The Call of the King

Mark 1:14-20

If you brought your Bibles turn with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter one. The Gospel of Mark chapter one, and In a moment we are going to read verses 14-20 of Mark chapter one.

We are continuing our study of the gospel of Mark.  Last week we saw Jesus come on to the scene for the first time, and we witnessed the inauguration of the King, at His baptism and temptation.

Today, we are going back with Jesus to Galilee from the country of Judea, and He is going to be preaching the gospel, and calling His first disciples.

That’s what we are going to talk about today. We are going to look at the Call of the King on the life of His very first followers, so that we can see what that teaches us about His call on our life.

Mark 1:14–20 KJV 1900

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. ( Pray)

There are times in our life when we allow ourselves to become completely overwhelmed by the world we live in.  There are times we can become committed to so many different things that we cannot accomplish anything.

It doesn’t matter if it is at work or at home, even the church, can become such a burden if we are not careful to prioritize our life.

The word “priority” has as its root in the word, prior. It means, that which comes before anything else, or what is ahead of everything else. It describes what takes precedence in our life.  

John MacArthur once said, “Our priority is then what is supreme, essential, or foundational in our life.”

So when we think about what our priority is, we are asking ourself, “ what in my life is more important than everything else?”

Well, Jesus wants to be that, He wants to be the priority of your life. He wants to come before everything else.

Matthew 6:33 ““But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

He is teaching us that if we put Him first, and we follow Him, then everything else in life, will take care of itself.

That is the Call of the King. It is a call to make Jesus the priority of our life. How does Jesus call us to make Him our priority? Well, first of all.

I. He Calls Us to a Kingdom. Vs. 14-15

Notice Vs. 14 begins with the phrase, “Now after John was put into prison.”

Now, I want to stop here for a moment because I think something more needs to be said about the mystery of the will of God.

I think I can speak for all of us and say, when I read about the demise of John the Baptist it comes as a surprise to me!!

I think about how he was a faithful servant of God, who was a bold preacher, proclaiming the gospel, calling men to repent, and came to prepare the way for the Messiah, now shut up, shut down, and thrown into prison.

We know that John was arrested for telling Herod Antipas that it was unlawful for him to take his brother Philip’s wife as his own. We will read later in Mark chapter 6 that John was beheaded in prison.

And it just doesn’t seem like that’s how it ought to be!! Have you notice that’s how our God works sometimes. He works in ways that are a mystery to us.

Isn’t it interesting to me that we have become reacquainted with beheadings today. There was a time when I would read this story and it didn’t strike me the way it does now. Sadly, this is what our world has become and we hear about things like this a lot.

However, this was the way John the Baptist, this bold man of God would exit this world and go on to glory. It just doesn’t seem right. But that was God’s plan, not to say God delighted in it, but this was God’s plan.

Even the end of John’s life speaks of his commitment to God and the sacrifice of following Christ.

His life served to prepare the way for Jesus and in his death he points us to the cross and the sacrifice Jesus would make.

By John the Baptist being taken off the scene we learn again; God works in ways we don’t always understand. John himself knew and predicted this.

John 3:28–30 ““You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Well, God’s way of this servants decrease was, to take him off the scene and take him onto glory, and once again we learn that sometimes God works in ways we just don’t understand.

Looking back at Mark 1:14. It is important to understand a considerable amount of time has passed between verses 13 and 14.

Most scholars believe a year has gone by between the baptism of Jesus and John being arrested. Mark doesn’t give us ant information here about what took place but we read about those things in the gospel of John.

 For example, the first miracle has already taken place. The miracle at the wedding of Cana where Jesus changes the water into wine. (John 2:1-11)

The Passover and the first cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem has happened. (John 2:13-25)

The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, when Nicodemus comes to Him at night, has already taken place. (John 3:1-21)

And Jesus has already met the men He would call to become His first disciples.

 Peter, Andrew, John, James, Philip and Nathaniel already know Him. They were disciples of John the Baptist.

They were present at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan. They heard John call Him the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

They saw the miracle at Cana. They believed in Him. They believed that this was the Messiah. That is where Mark picks up the story.

Now Jesus was calling them to follow Him, to make Him the priority of their life. It was time for His ministry at Galilee to begin. And Vs. 14 says, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God”

That was His method. His method was to preach or to proclaim.

But what was He proclaiming? What is the gospel of God? Well, It is the gospel of the Kingdom.

Notice Vs. 15, “the time is fulfilled the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  

 It is important to understand that the Kingdom of God exists on three different levels.

First, It is a Spiritual Kingdom. 2nd, It is a Millennial Kingdom and third, it is an Eternal Kingdom.

When you are reading through the gospels sometimes it is difficult to determine which one of the Kingdoms of God the bible is talking about.

Right now, we live in a spiritual kingdom. The Kingdom of God exists in the lives of believers, those who allow Christ to reign as our Lord and Savior.

Colossians 1:13 , “We have been transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His Son.” The Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts and in our minds growing us and maturing us as citizens of the kingdom of God.

 One day it will be a millennial kingdom. When Christ returns at the end of the age. He will establish a visible and physical kingdom on the earth. Where He will reign for a thousand years. (Revelation 20)

Satan will be bound and locked up during that time and there will be peace on earth. At the end of the thousand years Satan will be set free and he will rally all of God’s enemies to come against Christ and he will be defeated again by the sword of His mouth, the Word of God and thrown in the lake of fire.

 At that time there will be a New Heaven and a New earth and God will establish His eternal Kingdom.

Where the saints of God will live with Him for all of eternity. Right now, for us, it is a spiritual kingdom that He calls us to.

If we want to be apart of the other forms of the kingdom of God we have to answer the Call to this kingdom.

In America, ultimately the Supreme Court makes the final decision when it comes to the laws in this country.

When the Supreme Court speaks all the other courts have to adjust. At that point it becomes irrelevant what the district court says or what the state court says.

Once the Supreme Court speaks, the final law of authority in the land, all other decisions are canceled, reversed or reinforced because the final authority has spoken.

What makes a Christian a “Kingdom of God person” is they are willing to adjust their decisions to God’s decisions. Even if God’s decision is not the one we prefer.

To be apart of the Kingdom of God is to allow Christ to be the supreme court of your life.

 That means that what God says in His Word, affects the decisions we make in our life.

For example, it means that instead of becoming angry with our family, friends, or a co-worker when they do something we don’t like, were the ones that have to adjust our attitude.

Why? because Eph. 4:29 says, we should speak words of encouragement that build each other up and not tear each other down.

So, we make it our priority to resolve every conflict we face biblically, with kindness and understanding in the pursuit of peace.

That is the call of the Kingdom. It means going against the grain of the world. It means making adjustments in your life because we are a citizen of another kingdom.

Several years ago, we had a sixteen -year old exchange student from Germany come and live with us. Her name was Tina.

And Tina experienced culture shock when she came to America. She grew up in a very different home than ours, with different rules and standards.

She had to make some adjustments in her life because she was now living in my home, in my household.

 For example, Tina was allowed to drink beer with her dinner every night because that’s what they did in Germany. But in my house we don’t drink beer. Especially when you are sixteen years old.

Also, when Tina came here it was obvious that she had never picked up after herself or was ever made do any chores at home. She had to learn to do those things because, she was now a part of my household.

 The same thing is true in our lives as Christians we have to learn how to become citizens of God’s household. And just like Tina was given time to grow and adapt to what we expected of her.

God is giving us that time now. We have to learn what God expects from us from His Word and apply it to our lives so that we can be the citizens of His Kingdom, He wants us to be.

Jesus wants us to make Him the priority of our lives and He does that by calling us to a Kingdom. But not only does He call us to a Kingdom but,

II. He calls us to Follow Him.

Notice verse 16 it says, “As Jesus was going along by the sea of Galilee, “He saw” Simon and Andrew.”

Verse 19 says, “He went a little further and “He saw, James and John.” Remember these men already knew Jesus, but now He calls them to “Follow Him.” To make Him their priority.

The amazing thing about the kingdom of God is that not only are we called to be apart of it, but we get to participate in it.

As citizens of the Kingdom we get to serve along- side the King. That is why we are here. That’s what it means to follow Him. That is the whole purpose that we come together for and serve as a church.

So that we grow in our relationship with God and that we serve God with our lives. But how do we do that? How do we serve along- side of Jesus?

 Verse 17 says, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Our job is to answer the call. His job is to make us become.

We don’t automatically become fishers of men. God makes us fishers of men when we follow Him. When we commit our lives to Him and make Him our priority.

Several years ago, I discovered that I love to fish. You see I didn’t grow up fishing. No one in my family fished. There were no lakes near where I lived. So, I had never really gone fishing.

But I was working on a job in Wisconsin right along the Mississippi river with a co-worker named Gary Gagne. And Gary loves to fish.

He would go fishing every chance He got. So, I started going fishing with Gary and I found out I really liked it.

But, I wasn’t any good at it, I’m still not really, but hanging out with Gary made me a better fishermen.

The same thing is true in our relationship with God. If we want to be better followers of Christ, we have to spend time hanging out with people who follow Jesus, people who spend time with Christ.

 The problem is Jesus is calling us to be fishers of men and many of us wont even get in the boat. We act like we are afraid of the water.

The call of Jesus to follow Him is a call to go into the fishing business. If your getting into the fishing business at some point and time don’t you have to fish. We treat it like we have gotten into the cruise line industry.

Not everyone is a preacher but everyone who is a follower of Christ has been called to be a fisher of men. Sometimes that just means inviting someone to church. Anyone can preach that much.

If you are opposed to inviting someone to church you need to ask yourself why. Maybe, Satan is trying to prevent you from putting your pole in the water. There is nothing threatening about inviting someone to church.

So, Jesus wants us to make Him the priority of our life. And He does that by calling us to follow Him. But He also does it by calling us to

III. He calls Us to Forsake the World Vs. 18 -20

     When Jesus called Simon and Andrew, notice they Immediately left their nets and followed Him.

When He called James and John, notice they immediately left their father in the boat and followed Him.

The point is they forsook the life they lived so that they might attain the life Jesus had for them. That is what it means to make Jesus your priority.

Moses is a prime example of someone who gave up everything the world had to offer to follow God. We all know the story of Moses, we read about in Exodus 1 & 2.

He was born at a time when Pharaoh was afraid of the Hebrews and he sent out a decree that all the male Hebrew children were to be killed at birth.

But the midwives didn’t obey his orders and the mother of Moses hid him in a basket and put him in the Nile river.

 She did that because she knew that Pharaoh’s daughter would find him. And his sister conveniently followed behind him until she did.

And then his sister offered to take the baby and go have him nursed for her. So, essentially Moses mother weaned him until he was old enough and then she gave him back to Pharaoh’s daughter. And Moses grew up a prince. He was educated as an Egyptian.

  Then we see the choice he made.

Hebrews 11:24–26 NASB95

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Moses saw that the life God had instore for Him was better than anything the world had to offer.

  You and I face the same choice every day. The choice is; who are you going to identify with; the world? Or with Christ? If we are going to follow Jesus we are called to forsake the world.

 Living a Christian life in a world that is opposed to all things Christian isn’t easy. To live a Christian life of morals and values in a society that doesn’t respect your morals and values means that you are going to stand out like a sore thumb. A Christian trying to live out his faith is in a battle every moment of every day. 

  We have to remember we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers of darkness in high places. The people of this world are not our enemies. Even though it may seem like they are.

The greatest battle we have is with in ourself. Because the things of this world are fighting for our time, our love and our commitment.

     1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.”

He is not talking about the people of the world. He is talking about the things of this world are competing with God for our heart, and if the things of the world take precedence in your life there is no room for the love of God.

  Jesus doesn’t want a participation trophy from your life. He doesn’t want a second -place ribbon. He isn’t going to be satisfied with a bronze medal. He wants to be the lead role and the star of your story.

Conclusion

 Jesus wants us to make Him the priority of our life. That is the call of the King. It is a call to a commitment. It is a call to a Kingdom.

If we are going to be a member of any form of the Kingdom of God it begins right here, right now. It begins with Christ ruling and reigning over our spiritual lives today.

Jesus calls us to make Him a priority by following Him. That’s our part to follow. To be present with Him to learn from Him and grow to be like Him.

His part of the plan is to make us fishers of men. We do not do that on our own. He makes us. But we have to be willing to be made. We have to be willing to be used by God. To take part in the Kingdom.

     Jesus wants us to make Him a priority by forsaking the world. At some point we have to realize that following Jesus and what He has in store for my life is better than anything the world has to offer.

And the things in this world that are competing for my heart, no matter how good they look or how enticing they are they will always fall short of their promise.

But Christ the King never will. He always delivers on His promise. That is what He is calling us to today.

     Just like the very first disciples of Christ were called to follow. To be committed to Him. To make Him their priority. That is what Christ is calling us to do today. Are you going to follow Him?