Intro—A
Watchword for this age
Illustration:
Every new idea that has burst upon the world has had a watchword. Always there
has been some word or phrase in which the very genius of the thing has been
concentrated and focused, some word or phrase to blazon on banners when it went
marching out into the world.[1]
Consider these examples:
1) “Give
me liberty or give me death . . .”-- Patrick Henry
2) “We hold
these Truths to be self-evident . . .”-- Thomas Jefferson
3) “I
have a dream . . .”-- Martin Luther King
4) “The time for the healing of the wounds has
come . . .”-- Nelson Mandela
Maybe I will be
the next to think up some ingenious idea that will change the world. I could
create some fine-sounding phrase to carry the idea and motivate people to march
for its purpose. Why, say, maybe they would make holiday after me. It would, of
course, be called Stacy Abernathy Day. That doesn’t quite have a ring to it
does it?
But really,
have you ever secretly imagined doing something great like this? Something
really big that helped a lot of people and impacted the world in way that
history would forever tell forward?
All of these
things are great, and had important impacts on the world, but there is one, the
greatest of all time, that I have saved. None compares. It has its watchword .
. .
Read Mark
1:14-15
“The kingdom of
God is at hand!”
It’s a watchword
with promise and authority like none other in the history of humankind. It
speaks of transformation in the present and of implications into all of
eternity.
I--The
Kingdom of God
A.
It
is Good News
Of all the
watchwords from all of history that have been worthy to blazon banner, none has
ever been so good as “the kingdom of God is at hand.”
“The gospel” means
the “Good News.” And the good news is big, HUGE! People were expecting
something, but this was different than what most understood. When Patrick Henry
said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” things were dire and, though much
struggle, sacrifice, and suffering lay ahead, liberty was indeed in store. The
watchword brought with it a liberty that has impacted our world in phenomenal ways.
It was good news.
When we consider
the Good News of the kingdom of God, I’m not entirely sure we Christians think
it so good as it is. I’m not sure we use this phrase as oft as we should.
Christians seem to be a lot more apt to use phrases like “go to church,” “I
need to stop doing that,” or “read my Bible.” These watchwords were not
instigated by Jesus. “The kingdom of God is at hand” is chock-full of
implications for the transformation of the world and its inhabitants. It’s not
primarily about our religious life. I’m not convinced that the impartation of religious
duty is good news at all.
Our watchword, “the
kingdom of God is at hand” is the pinnacle of Good News. God ripped the veil
between heaven and earth open and entered into our history, our domain, our
experience, to bring his kingdom here. He brought his kingdom to our experience
in the midst of a kingdom of darkness. When’s the last time you astonished somebody
by your incessant talk about the kingdom of God? When’s the last time this watchword
blazoned your banner?
B.
It
is the authority of God
Kingdoms have kings.
The kingdom of God is the authoritative rule of God himself that displaces
evil. There is evil in the world now, but the presence of his followers, in whose
hearts he reigns supreme, should, by their proactive engagement, displace evil.
Listen to these ensuing verses to understand the power of this authority which
has broken into our time and place:
Read Mark
1:21-28
A new teaching
. . . with authority. New because the rule of a different kingdom has arrived .
. . with authority . . . an all-powerful authority from heaven has come. This
power to displace evil comes by confrontation of it in the name of Jesus and by
making followers who submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Make another follower
where God reigns, that follower makes a follower, and they all confront
injustice, oppression, and evil of all types in the name of Jesus Christ
wielding the power of the kingdom of God. Our watchword, “the kingdom of God is
at hand,” necessarily compels us to confront evil and make followers. We must
not be distracted by other methods of changing the world.
Understand that
it’s not our mission
to march in picket lines to change things. It’s not our mission to legislate the
world into correctness. It’s
not our mission change the world with politics and money. Honestly, I get
perturbed by Christians who complain about politics and make themselves experts
on candidates, but don’t
have anything to do with making followers of Jesus.
Here’s your part in changing the world: (1)
Give God reign over your heart, (2) make the world around you look like the
kingdom of God by your engagement with it, and (3) make followers of Jesus so
that other hearts will be under the rule of God who will also make their place
in the world look like the kingdom of God.
C.
It is at Hand
Jesus said that
the kingdom was “at hand”. This was a moment. This was a present reality with
lasting and eternal implications. The kingdom is not something that was merely
historical. Neither is the kingdom something that is merely futuristic. It is
now. I mean not just now for the people in Jesus’ time, but now for you and me.
Illustration:
To sort out the timing of the kingdom, i.e., it is at hand and yet to come, think
of two domains overlapping. Think about two circles moving to overlap one
another. There’s a time when one (the domain of God) only overlaps a portion of
the other (the domain of men). In that overlap, you stand in the domain of men
and, by your voluntary submission to his lordship, also stand in the domain of
God. The kingdom of God is present and coming. Present because you choose to be
in it and coming because the king will return to complete the overlapping
process so that one will be indistinguishable from the other.
Illustration:
Another helpful way to think about it is as an event rather than a brief point
on a timeline. Debbie’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago. How long did the
birthday last? If we look at the birthday as an annual commemoration rather
than a moment of birth, we could say a birthday lasts last for a 24-hour day.
Debbie’s birthday, however, involved a two-day trip to Turkey Run. It was an
event that, when at hand, lasted for a period of time and involved several
aspects. The ingress of the kingdom of God is at hand, it is an event that
lasts from the time of Jesus’ birth to his return.
If you think
that the kingdom is only something for the future, let’s get it straight . . . it has come
upon you. It is here now. There is indeed a future element to it that we have
yet to experience, but it is, in a very significant and powerful way, here
right now.
So, how do we
rightly respond to this gospel, this good news about the kingdom of God? How do
we follow? How will we tell another to follow?
II--Responses
to this Good News
The prescribed response
is “repent and believe.”
A.
Repent
Often times
repentance gets reduced to “stop sinning.” That kind of makes it about you, but
this good news is about a kingdom . . . ‘of God’ . . . not ‘of you’. Repentance
means to have a change if mind. Jesus is telling people “stop thinking about
kingdoms like you have been and start thinking about it like I’m going to show you. You have been
thinking of a kingdom that looks like Rome being displaced and Jewish rule on
earth being established. Yes, you would you see the kingdom of the Jews prevail
over all the earth!” You have also been thinking about advancing your own
little personal kingdoms . . . my property, my career, my agenda. You would
also see the kingdom of you prevail triumphant over all possibilities!
Now you have an
opportunity to repent . . . stop thinking about the kingdom of you . . . and
think about kingdom of God. And the deal is for me to be governed by the Holy
Spirit in which I have been immersed, so that my decisions and my pursuits make
the world around me look more like what I know . . . or maybe have yet to
understand . . . what the kingdom of God looks like.
The first
response is to repent . . . stop thinking it’s about you.
B.
Trust
And believe in
the Gospel. That’s
what the many English versions say. It means . . . “and trust in the Good
News.” Jesus is not talking about a mere intellectual accent to truth; he’s
talking about a belief that is definitely and necessarily followed by acting
upon what is believed. The Good News is that the kingdom is at hand. You can
trust in the Good News. It’s
not theoretical. It’s
not just idealistic and unachievable. Now there’s a whole lot of folks that give
lip service to this as if it’s
a good idea that they want to be associated with. If, however, I trust in the
Good News and its implications, I give myself unreservedly to it’s coming rather than to the coming
of my own kingdom. I live unto the coming of God’s kingdom. The rest will take
care of itself.
The second
response is to trust in the Good News of the kingdom. Believe and live it
unreservedly.
C.
Said
another way, “Leave it and Follow.”
Mark wrote into
this story a very practical example of this response in the lives of four men. In this story, we see that repent and trust looks
like leave and follow.
Read Mark
1:16-20
Jesus told you to
repent and believe. Let’s
look at how that plays out. In this portion of the story we see four men who
repented and believed. They turned and entrusted themselves to Jesus as his
followers. Look at what Peter and Andrew did. They left their nets and boats--that’s their living. They walked away
from it.
How about James
and John? They left their dad in the boat and walked away—family and livelihood.
These men
turned away from one way of life to another. These men trusted Jesus enough to
leave familiarity and security.
Now, there’s no reason to think that these men
had not already been listening to Jesus teach. There’s no reason to think that they had
not already spent some time with him. I think that they had. This was the real
deal though. Jesus called to them . . . “follow me.” He told them that he was
going to make them into something that they had not been . . . fishers of men
instead of fishers of fish. This was it . . . leave the old stuff of your life
and enter into this kingdom life.
Illustration:
Have you ever driven down a dusty gravel road in the heat of a dry summer? Have
you done that with another car in front of you? If you have, you know how dirty
your car will get and how breath-choking and eye-watering the dust can be. You
may even have approached with your windows down. Your fresh air vents may have
become dust vents. You have choices: you can continue to follow close—maybe you
are in a hurry—or you can slow down and try to get out of the plume of dust. If
you choose to follow closely, you will get dusty.
Why would Peter,
Andrew, James, and John leave their livelihood to follow this Jesus around in the
dust Palestinian roads? It is likely that
this was an exciting development for these men . . . even for the dad who got
left sitting in the boat.
Jewish boys at
this time, from age of five, were educated in the Scriptures, which began by
memorizing it. The first step—from 5-10—was to memorize the first 5 books.
The second step
was to memorize the rest of the Scriptures. This step happened from ages 10-14.
He also during this time learned the art of questions and answers. This is how
information was imparted rather than our typical way of just stating facts. We
see that Jesus was doing this at age 12 in the temple.
The next step
of education, after 14, was reserved for the really good students. During this
was the application of the laws that were interpretations of Scripture.
After this,
they pursued the opportunity to take the next step . . . that was to become a
follower of an individual Rabbi. After study, the student would be put to the
test by a Rabbi. The Rabbi of course picked only the best of the best. Then the
young man would become a follower or disciple of the Rabbi and follow him
around to learn everything he knew. The goal was to become a Rabbi . . . the
most respected members of the community. Well . . . if you were not the best of the best . . .
you went back to the family business . . . something like fishing.
So, do you see
why this invitation was heeded so readily? Jesus himself had become a Rabbi.
Now the Rabbi was saying . . . you have what it takes. These guys were honored.
James and John’s
dad was proud to see them walk away. He was now the proud dad of boys who had
been picked to become followers of a Rabbi. Wow!
Close—Following
the Rabbi.
When Jesus, a recognized
Rabbi, called to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, he was saying that they were
worth it . . . that they were what he was looking for. When Jesus calls to you,
“the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel”, he is saying,
“you’ re worth it, you are what I’m
looking for.”
It’s the kind of call that demands a
response like leave what occupies your space time and follow after him.
He’s calling each of us. “Leave the
kingdom of you and follow me.”
What happens
when you follow Jesus closely? Though Palestinian roads in Jesus’ day were
dusty, they stirred up dust with their feet, not with cars; they walked just
about everywhere. If you walk close to somebody who’s stirring up the dust, close
enough to hang on every word, what happens? You get dust on you, right?
One Jewish sage
was quoted as saying, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.”
And to you I
say, “may you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi, Jesus, the Holy one of God.”
