Sermon for January 25, 2009 The Third Sunday of Epiphany Mark 1:14-20 A. The traditional site where the events in this morning's passage of Scripture are reported to have occurred is a beautiful spot along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. A small chapel was built there centuries ago, featuring colorful tile mosaics on the floor that show an image of the loaves and fishes – an early symbol of Christianity. The gentle waves of the Lake roll onto shore only a few yards away. Near the chapel and even nearer the lakefront, there is a statue depicting the calling of Peter by Jesus. This statue depicts a repentant and despondent Peter kneeling before the Master, arms outstretched towards Heaven. Though not in this passage, one can almost hear the words of Peter as reported in Luke, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Of course Jesus didn't go away – the Master never goes away from us, even when we go away from Him – and that made all the difference. Peter's life was forever changed. The call of Christ can take many forms, because people are different, and they respond in different ways. And that is OK, because the Lord calls us to serve using our own unique talents in our own unique circumstances. Last week we saw how Philip and Nathaniel, two very different personalities, were both called into a ministry of evangelism and mission, using their own unique gifts and talents, sharpened, of course, over time by the Holy Spirit. This week, we find the same call of Christ directed at Peter and Andrew, James and John, two pairs of brothers. All four heard the call to follow while fishing. All four left everything they knew to follow the Master. And all four, not just Peter and Andrew, became "fishers of men". Indeed, like them, we are all called to be fishers of men, and women and children too. This morning, we want to examine how this passage suggests we do this. B. We start out on a somber note -- John the Baptist had been arrested. We get no details as to why he was arrested, but based upon the story in chapter 6 where Herod has John beheaded at the request of his wife Herodias because he had chastised the King for marrying his brother's wife, I think it is safe to assume that the activity of proclaiming and baptizing for repentance and forgiveness of sins was dangerous business. John had rubbed the wrong people the wrong way, even if it was the right thing to do, at the expense of his life. But there is another reason why Mark mentions John's arrest. You see, John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of the Lord. "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie," he said. With his arrest, the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah came to an end. Now the Messiah has arrived!! Like the director of a play, Mark has John exit stage right, ending Act One of God's drama on earth. Act Two begins with Jesus' ministry in Galilee, where He would spend most of His time. And Jesus 'similar message to John shows Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. So we find Jesus walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. At that time and at that place, God stepped into human history in a unique and decisive way. With Jesus' preaching, and with His presence, the Kingdom of God is not only near – it's here!! And to prove it, the Kingdom comes in power. In quick succession, Jesus calls Simon (later Peter) and Andrew, James and John, to follow him, and they do. Immediately, without any hesitation, leaving their fishing nets behind, they follow.
Now Mark doesn't give us many details as to why these first disciples left everything behind and followed. We don't know if they had already known Jesus, we don't know if Jesus had done some miracle prior to this calling that so impressed these first disciples that they had been thinking of following Him anyway. We don't know if Jesus had sat down with Peter, Andrew, James, and John at some point and had explained His mission to them over coffee. All we are told is that Jesus called, and the disciples responded. His authority is such that they clearly heard the call of God and left everything behind. The detail that James and John left their father and the hired men in the boat underscores the radical nature of Jesus' call. Following Jesus is not a part-time commitment. It requires a complete transformation of one's previous existence, and the potential revocation of one's previous responsibilities. Now I'm not saying that when Jesus calls us to follow, that we are to necessarily leave everything behind and enter a monastery or a convent or go into FT professional Christian service. Some might, of course. But usually the Call of God doesn't take us away from our current life situation or our present profession. Still, God's Call on our lives is a Call to radical transformation. When the Gospel is preached or taught or even testified to – such as when we tell people how we met Jesus and what that did to our lives – then the Kingdom has come to whoever is listening. Once anyone hears the Good News of Jesus Christ, it becomes decision time. We then must decide whether or not to follow Jesus. We follow by repenting (turning our lives around, giving up our old ways of following selfish desire), and making Christ first in our lives. When we follow Jesus we choose to live a different way, with different priorities and different purposes. We turn from self-centeredness to God-centeredness and other-centeredness. And like those early disciples, we don't always get it right. Sometimes in our Christian walk, we fall down, scuff our knees, and tear our pants legs. But Jesus can forgive us, lift us up, and set us on the path again. It's a little bit like standing in a crowded airline terminal waiting for a certain flight. The call comes over the intercom: "Flight 324 is now arriving at Gate 23. Will passengers going to New York on Flight 324 please check in at Gate 23." Some don't hear the announcement – it must be said a number of times up to the time the plane is about to leave, so they get every chance to hear it and respond. Some ignore the announcement – they have other places to go. And some are waiting for the announcement. They check their ticket, gather their bags, turn around, and go to Gate 23. So it is with the coming Kingdom of God and Jesus' call to follow. We who are Church need to repeat the announcement over and over again so everyone knows they are invited into the Kingdom. C. Perhaps we can now understand a little better why Jesus' call to follow also involves a task to do upon following. "Follow Me," Jesus said, "And I will make you Fishers of Men!" Now, as I said in my email note, the original Greek says "Fishers of People", but that translation doesn't have the same oomph to me. So don't call me un-inclusive when I say Fishers of Men – I mean women and children too! No matter the grammar, to fish for people is to help people understand and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But what do we have to do if we are going to do this kind of fishing? Well, let me suggest that this passage offers up three things to remember, which I couch in the language of fishing:
One of the big ways to learn how to fish for people is to learn how to share our faith. I don't mean grabbing someone by the collar and yelling, "Brother, are you saved?!" Rather, faith sharing is being ready for those inevitable moments when someone approaches us about what it is that makes our life different, and why we believe what we believe. And this is never a matter of if it happens. It's always a matter of when. Usually, the "when" is during time of trial and struggle. A co-worker looses his job. A friend's marriage falls apart. Someone who admires and trusts us faces deep, severe, and lasting illness. God uses trials and tribulations to get our attention and put us on our knees. It is at such times that people come to us, asking for advice, asking what this "God thing" is all about, maybe even asking for prayer. We have to be ready to share our faith. And God uses these times as wonderful lures to use when fishing for people. Bob Woods tells the story of a couple who took their son, 11, and daughter, 7, to Carlsbad Caverns. As always, when the tour reached the deepest point in the cavern, the guide turned off all the lights to dramatize how completely dark and silent it is below the earth's surface. The little girl, suddenly enveloped in utter darkness, was frightened and began to cry. Immediately was heard the voice of her brother: "Don't cry. Somebody here knows how to turn on the lights." In a real sense, that is the message of the gospel: light is available, even when darkness seems overwhelming. Faith sharing involves two movements. First, we have to know what the Gospel message is. Simply put, the Gospel says that God has created all things and called them good, but people have chosen to turn away from God, and that is sin. But God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, who died so we might live. The Lord calls us to repent, to turn away from our old ways, and to center our life on Christ. And God calls us to express the change in our heart with a similar change in our life; we are called to live as Christ in the world, to help others at the point of their spiritual and emotional needs. The second movement of faith sharing is to be able to tell our own faith story. How is the Gospel story made real in my own story? How did Jesus change my life? How can others meet Him? The big myth is that we have to be eloquent theologians to tell our faith. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are only to be able to tell our story, and no one is better able to tell our story that us. So in order to fish for people, we have to have the lure of faith sharing. 2. Secondly, if we are going to reel in people, we have got to cast a wide net! Here's another myth we have to bust – the professional evangelists are no better evangelists that you are!! Indeed, each person in this room is a better evangelist than the professional clergy. Why, you may ask? Because most if not all the people professional clergy see are people who have already been caught in the Master's net. In your circle of friends, there are any number of people who don't know Jesus as Lord. Besides being ready to share our faith, we also have to be ready to invite people to church, or to church events. Tell folks why we go. Get all excited about it. And offer to help them get there. When each of us does this, the net is cast wide indeed! Billy Graham once shared the revival pulpit with another preacher, who was to speak the night before Graham arrived in that certain time. But at the last minute his travel plans changed, and he arrived a day early. So he went to the revival, and sat in the back, wearing a hat and dark glasses so no one would recognize him. Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to the preacher's message. When the crowd was invited to come forward at the close of the service and give their life to Christ, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man in front of him on the shoulder and asked, "Would you like to accept Christ? I'll be glad to walk down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, "Naw, I think I'll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night." This is a common attitude – let the professionals do all the work, because they are better at it than I am. But if we are going to cast a wide net, we all have to be out there casting. When we all look for opportunities to invite people to church, the net's reach expands by many times beyond what it would be if we let the Billy Grahams of the world do all the work!! 3. And lastly, if we want to fish for people, we have to go where the people are. Professional fishermen in Jesus' day would fish in one spot, and if they didn't catch anything, they would find another spot. Churches have to go where the people are in order to get the word out about the saving love of Christ. I'm really not going to dwell on this point for any more than a second or two, because you already know this. So consider this a pat on the back and a reminder to continue what we are doing and have already done. We have to go where the people are. Hand out water bottles on hot summer days. Give treats to kids at Easter egg hunts (or Easter egg runs, as the case may be). Join in Christmas parades. Post invitational posters. Hand out flyers. Run ads. Go where the people are. And of course, as this church grows and its program grows, we must always invite people to join those programs. Invite parents to bring their kids to Sunday school, for example. Invite people to home study groups or Bible study groups. Engage in mission projects. You get my drift. I have a friend who is an avid fly fisherman. He loves to share this passion with others. And he's good at it – he can teach all the right things one needs to know, from tying the right fly to casting the rod the right way to picking the right spot to fish. But the most important thing he teaches, and perhaps the lesson that fits the best with life, is the one to just be patient. God puts churches in the right place at the right time to be Christ to their particular community, in unique ways. So what do you think, Church. Are we ready to do a little fishing? Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA 20177 703-344-3569 |
Monday, March 16, 2009
Going Fishing
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