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In this morning's scripture lesson the period of Jesus' wilderness time comes right after His baptism and the powerful affirmation of who He was: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased!" 

"Repent and Believe the Good News" Cicero United Methodist Church Jack Keating

        March 1, 2009             The First Sunday of Lent           Text: Mark 1: 9-15

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In this morning's scripture lesson the period of Jesus' wilderness time comes right after His baptism and the powerful affirmation of who He was: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased!"

And wilderness times are a part of our lives as well. They are those times when we feel like we are being tested to our limits. When the journey of our faith feels desolate, lonely, trying, difficult ... even agonizing.

But I think those "wilderness times" will be much easier to overcome and endure when we stop to realize that they are also times for learning.

A few years ago I received one of those semi-obnoxious e-mail forwards that often make the rounds of our computers. This one was about things that our children have learned about life. Here are a couple of them that I am able to remember:             .

        "You can't trust dogs to watch your food for you."

        "Don't sneeze when somebody is cutting your hair."

        "You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk."

        "When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair."

        ''No matter how hard you try you can't baptize a cat."

And these are the kinds of learning experiences that we might call: "learning the hard way."

And so it was, as well for Jesus and us in the wilderness.

Jesus' time on the wilderness came just before He began his public ministry. It was a time of sorting out what mattered most and to get clear about God's will for His life.

But the key here is that Jesus did not stay in the wilderness forever.

He was there for forty days, "being tempted by Satan," and after coming out of the wilderness He went into Galilee, "proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come ... The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

Like I said before, we follow Jesus into the wilderness as well. We are tempted by Satan ... and sadly enough, we, unlike Jesus, often give in to Satan's temptations. And this often can cause our wilderness experience to last a lot longer than forty days.

If we are not alert, if we do not repent and believe the good news .... our wilderness experience could last a lifetime ... a lifetime of wandering, lost this way and that...without the peace of Christ ... without accomplishing much for God's kingdom.

We could spend countless years in the wilderness of life. And that, my friends, would make Satan very happy. Because a Christian who is just spinning his or her wheels in the wilderness is not doing very much, not enjoying very much, not giving very much, not evangelizing very much, not loving very much.

Make no mistake, the wilderness time is necessary for our education ... so that we can be refined in the fire ... so that we can be made stronger ... stronger in order to make a greater impact for Christ. But the wilderness is a very dangerous place indeed to set up a tent, build a home, or ultimately have our grave dug.

You know, sometimes we enter the wilderness time because of our own doing. And the most common cause for wilderness time is a sin of one kind or another.

Our sins usually bring out the confusion and misery that lead us into the wilderness. First there is the sin of commission.

This is a sin that is known, willful... we do it on purpose.

John Wesley taught about such sins... "That such an abuse of God's goodness and so great a contempt for His love can cause immediate alienation from God - a darkness that can be felt."

So have you ever entered the wilderness time by committing a sin of commission? I have.

Thank the Lord that God is merciful and will forgive us, if we repent, and will lead us back into the light.

And maybe the greatest thing we can learn from committing a sin of commission is to remember how bad it made us feel. To remember how dark the darkness was ... and to allow that to cause us to think and pray ... and not fall for the same thing again. To learn from our mistakes.

And there are also sins of omission.

These are the sins that tend to gradually lead us into the wilderness time.

If sins of commission can be compared to pouring water on a fire; sins of omission can be compared to withdrawing fuel from the fire ... until the fire goes out.

And some examples of omission might be not taking time to have private prayer and devotion, not attending church on a weekly and faithful basis, putting off studying the Bible, and not ministering and sharing our faith with others.

Neglecting these essential spiritual disciplines can and will lead us into the wilderness ... where our lives take on an empty quality ... our faith is unquenched ... we do not feel the power of being close to God ... we lose the skip in our step ... we feel uninspired. And what, you might ask is the cure for the wilderness time?

It is to do exactly what Jesus is preaching in our scripture lesson this morning. It is to repent and believe the good news.

"Repent" in Greek means to "change one's mind," but it is also loaded with the overtones of the Hebrew counterpart which is to ''turn'' or "return."

It's about reconciliation with God. It's about change in the direction of our lives. Repentance is not like the person I read about recently who sent the IRS his check for $150 with a note that said, "If I can't sleep, I'll send you the rest!"

"Repent and believe the good news" is just another way of saying "Get yourself a new orientation for the way you live, and then act on it."

And this desire for a new way of life comes in response to the kingdom of God having come near. Jesus Christ has come near. He is in our midst. God has become flesh. Jesus has paved the way for forgiveness, salvation, peace and entrance into the kingdom of God.

It's all right here for the asking.

Repent and believe the good news about Jesus Christ and you will enter the kingdom of God right here and right now!

Come on out of your wilderness!

And as a part of the kingdom of God we are members of Christ's Holy Church, both locally and globally. We are called to serve the poor, the outcast, the lonely, and the depressed. We are called to proclaim the good news to those who are held captive by sin and death. We are called to revolutionize the world through spreading God's Word throughout our communities and the world!

But how well are we doing at this? You know, no matter how well we're doing, I believe we can always do much better!

You know, so many of our churches in our Annual Conference have reached a plateau, are no longer growing, or are losing members at an alarming rate. And that means we are doing something wrong.

If we are called to make disciples .. .if this is our main reason for being ... to convert the world ... and we are not gaining in this category ... then we have been spending too much time in the wilderness.

We are guilty of the sins of commission or omission or both, and we need ... no we MUST ... repent.

Maybe we are looking for a resurrection of our vitality.  But as you all know there cannot be resurrection without death.

We must change. We must re-orient ourselves.

What has prevented us from fully participating in God's kingdom? What's kept us, individually, from being full members of God's kingdom? Where have we failed?

You know, the wilderness is an important place to visit, but it's not a place to live one's life. We are called to live as those who are obedient to Jesus Christ's call on our lives ... to repent and believe the good news!

And it seems to me that the first step toward repentance is humility. We must each admit where we have fallen short.

Then we have to make a covenant with God to change, and not to go that way again.

Dr. Scott Kisker, a professor of Evangelism from Wesley Theological Seminary shared this story with his students a few years ago ...

It seems Dr. Kisker used to be on the swim team in his high school. And when a swimmer is swimming a race in the pool, the only way they are able to stay on course and reach the finish line is to keep one's eyes open and fixed on the straight black line painted on the bottom of the pool.

And what is at the end of the straight black line? What is painted on the wall of the pool .. and what marks our finish line or place of destination?

Well, it is a cross, isn't it?

I think too often we think of evangelism as marketing ourselves and then we wonder why nobody wants to be like us.

But true evangelism is not about marketing ourselves, it is about lifting up Christ so that Christ may draw all people unto himself.

Charles Swindoll writes about how he is convinced that the evangelistic center of the greater Boston area is not a church. It is a filling station in Arlington. It was owned and operated by a man named Bob who caught the vision early in his life that his vocation and his calling were welded together. As time passed, his station became known as the place to go for gas, new tires, or other car service. Many times there were a half-dozen cars lined up bumper to bumper near the two pumps in front of that little station just waiting to be served by that man. He has no banners out, no "Jesus Saves" flags, no signs, no "ichtuses," nothing plastered all over the station or in the windows, no sign, "Bring your car to Bob and take your soul to Jesus." He simply DID his job! He did it well and people knew he was in partnership with the Lord. He led dozens of people to faith in Jesus Christ over the years.

So, how well are we doing at lifting up Christ?

It is time to come out of the wilderness, to repent, believe and proclaim that the kingdom of God is near ... in Jesus Christ ... the only one who can save us all from sin and death.