The Reign of the Kingdom of God. Mark.1:14-20.
Mark has clearly laid the foundations for us about the gospel v1. We have seen the arrival of John the Baptist confirmed through the prophets. We see in the baptism of Jesus his inauguration and identification. In his temptations we see further preparation and testing.
The stage has been set V14 John had completed his God-appointed task he had prepared the way for the Messiah. The time had come for John 3:30 to decrease and the Christ to increase. Hence he was now be in prison and later beheaded.
Galilee was a thriving cosmopolitan place with a thriving political and commercial life, it stood at the crossroads of the ancient world. Many armies¡¦ diplomats and traders would pass through Galilee. It would have been a diverse culturally melting pot of Greek, Jew, Roman and Parthian mixing together.
The Roman Kingdom and God¡¦s Kingdom.
V14 Jesus is now straight into his Galilean ministry. The content of Jesus’ preaching is "the good news of God." The Good News is both from God and about God. The gospel contains the message of forgiveness, restoration, and new life in Christ Jesus.
1.The good news is that God has taken the initiative. V15. The time has come.
Not all time is of equal value some is of more significance. The people of Israel had waited in silence 400 years their had been no prophets and no Messiah. Then all of a sudden not only a prophet had burst upon the scene but also the Messiah himself proclaiming that literally ¡§the time is fulfilled!¡¨
All that was taking place was under the sovereignty of God. John the Baptist who claimed to be the one spoken of by the prophet Isaiah 40:3. The Good news of which Jesus is the messenger and message is also spoken of in Isaiah 40:9-10.
The greatest Kingdom.
It is the appointed time.
The time had come for God to break into the world and establish his Kingdom. The time has come, for God to set up his Kingdom, it is being extended as we speak, his kingdom is a present reality also a future certainty.
It¡¦s a Reign not a realm. V15b. He said the Kingdom of God is near.
Kingdoms of the world
The Expectancy of the kingdom (Geographical location a realm)
But the Aramaic term behind the Greek word Kingdom is kingly rule or reign rather than the geographical area (realm). Jesus would usher the Kingdom in, and it was embodied in the coming of the Messiah.
The Reign at this time is within us! Luke17: 20 V21.
The stories that follow in Marks gospel will authenticate God’s reign in the lives of people that Jesus encounters... he calls men to follow him 1:18, he subdues evil and the forces of their kingdom 1:25, he restores those who are sick 1:41, he has the power to forgive people their sins 2:5 and he teaches about the Kingdom 4::11.
Which Kingdom? Frederick William 4th Prussia. Took a school lesson and asked "To what kingdom does this belong?" A stone: mineral. A Flower: plant. A Bird: animal. Then he pointed to himself to what kingdom do I belong? This is the question we must all ask ourselves! What Kingdom do we belong to?
2. Jesus calls for a response to the good news.
Although God has taken the initiative and the time has come and the Kingdom of God is near and many of us have already entered it. Others have not and so Jesus still calls as he did then for individuals to enter it!
We may be asking ourselves how do we enter into Gods kingdom?
We see that Jesus is calling for a response from the people around him. His message has specific content, it speaks of the time coming, the Kingdom being near and repentance and belief a requirement for entrance into His Kingdom.
The answer is quite clear from the lips of Jesus V15 Repent and believes the good news! This is really his whole mission statement throughout the gospels this is the bedrock of the Christian faith.
This has been the Christian message throughout the centuries from Noah to the apostle Paul Acts.20: 21. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Repentance and belief are the foundation stones of the Christian faith. Without them the Christianity that might be practiced is futile. Without repentance and faith we will never know his forgiveness his constant presence and the security of heaven
Repentance towards God
Because it¡¦s against God we have sinned. God had given Israel his moral law, they had failed to keep it, throughout the history of Israel we see time and time again they ignore Gods word and turn to idolatry. But not only Israel but Gods law stands over every human being upon the planet.
The ten commandment test. If we are honest we have all failed. The psalmist says The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
This epidemic of rebellion against God stems back to our ancestors.
The root takes us back to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve disobeyed God. As a result of that one sin we have all been conceived in iniquity Psalm: 51: 5.
Like the bowling green ball which is biasd or the shopping trolley which never goes in the direction you want it too, we are all prone to sin.Sin is as much apart of the human nature as human kindness is also. As a result Rom3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of Gods glory.
And yet God has taken the initiative and has sent Jesus as the 2nd Adam to live a life Adam could not live in perfect obedience and without sin and he call people to repentance. 1Cor15:21-22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive
So our repentance must be towards God because our sin is against Him.
For instance if I stole your neighbours TV it would be useless me coming to you and asking for forgiveness because I have not sinned against you but your neighbour and so it is with God we all need to come to Him for forgiveness.
Belief in Jesus is a complete commitment to him. Repentance can’t live on its own it must always be accompanied with belief in Jesus Christ. Only through receiving the good news of the King and his proclamation of forgiveness and new power can we ever turn our backs on sin and live in a way that pleases God. When we abandon all our own efforts to rule our own lives and establish our own kingdoms, but we only succeed in that when we let his Kingdom rule.
C.H. Spurgeon claimed that 98% of the people he met-including criminals he visited in prison-told him that they believed the Bible to be true. But the vast majority had never made a personal, life changing commitment to Jesus Christ, they had missed the point to believe is an active verb!
3. Jesus calls us to the further commitment of discipleship. 16-20.
Here we see the impact that Jesus makes upon the lives of those people who follow him. It really illustrates to us what it means to repent and believe. Because the Christian life doesn¡¦t end with repentance and belief in fact the journey of commitment just begins.
Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkgaard tells the story of a fire in a small town.
Once upon a time there was a fire in a small town. The fire brigade rushed to the scene, but the fireman were unable to get through to the burning building. The problem was the crowd of people who had gathered not to watch but to help put out the fire. They all knew the fire chief well - their children had climbed over his fire engines during excursions to the fire station, and the friendliness of the fire chief was legendary. So when a fire broke out the people rushed out to help their beloved fire chief.
Unfortunately the townsfolk were seeking to extinguish this raging inferno with water pistols! They’d all stand there, from time to time squirting their pistol into the fire while making casual conversation.
The fire chief couldn’t contain himself. He started screaming at the townsfolk. "What do you think you’re doing? What on earth do you think you’re going to achieve with those waterpistols?!"
The people realised the urgency of the situation. How they wanted to help the fire chief. So they started squirting more. "Come on" they encouraged each other, "We can all do better, can’t we?" Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt.
Exasperated the fire chief yells again. "Get out of here. Your achieving nothing except hindering us from doing what needs to be done. We need fireman who are ready to give everything they’ve got to put out this fire, people willing even to lay their lives on the line. This is not the place for token contributions"
Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard is urging us to realise that discipleship to Christ means much more than token levels of support to the church and God’s mission in the world. It calls for wholehearted and total life commitment.
a. V18 in obedience( they followed)
Who are we listening too and following ?The majority of the populace listen to the TV. In Europe the UK has the highest viewing figures with 18 hours a week.
tv has a big impact more than we can fully understand.
Here we see the call to follow Jesus to become a disciple (follower). One of the hardest things to undertake as a Christian is to be obedient to his call upon our lives.
Whether it is in the realm of personal holiness and Christian morality or to the call as it were for these early disciples to follow him in Christian service. To be obedient to Gods will for our lives. Like the Lord Jesus was obedient to the Fathers will to go to a cross and die for our sins.
How far will you go for Jesus? Yielding our wills
Maybe you¡¦ve let the Lord down and you¡¦ve failed and not always obeyed. Well if that the case lets take heart from these fishermen. It wasn¡¦t the 1st time that these fishermen were called, they were called other times.Lke.5:1-11. John.1: 35-42.
Although they didn¡¦t answer the call the first time this can be an encouragement to us. We also at times are disobedient to his call upon our lives, we have faltered and not followed Jesus, we can be encouraged that Jesus will not give up on us but will continue to call us
b. v17 In service (I will make you fishers of men)
Jesus calls these men to become fishers of men to assist him in the great commission of searching for souls drawing men out of darkness into light. They were to strive to bring men into the net of Christ¡¦s Church.
You might be thinking what could I do? I haven¡¦t got any naturally abilities towards evangelism. Neither did these fishermen their natural ability was fishing for fish not men.
„h Notice what Jesus says I will make you fishers of men when Jesus calls you to serve he will also equip you for the task that he has in store.
"Jesus calls us to be fishers of men, many of us today are happy being merely aquraium keepers."
c. V18-20 In sacrifice. (they left their father and business)
Many don¡¦t continue in the Christian faith or don¡¦t even begin because its to hard and the sacrifice to great. Jesus said take up your cross and follow me! The Christian life is a sacrifice.
Mark.10:21-22. Remember the young man who couldn¡¦t follow Jesus? Why?
Often there are things in our lives and even people who we may have to let go of in order to follow Jesus. Jesus may call us to sacrifice all, he may call us to sacrifice parts at a time yielding our wills over time.
.James and John left not only their lucrative business with a workforce, but also their own father Zebedee to follow Christ
In short all that we posses must be at the disposal of Jesus, a true disciple will demonstrate obedience to his call, service in his mission, sacrifice to his life! Because God is truly reigning in their lives!
