title="English

The Time Has Come

Mark 1:14:20

Do you remember any of the old television shows in which there were multiple parts to a single episode. The follow-up programs would always begin, “In last week’s episode…” Then, an announcer would give us a summary of what had happened so that those who had not watched last week – or those who are forgetful – could understand what’s going on this week.

With that in mind, I’ll begin my sermon this way: In last week’s message, we began to think about how to live the “good life”, i.e., the life God has created us to live. I contended that there are three essential elements to finding the abundant life the Bible speaks of– according to the Gospel of Mark:

#1: The Biblical Worldview: God is working out a plan in this world.

#2: Our Issue: The most important matter in our lives is finding our place in God’s plan.

#3: The Claim: Jesus is the key to finding our place in God’s plan.

And, in last week’s sermon, I pointed out that there are some practical questions that arise each time I preach about this topic, questions summed up quite well in an email message my son Brandon sent me:

How does Jesus introduce people to their places in God's plan? That always seems to be the missing piece for folks like me. The most difficult issue for a 20-something like myself is how in the world we are introduced to that plan.

I’ll tell you right now: This is not an easy question to answer. The entire Bible speaks to it in a variety of ways. However, it does so not so much by giving us a checklist saying, “This is how you do it: 1,2,3...”. Instead, it teaches us how people learn to walk with God by telling us their stories. So, I think this week’s text is a good place to begin to talk about the “how” question. Why do I say this? -- Because this is the week we see Jesus first introducing specific people to their places in God’s plan. In the passage, Jesus first makes a general to everyone to respond to God (1:14-15) and then he shows how four people respond (1:16-20). I’m going to walk us through the text by asking the questions that jump out at me when I read it:

 

Question #1: What is Jesus’ general call to everyone (1:14-15)? Repent and Believe

What we have in vv. 14-15 is Jesus stepping out a time of isolation and temptation in the wilderness ready to announce his mission in life. It may hit 21^st C Westerners as being strange that he doesn’t do it in megacities like Rome or even in Jerusalem but in a rather obscure and often disrespected location called Galilee. This is a bit like a candidate announcing he’s running for president of the USA at a bowling alley in Bluefield, WV -- without any media present. For me, it’s immediately clear that Jesus is going to do things in ways different from the way we usually do them in the world.

What Jesus announces is powerful. Jesus announces that good news from God is beginning. This “good news from God”, as I said a few weeks ago, is announced in the same way a king would have declared a great victory. Jesus is declaring that, into this world in which many other things seem like kings (many other things seem to be in control), the kingdom of God is breaking in. And, this kingdom of God is tied in directly to Jesus – to his life, death, and resurrection. When Jesus’ work on earth is completed, good news will begin to destroy the strongholds in this world that keep God’s goodness, love and justice from reigning.

“The time is at hand!” Jesus declares. Jesus is saying that his coming marks the definitive moment in history. It’s a “kairos-moment” – which means the long-awaited and critical moment God had been planning throughout history. And all people are called not to adopt some new philosophy but to repent and believe. This is Jesus’ own call to decision so I think we should look at his words carefully:

• Repent – a word that means to “turn from” the way we have been living, i.e., to change the course of our lives completely. “Repent” means to turn from a self-centered or world-centered way of thinking and living.
• Believe – a word that speaks of “turning to” a new way of living. For us, the term “believe” is often just something that we have in our minds but it doesn’t necessarily change the way we live. But, in the Bible, how we live shows what we truly believe. “Believe” means we begin to live a life of seeking Jesus and trusting him and his way. As Paul put it, “I no longer live for myself but for him!” This believing is a process – a new way of life -- because the language Jesus used was for process, i.e., “I will make you to become…” That’s what he said. It’s daily repenting of our self or world-directed way of life and trusting him – living Jesus’ way in obedience to him and his teaching.

So, Jesus calls all people to make a decision – an intentional choice no longer to live for self and the world but to believe the gospel and then daily to live by following him. So now: What does that look like in terms of the way we live? Let’s see how it started in the lives of four people:

Question #2: Who is this person who calls and expects people to follow (1:16-20)?

The One who redirects and transforms lives.

Zack Johnson may have put this question more clearly when he asked: “Why? Why did these men follow Jesus? Had they ever met him before? Did he mesmerize them?” And, there is evidence in John’s Gospel that they had previously had some contact with Jesus. But, when we read these verses in Mark, we find the Bible calling us simply to be overwhelmed by the person of Jesus. It seems, on one side, that there must have been some acknowledgement in the hearts of these four men that, as good as their lives were with their family and careers, something was missing. So, when Jesus called, they knew deep down inside that he was the one who was missing. They had to follow him.

Last Tuesday, Pastor Carol Kenyon pointed out that our response to a call like this is always dependent on the way we view the one who is calling. The issue is of authority and respect for the authority. If a judge who will determine our fate in a legal issue calls, those who are wise will obey. Carol said that if we sense the authority of God in a call, we’ll respond immediately. (It was funny in our meeting, that as soon as she said that, my assistant Tiffany came in and called me to my next meeting. I obeyed immediately, of course.)

One of the most important things in this text is that Jesus is the one doing the seeking and calling. In Jesus’ world, students sought out their teachers or rabbis. But consistent with all conversion stories in the Bible, Jesus does the seeking. And, it’s always that way when we come to God. God seeks for us.

C.S. Lewis writes about this in his book, Surprised by Joy:“Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about ‘man’s search for God.’ To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse’s search for the cat."

When God drew Lewis’ heart to himself, he became conscious of his own sinfulness. "For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me: a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name is legion."

Lewis knew he had to “repent”. So, Lewis repented and believed: It was on Sept. 22, 1931 that he said yes to Jesus. It happened on a ride to the Whipsnade Zoo with his brother, Warren. Lewis tells about it in his book: "I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion.... It was more like when a man, after long sleep, still lying in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake."

My own experience with God has often been similar to Lewis’. There have been times in which I’ve been just doing what I usually do – and God has broken into my life. I’m not saying I hear audible voices speaking to me – but I do have a deep sense that God is calling me to do something. When that happens, we need to learn to take the first step of faith in his direction. How did that play out with these four men?

Question #3: What does Jesus call these people to do (1:16-20)?

They were called by Jesus to become disciples being made sent to make disciples.

We see Jesus calling two sets of brothers, the Jonas brothers (not the boy band but Simon Peter and Andrew) and the Zebedee brothers (James and John). And his call to find their places in God’s plan included: stepping away from their possessions, their careers, and their families. These are good things – but Jesus had to be given priority over all of them. And notice these things too:

• These four men sometimes returned to their possessions, careers, and families -- when they were not on the journey with Jesus. (We see that later in our studies in Mark.)
• Jesus did not call all people he met to leave these things when they followed him. Indeed, some were sent right back into their homes, careers and families to declare God’s glory.
• And, people often used their possessions and backgrounds as a part of fulfilling Jesus’ call at other points in their lives. What’s clear is that Jesus had to be the Lord over every area of their lives.

So, with that in mind, I’d like to offer a couple of principles for your prayerful consideration:

#1: All Jesus followers are to give Jesus priority over everything in this world -- including career, possessions and family. Practically, for these four men, this meant that they had to leave anything and anyone behind that might otherwise keep them from obeying Jesus’ call. And they had to do it for as long as it would take to obey the task to which he was calling them.

#2: Jesus’s call is a personal call. Therefore, the ways he calls are specific to us – and the tasks to which he calls us differ. He does not call us to do exactly the same roles in life. Some aspects of Jesus’ call upon us are always the same, e.g., to learn from him, to follow him, and to live according to his morals. Otherwise, Jesus deals with us personally just as a wise parent deals with each child according to its specific personality.

#3: The call of Jesus is rarely to some huge self-glorifying task – Some people hear a message like this and have a quick emotional reaction. They go home and declare something like, “God has called me to launch a huge hip-hop ministry among retired people in the trailer home parks of Florida!” I say this as a warning. History is filled with people who misread a passage like this one and say, “I’m going to leave my family and do something big!” And they end up only doing damage. Our response to Jesus’ call is to be, “I will now live for Jesus and not for myself…” I tell you: In my personal walk with Jesus, that following often involves many smaller decisions in which I go his way rather than my own. It’s when we learn to be faithful in small things that we often discover the big things.

#4: The call of Jesus always brings you into Jesus-centered community (i.e., the church). It did for these four men and it always has and will. In Jesus-centered community we learn about Jesus, his ways and his mission. We receive support, prayer, encouragement – and sometimes correction. As you sense God calling you (or not calling you) bring others into your concerns, listen to their counsel and pray with them.

#5: The call of Jesus always is a call to serve. The call is to be “fishers of men.” You don’t just abandon something but you do so with a goal – to be involved in God’s mission. “Fishers of people”: The sea was a place of turmoil and uncontrollable forces for the Mediterranean people. In this context, I believe Jesus is saying, “I will give you a life and as I transform your life, I will use you to call others out of places of fear and judgment and into eternal life with God.” Often – very often – God will eventually use our training, experiences, and passions to fulfill his work in and through us. But those are not the main issues. We do not say, “Jesus, here are my gifts and passions. How should I use them?” We say, “Here am I. I am yours. Where will you have me go? What will you have me do?” All disciples are called to be disciples who make disciples. Even as Jesus is transforming our lives, he uses us to lead others to him.

So, I contend that we are all called by Jesus to become his disciples being made sent to make disciples.

Question #4: How do we know what to do when we seek to find our place in God’s plan?

The call of Jesus is always to follow him – always in community – always to serve.

Jesus’ call is always to follow him wherever he leads. So, 1) ask if you are truly open to anything – I mean anything -- he may call you to do. When you find yourself saying, “I’ll do it if…” Then whatever is in that “if” may be something you have put into God’s place.

Then, 2) be faithful in small things. Central to that is becoming a part of a community of people with whom you worship weekly and, among the larger church family, find a smaller group with whom you pray and seek God together. Become the best student of the Word possible. And always serve. Serve at church. And, when you leave church, look to be a blessing to each one God brings across your path. View yourself as being sent to serve. Every appointment is a divine appointment and an opportunity to demonstrate the truth, the goodness and the love of Jesus to those God brings across your path. He will take you through unanticipated experiences and into unexpected places. When we learn to follow him, we find life.

Jesus calls us in ways as personal as the call upon these four men. He says, “I have made you and I have a vision for your glory. I will heal your own brokenness and self-centeredness. And, while I do that, I will send you to bring my healing to others. Follow me – and you will see.

 

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor