A Voice of Purpose
A single mom with two kids in school. She works 15 hours at a bank and another 20 hours at a convenience store. Most months she gets by unless a kid is sick and she has to take off work or pay for extra child-care. If you ask you’ll find she’s on the emotional edge— just waiting for the next doctor’s bill, note from school or rent increase. There’s no abuse but her kids teachers will tell you it’s obvious the kids are missing out on the time they need with their mother. To this woman comes the word of God— “Repent and believe the gospel”.
He’s a second-generation small business owner in the area and he too has heard the word of God say, “Repent and believe the gospel”. His was a good business; people came to him for advice and he was viewed as an important part of the community. That was till the investigation. When it was all over his personal assets, his business, even his self-respect was on the auction block.
Dad and Mom gave their all for their children. Discipline and love were blended. They strove to develop responsibility in their children and did a good job releasing them into the world at the right time. One became an addict. Brought home, cleaned up and helped the addiction still controlled this one. Finally the parents have decided they can do nothing but pray for their child. No more rehab, intervention or help. They’re not sure if they feel guilty, angry, hurt or numb and they don’t know to whom they should direct their emotions—God, their kid each other or society in general. To this family, the parents, the addict and others comes the words of Jesus who calls them to —“Repent and believe the gospel”.
A senior high student just can’t seem to get their act together. No matter what they do it’s never quite right. At school others make fun of them and teachers seem to be gunning for them. Friends pull and push them and tempt them so they aren’t even sure what’s right and wrong anymore. They see nothing better ahead of them. They've lost all hope. Graduating means more of the same. Their despair is desperate and in the darkness of night when the horrible thoughts voices come to them another voice breaks through and says, “Repent and believe the gospel”.
Can such a "religious sounding" message have anything to do with the real life? How does repenting and believing impact work, school, home and friends?
A General Observation
People like the ones I described are all around us. You have met them. Some of them may be in your family. You drove by some of them on your way here this morning. You may have sat next to one of these folks on MAX or nodded good morning to them on the street on your way to or from work last Friday. You may have told a joke to one during the course of your day. The student may have a locker next to yours. It may be the loner at school or the one who laughs hardest at a joke hoping to “fit in”. It can be the nice church family down the street that harbors drug addiction. It can be the homeless man or woman who looks through your recycling each week for cans to redeem.
When we're in these situations we don’t wear signs saying, “My family’s messed up”; “my kid’s an addict” or "I don't have a clue". They, we, keep the hurt shoved deep inside, and sometimes so deep they, we, honestly believe everything is alright.
Here is Great News. God’s special timing has arrived. God's kairos, God’s rule, His Lordship, His Divine Kingship is here and it is able, and willing to transform lives now. That’s the general observation Mark makes in this story. Mark 1:15 reads: "At last the time has come!" he announced. "The Kingdom of God is near! Turn from your sins and believe this Good News!"
The TIME has come. This word describes more than some ordinary sense of timing. It is THE time, the right time, the proper time, the expectant time, the ripe time for God to work. Jesus doesn't come when it's convenient but He was in the right place at the right time. And when Jesus breaks into our reality all bets are off.
Greater still is that this time isn’t past yet. The Kingdom has come (past tense) but the kingdom's impact and the affect of continue into the future till this very day. That’s the force of the imperfect tense that Jesus uses.
Nice and Hard
Tina Turner introduced her version of “Rolling on the River” saying, “we don’t do anything nice and easy”, we do things "nice and hard." That's a good way to think of this phrase “Repent and believe the gospel”. These words fall into the "nice and hard" category because they are commands.
There is no hope these words aren't heeded. There is no way if those commands aren't obeyed. God’s doesn't negotiate with us. He clearly tells us what it takes to have our lives change, to have our lives make sense, to give us life with a future.
Observation lived out
The practical outworking of Jesus’ call, or command, is seen in the response of these first disciples. "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee's sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. He called them, too, and immediately … went with him.
What a picture. These men had heard Jesus before but NOW the critical TIME had come for them. It was time to fish or cut bait, they could follow or stay put. They could leave it all behind or remain tangled in their excuses and rationales. They chose to follow.
Today, Jesus’ call to repent and believe the gospel is carried through His Body—the Church—us. So the question becomes how do we [you and I] echo Jesus’ call to our world? It happens many ways. It's there in the attitude a congregation shows to its community. What activities and programs do Christ’s people take on for the sake of the larger community? Mostly it is during non-Church time that we are invited to share God's call. It’s in the attention we pay to our neighbors during the week. It’s the how we pray for our co-workers, bosses and even customers.
The first step is prayer:
A few years ago during our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure we were encouraged to pray for our neighbors. And this is one of the keys to how we share Jesus’ call to repent and believe. How do you pray for your neighbors? A great starting place is to use the word BLESS as an acronym for our prayer.
B—Body—physical needs health and energy
L—Labor—their work, income, job satisfaction
E—Emotional—inner like, peace, joy.
S—Social—family, relationships, friends
S—Spiritual—repentance, faith, holiness
Next pray for ourselves. Pray for our eyes—that we will see our next-door neighbor as Jesus sees them. Pray for our ears—that we will hear what is being said and what is NOT being said by those around us. Pray for our touch—that we’ll be sensitive to feeling what others must be feeling. Pray for our emotions—that God will quicken us to feel life as they do.[1] Pray for our heart—that God will be able to quicken us to meet the needs others.
The second step is action
It is to take steps to meet the needs, show the hospitality, welcome, love, care for and share with those whom the Lord has given you to care for. This is tantamount to those disciples saying good-bye to their father hand heading off after Jesus. This second step is in line with Jesus’ command to love our neighbors—and that means those we don’t think of as our neighbors or deserving of our love. We’re talking about radical acts of love and acceptance for others. It doesn’t mean we have to agree with their lifestyle, or choices but it means we love with them with the same love with which Jesus loves us.
I think, as a congregation, we're continuing to do a pretty good job. Many of you have been involved in some way with the care Kenton is showing to the homeless in Portland. We're going to be doing lunches again the morning of Valentine's Day. Other opportunities are in the works and being prayed about by the mission committee.
Individually God is doing many different things I hope. Each of us has different neighbors. Each of us has different gifts and skills so what God calls us to do will be different. What might it mean? It may mean taking dinners to a couple who has just had a baby. Maybe it's mowing the lawn of someone who has just undergone surgery. Perhaps you're being led to host a weekly barbeque for the neighbors when the weather gets better just so you get to know each other.
Maybe you're hearing God’s call to repent and believe. It may be the first time you've heard it or you've heard it but never thought it applied to you. For some, they may have said yes to Christ years ago but conveniently forgotten or become too busy for Jesus. If the TIME has come then perhaps you should join with the rest of us who are following Christ along this great adventure.
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[1] My recent blog references the late Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, and the change he went through following his assignation attempt. One of the things which led him to repent of his segregationist views was his suffering. See:
http://theologicaledge.blogspot.com/ January 19, 2009