`The Right Time

Mark 1:14–15 (ESV)

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.”

Introduction

Authority is an unfashionable concept today. The whole idea that one person should have power over someone else is deeply unpopular. But, to put it bluntly, that’s what authority is—the right to be in control, to tell other people what they can or cannot do. So, in sport, a football referee can control the game by blowing the whistle, awarding free kicks, or sending players off. If you take part in a sport, you have to acknowledge that authority. In the army, a commanding officer has every right to order his subordinates into action, whether they feel like it or not.

If some law or contract—or, indeed, the rules of the game—gives you authority, then you have it, and it is up to you to wield it properly. Jesus came into the world with authority from his Father God—an authority that did not extend over a mere sporting arena, or an army, or even over a country, but over the entire world. Jesus came into this world with authority to rule, to establish what he called ‘the kingdom of God’—the space where God’s sovereign authority is recognized and accepted. At this point in Mark’s account we see the first beginnings of that kingdom, as Jesus launches his mission.[1]

The Authority of God

The dominion of God has come near—so near that Mark believes you can touch it in Jesus.

The future created by God is no longer a flickering hope light years away; it has become available in the present. No minister of an earthly sovereign would ever announce, “So and so has become king! If it pleases you, accept him as your king!” Such a blasé, noncommittal declaration certainly did not characterize the news of a Roman emperor’s ascension to the throne. The very announcement that so and so is king contains an implicit demand for submission. Jesus’ announcement that God is king contains the same absolute demand. The divine rule blazed abroad by Jesus, therefore, requires immediate human decision and commitment: repentance, submission to God’s reign, and trust that the incredible is taking place.[2]

The Kingdom Veiled in Mystery

What Jesus meant when he affirmed that the kingdom of God had drawn near is nowhere explicitly defined. The emphasis upon the “kingdom,” however, links his proclamation to the self-revelation of God in the OT and stresses the continuity between the new and older revelation. In announcing “the kingdom of God,” the accent falls upon God’s initiative and action. The kingdom of God is a distinctive component of redemptive history. It belongs to the God who comes and invades history in order to secure man’s redemption. The emphasis falls upon God who is doing something and who will do something that radically affects men in their alienation and rebellion against himself.

The Gospels show that Jesus shared some of this apocalyptic perspective when he announced the good news of God, that the kingdom of God is near. The Gospel of Mark affirms that secular and sacred time intersect with the advent of Jesus, but the power of God’s reign that has broken into history remains hidden and is not easily perceived. The announcement that the kingdom of God is near, coming hard on the heels of the announcement that John, God’s messenger, has been handed over, makes it plain that we must still live with ambiguity.

· John is a victim of state violence, yet Jesus announces good news.

· Jesus will also be handed over, yet this brings the defeat of the powers of evil and the forgiveness of sins and unleashes a new power in the lives of his followers, who may suffer the same fate (13:9, 11, 12).

People will have to reevaluate their expectations of God’s reign and how it becomes manifest because Mark presents its coming veiled in mystery. The symbol of God’s sovereignty is not a scepter or a club that God uses to break the bones of his opponents, but the cross, on which the blood of the Son of God is shed. Victory is hidden in the cross. Power is to be found in powerlessness. One will live only by giving one’s life. Many will be unable to change their accustomed ways of thinking and accept these paradoxes. Consequently, they will be unable to recognize who Jesus is or submit to God’s reign. When it is fully revealed in its glory, however, it will be too late.[3]

Walter Brueggemann argues that preaching the gospel is a drama in three acts. It consists of (1) the proclamation of God’s decisive victory in the struggle with the forces of chaos and death, (2) the announcement of victory by a witness to the combat, and (3) the appropriate response by those who hear.9[4]

The Gospel and the Kingdom

(1) The proclamation of victory. Jesus’ clash with Satan in the desert clearly did not end in a tie because the preaching of the good news of God that immediately follows is the proclamation of victory. God has entered the fray; the world is under a new governance.[5]

The victory peals throughout Jesus’ ministry in many ways in commands and announcements. “Be quiet!” “Come out of him!” “Be clean!” “Your sins are forgiven!” “Your faith has made you well!” “Be opened!” “He has risen! He is not here.” Christians are not to be defeatist but confident in their proclamation that the victory has already been won.[6]

(2) The announcement of victory.Jesus is confident that God has prepared the end of the age of this world. The kingdom of God has come near and is about to foreclose on the bankrupt kingdoms of this world. Christians need to give evidence of the victories that are being won.[7]

Jesus’ action in confronting Satan, sin, disease and death, and subduing nature is the sign that the end stands as the next act of God in man’s future.[8]

Daniel 4:35 (ESV)

35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

‘What have you done?’” Your God is sovereign, and He promised that One would come who would sit on the throne of David; there would be a moment where He would come; the One who is the Wonderful Counselor, the One who is the Prince of Peace, the One who is the Everlasting Father; He would come. And nothing could stand in the way of that, not the outrageous rebellion of His people, not the murderous intent of surrounding nations, not the corruption of kings, not the rebellion of God's people; Nothing can stand in the way of what God chooses to do. God's will will be done!

Do you rest in that sovereignty?

Do you believe that?

Do you live, act, respond, as if you actually believe that God is sovereign?

Do you believe in His timing? Do you struggle with God's timing? Do you wonder if He is on task? Do you wonder if He's hearing your prayers? Do you wonder if He knows the right time to deliver to you a particular promise? At just the right time in the unshakable sovereign plan of God, Jesus came and began this amazing announcement of His Kingdom. Do you rest in that sovereignty? Look at the next phrase, “The kingdom of God is at hand.”

(3) Response by those who hear.

We do not build the kingdom with our paltry offerings, nor can we advance it with our programs. We are not the ones who have crowned Jesus as Christ and Lord; God did, and God’s reign on earth does not depend on the feeble obedience of God’s people. Human beings do not bring in God’s reign; God does. Human actions do not create the actions of God; rather, God’s actions create and transform human actions—or at least those persons who look to the actions of God with wholehearted expectancy.12 All we can do is decide to take our stand for or against God, for or against Satan, and to repent or not to repent in response to God’s initiative toward us. The community lives by repentance and faith since, as the story reveals, it consists of people who are far from perfect. The church needs to continue Jesus’ appeal for repentance both inside and outside the church.[9]

A.The Kingdom is now near in the person and work of Jesus Christ; and because of that, it's available and it defines you.

And then you’re hit immediately with a call of this Kingdom: “repent and believe in the Good News.” Hear what I am about to say: you cannot embrace the kingship of Christ without embracing how that kingship defines you. You can't embrace His identity without humbly embracing how that defines your identity. And that's why there is no such thing as faith without repentance; there's no such thing as faith without humble confession of deep personal need. We must be very careful to not define faith just as some kind of intellectual consent to a system of doctrines; that is not Biblical faith. That's a portion of Biblical faith, but it's not Biblical faith. Biblical faith not only embraces your mind and your willingness to say, “I will give the thoughts of my heart to actually believe that these radical claims are true.” But it also says, “I will humbly mourn how those things define me.” Why do you need a King? Because you are incapable of self-rule; you are incapable of choosing the right path; you are incapable of doing what is right; you are incapable of constructing, in your zeal for your own kingdom, a life that would remotely please God; because in your sin, what you actually want is His position.

What we want is, “We want to be king!”

Why would a husband ever be impatient with his wife,because he wants to be sovereign king, and he's uptight whenever she stands in the way of something that he wants? You know if you're honest, most of your anger doesn’t have anything to do with God's Kingdom at all. We just need to get a grip. Our anger has to do with our kingdom! I don't want you to be so audacious as to ever disagree with one of my opinions. I don't want you to get in the way of my schedule. I don't want to be told what to do. I want to set my own morality. I want to believe whatever I think is fun to believe. I want to do whatever pleases me. I want to be king! And so what

The kingship of Christ rescues me from me! The King came - hear this - to destroy your kingdom because as long as you live in allegiance to your kingdom, you cannot live in faith in the King.

B. The Gospel of the Good News of the Kingdom must be a call to repentance.

Now, think about what repentance is. Repentance is a definitive change in my heart that leads to a definitive change in the direction of my life. - that's what repentance is. And so repentance requires change in the thoughts and desires of my heart. So, I reject the thought that I am righteous; I reject the thought that I'm in control; I reject all the falsehoods that would keep me away from an excited embrace of Christ. I reject selfish desire; I reject evil desire; I reject the desire for self-sovereignty, and I submit myself; I give my desires to the will and the pleasure of the One who is my King.

Now, if the quality and content of your thoughts change, and the quality and content of your desires change as an intentional act of faith, (watch this) then the direction of your life will change. So, because I don't embrace the delusion of my own righteousness anymore, it means I'm not uptight with you anymore when you point out a wrong. Do you see? If you make that faith commitment, your life should follow; and if it doesn't, maybe you haven't made the faith commitment. That's repentance. If you have a new set of desires now, not a desire that your will be done and your kingdom come, but a desire that His will is done and His kingdom has come, shouldn't that then live in your situations and relationships.

So, as a husband or wife, what you want to do is please the King; that's what orients you; that's what motivates you. With your friendships, you want those friendships to be honoring to the King; with your thought life, with your finances, with your leisure time,at your work, at the university. You see, true faith, as it claims thought and desire, will always result in a transformed life. And as God operates in grace to give us those new desires and those new thoughts, He operates in grace to empower us to do what we would've been unable to do.

C. The Kingdom and its announcement have to be followed by the melting together of repentance and faith; you cannot have faith without repentance, and you cannot have repentance without faith. So, where are you? Is there a consistency, a congruity between what you say you believe and the shape that that takes in your living? Or, is there a disharmony? I want to plead with you as your pastor; be honest right now in this moment. Own the fact that there may be vestiges still within you of a desire for self-sovereignty, a desire for self-sufficiency, a desire for autonomy. And as you own that, you begin to realize that repentance and faith are not one time acts, but lifestyles that I believe again and again and again. I believe and say, “Help my unbelief.” I believe and say, “Help unbelief.” And I repent, thanking God for His grace of forgiveness and empowerment, but I repent again. And that means none of us are sliding; none of us have arrived; it means none of us look down on people who are not as far along as we are because we’re in process too. And although we've moved along for where we are, we know we have a great place to go. And so this is a community of compassion and acceptance, not self-righteousness and condemnation.

D. “Repent and believe in the gospel.”

Well, one more thing. “Repent and believe in the gospel.” I actually believe, because it actually means this, that a better translation of that last phrase would be, “Believe in the Good News. Repent and embrace Good News.” Now, what is the Good News? What's the Good News of the Kingdom? What is the news that's so awesome and so beautiful and so life-transforming when you get it that you not only want to embrace it yourself and live in the middle of it, but you want to take it to anybody who would ever be willing to hear it?

What is the Good News? What's the Good News of the Kingdom?

Here's the Good News: because the King has come in the glory of His transforming grace change is possible. Change is possible! We’re not stuck. We’re not condemned to our rebellion and our foolishness and our selfishness and our arrogance. We can look at the darkest night of sin with hope because our King brings Good News with Him. And that Good News is radical, personal, heart, and life transformation!

What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? What's the bright gold promise of the New Covenant? Is it not a new heart? And so you don't give up when your marriage is not what God wants it to be. You don't start thinking about your exit plan; you embrace the King, and you believe change is possible.

You don't give up on your children; and by the time they're teenagers, you’re a bit cynical, and you don't believe that godliness will ever live in their lives because you believe in the transforming power of the King.

You're in a university, and you don't fear that professor and the tightness of his philosophical arguments because you believe that the wind of the Spirit could blow in that man's life and he would embrace Jesus. And you don’t know when that's going to happen, but you don't give up, and you’ll speak truth to him.

You don't give up in the face of addiction.

You don't give up in the face of sexual sin.

You don't give up in the face of lifelong anger.

You don't give up! You don't give up! You don't give up!

You don't give up because the King has come, and the Good News is that He brought radical hope of change with Him. And this King would never call you to repent if that turn of repentance was not possible by His grace. It's radical!

Two Questions

Do you believe the radical Good News of the Gospel?Oh, I don't mean could you write an essay on it? That's a good thing; it's just not enough of the thing.

Are you living the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom? Now I’ll tell you what that will do for you, and then I’m done. This will forever be a theme in my preaching: it will produce in your heart a harmony of sadness and celebration, sadness at the continued evidence of your desire to be your own king and celebration that a greater King has come, and He is in the process of rescuing you, and there will be a day when in no way, shape, or form, do you desire His position, and you will reign with Him forever. Now, I think that's pretty good news. Repent and believe the Good News.

In Jesus men are confronted by the word and act of God; he himself is the crucial term by which belief and unbelief come to fruition. Jesus proclaims the kingdom not to give content but to convey a summons. He stands as God’s final word of address to man in man’s last hour. Either a man submits to the summons of God or he chooses this world and its riches and honor. The either/or character of this decision is of immense importance and permits of no postponement. That is what repentance is all about. The radicalness of Jesus’ kingdom proclamation is well caught in the agraphon, “He who is near me is near to the fire; he who is far from me is far from the kingdom”:95Jesus himself, though veiled in the midst of men, becomes the crucial term by which men enter the kingdom of God, or exclude themselves from it. What he does is the work of God.[10]

[1]Wilmshurst, S. (2011). A Ransom for Many: The Gospel of Mark Simply Explained(pp. 33–34). EP Books. [2]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 60). Zondervan Publishing House. [3]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (pp. 61–62). Zondervan Publishing House. 9 Walter Brueggemann, Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe (Louisville: Westminster, 1993), 16–19. [4]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 62). Zondervan Publishing House. [5]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 62). Zondervan Publishing House. [6]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (pp. 62–63). Zondervan Publishing House. [7]Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark (p. 63). Zondervan Publishing House. [8]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 66). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 12 John Bowker, Jesus and the Pharisees (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1973), 44. [9] Garland, D. E. (1996). Mark(p. 63). Zondervan Publishing House. 95 The Coptic Gospel of Thomas, Logion 82; Origen, Homily in Jer. XX. 3; Didymus the Blind, in Ps. lxxxviii. 8. On this saying see W. L. Lane, “Agrapha,” EC I (1964), pp. 110 f. [10]Lane, W. L. (1974). The Gospel of Mark (p. 66). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.