their fathers, God says the curse that would strike the earth through unbridled sin will be pushed back.

Unity, Compassion, and the Strength of the Whole Church

If ever there were a time for unity in the body of Christ, it's now. If ever there were a time where we learn not to quarrel and be gentle to all men, it's now. If ever there were a time to learn to bear, believe, hope, and endure for one another, it's now.

If ever there were a time to press into God and become aware of our own frailties so we're not as quick to judge others, it's now. This moment in history that we're living in demands that the whole church come together.

It demands that everyone has a part in the body of Christ. This darkness is not gonna be pushed back by just a select few. It's gonna have to be the whole church. We're going to have to come together.

We're gonna have to realize the value in every person, whether they go in our direction or they go in theirs. It doesn't matter as long as the cross is at the center of what they believe. And Christ is their Lord and Savior.

We've got to come to the point as a church age of saying get Mark, get Mark, get that person that was written off by me, who's now profitable for the ministry. Requires a change of heart. The whole church has to come together now, my brother and my sister.

Do you understand? We all have to come together into one place and become in one accord again and begin to move in the power of God and the promise that I see in the scriptures is that the curse that wants to devour this nation, it wants to swallow the earth, can be pushed back for a season to allow for an incredible harvest of souls in our time.

May God grant us the wisdom to understand this. Father, I pray God with all my heart that we would learn from the testimony of scripture. Help us Lord not to be stubborn. Help us not to hold to our foolishness.

Help us not to be quarrelsome and divisive, my God Almighty. As much as the evil of this world seem to be united in their cause, we ask Lord for the grace for your people to become united again as one body.

Those of us who have come to the cross for our salvation, we've trusted in Jesus Christ for our redemption. The word of God has become our guide. Oh Lord Jesus, help us to come together as your church.

God, help us Lord. Help us Lord to fulfill the scripture. Help us to learn from truth and from past example. We ask you for a moment of mercy on this nation. We ask you Lord to push back the evil God that wants to swallow this entire generation and call everything evil good and call everything good evil.

We ask Lord that you'd give us great grace, great grace with the young among us Lord. Great grace Lord, those of us who have walked longer, help us to see the incredible potential in the young among us.

Help us not to be unkind with our words, but to build and to believe. Oh God, help us to learn. Help us to learn Lord. May we not set our judgment above your word. May we not fall into the satanic trap of Eden to think that we can determine what is good and what is evil.

You've clearly revealed it, oh God. Give us power again in this generation to make a difference. I thank you all in my heart. Now I wanna give an altar call this morning for the mothers and fathers here.

An Altar Call for Wounded Elders and Younger Believers

Just say God, thank you for the Timothys that you brought into my life. Help me to learn from it. Produce a tenderness in my heart and in my voice. May I be a builder and not a destroyer, a uniter and not a divider.

And I wanna also call every young person here that has been wounded. You know, Mark had, when Timothy went to Mark and says, Paul wants you back. He could have easily said, forget this. I'm not going back there.

You know, the Marks of this generation have to have the humility to come home too. I can just imagine when Timothy says, Mark, Mark, I got great news. Paul, and the last thing he remembers is this guy spitting and fuming and dividing with his best friend over him.

Paul says to bring you. I think there might have been some tears in Mark's eyes because he may be, you know, we who are older, we can really sting with our words, you know that. We can hurt somebody to the point where they don't recover.

There's incredible power in speech to those of us who have walked longer with God. But there's a lot of young men, a lot of young women here today, and you were wounded. You were told you were deficient.

You were pushed aside. Somebody said something and it so hurt you that the thought of even coming back or ever trusting again is a fearful thing. But let me encourage you with these words. Mark got up and he went back.

And God put a pen in his hand and he wrote one of the four gospels in this Bible. And through his simple obedience, I would venture a guess that multiples of millions of people have been turned back from sin and have found Christ as Savior through this one young man that just said, yes, I'll trust again.

I will trust again. I was let down, but I will trust again. I was shoved away, but I will trust again. I will come back and I will believe that there will be a difference this time. My brother and my sister, there was.

And so for those of us who are older who want to learn to be tender, and those who are younger who want to trust again, this altar call is for you. And so we're gonna worship for just a moment. And as we do, I'm gonna ask you to get out of your seat in the annex.

We'll wait for you over here as well from the annex, main sanctuary, the balcony of God speaking to your heart. And you wanna learn to be tender and you wanna learn to trust again. I'm telling you, there's something great that God will do through your life.

It's way beyond you. It's beyond your thinking. Mark could have no way of knowing that just chronicling as he saw best the life of Jesus Christ and putting it into writing for other people would result in his letter going worldwide for thousands of years, touching countless numbers of lives.

Remember the heart of the father turning back to the children and the children to the fathers pushes back the curse in Jesus' name. From time to time, there's a word that's more than a word. It's something of God.

It's an entreating of God says, bring this to me and let me teach you where power really is found. Come together as a body, come together as with one heart, with one voice, with one care, with one compassion, one for another and fight against the division that brings such weakness.

And so father, I just thank you Lord for these men and women and young persons and all of us Lord that have come before you today that God help us to learn Lord, help us to learn from your word. Help us to take Paul's journey and to become tender.

Help us to take Mark's journey and to come home and trust again, God, the great good that can be done in this world if we will learn this simple truth. I thank you with all my heart today Lord for the healing that you're bringing into young people and older people who have been, they've suffered for years.

They've cried a secret cry in their heart because they were written off by somebody in a spiritual position. God, forgive us for this ignorance God. Thank you Lord for helping us to walk longer with you to finally have your heart and to not grow distant from you Lord.

God, you were so gracious Lord even when your own disciples went fishing when you'd already told them to go into all the world. Lord, you weren't angry. You led them, you nurtured them. You were kind, you were tender Lord.