3 simple words – Repent, Believe and Follow

Sermon based on Mark 1: 14 – 20

The New Testament Reading from Mark is the well-known account of the calling of the first disciples by Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t start his ministry until after John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, was arrested and until after he calls his first disciples.   It is not until then that he performs his first miracle recorded by Mark, that of driving out an impure spirit.

Jesus is proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’  He says to Simon and Andrew ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people’ or as the old translation put it, ‘fishers of men’. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Have you noticed the simplicity of this passage?  Short in its length and with simple words, that are easy for us to remember.  It is the message that we still need to proclaim – repent, believe and follow.

I’m sure I’m not the only one here who in their heart wants to spread the good news of God but fears that if asked by a friend or stranger, “What is a Christian?”, “What difference does being a Christian make?” or even “What do I need to do to be a Christian?, would more than likely give them someone else’s telephone number for them to call.  Someone who I feel is far more wise than myself to handle such a responsibility.

But Jesus calls us ‘just as we are’, in the circumstances we are currently in and with our current knowledge of the Christian faith.  In reading this passage it gives us great comfort in its simplicity, that we do not need to know the bible back to front to share the Good News, but that the basis of any such conversation is 3 simple words – repent, believe and follow.  So perhaps it is not such a daunting task after all.

I remember when the businessman Archie Norman turned around a failing ASDA he had a saying ‘simplicity is divinity’.  It is a favourite of mine and I think it’s rather apt for today.  Chris Robinson also reminded me of the acronym KISS, kiss, ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ that is used for good business and training.

God wants us to share the good news, he would never over burden us and make it beyond our ability.  He keeps it simple in this message and with ‘divinity’, the divine intervention of the Holy spirit, we can ALL share the good news.  God will equip us, we don’t need to be ordained before we can answer the challenging questions, ‘what do I have to do to become a Christian? or even ‘What is a Christian?

But let’s explore this further in three sections, repent, believe, follow.  Firstly, what is repenting all about and why do we need to repent? We simply need to acknowledge that we are not perfect and we need God’s help and forgiveness. The 10 Commandments and Jesus’ 2 commandments show us that we’re not perfect, as we find some of them so hard to keep. However they are there not to condemn, they act like a mirror so that we can see how dirty our faces are and therefore show our need and acknowledge that we need God.  However many people sadly think that they can manage fairly well on their own.  But how many of us look at ourselves and wonder, where is the person that we always hoped we would be?  With God’s help, we can change our lifestyle, he can improve us, he can make us better people.

So firstly Repent.  Secondly Believe. But believe what? What do we believe as Christians? We come from different traditions but our common core beliefs are that God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ (we have seen God in Jesus). God will forgive and help us as we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Saviour. And God is a loving heavenly father, not remote, but approachable as we live in communion with him and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is the God who lovingly holds us in the palm of his hand.

But how strong does our belief have to be? Perfect, 100% or is the 80:20 rule we so often use enough? Thankfully we are reminded in Matthew 17 v 20, that belief as small as a mustard seed can move mountains.  A tiny amount of belief! So God isn’t leaving it down to us and the strength of our belief. Thankfully it is by the grace of God, a gift, not by the quality or quantity of our belief that we are saved. We simply acknowledge the existence of God and our need for his help, we ask for forgiveness and then the wonder begins as our faith starts growing like that of the mustard seed.

So repent, believe then thirdly follow.  What does it mean to follow? It means letting God lead you, be your leader, your captain, and going wherever he goes, doing whatever he says, saying “Jesus is Lord”…and meaning it!

I am reminded of words in the Methodist covenant prayer:

I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.’  Amen

At first reading this prayer is not for the faint-hearted. But this is the God of love, a God who promises to carry our burdens, not to over burden us. A God who promises to a equip us, not leave us hanging out to dry. God and Jesus repeatedly tell us in the bible for us ‘not to be afraid’.  In fact some scholars say it is quoted in the Bible 365 times, that’s one for every day of the year, ‘Do not be afraid’. So we must not be afraid of this prayer but to embrace it.

Did you spot the urgency of Marks words?  He uses the word ‘Immediately’ twice in such a short reading. Simon and Andrew ‘immediately left their nets and followed him’.  James and John ‘immediately left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him’.   Contrast this to the rich young man who didn’t become a disciple and those who wanted to go home first and say goodbye before joining Jesus’ travelling group.

This passage is not only an account of the first disciples but also a picture of the ideal response of every man and woman. When the voice of Jesus calls, we should drop everything and respond.

So now the question to me and you….will you repent, will you believe and will you come and follow Jesus?  Whether it be our first response to this question as a new Christian, or the 100^th time we have responded.  Peter, James and John are also called in Luke 5 and in John 1 so did they get a multiple call or did they go back and have to be challenged again?

My response to start local preacher training was not immediate.  With reflection a number of people had said to me that it would be worth pursuing when I have led worship as part of our Church’s Worship Group.  But I needed to see the jigsaw falling into place.  The amount of public speaking that I was doing with work, the words of encouragement that it was possible.

Why the reluctance?  Self doubt – would the girl, the accountant, who with her logical mathematical head, who messed about in her English classes because she hated the subject, be articulate enough to preach?  Would her methodical way of approaching a task mean that she will not open her ears to what God is saying?  To stop and listen, rather than just to dissect and explore a bible passage like a bible study.  No room to hear what God is saying to us now.

Well I’m here and I am starting more quickly than ‘I’ intended.  I had said to myself ‘I’ll wait until the kids are older’!  But when would ever be a good time?  Jesus says, ‘the time is now’.  The Kingdom of God needs YOU now.  Today, this morning, in this moment, now.

Jesus also says ‘I’ll show you how’.  The first disciples were not just told to fish for people, they were assured Jesus would make them into people fishers.  They had done their apprenticeship with Dad on Galilee learning fishing once they were old enough.  Now they were entering an apprenticeship to learn to be people fishers.

Thank goodness Jesus says ‘I’ll show you how’!  We are called to use our gifts but I promise that the use of the English language is not one of mine.  When a service I help contribute towards goes well, then I know that it is not by my own doing but by the Holy Spirit working through me.  It’s a wonderful feeling of the living God, not just God in a text book, but a God helping, guiding and teaching us.  Not remotely, but personally.

3 simple words – repent, believe and follow.

So we acknowledge that we are far from being perfect and we need Gods help. And that God through his grace, and through no acts of our own, will give us the precious gift of eternal life with him, repenting, believing, and following.  A life with God, that can start now and will last forever.

Amen