Mark 1: 12-20
Theme: Salvation
Series: Getting to Know Jesus
WHEN GOD COMES TO US
A few weeks ago, I watched the two week mini series called Taken on the SciFi Channel. The story is about aliens from outer space who took individuals into their spacecraft and did experiments on them. I don’t know how popular the series was, but I know there is a lot of interest in this subject. There are cults built around the idea of space aliens. Some of the most respected scientists think the world was populated by space aliens. The scientific community is funding the SETI project which is a series of radio telescopes designed to pick up signals from aliens in outer space.
The cult called Raelians, the ones who have claimed to have cloned a human, believe that the earth was founded and populated by aliens. There are hundreds of groups and cults who believe that we come from outer space. These beliefs range from groups like the Raelians to the serious scientists who believe that life on earth was started by microbes that came to earth on meteorites. All of them deny that there is a God who created all things. In fact, they believe in aliens as a substitute for a creator-god.
The world is searching for the transcendent. They are looking for that which is greater than themselves so that it can give them meaning and purpose of life. But the lost man and woman rejects God as that transcendent being. It is the nature of the sinful human heart to hate God, to reject him. And the reason is, we fear God’s rightful claim to us and his right to direct our lives.
We all have experienced this. I have told you about my first year in college. I had answered the call to become a minister at age 17, the summer before my senior year in High School. It was an exciting time for me. But a couple of things happened that dulled that experience. A lot of people don’t want to be friends with a young preacher boy. As an unsure, shy kid that did not work too well for me. I found out that life was not as fun with such a serious call on my shoulders. I began to struggle with it. I sought ways to deny the call. The only way I could do that was to deny God’s claim on my life. I treated him as if he had no claim and, in fact, as if he did not exist at all. But God will not and cannot be denied. My life was miserable until I submitted myself to God as the rightful Lord of my life.
We invent things to deny God, space aliens, the living cosmos, human greatness, our own self importance. We will try to make gods of these and other things so that we may have a meaningful and purposeful life. But they all fail. We were made in the image of God and it is a God-shaped void that must be filled. And none of these other things can fill it. They always leave us lacking and looking for more. Some people seem like nut cases as they go from one odd philosophy to another. But they are really seekers, honest enough to admit that what they tired did not work and they look for another.
The problem is, all our seeking is worthless and will never lead to happiness, peace, or a meaningful existence. In the Greek philosophy that is the foundation of our western world, God is understood as the inscrutable and the unapproachable. In other words, we cannot reach God by any human effort. Any God we find for ourselves is a human invention and will always be less than adequate.
The Apostle Paul spoke on this very subject when he preached to the philosophers and the curious in Athens. Acts 17: 24-28
24 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'
That they might seek him or might grope for him. These words show that while we were made for God, our search for him is like a blind man. We can’t find him even though he is very near.
What a dilemma! We need God, but he is unapproachable! It sounds hopeless does it not? Are we condemned forever, is there no hope of finding God? The answer is no. There is a great and wonderful hope. What is impossible for man is more than possible for God. God has come to us, he has sought us out, he has found us! This is why it is called the Gospel, the Good News.
Jesus comes on the scene preaching the Gospel of God. His announcement is that the time has come, it is now fulfilled and the kingdom of God is now here. The way to enter this long expected kingdom is to repent and believe the Gospel.
Mark is a good story teller and he likes to keep your interest by keeping certain things secret until the end. It is only after we read the entire Gospel that we understand that the Gospel is Jesus himself. He is the Good News, the coming of God to humanity. And the way for us to enter this new world of existence is to repent and believe in him.
From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus came seeking out people. Mark connects the proclamation of the Good News with seeking disciples. Jesus is on a mission seeking out people. By the sea of Galilee, he comes across Simon and Andrew who are fishermen. He called them to follow and he would make them fishers of men. The call is so decisive that they immediately left their fishing nets and followed Jesus. Andrew and Peter left their old life behind. They repented, they turned from their old way and went in the direction of Jesus.
Later he passes by James and John, the sons of Zebedee. These guys sound like they may have been more prosperous than Peter and Andrew, they had servants helping them. But the result was the same, Jesus called them and they left their nets and followed Jesus.
God comes to us. He finds us. If left to ourselves, we would stumble around in the dark for a lifetime and never find the transcendent God who is able to fill the god-shaped void in our soul. But, God has left nothing to chance. He has come to us. He makes himself known to us in such a way that we have no real choice but to follow him. He makes a "deal we can’t refuse!" How can we resist him when he calls us to be a part of his kingdom, forgives us our sin, and makes us fishers of men?
Jesus still seeks us out. This day Jesus is confronting some of you in your sin. His message is to repent and believe the Gospel. To repent means to turn from one direction in life to another. We all know what repentance is. Lets say you have lived an unhealthy life, eating the wrong things, not exercising, and smoking and you decide to get healthy. You start by exercising, quitting smoking, and eating right. That is repentance. You changed directions. God calls us to change directions, to stop following our own sinful inclinations and to follow him.
He calls us to believe in him. To believe literally means to trust. It is not mere mental assent. We all believe a lot of things but we don’t place our trust in it. Many of you believe in the stock market but you don’t trust it, you have not placed your money there. If you had faith in the stock market, you would place all you had in the market. If you believe in Jesus, if you trust him, you place your life in him. You follow him as your savior and boss.
When God comes to us, he calls us to follow him. God comes to us today, will you not repent and believe the Gospel?