Jesus Calls Followers Mark 1:14-20 January 25, 2015 Curtiss Fussell

Transcription

1 Jesus Calls Followers Mark 1:14-20 January 25, 2015 Curtiss Fussell Our own church business administrator, Jennifer Creswell, has a son, William, who s in the 6 th grade and plays on the Rec League basketball team the Eagles. The Eagles were playing a game this past Monday evening against the Fighting Irish from Franklin. It s only one second before the half-time and the Eagles are down by one point. William has the ball. He gets half-way down the court and lo-and-behold, he throws the ball at the hoop. William is watching the ball arch its way to the basket. Everyone in the arena is holding their breath watching the ball fly to the basketball. And suddenly, wonders of wonders, the basketball falls through the hoops. It s a score! William hit the mark from mid-court! The home-team audience goes wild! Not to mention his mother, Jennifer. The Eagles went on to win 28 to 14. Now here s the question why did William do it? He hasn t made a basket all season even after playing in 3 previous games. What made William think he could make the basketball from mid-court? Well, whatever answer you might give, I think the best answer is simply this: William thought he could do it. Why do we do the things we do? Because we can do them? Because we want to do them? Because we need to do them? Yes, all of those can be answers to the question Why do we do the things we do? But at the heart of why we do things lies principles. So, what principle was William using when he threw the basketball at the hoop? Simply this: I want to win the ballgame. He was operating on the basic principal that winning is better than losing. And that s a good principle. Here was Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry of teaching, healing, and preaching. And we re told that Jesus went out preaching The time has come. The kingdom of God is near.

2 Repent and believe the good news! And I know, many of you are thinking Hey, Jesus preaching sounds a lot like John the Baptizer s preaching. John s preaching was Someone mighty is coming. Repent, for the forgiveness of sins. John preaching was based on the principle: Everyone is a sinner so you have to get right with God you have to get yourself right with God by turning your life around. But Jesus said, The time is coming. Repent and believe the good news. Notice that Jesus had a different principle from John. Jesus did say Repent but Jesus also said, Repent and believe the good news! Jesus said, Turn around. Believe the good news. Jesus preached with a different principle from John. Jesus preaching was based on the principle: Everyone is a sinner, but God is gracious and God forgives you so turn around and live. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching there is or ever has been. Jesus says, Repent, turn around not because you re a sinner. Jesus says, Repent, turn around because of the good news because God is gracious to you. And here s the good news the Kingdom of God is near. And what is the Kingdom of God why, it s Jesus himself. The very one who is full of grace and mercy to sinners, to reprobate s, to nar-do-goods, to anyone who regards himself or herself as worthless and God-forsaken. To all these, Jesus says, Turn and receive the Good News God is gracious and full of mercy. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? Why, it s the most wonderful preaching you ll ever hear.

3 At the beginning of his ministry Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, And Jesus saw Simon, whom we know as Peter, and Peter s brother Andrew, casting a net into the lake. Peter and Andrew were fishermen. It was the family business. They fished for a living. And Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of others. Jesus made a job offer to Peter and Andrew. For Peter and Andrew their whole life had been around the Sea of Galilee fishing for fish. Now Jesus appears and Jesus offers them a different kind of fishing. Instead of fishing for fish, Jesus makes them an offer to fish for people. And Mark tells us this: At once, at once, at once they left their nets and followed Jesus. Now, why? Why did Peter and Andrew at once leave their nets and follow Jesus. Why did they do it? What motivated Peter and Andrew to drop their nets and follow Jesus? Well, here s my answer. I think Peter and Andrew responded to Jesus on principle. They had lived their lives on the principle of God s grace and love for them. God had been gracious to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt to the land of Israel, including the land around the Sea of Galilee. God, no doubt had graciously filled the Sea of Galilee with fish for their lives. Peter and Andrew would cast their nets and up came the fish. I m just speculating, but I think Peter and Andrew, as well as James and John, had experienced the grace of God in their lives and it was a principle in their lives. The principle was deep and abiding God was gracious and merciful, steadfast in love. Oh yes, God could also be fierce and judging and terrible. But the heart of God was gracious and steadfast love. The wonderful preaching of Jesus brought the grace and steadfast love of God into focus. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching.

4 No wonder that these fishermen left their nets and followed Jesus. These men must have recognized that while their entire religious devotion had been about believing in God, finally, finally, here was a call from God that told them in no uncertain terms I believe in you. What a wonderful gift to hear the Almighty say to you, I believe in you come, I will make you someone who will help others believe in me and see that I the Lord also believe in them. Now that s a calling. The calling of Jesus is hearing that God believes in you. So much is made about believing in God but what if the essence of faith is seeing that God believes in you? That God needs you. That God counts on you. Well, it s true come Jesus says, and I will make you because God believes in you I know you don t see yourself as a miracle. I certainly don t see myself as a miracle. But we are a miracle of a kind. We are here in this place of worship. We could have stayed home but instead, we got up, got dressed, made our way to this place, and we have directed our attention to things larger and bigger than ourselves. We have called ourselves to worship that is, we have told ourselves we are not the only reality in the world there are other realities that are grand and deserving of our attention. We have made our confessions that is, we have told ourselves and made it public that we are damaged and we cause damage, but we want to do better and live better lives. We have sung songs that using our voices to speak in ways we don t normally speak, to say things that normal speech cannot utter. And we will have heard a message that may attempts to direct our heart, minds, and spirits to see our lives in the presence of God. What we do here is so utterly different than anything else we do all week and yet so utterly essential for what we do the rest of the week. Because what we do here calls us in that great triangle of life: our life before God, before ourselves, and before our neighbors. ++++

5 The well-known scientist, Carl Sagen, late in his life became interested in what was called the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Another way to put that is the search for other beings out there in the universe who might be communicating with us. Radio telescopes were set up and they listened to radio waves throughout the universe to see if someone was trying to communicate with Earth. Someone said to Carl Sagen, What if we never get any messages? It s a possibility, he said, but it s a depressing thought to me that there might be no one in the universe trying to call us. Those of us in the Christian faith know that there is some being in the universe calling us, that God does not stand aloof from us and is not indifferent to us but communicates with us, summons us that we re called for. There s a wonderful story in the New Testament. It s in the Gospel of Mark about two brothers, Peter and Andrew. There were fishermen and one day they were casting their nets and Jesus walked by on the shoreline. He saw them out there in the boat and he called them. Follow me, he said, and I ll make you fish for people. And immediately they got out of the boat and they followed him, no questions asked. He didn t say, I ll give you a bigger salary. He didn t say, I ll make you famous. He simple said, Follow me. Then he went down the shoreline a little bit more and he saw two other brothers, James and John. They were in their boat mending their nets, and he said to them the same thing: Follow me. And immediately, no questions asked, they got out of the boat and followed him. So powerful in Jesus was this call of God, so hungry they were for someone to call for them that they stepped out of the boat and they followed In this light, the story of Jesus passing along the sea, calling Simon and Andrew, James and John, promising to send them "fishing for people," is a moment of sheer wonder and grace. We are told nothing about the inner life of these men. We do not know if they were restless or tranquil, bored or satisfied. What is important is not what was going on in them, but what happened to them. And what happened to them was this: They were called for. It was a call bigger than self, broader than occupation, deeper even than family. It was a call from the Son of God himself. They were not called for because they had somehow made themselves desirable or competent. They were called for because it is the very life of God to call his people. "Follow me," said Jesus, "and I will send you calling, too." What happened, of course, was that they made the most profound change a person can possibly make: "Immediately, they... followed him."

6 There is a moving scene near the end of Jean Anouilh s play Becket. The King had appointed Becket, his old hunting companion and carousing partner, as Archbishop, and then expected Becket to cooperate in a scheme to bring the church under royal control. What the King had not counted on, however, was that Becket would view his ordination as a genuine call, a summons to serve "the honor of God." Becket, therefore, refuses to capitulate to the King s plan. The King is astonished and, reminding Becket of their wild days together at the hunts and in the brothels, claims that this new stance of resistance is not like Becket. "Perhaps." responds Becket. "I am no longer like myself." When the King presses for a reason, Becket describes the sense of call, the feeling that an ultimate claim had been placed on his life, at the time of his ordination: I felt for the first time that I was being entrusted with something, that s all -there in that empty cathedral... that day when you ordered me to take up this burden. I was a man without honor And suddenly I found it... the honor of God. I felt for the first time that I was being entrusted with something... "Follow me," said Jesus, "and I will send you fishing in my name." That same summons comes to all of us. For some of us it will come as a call to leave our nets, our books, our desks, our homes. For others it will come as a call to mend our nets more carefully, read our books more thoroughly, mind our desks more faithfully, live in our homes more lovingly. But in whatever form, it has come and will continue to come, the summons to forsake being our "own person" and to become Christ s. And when we hear it, we can be sure that the One who loves us best, and cherishes our life most fully, has come near, and, in the deepest of all ways, we have been called for. And, more to the point, what makes us follow Jesus? Terrible heartaches and hardships in life. No one, I mean no one, gets through life without heartache and hardship. There s a 2 year old in our community. His name is Caleb Watson. His parents are Chuck and Coleen Watson. With all our clout, with our wealth, with all our degrees and positions and names, with all our all, What can we do for this child Caleb? Just this: pray for him, pray for his treatments, pray that in spite of his sufferings he and his parents will know that God still loves them and God cries with them in their hour of trial and suffering.

7 Repent and hear the good news that no matter what life hands us And life hands us a boat load God still loves us and if for us, and will provide for us. I think that s the principle that compelled Peter, Andrew, James, and John to drop their nets and follow Jesus. I think that s the same principle that compels us to keep on following Jesus. No matter what life hands us, not matter what we suffer, We will follow Jesus because of this one principle: God loves us God is for us God is with in life, here and in the life to come. This is what Jesus preached. Repent turn and see God is near; believe in the good news. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching you ll ever hear. I believe in the sun, I believe in Forest Gump he was made an offer by Bubba When we get out of here, you can join me and become a shrimper. We ll split the profit And Forest said, Okay. And that s how I got in the shrimping business. a moral rule or belief that helps you know what is right and wrong and that influences your actions Oxford Dicti: A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning:

8 Lafayette, in his last speech on American soil, responded:... I have had proudly to recognize a result of the republican principles for which we have fought, and a glorious demonstration to the most timid and prejudiced minds, of the superiority, over degrading aristocracy or despotism, of popular institutions founded on the plain rights of man, and where the local rights of every section are preserved under a constitutional bond of union. The cherishing of that union between the states, as it has been the farewell entreaty of our great paternal Washington, and will ever have the dying prayer of every American patriot, so it has become the sacred pledge of the emancipation of the world, an object in which I am happy to observe that the American people, while they give the animating example of successful free institutions, in return for an evil entailed upon them by Europe, and of which a liberal and enlightened sense is everywhere more and more generally felt, show themselves every day more anxiously interested Jesus Calls Followers Mark 1:14-20 Our own church business administrator, Jennifer Creswell, has a son, William, who s in the 6 th grade and plays on the Rec League basketball team the Eagles. The Eagles were playing a game this past Monday evening against the Fighting Irish from Franklin. It s only one second before the half-time and the Eagles are down by one point. William has the ball. He gets half-way down the court and lo-and-behold, he throws the ball at the hoop. William is watching the ball arch its way to the basket. Everyone in the arena is holding their breath watching the ball fly to the basketball. And suddenly, wonders of wonders, the basketball falls through the hoops. It s a score! William hit the mark from mid-court! The home-team audience goes wild! Not to mention his mother, Jennifer. The Eagles went on to win 28 to 14. Now here s the question why did William do it? He hasn t made a basket all season even after playing in 3 previous games. What made William think he could make the basketball from mid-court? Well, whatever answer you might give, I think the best answer is simply this: William thought he could do it.

9 Why do we do the things we do? Because we can do them? Because we want to do them? Because we need to do them? Yes, all of those can be answers to the question Why do we do the things we do? But at the heart of why we do things lies principles. So, what principle was William using when he threw the basketball at the hoop? Simply this: I want to win the ballgame. He was operating on the basic principal that winning is better than losing. And that s a good principle. Here was Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry of teaching, healing, and preaching. And we re told that Jesus went out preaching The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Wow, what a short sermon! Now, I have to be honest with you. I wish I could preach sermons that brief and to the point. All I can say is this I keep working on making my sermons more to the point. And I know, many of you are thinking Hey, Jesus preaching sounds a lot like John the Baptizer s preaching. John s preaching was Someone mighty is coming. Repent, for the forgiveness of sins. John preaching was based on the principle: Everyone is a sinner so you have to get right with God you have to get yourself right with God by turning your life around. But Jesus said, The time is coming. Repent and believe the good news. Notice that Jesus said something quite different from John. Jesus did say Repent but Jesus also said, Repent and believe the good news! Jesus said, Turn around. Believe the good news. Jesus preached with a different principle from John. Jesus preaching was based on the principle: Everyone is a sinner, but God is gracious and God forgives you so turn around and live.

10 The essence of Jesus preaching it this: The good news is God is here! Believe the good news and have new life! Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching there is or ever has been. Jesus says, Repent, turn around not because you re a sinner. Jesus says, Repent, turn around because of the good news because God is gracious to you. And here s the good news the Kingdom of God is near. And what is the Kingdom of God why, it s Jesus himself. The very one who is full of grace and mercy to sinners, to reprobate s, to nar-do-goods, to anyone who regards himself or herself as worthless and God-forsaken. To all these, Jesus says, Turn and receive the Good News God is gracious and full of mercy. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? Why, it s the most wonderful preaching you ll ever hear. Now the Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, And the Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus saw Simon, whom we know as Peter, and Peter s brother Andrew, casting a net into the lake. Peter and Andrew were fishermen. It was the family business. They fished for a living. And Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of others. Now, let s just parse this out a little bit. Jesus made a job offer to Peter and Andrew. For Peter and Andrew their whole life had been around the Sea of Galilee fishing for fish. Now Jesus appears and Jesus offers them a different kind of fishing. Instead of fishing for fish, Jesus offers to teach them and employ them to fish for people. And Mark tells us this: At once, at once, at once they left their nets and followed Jesus. Now, why? Why did Peter and Andrew at once leave their nets and follow Jesus. Do you think Peter and Andrew were thinking -

11 Hey, there s a whole lot more money in following Jesus than there is in fishing? I m sure that wasn t it. Do you think Peter and Andrew were thinking - Hey, there s a whole lot more money in catching people with money in their pockets, than there is in fishing. I m sure that wasn t it. Remember, they had not yet invented TV and teleevangelist back then. I m asking the question, what motivated Peter and Andrew to drop their nets and follow Jesus? Well, here s my answer? I think Peter and Andrew responded to Jesus on principle. They had lived their lives on the principle of God s grace and love for them. God had been gracious to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt to the land of Israel, including the land around the Sea of Galilee. God, no doubt had graciously filled the Sea of Galilee with fish for their lives. All Peter and Andrew had to do was cast their nets and up came the fish. I m just speculating, but I think Peter and Andrew, as well as James and John, had experienced the grace of God in their lives and it was a principle in their lives. The principle was deep and abiding God was gracious and merciful, steadfast in love. Oh yes, God could be fierce and judging and terrible. But the heart of God was gracious and steadfast love. And the wonderful preaching of Jesus brought the grace and steadfast love of God into focus. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching. And they left their nets and they followed Jesus. And, more to the point, what makes us follow Jesus? Terrible heartaches and hardships in life. No one, I mean no one, gets through life without heartache and hardship. There s a 2 year old in our community. His name is Caleb Watson. His parents are Chuck and Coleen Watson.

12 With all our clout, with our wealth, with all our degrees and positions and names, with all our all, What can we do for this child Caleb? Just this: pray for him, pray for his treatments, pray that in spite of his sufferings he and his parents will know that God still loves them and God cries with them in their hour of trial and suffering. Repent and hear the good news that no matter what life hands us And life hands us a boat load God still loves us and if for us, and will provide for us. I think that s the principle that compelled Peter, Andrew, James, and John to drop their nets and follow Jesus. I think that s the same principle that compels us to keep on following Jesus. No matter what life hands us, not matter what we suffer, We will follow Jesus because of this one principle: God loves us God is for us God is with in life, here and in the life to come. This is what Jesus preached. Repent turn and see God is near; believe in the good news. Have you ever heard Jesus preach? It s the most wonderful preaching you ll ever hear. I believe in the sun, I believe in Forest Gump he was made an offer by Bubba When we get out of here, you can join me and become a shrimper. We ll split the profit And Forest said, Okay. And that s how I got in the shrimping business. a moral rule or belief that helps you know what is right and wrong and that influences your actions

13 Oxford Dicti: A fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning: Lafayette, in his last speech on American soil, responded:... I have had proudly to recognize a result of the republican principles for which we have fought, and a glorious demonstration to the most timid and prejudiced minds, of the superiority, over degrading aristocracy or despotism, of popular institutions founded on the plain rights of man, and where the local rights of every section are preserved under a constitutional bond of union. The cherishing of that union between the states, as it has been the farewell entreaty of our great paternal Washington, and will ever have the dying prayer of every American patriot, so it has become the sacred pledge of the emancipation of the world, an object in which I am happy to observe that the American people, while they give the animating example of successful free institutions, in return for an evil entailed upon them by Europe, and of which a liberal and enlightened sense is everywhere more and more generally felt, show themselves every day more anxiously interested...

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