Building the Kingdom of God

“I am about to send for many fishermen”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them.... I will first repay them double for their guilt and sin because they have polluted My land. They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols.” (Jer 16:16, 18)

This is what the Lord God says: “Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying in the middle of his Nile, who says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams cling to your scales. I will haul you up from the middle of your Nile, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales. I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open ground and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky as food.” (Ezek 29:3-5)

The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: Look, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, every last one of you with fishhooks. (Amos 4:2)

21“The summons to be fishers of men is a call to the eschatological task of gathering men in view of the forthcoming judgment of God. It extends the demand for repentance in Jesus’ preaching. Precisely because Jesus has come fishing became necessary” (Lane, Mark, 68).

Like Simon and Andrew, James and John did not hesitate: they left their father and the hired servants in the boat! This is striking and captures what it truly means to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus, we are called to forsake everyone and everything else. We must not rationalize or explain away Jesus’ call as mere hyperbole!

Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Matt 10:34-37)

He replied to them, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:33-35)

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26)

The call to follow Jesus is clear and it is unconditional! In essence He puts before us a blank contract and says, “Sign at the bottom, and I will fill in the details!” This is what it means to be the right men and women with the right message. But there is a third essential.

Mark 1:17-18, 20

There is only one right Master to follow in life and into eternity. His name is Jesus. Jesus called and they left everything to follow Him. The authority of the call and the immediacy of their responses raise the question as to who this Man is that demands such obedience. Actually, Mark has given us a pretty clear picture of who this Teacher is, even in the opening verses of the book.

This One we are called to follow is the Christ (1:1), the Son of God (1:1), the Lord (1:3), the mighty One (1:7), the worthy One (1:7), the One who22 baptizes with the Holy Spirit (1:8), the Spirit-anointed One (1:10), the beloved Son (1:11), the One who pleases God (1:11), and the One who brings the kingdom of God (1:15).

We will learn we are called to follow in radical discipleship the One who is the astonishing Teacher (1:22), the One with authority (1:22), the Holy One of God (1:24), who is able to cast out demons (1:26, 32-34, 39), heal the sick (1:31-34), and even cleanse lepers (1:42). And this is just chapter 1! The kingdom of God has come near because the King is here. Everything has changed. Nothing will ever be the same again. The hour of decision is now. What will be your response?

Jesus calls us to believe the gospel. One way we do this is to preach the gospel continually, not only to others, but also to ourselves. The result will be that you will see yourself as a much bigger sinner than you thought, but you will also then see Jesus as a much greater Savior than you ever imagined.

How do you preach the gospel to yourself?

See and own your sin. Examine yourself in the mirror of God’s Word. Pray that God would bring to light your negative emotions and attitudes as well as blatant rebellion against God’s holiness. As you do this, guard yourself against sin’s deceitfulness. You will likely feel the tendency to water down God’s standard, compare yourself to others, shift blame, or commit to trying harder. These are reflective of man-centered moralism.

See the sin beneath the sin. Push the “Why?” question until you find whatever you are looking to, other than Jesus, for meaning and value in life—your “functional messiah.”

Expose the idols of your heart. Idols always disappoint. They are weak. They can’t deliver when you succeed; they can only raise the bar. They can’t forgive you when you fail; they can only lower the boom. They are harmful. They hurt you spiritually, emotionally, and physically. They hurt others by undermining your ability to love. They are grievous. By going after these idols, you are saying to God, “Jesus is not enough. I also need _____________ in order to be happy.”

As you expose these idols, confess, “I am a much bigger sinner than I thought. I am a worthy recipient of God’s judgment. Trying harder won’t cut it. I am helpless and hopeless in myself. But there is One who can deliver and rescue, so I flee to Him and Him alone!”

23View repentance as a gift. Pray for the gift of repentance. Do not try to stop sinning; ask God to change your heart. You may change for a season by your own willpower, but eventually you will become resentful or fall back into worshiping your idols, false saviors that distract you from the true Messiah.

See Jesus as the only true Savior. Jesus lived for you; think about and give thanks for specific ways He has lived obediently where you have failed. Jesus also died for you; think about Jesus’ death on the cross for your specific sins and idolatry. Thank God that your sin has been punished once and for all. God sees you in Jesus; think about how God sees you clothed with Jesus’ perfect righteousness. Thank Him specifically for how He provides for you in Christ—ways your idols promised but could never deliver. Jesus lives in you; thank God that He does not leave you to live the Christian life on your own, since the Spirit of Christ now dwells in you. Ask Him to live His righteous life through you, specifically in the areas where you have repented and confessed sin.

Embrace the gospel as your motivation for living. Embrace it and know that the gospel changes you, the gospel empowers you to serve, and through the gospel you meet God. (For this section I have drawn from the insights of Thomas and Wood, Gospel Coach, 81-91.)

The King has come, and He calls all of us to repent and believe the gospel, to walk away from the idols of our life, our former allegiances, and to come follow Him. Leave your nets, leave your occupation, leave your friends, leave even your family, and come follow Him. The demands are great, but then Jesus is a great King, and the blessings of knowing Him are far greater!