Let's Get Political

• Third Sunday after Epiphany
with Mark 1:14-20  and Jonah 3:1-10
www.FirstChurchBville.com    @FirstUMCBville   @kerrfunk

A video of this sermon can be found here: https://youtu.be/t_bJBmHOvRc

• For the first time I’m going to talk about politics.
Not really. “Political” has to do with government, laws,
how society is ordered.

I am NOT telling anyone how to vote,
or affirming or deriding any individual or party.

I will not change my interaction with you
based on either one of our political affiliations.

Politics are part of our daily landscape, and
to be a follower of Jesus is a political decision.

• A year and a day ago Donald Trump took the oath of POTUS, and it is not partisan to say that it’s been a year with a lot of attention and tension and that political fervor is elevated. It’s not partisan to report that presidential approval polls show President Trump with record low numbers and that our nation is in the historic situation of a govt shutdown with exec, sen, and house in R party.

Why did the gov’t shutdown? Because parties and elected officers stalemate, not budging, and it’s arguable that a good number are not budging not because of principle but because of party.

• We just read from book of Jonah, 3rd chapter.
You remember chaps 1&2, God’s call and Jonah’s response. 

Why did Jonah flee? He was afraid of the people.
He knew how they were going to respond, right?
And rather than go with God, he fled.

Jonah ended up repenting – changing his heart
and mind and action – and we pick up on reading today

And we are surprised to see his message is received immediately and genuinely! There is not a stalemate, there is a turn to the Lord, and there is relief from the Lord!

Following God is a political decision.
It will affect how we relate to society, individuals, events.

• Earlier we read from Gospel of Mark, Jesus preaching the good news that the kingdom of God has come near, preaching repentance, calling Peter and Andrew and James and John to change their lives and follow him.

The kingdom of God has come near. Good news. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. God is now here and our job as disciples is to figure out what has God done in Jesus, and what does it mean that Jesus lived among us 2K years ago?

• One thing is teachings of Jesus. Learn them, follow them, live them, teach them.
(again, this is political. We’re talking about where authority and life influence are, and the political powers of Jesus’ day opposed him because people following Jesus threatened their credibility and power)

I’ve seen the fruit of worldly leadership,
and I want God in Jesus as my leader.

Following God is a political decision.
It will affect how we relate to society, individuals, events.

• The good news is not about a moral code or personal piety or “spirituality”
it’s about discipleship and life transformation,
patterning my life after Jesus, come what may.

The disciples we read about today, Jesus met them in the midst of their business, and they walked away to follow him.
They had something that was worth changing their lives for.

• And by the grace of God we can be disciples too, and have new life.

• Hymn 365 Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Mark 1:14-20 (HCSB)

¹⁴ After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God: ¹⁵ “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!”

¹⁶ As He was passing along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen.

¹⁷ “Follow Me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” ¹⁸ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹ Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in their boat mending their nets. 20 Immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him. ò

Jonah 3:1-10 (HCSB)

3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time:
² “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.”
³ So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command.

Now Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three-day walk. ⁴ Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!” ⁵ The men of Nineveh believed in God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.

⁶ When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷ Then he issued a decree in Nineveh:

By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. ⁸ Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing. ⁹ Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.

¹⁰ Then God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it. ò