Pastor Dan Eddy
Mark 1:14-20
I need to change?
1-22-12
I.
Introduction – Couldn’t believe the change?
In 9th grade
there was a boy in our class. I will call him Stan. Stan was very much
overweight. He had braces. We made fun of him, thinking he looked like a Walrus
and walked like Mr. Snuffleupagus from
What we did in teasing
Stan was utterly disgusting, inexcusable and out right mean. It was an example
of the prejudicial behavior preached about in last week’s sermon.
But then about a year or
two after high school we saw Stan one night in the parking lot of the movie
theatres. We hardly recognized him. He had lost at least 50, maybe 75 pounds.
He looked great, and I think he was on a date with a really good looking lady.
We couldn’t believe how
much Stan had changed. We noticed the difference, and felt bad that we teased
him so much before throughout high school.
Stan crystallizes the
image I want you to have when it comes to repentance. Something our Lord and
Savior spoke of at the beginning of His earthly ministry, read just a few moments
ago in verse 15 of our Gospel text when Jesus said, “repent and believe in the gospel.”
Please pull out your
bulletin insert and fill in the blanks as we explore this subject this morning.
Confirmands this serves as your sermon summary.
Put up first graphic: Repentance is a change
of heart and mind
The word for repentance in
the original Greek text, μετανοέω
(Meta-noel), literally means changing of the mind; changing of the heart. In
this context, the change is going. A change from within.
Change of the will. Change of inclination. Change of reasoning. Idiomatically,
it ceasing traveling in one direction and changing course 180 degrees.
And the idea Jesus is
conveying here is “Keep repenting,”
even though John the Baptist who preached repentance was in prison. And when
you keep repenting then you are showing that you “keep believing” in the Gospel; the life-saving Good News of God’s
grace showered on you by the blood of Jesus Christ. Believing in the gospel is
showing faith in our Lord and Savior.
So do we still need to repent?
Yes! But how? How do we change our minds and hearts so
others notice the difference?
Change for God (i.e. Repentance) involves:
II.
Confession and Absolution – Having God
clean up our messes
Often times
people will tell me how much they do not like this portion of our worship
service. They perceive it as negative and judgmental. It makes them feel guilty.
They see themselves as bad. Some just don’t like to admit they do wrong things.
And I can see why various people
might feel that way. Facing our dark side, the areas we know we are not right
with God, is not a pleasant experience. Others
are in denial. They think they’re pretty good, and don’t need confession and
absolution. 30 seconds of silence is too long, because they don’t do that much
wrong.
During His earthly
ministry, Jesus’ audience were tax collectors gouging people out of their hard
earned money for the sake of greed; prostitutes engaging in constant
fornication for profit. Maybe you don’t consider yourself in those categories.
We might be more like the Pharisees and Scribes who thought their legalistic
piety was enough to earn their place in Heaven with God. Their ongoing sins
caused ongoing spiritual hurt and pain, and a separation between them and God. Jesus’
teachings, God’s Word, showed them they were on the wrong path no matter how
good they thought they were.
They were like the man
this week on the
Not facing our sins is
like being in denial that your office is piled high with junk with no room to
work. That was my office until this week when Lynn Eaton and I spent two hours
doing nothing but throwing away junk.
And that’s what Confession
and Absolution serves as in the worship service. It’s God forcing you to going
into the dark, cluttered, messed-up areas of our lives and asking Him to throw
out our sins, because of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. Throw out
our unspeakable thoughts, our vicious words, our malicious deeds, and begging
Him to forgive our inattention, our indifference, and asking Him to change our
mind and put us back on track, heading in the right direction.
Confession and Absolution
is like the mirror that shows us our imperfections as James 1:22-25 says. When
we ignore our relationship to Jesus because of our sins we risk losing our
salvation. It’s like the old slogan the Dental Association used to use: “Ignore your teeth long enough and they
WILL go away.”
We get so busy
in life that we never get around to cleaning up those nasty habitual sins. And
eventually those sins pile up and encroach into other areas our lives and before
you know the messes get a lot messier, and we get more and more lost in them.
But when we confess “God my life is a mess…please, please clean
up the office of my heart…take away the junk.” That’s confession. Absolution
is when our Lord says…”Step aside…I will
remove the clutter, throw out the junk, and make your heart as good as new, and
set you on the right path in the correct direction, again.” He can do this only because Jesus came to
Earth to bring His kingdom to you through the waters of Baptism, and again and
again through His body and blood in His supper.
The more we
realize that we still sin the more we realize we still need our Savior.
The more we realize that we are forgiven the more we will want to live the forgiven,
the repentant life, and want to change for good.
The confession
and absolution formulas combined with the sermons are here in worship not to
beat you up or tear you down but help you see where you have failed to change
and still need to change, so that you can see God’s love more vividly.
And isn’t it a good
feeling when you clean up your house or car…or you arrive at your designation
after being lost? Isn’t it a good feeling to know that the messes are cleaned
up…that God did a spotless job, and has set you on the right path for life again
for today and forever?
So how do we stay on the
repentant path? Change for God (i.e.
Repentance) involves:
III.
Accountability to the faith community (i.e. congregation)
God never intended for us
to live our faith in Christ by ourselves. He wants us to live it in the
community of other believers.
Look in this text how
Jesus was calling disciples. Being Jesus’ disciple was not a nine-to-five job
but many times they lived together with Him 24/7. And there were reasons for
that. When we live our faith around other people we are accountable for our own
actions. The community of the Church helps us grow in our faith.
The disciples
weren’t just accountable to Jesus but to themselves. Change involves
accountability to your brothers and sisters in Christ. By telling you I cleaned
up my office…I am opening myself up to making sure that my office stays clean.
If it gets dirty again, I know there will be people there to lovingly remind me
(not badger me) to change. That’s part of the true fellowship, learning
together, living together.
But in this
text, Jesus is showing that repentance is more than stopping doing bad things,
and being accountable for each other. Change
for God (i.e. Repentance) involves:
IV.
Becoming Fishers of Men (Women) to
reach outside the Boat/Church for others
Jesus’ earthly ministry showed
us He needed believers that He could mold them to be His disciples, so they
could reveal the
And for some reason Jesus
picked fishermen to be His first disciples. It would be like a seminary going
down to the local labor union halls and recruiting electricians, mechanics, and
construction workers to be pastors.
For these fishermen
fishing wasn’t a hobby; it was a business, a vocation, a way of life. And Jesus
asked them to leave it, to follow Him…to make a sacrifice.
And Jesus used the perfect
illustration to show them how He wanted them to live their repentance, their
change from God. He wanted them to be fishers of men.
But notice that Jesus
didn’t say they would be instant fishers of men. He said in verse 17: “Follow me, and I will make you become
fishers of men.”
In other words, Jesus is
saying, “Come after Me…and
let’s begin the process…Me molding you to be My fishermen, fishing men and
women out of the sea of sin, and placing them into the boat, the ark of the
Church.”
And that makes sense. One
has to learn, to study, how to fish before one can be good at fishing, learning
from the master, experienced fisherman. Learn, practice, then
do.
Christ is the partner in the making us fishers of
men. He runs the boat, the Church. He works through pastors and teachers. We
learn here, practice here, then go out there and do.
And right now we are
offering you two ways to be Fishers of Men in this congregation.
First, John and Diane
Herth are organizing small group Bible studies called “40 Days in the Word”…a study of Scripture, to help you learn the
Word more simply, love the Word more easily, and live the Word more practically
in your life. They will help take the scariness out of opening the Bible and
help you see its relevance to your life. This is good for increasing fellowship
within our congregation.
Then I am leading a Bible
study and class on something called, Incarnational
– Missional Communities. We will gather, eat, and learn how to the confidently
lead or being involved with a small group that geared for reaching the un/under-churched
people we know in our lives.
To be incarnational means we act as Jesus acted toward weaker believers
and unbelievers. We minister to people where they are in their lives, grieving,
divorced, veterans, elderly, young families, or newcomers to our area. Whatever
groups we choose to love we speak and live the Gospel to them in authentic and,
sometimes, fun ways. That’s being missional.
This small group gathering I am leading is meant to give you the confidence to
live this way naturally.
You see change for God
isn’t just for you. The loving results are to be shown and shared with others,
because of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do for you.
V.
Conclusion
Before you know it, like
with Stan and his weight loss, people will notice the difference.
The more we
live changed lives for our Lord and Savior the more that will show individually
and congregationally to others. And like with Stan, people will see how much we
have repented, changed for good, for God’s glory, because they see you really do
believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and are bringing them God’s Kingdom,
something they want.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.