December 4 2011    Reading:  Mark 1

Theme: The Kingdom is near.........

Two or three months back a strange thing happened at Kew Gardens, the big botanical gardens near London. You might have seen it on the news. It was reported that something strange was happening with some of the rare plants, and shrubs there. You see, they usually flower in April, May or June. But as late September arrived, this year, several of these rare plants and shrubs started to flower again, such was the warmth of the weather and the number of sunny days this Autumn. The botanists in Kew Gardens are amazed, they know what is happening, but they have never seen this before. With global warming, warm fronts of air have moved up from the south, have edged nearer bringing sunshine and warmth, and plants have begun to blossom again, in a second springtime.

Last week we heard from Mark 13 about the coming of the Lord and heard the command of the Lord Jesus to us to watch, to be ready. This call to watch and to be ready for the future makes the Church distinct and different.

This week we look at another aspect of the Lord’s coming........ which is this......that just as the edging nearer of those warm fronts of air bring sunshine and warmth and blossoms in a second springtime. The Lord’s coming brings about changes in human life, changes in men and women. We see this right at the beginning of Mark’s gospel.....John the Baptist tells the people to get ready, for the Lord, for the One who is coming.......... make a straight path for Him..........

When Jesus Himself comes into Galilee, His message is the right time has come,

it has arrived, now is the moment, the Kingdom of God is near

so turn away from your sins........

The kingdom of God is near,

turn away from your sins...........

What does this mean ?

Some of the old hellfire and brimstone preachers could terrify the living daylights out of their hearers. They would bring a sermon to an end by thumping the pulpit and saying.........‘repent’ ! repent !’ turn away from your sins !. By this they usually meant that their hearers had to smarten up, get ready, get their act together and change from being heathen to being model Christians instantly, or overnight if possible.

But if we look closely at the gospels,

we discover firstly, this.........

that to turn away from our sins means for us a change of direction, a change of mind, a change of heart......... but much more important, that this is a change that the Lord Jesus brings Himself. He comes near seeking men and women and they grasp the life He gives, and in the process their lives change in direction, and so hungry minds and sinful, sorrowing hearts are changed. But to say it once again, this is a change that the Lord Jesus brings about Himself. He comes near seeking men and women and they grasp the life He gives, and in the process their lives change. Empty hearts are filled, sinful minds are changed, life blossoms, in the life He gives.

Fascinatingly, if we look closely at the gospels, we see that this happens in a whole variety of ways for men and women..........

When Jesus called Peter, James and John, down on the seashore, it was a simple invitation to follow Him. They put their trust in Him when He asked them to follow, they did so - they did what He said, laid their nets down and came with Him.

And that simple moment of the Lord’s calling, in the quiet of the shoreline, meant for them, as the days and years unfolded - a complete change of life’s direction, a change of heart and mind through the life that Jesus gives.

Or take the opposite extreme, we discover in the gospels,

look at the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Their response to the life that Jesus gives was one of outright refusal and diehard opposition. They opposed Him at every turn, in the market place, in the synagogue, in front of the huge crowds that gathered, and finally in Jerusalem, in the Temple of the Lord itself. This is why Jesus deals so sharply with them, speaks so directly to them, they prefer, you see, their own way of righteousness to the change of direction, of mind and heart, to the only real, everlasting life that the Lord Jesus Christ gives.

Or look at Nicodemus...... Nicodemus this enormously talented man, one of the leaders of the religious Council in Jerusalem, who comes to visit Jesus, to speak with Jesus - in the darkness of the night, since he doesn’t want to be seen. He comes to see Jesus, to try and fit Jesus into his own thinking. Voluble, articulate, educated, it turns out Nicodemus knows nothing of the things of the Spirit. He who believes in me, says the Lord, will not die, but have eternal life.........

The Lord offers Nicodemus a complete change of life’s direction, a change of heart and mind. The Lord offers him life, the life that Jesus gives.

How many more women and men we could speak of this morning,

In John’s gospel, we see Jesus sitting, speaking to a Samaritan woman, who had had five husbands. We see Jesus, pure in heart, the sinless One with this woman. Not because He does not know what she is like........ quite the opposite ! Jesus knows her life......

He knows what the company she keeps is like.

Jesus speaks to the woman at the well about a gift that God gives........ a gift that God will give her......a gift for her........ what might that be ? The gift that God gives ?
Sitting there, by the side of the well, with its deep water,

Jesus says to the Samaritan woman............ The water that I will give will be for you life giving water, which will well up into eternal life...........

When the Samaritan woman heard of that gift, her heart leapt, she could not wait to get back to the village to tell everyone............. in her own simple words of course - “could this be the One God has sent ?” See there, once again, a change of life’s direction, a change of heart and mind. Through the life that Jesus gives.

and the life that Jesus gives....... Himself.......The gift of God......

Or think of dear Zacchaeus,
Zaccheus, to everybody else just a man in the crowd in Jericho. There were accusations, of course, made by some of his dealings in the local tax office. Zacchaeus, that day climbed a tree to see Jesus, was hidden, safe, out of sight up there in the shady leaves. But Jesus Christ called him down by name; saying I must come to your house today
Turned to the crowd and told them - 'I have come to seek and save the lost'.

Jesus calls Zacchaeus, and goes home with him.

Read the gospel and you will see how Zacchaeus’s life’s changed direction, his heart and mind changed........ Through Jesus, through the life that Jesus gives.

Jesus Himself who is life.......The gift of God to us......

men and women, women and men, we see on page after page of the gospels,

Find a change of life’s direction, a change of heart and mind, through the life that Jesus gives. the life that Jesus gives....... is Himself.......The gift of God......

And all of this is in the Father’s purposes,

for there is, the gospel declares, great, unbounded joy in heaven over one sinner who turns, whose heart, and mind and life are changed

So what has this got to do with the season of Advent ?

Well, in the season of Advent we hear once again,

that the Lord Jesus has come, and lived upon this earth,

and that His return is near........

and as His return edges ever nearer, as each day passes,

that is why we see still see men and women turning to Him, to find life......

this is what we discover in the gospels......... that the Lord’s coming brings about change in the lives of men and women, as His return comes nearer so men and women are brought into life, towards that day.........

As the day of the Lord Jesus comes nearer so He continues to call men and women to Himself, continues to offer life to all............. as that day draws nearer.........

so why wait ? the invitation is here, from Jesus Christ Himself,

to you, to me........... the invitation to step away from the old life we know to be empty, with its darkness sinfulness........ to the life that Jesus gives, Jesus Himself who is life, the very wellspring of life................

why wait ? .........the invitation is here....... as many thousands upon thousands who have heard and reached out to grasp the gift of Jesus have found for themselves

Jesus is life, in Himself He is life, and HE invites us to come, and to receive that life

He gives.......... as the day of His return draws nearer

AMEN.