Title: WHAT TIME IS IT?
Focus: Today is an opportune time to respond to God’s calling in our lives.
Function: To encourage the people to seize the moment to pursue God’s calling in their lives.
Text: Mark 1:14-20; (I Cor. 7:29-31)
Timing is everything! I remember a glory moment when I played soccer as a teenager: It was a championship game. The score was tied. I played a forward position; my team was leading an attack. I saw an opening and ran toward the gap while one of my teammates passed the ball to me. As the ball bounced toward me, I turned on my left leg, raised my right foot, connected with the ball and let her fly. The goal keeper never knew what hit him. We won the game. It was perfect timing.
Most of us can relate to this: The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.” (Eccl. 3:1). I suggest that there is also a right time and a wrong time. There is a right time to ask your girlfriend “Will you marry me!” (And guys, it’s not when she is hopping mad at you). And there is a right time to ask your Dad for some extra pocket money. (And I’ve a hunch that most of you teenagers know when that is). Timing is everything.
I say that in light of the gospel reading for today. Today is a perfect time, an opportune time for all of us to respond to God’s calling in our lives. And as we explore the Scripture passage, I encourage you to seize the moment to pursue God’s calling in your life. It’s time to respond!
Did you notice Jesus’ sense of timing? Mark tells us that (vs. 14) “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” John the baptizer’s time has come to an end. His ministry is closing; his days are counted. John has prepared the way for Jesus Christ, the Son of God to begin his work. And Jesus realizes that his time has come. John’s imprisonment triggers Jesus’ preaching mission in Galilee. It’s time for Jesus to get going.
So what does Jesus do? He declares good news by telling the people: “The time has come.” The opportune moment is here: “Listen up!” says Jesus.
Now time can be measured or understood in different ways. There is chronos time and opportune time. For example, we entered this sanctuary at around 10:20 AM; we began the service at 10:30 AM; and now it’s 10:45 AM. I just measured time in a chronological order. Chronological time is time measured in sequence or order.
But time can also be measured in terms of opportune moments. Should you get an unexpected tax refund, for example, you may seize that time to donate some of that money to a favorite cause, or you may want to rethink your giving patterns. Such opportune moments confront you with choices and often compel you to certain actions.
So it is with Jesus. John’s
imprisonment is the right time for Jesus to kick off his preaching ministry in Galilee.
In
Scripture, we discover that Jesus is the center of all time. The apostle
Paul writes to the church in Colossae and he says: (1:16,17,20) “…by (Jesus) all things
were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and
for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…(and
through Jesus, God reconciles) to himself all things, whether things on earth
or things in heaven by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
In short, Jesus is the center of
all time. As one theologian has said: (Robbert Webber) “Christ is the cosmic center of all history.
Everything before Christ finds its fulfillment in him. Everything after Christ
finds its meaning by pointing back to him.”
Now the scriptures lead us to discern three kinds of time from Christ who is the center of time. For example, there is fulfilled time. That time covers the period of Jesus’ taking on our human nature, his birth and his preaching ministry on earth. So when Jesus says, “the time has come!” he is drawing our attention to himself and his preaching ministry. And we realize that God is doing something new--something that was promised by the prophets and that is now to be fulfilled. Jesus has begun to usher in God’s kingdom. This is the time of fulfillment.
Here is another kind of time flowing from the center, from Jesus himself: it’s the time of salvation. The death of Jesus, for example, came at God’s appointed time. Paul says in Rom. 5:5 that “…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” By dying on the cross and by defeating the powers of sin, Satan, and death, the Lord Jesus has ushered in the time or period of salvation. And thus the apostle Paul can write to the church in Corinth: “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6:2).
Jesus’ resurrection, ascension, and
his promised return at the end of time mark the third kind of time that flows
from Jesus as the center of all time. It’s anticipatory time. Listen to
Paul speaking to the Corinthian church (I Cor. 4:5) “…judge nothing before the appointed time;
wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and
will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his
praise from God.”
So then, fulfilled time, salvation
time, anticipatory time—these all center in Christ Jesus. And since Jesus comes
to us today with his Word confronting us about time and timing, I say to all of
us: today is an opportune time to respond to Jesus’ calling in our lives.
For Jesus, the imprisonment of John the baptizer signals the moment to start his preaching ministry in Galilee. It’s time to preach the good news of God. Note what the text says: Jesus declares good news from heaven. Jesus’ message has its origin from God in heaven. Jesus’ message opens the heavens to us. Jesus provides us with a glimpse of heaven. Do you remember what Jesus said to Nathaniel: “You shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” The angels have already ministered to Jesus in the desert when he was tempted by Satan. They will do so again when Jesus prays his heart out in the Garden of Gethsemane. Heaven is opening up and God’s good news is coming our way.
Jesus summarizes that good news by declaring that “The kingdom of God is near.” God’s sphere of influence in the heavens is now coming to earth. As the angels in heaven do God’s bidding, so now the moment has come where Jesus is ushering in God’s heavenly reign here on earth. Things are going to change. Rebellious hearts will turn in love and obedience to God; unwilling, rusty knees refusing to bow before God will bend in holy adoration. It’s time for Jesus to spread God’s heavenly reign here on earth. The kingdom of God has come, is coming, and will be fully established when the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Today is an opportune time for us to respond to God’s calling in our lives.
Consider the text. For Jesus the time has come to preach the good news of God. But that means that for Jesus’ listeners the time has come to respond. We must respond in three ways:
Please, note that repentance and believing are ongoing activities, which cannot be separated. Literally, Jesus calls us to “keep on turning away from our rebellious ways and keep on trusting or believing the good news.” Likewise, I do not have an option here. I cannot say “Yes” to believing in Jesus and “No” to my turning away from sin. For some of us, today is an opportune time to repent and believe the gospel.
Some of us are inclined to follow Jesus with a large, empty suitcase. We will follow Jesus only when Jesus fills our suitcase with things that make us happy, that make us feel fulfilled. But Jesus reminds us that his followers must replace their suitcases of happiness with a cross of self-denial. Dying to a life of sin and selfishness and pleasure and rising to a life of service is the norm for anyone who follows Jesus.
Some of us are “on hold” right now. You have been waiting for a signal from God—a signal that prompts you to respond to the calling or vocation that God has been laying on your heart. Perhaps you are looking for a “divine nod,” a word of encouragement, an open door. Today is the time to respond. Examine your heart; listen to Jesus; talk with him; take the risk; discover the joy of obedience; ride the wave of being a disciple of Jesus. Follow him!
Fish for people who need to know Jesus. Fish for the lost, the confused, the skeptics. Fish on behalf of Christ.
To fish for Jesus means to feed people with the good news of “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.” To fish for Jesus means to connect with people and develop relationships marked by grace and hospitality. To fish for Jesus means to pray for conversions and for people whose lives become transformed by the Spirit of Jesus at work in their hearts. To fish for Jesus means to walk alongside of people, encouraging them on the pathway of faith.
Today is an opportune time to respond and fish for Christ. What time is it? Time to respond.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.