Follow

 

Introduction

In the first three Bible studies in this series on the Gospel of Mark, you learned about “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). After this grand opening, Mark told the Roman Christians about the prophecies from God. God told Isaiah and Malachi to tell the Israelites these prophecies. The prophecies foretold the Messiah coming to the world. They spoke of “the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’” (Mark 1:2). Next, Mark told of Jesus’ baptism and God’s confirming and consecrating Him as His Son (Mark 1:9-11). Immediately after His baptism, Jesus walked into the wilderness with the Spirit. While there, He endured and overcame the temptations Satan put before Him (Mark 1:12-13). Each of these activities was a prelude to Jesus revealing the truth about Himself. He is the Son of God, the Messiah promised from the foundation of the world.

Mark immediately began telling of Jesus’ ministry. He relayed Jesus’ revelation of His authority and power. No one before Jesus ever had His authority and power. In rapid succession, Mark recorded for all readers/hearers about the definitive proof Jesus truly is the Son of God. After the Father’s proclamation, which was proof Jesus is His Son, other proof occurred in the early stages of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. These were the retelling of twelve encounters Jesus had with people. He healed people, cast out demons, taught, preached, prayed, called people to follow Him, and challenged the manmade religious laws of the time. Let’s study and understand what Mark tells people about Jesus through his gospel in Mark 1:14-20. Consider what Jesus’ command, “Follow Me,” means for you and the way you live.

Follow

Now, after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (1:14-15 [NASB])

Background

People may read Mark 1:14-20, then later just skim over these verses. They might tell themselves, “Oh, I know Jesus called people to follow Him, but I want to get to the meat of what Jesus did.” Before you can really grasp the things Jesus said and did, you must understand the background for His work. The opening sentence of Mark 1:14-20 says, “After John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God.” (NASB)

When did Jesus begin His ministry in Galilee? Mark tells us it started after John the Baptist was put in prison by Herod. Herod’s seduced his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. Herod and Herodias both divorced their spouses so they could marry each other. When John said this marriage was adultery, Herod had him put in prison.

Where did Jesus go? Jesus walked from southern Judea to Galilee. Galilee was in the northern part of Israel. Jesus had been in the wilderness in the south. He had faced and defeated Satan and his temptations. Jesus had walked for days to get to Galilee. The region of Galilee was more heavily influenced by Greek and Roman culture than Judea. Herod was king their king. The Galilean economy was better than Judea’s. They had good agricultural land and a fishing industry. The Galileans were a wealthy, multi-god-loving, Roman and Greek-influenced, adulterous, and racially impure part of Israel. Jesus took the good news of God to them.

What did Jesus preach? Mark finished verse fourteen by writing, “Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God.” From earlier study, we know the gospel is the good news. Good news of what? The good news of God, which He prepared from the foundation of the world, was that He sent a Savior. This Savior would die for the judgment people deserved for their sins. He would give believers in Him an eternal relationship with God in His kingdom. The gospel is the point of the whole Bible. People need a Savior to be in a close, personal relationship with God and glorify Him in their lives.

Good News

Mark said in verses fourteen through fifteen, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” Jesus told the people who heard Him what had happened. He gave them two commands to make what He offered to them part of their lives.

When Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled,” He meant a passage of time had passed and a specific time about which Old Testament prophets foretold was occurring right then. For most people, they would wonder about what this fulfillment of time was and what the kingdom of God is. The time of waiting for the Messiah had ended. Why? Because that prophecy God gave the prophets had occurred. Jesus used a present continuous verb when He said, “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is come.” That time the, Jesus said, is now and will continue. The time of the Messiah would be forevermore from the time Jesus spoke to people. Only the Messiah, the Son of God, could completely and perfectly fulfill and keep fulfilling the prophecies about the Messiah. These prophecies spoke about one who would come to take the judgment and stains of their sins away. No mortal person could do that. Only the triune God could remove sins written against each person and fulfill the judgment due to them because of their sins. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies about a Messiah, the Savior for each person who professes faith in Him.

When Jesus said, “kingdom of God is at hand,” He referred to a prophecy by Daniel. In Daniel 7:13 and 2:44, Daniel spoke of the Son’s everlasting dominion, glory, and kingdom. Daniel said it would come at a moment in time and continue forevermore. It would not pass away or be destroyed like idols that people create for themselves. This kingdom of God coming, which came at the revelation and ministry of Jesus, is another example of the “now and not yet” scenario that flows through the Christian faith. Just as we are saved now, but will only be perfected (totally sanctified) by Jesus when we enter His kingdom, so God’s kingdom came to earth when Jesus began His ministry on earth, but it will not be perfectly fulfilled until the day Jesus returns and creates a new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-5, 2 Peter 3:10-13, Isaiah 65:17-19 & 66:22). The time the prophecies foretold is fulfilled, Jesus said, and the kingdom of God is now. The Messiah has come, bringing the world into a new epoch of ushering in God’s kingdom and the Messiah.

With this statement about the kingdom of God, Jesus gave two commands. Without the explanation of what and why, the people were unlikely to understand the reason Jesus instructed them to repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus told the people who listened to Him to change their minds about how to live. Instead, live life differently and in obedience to the Spirit’s leading. The word “repent” includes confessing to God of old sinful ways. If Jesus did not teach about salvation from sins and death, His preaching would have been the same as John the Baptist’s. John preached baptism for repentance. Jesus, though, had the good news about something God had never done before, but had always planned to do at the right time. Jesus told them to repent and believe in the gospel of God. His instruction to “believe” made what He preached different from what God’s other messengers had preached. “Believe” in the Greek language of the New Testament means to be persuaded within oneself and by the Lord about Jesus being the Son of God and receiving the salvation He offers through His death that He died for each sinner. Belief. How hard can it be? For people of the world who spent their lives appeasing vengeful gods or seeking fulfillment for themselves, trusting in Jesus was/is hard. Still, for every person who seeks God, He said He would be found if people seek Him with their heart (Jeremiah 29:13, 2 Chronicles 15:2b, Psalm 9:10). The writer of Hebrews 11:6 summed up belief. He said, “And without faith, it is impossible to please Him (God), for the one who comes to God must recognize He exists, and that He proves to be the One who rewards those who seek Him.” The time has come. The prophecies are fulfilled. God’s kingdom is at hand. Jump at this opportunity to be forgiven, change the way you live, and profess faith in Jesus for salvation from the judgment of eternal punishment and separation from God. Repent and believe.

Calling

Jesus preached with authority about what only God could speak. He preached about eternal forgiveness and life with God. Jesus caught the attention of people with the power and authority of what He proclaimed. People would respond to His authority, a few would do so decisively, in Mark 1:16-20. These people who had never met Jesus before would instantly leave what they did, who they loved, and where they lived, forsaking everything, to respond to Jesus’ command.

Four fishermen, a lucrative trade in Galilee, a place where Judaism did not dominate the religious culture, saw and heard Jesus. First, though, Jesus saw them. As He walked around the Sea of Galilee, the body of water that fed many people and provided jobs, He saw fishermen. To Simon and Andrew, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people” (Mark 1:17). Jesus’ play on words changing fishermen to fishers of men/people probably caught their attention. His instruction to follow was an imperative/command and part of a conditional statement. He said, if you do this, I will do that. In the Greek Bible, the words of Jesus are, “Come! Follow Me.” Jesus called them to come to Him, be His disciples, and learn from Him. Mark said nothing about why the men readily put down their nets, got out of their boats, and followed Jesus. We could presume the authority with which Jesus preached in Galilee made people want to follow Him and see what happened. Another presumption could include the men left everything they owned and the people they loved because Jesus’ command to “come” was powerfully authoritative and they could not shrug off His command. The Greek word for “follow” includes this possibility. It means to be more than curious. Instead, heed your desire to follow Him, learn from Him, and come to trust in what He says. Come be Jesus’ disciples and learn from Him, so you will have faith in Him.

Jesus said more than just a three-word command. His command was a conditional clause. People might consider that trusting in Jesus and receiving salvation from sins was the “then” side of the clause. Many people live this way. They profess faith in Jesus, get baptized, then go about their merry way, living life no differently or minimally different from before they accepted Jesus as their Savior. But Jesus did not end His command with “come follow.” To be a disciple of Jesus, you will pay a cost. To be an active, submissive disciple of Jesus (a child of God), you will follow His leading and teaching, then go tell other people about Him. Jesus said this in His conditional clause. He said, “Follow Me, and I will have you become fishers of people.” Pay attention. Who will make them fishers of people? Jesus. People who have not repented, accepted Jesus as their Savior, and been trained by Him are unable to share the gospel. The training you receive from Jesus can come in various ways: sermons, Bible study, Sunday School, Bible college, and seminary. Each believer’s diligent learning from Jesus makes him/her able to obey Jesus’ Great Commission. He said in Matthew 28:18-20, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus makes believers fishers of people. His disciples’ co-mission with Him by telling people about the gospel of God.

Notice in verse eighteen, Simeon and Andrew did not delay their following Jesus. Mark used his favorite adverb, immediately, here. He said, “Immediately, they left their nets and followed Him.” These men recognized the authoritative command and draw of Jesus. He called to their hearts, and they chose to follow Him. These fishermen did not delay in doing what Jesus commanded. Mark testified to this. These men immediately left their nets. They did not give reasons for delaying. These men did not say they had to support their families. They did not say they needed to pay off the loan on their boats, or they had to take care of their aging parents. Mark does not record any excuses, but says they immediately answered Jesus’ command to come and follow Him.

Jesus said this one more time that day. In verse nineteen, Mark wrote, “And going on a little farther, He (Jesus) saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother, John, who were also in the boat mending their nets.” Jesus saw four fishermen that day who would accept He is the Messiah and would follow Him to be trained and tell other people. Did Jesus save them because He saw their potential? No, Jesus does not call the trained only. He calls all sinners to come to Him, repent, and be saved. Are only strong Christians trained and called to make disciples? No, Jesus’ command to all believers is to go out to all the nations, tell the people about Him, make disciples, and baptize them. Mark records in verse twenty, James and John, like Simon and Andrew, “immediately” left their father, the boat, the hired men, and followed Him.

Application and Conclusion

Consider for a moment what might have occurred if Simeon, Andrew, James, and John had stayed in Galilee to fish. They might have been convinced following an unknown man would be irrational. These men might have seen a large haul of fish and been enticed by the potential of wealth in being fishermen. They might have gotten hurt. Satan will try anything to keep someone from professing faith in Jesus. In each of these scenarios, the worst-case scenario would be that these followers of Jesus would not know Him, the Son of God, personally, and they would have become lukewarm believers. Jesus compared lukewarm believers to sitting on a fence between two possibilities: God or self. He said when He returned and judgment occurred, God would separate the sheep from the goats. Anyone who is not a believer in actual living, is not truly a believer and will be counted as a goat, not one of the sheep of the Great Shepherd.

Jesus calls all people to come to Him. In John 6:37 & 40, He said,

“Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I certainly will not cast out. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

God sought from the foundation of the world each person to be in a personal relationship with Him. He provided the way to make that possible. God provided salvation through Jesus, His Son, by His death and resurrection. He wants everyone to be saved from eternal judgment and death. God desires each person to live with Him in His kingdom when Jesus returns to earth from heaven. The questions for us to consider are:

1.     Will you recognize Jesus as the Son of God, the One sent to die for your sins so you can live with Him forever?

2.     Will you hear the call He makes to you follow Him?

3.     Will you, instead, choose not to do anything after your profession of faith in Jesus?

4.     Will you immediately follow Jesus or make excuses for why you cannot?

5.     Consider what might prevent you from obeying Jesus’ calling you. Do you consider He is unaware of those things? Let Jesus care for them. Instead, follow Him.

6.     What might occur if you stay where you are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? Would you have been convinced Jesus is just a construct of people’s minds? Satan will try anything to make you consider not to follow Jesus.

These and more are the costs of discipleship. What do you willingly give to God to be a follower, a disciple, of Jesus? God asks you to be willing to give them to Him. He may not require you to give them up to follow Him, but He asks you to be willing. Those are the costs of discipleship.

Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30 [NASB])