Following the Call: God's Plan Unveiled
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
God works in the ordinary things of life.
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
Baptized and led by the Spirit of God out into the wilderness.
D. Relevance of the text
1. Proclaiming God's Kingdom Now
1. Proclaiming God's Kingdom Now
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mark let’s us know that John is arrested. This word for arrested means—to hand over to. It will show up again in
17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her.
18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
John the Baptist is arrested for calling out sin for what is was in the life of Herod. Mark is telling us about the transition from the work of John in the dessert to what is now the work of The Christ among the people day to day. Jesus goes into Galilee and begins proclaiming the “gospel of God.”
The gospel was introduced to us in Verse 1:1
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Gospel of God—
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?
2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.
17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Jesus Christ the one who is the good news from God is out declaring that Good news from God. And what is exactly is he saying?
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The time is fulfilled—I just love this picture and don’t want to skip over it for one second. God’s plan is now in flesh in Galilee to Proclaim to the people that the Kingdom of God was at hand. This has always been the plan of God!
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is known as the first Gospel in Scripture. Now we have the Gospel in flesh before the people in Galilee.
Paul...
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
The Gospel according to Mark The Gospel in a Nutshell (1:14–15)
Coupled with the command to repent is the command to “believe.” If repentance denotes that which one turns from, belief denotes that which one turns to—the gospel. Both verbs in Greek are present imperatives, that is, they enjoin living in a condition of repentance and belief as opposed to momentary acts
Living in a condition of repentance and belief. I was telling someone the other day just how ignorant I am the older I become. It’s something older people have not shared with me so sometimes I wonder if maybe its a me thing. When we are young we often believer ourselves to always be the smartest person in the room. Even smarter than the Holy God of the universe. The truth is that I am lacking in so many ways and in the battles with myself through the years I have found God to be faithful and me to be the one that is lacking. This is living repentance and faith. This is what Jesus is calling the people to some 2000 years ago and it is the same message today to the hearts of all humankind. YOU ARE NOT ENOUGH AND YOU WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH. Repent and believe!! The Kingdom of God is at hand.
The Unchanging God of the Universe has placed that before us this very morning and asks us to respond.
T.S. Mark transitions from Proclaiming God Kingdom now to the Calling of ordinary people.
2. Calling Ordinary People
2. Calling Ordinary People
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
Let’s be honest with each other for a moment. When we think fishermen the first thing that comes to mind is not the Elite people of society. Anyone, at any age, can grab a chair and a rod and go to a body of water and call them selves a fisherman. But that is not what we are looking at here.
The Sea of Galilee is some 700 feet below sea level surrounded by mountains on the east and the west. The sea is in the shape of a harp being 13 miles long and 7-8 miles wide. They would cast large circular nets into the water to gather up the unique fish that would be sold at one of the 16 different ports on the lake. The business was so large that Josephus was able to get 240 fishing boats during the war in Galilee in A.D. 68. We are talking commercial fishermen who worked hard but made a good living on the Sea of Galilee.
The main question we ask ourselves is why wouldn’t God go to the spiritual elite of the time? You know the ones that hung out in the temple describing laws and statues that people needed to keep? God said his son to the ordinary people like you and me. He calls these men to:
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
Follow me—Extension toward a goal at or near the speaker implying movement
Follow me—Extension toward a goal at or near the speaker implying movement
What exactly is Jesus calling the disciples to do? Are they going to a house nearby and the Lord is going to teach them with books and a whiteboard. They will just need to work hard and sign up for his class?
Listen!!
This is a calling by the mouth of Jesus himself that these men come to him and he will make them into something they never dreamed they could be.
This is a calling by the mouth of Jesus himself that these men come to him and he will make them into something they never dreamed they could be.
I have zero doubt that these disciples understood very little at this moment. This encounter with Jesus happened because Jesus determined it to be so. This is an act of Jesus in the life of Simon and Andrew and they must decide what to do now.
Would they be willing to leave behind their identities as fishermen to find a completely different life in Christ alone? Christ’s call on our lives invite us this very day to participate in God’s unfolding plans.
T.S. Proclaiming God’s Kingdom now, Calling ordinary People, and now we see the disciples respond with immediate obedience.
3. Responding with Immediate Obedience
3. Responding with Immediate Obedience
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
We are given a little more detail by John
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,
36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
But Mark tells us it happened Immediately—putting down their nets and followed him. These seem to have been followers of John the Baptist and had been told that this was the messiah, the christ, the son of God. When Jesus tells them to follow they do so immediately because the have faith that this is the Son of God. Think of all the things that you know will happen that these two do not know.
They will follow Jesus for some 3 year period before he will go to a cross and die a horrible death
They will follow him day in and day out and one of their own will turn him into the authorities
They will follow him only to watch him die and they will try to go back to fishing because they do not understand what is happening
They will follow and fail multiple times while at the same time leaving all they know behind only to “feel” like failures so often as they see how great there Jesus really is to them.
This day would mark the beginning of the journey for them. They did not know what was in store for them. They simply understood this was the Christ the son of the Living God and they did not know what else to do but follow him when he told them to do so.
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
We are followers of Christ not because of what we can get him to do for us in the here and now. Not because of a deal we have made with him in which he owes us because of something we have done or something we will do. We follow him this very day as disciples of the Lord because he himself has called us out of darkness into the light. The Blood of Christ purchased us this very day and we are to WORSHIP him for it every day.
T.S. Proclaiming God’s Kingdom now, Calling ordinary People, and now we see the disciples respond with immediate obedience, Leaving all to follow him.
4. Leaving All to Follow Him
4. Leaving All to Follow Him
19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Our Lord goes a little farther and calls James and John the son of Zebedee, later to be known as the sons of thunder!(Good southern wrestling names..must have been from Southern Galilee)
17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him.
53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
55 But he turned and rebuked them.
56 And they went on to another village.
What are the costs to these first 4 disciples?
24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
These men did not go home and pray about it. They didn’t take a poll from all their friends on what they think they should do. What they did was trust in Jesus Christ the perfect Son of God and follow him immediately. They understood themselves to be unworthy and HE ALONE to be worthy. They jumped on God’s plan and off of their own to follow him. That is life worth investing everything by faith.
