Follow Jesus

January 26, 2014 Psalm 27:1, 4-9 Matthew 4:12-23 “Follow Jesus” Third Sunday of Epiphany Year A Tools of the Trade I think that we all have them – for me it is pens. I have collections of pens all over the place at home and at church. As a writer, I never want to be caught anywhere without a pen. For me they are the tools of the trade. For a carpenter it might be tools, for a crafter it might be yarn, for a teacher it might be books. Tools of the trade are more than just tools, the represent our identity, our sense of being. You never lend your tools to other people – they have to get their own, you keep them in a place where you can get to them when you need them, and you never get rid of them, no matter what you hold onto them. For Peter, Andrew, James and John their tools of the trade would have been their nets. As a fisherman, a net was something that you held onto for dear life – because it was your life. But one day a strange man walks by and makes an even stranger request – follow me – and just like that, they give up their nets, their identity, their family and everything else. The bible never says if Jesus knew them ahead of time, it never tells us what it going on in their lives at the time, it doesn’t even tell us if Jesus had to say anything else to convince them. But it does tell us that they did walk away from their lives and follow Jesus to become fishers of men. Jesus tools of the trade were his relationships- his connections to the hearts of people. The message of Matthew is to help us to understand that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is trying to help us to see the kingdom and to see clearly that God is in our midst. What is so important that these men would just walk away from their lives? The promises of God – light, salvation, a stronghold. They had a chance to become disciples to the most distinguished teacher of all of the world – the Son of God. But at that moment none of that was obvious to them – they were just following the voice of God. Rob Bell is a pastor from Michigan. In one of his sermons, he talks about what it takes to become a disciple of a dinstinguished disciple. You were expected to start studying the bible at age six, and work at remembering it my heart. Only the best and brightest students were invited by a rabbi to study. There were very few who made the cut. These men were adults who had gotten into their family trade. So they weren’t the best of the best – and yet Jesus saw something in them that would make then disciples- they were willing to follow when asked, just because they were asked. In John 15:16 jesus explains 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last— We can be grateful that Jesus is still choosing disciples – he chose you and me so that we can bear fruit. He wants us to be fishers of men – to develop relationships, to show love, to spread the world – that the kingdom of God is at hand – and God is still looking for people to come and follow him. Modern Disciples as fishers of men I think that sometime we have lost sight of what it means to follow Jesus. We follow ourselves, but we don’t invite others to follow. We are not fishers of men. I think that what we don’t realize is that Christ is not asking us as disciples to do anything that he did not do himself. We focus on the story of how the disciples dropped everything. But we don’t realize that Jesus did the same before. He was born in Nazareth, his family trade was carpentry. And he left all of that behind and moved to Capernaum in order to be by the sea – what did he know about fishing? Only what God taught him. Giving up today for tomorrow I often wonder, how many of us as modern disciples are willing to give up who we are today in order to become who we need to be tomorrow. We are too busy holding onto who we are today for dear life, to even listen to what God is telling us about the future. Over the weekend, I have been thinking about how I keep holding onto a lot of activities, and tools, and my understanding of life. When I have been doing one thing for awhile, and this year I am not asked to repeat that activitiy. I feel like a failure. But if I keep holding on the old activities, there is no space to get new activities. If I am holding on to the past for dear life, then how is the future ever going to seep through? Repent! A Whole New World Is Headed Straight at You! "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!" That is what Jesus says (plagiarizing his cousin John) in Matthew 4:17. In his wonderful commentary on Matthew, Frederick Dale Bruner paraphrases this, "Move, because here comes the whole new world of God!" The verb translated as "is near" is the same word Jesus uses later in Matthew when he sees Judas in Gethsemane and says, "Here comes my betrayer." So when Jesus says in verse 17 that the kingdom of heaven "is near," he means it's coming straight at you! If you're crossing a street and see a garbage truck barreling down on you, you may well say, "Hey, look out!" (or words to that effect). Jesus' words have that same urgency. "Look out! Move! A whole new world is headed straight at you!" As Bruner says, every word that comes from Jesus is nuclear. These words are urgent and the implications of this kingdom's approach are immediate. If someone yells "Watch out!" when you're crossing a street but then you just stand there, something is going to happen to you and it's probably not going to be good. Jesus' point is the same: you can't hear him tell you that the kingdom is approaching and then just stand there like a statue with your hands in your pockets. You need to repent, literally to turn around, so that you're ready to embrace this kingdom, so that you can hop onto the kingdom instead of getting crushed by it as it rolls right over you. Scott E. Hoezee, Comments and Observations The kingdom of God is near. They say that Psalm 27 is David’s prayer while he was trying to escape the wrath of Saul. His prayer was that God would be with him all of the time. Verse 1 says the Lord is my light and my salvation. If I have God them whom shall I fear. Verse 4 says that I will ask to live in the house of the Lord forever. – the house of the lord is not in heaven – but here in earth. They say that this is a psalm for a funeral – but it is a psalm for life. Life in the house of the lord is living in Christ, with Christ, for Christ, under the protection of Christ. As long as we have Christ, what do we have to fear? LUTHER ON FEAR Martin Luther made this interesting observation in his Table Talk: "God and the devil take opposite tactics in regard to fear. The Lord first allows us to become afraid, that he might relieve our fears and comfort us. The devil, on the other hand, first makes us feel secure in our pride and sins, that we might later be overwhelmed with fear and despair." Source: From a sermon by Anthony Zibolski, "Overcoming fear and anxiety" 2/20/2009 As disciples we have to tell others that the kingdom of God is at hand. Turning Toward the Light A little boy named Bobby entered his first science fair in second grade. Because his Mom has a green thumb, they decided to experiment with the growth of plants. He took two small green plants and placed one on a sunny windowsill and the other in a cardboard box. After a couple of weeks, Bobby checked on the two plants. The one on the windowsill had grown a couple of inches and had vibrant green leaves. The one in the box had actually grown a bit, but it had lost all of its green color, becoming almost white and its leaves drooping. Thinking that the plant might die, Bobby cut a hole in one side of the box, like this, and set the box, with the plant inside, by the windowsill … with the hole facing toward the incoming light. Well you know what happened … but Bobby was so excited by this discovery! Yes, over the course of a few weeks, the plant began to grow out through the hole! And, a couple of weeks later, it turned to grow up toward the light and even blossomed! The plant that had been in gloomy darkness … and was all but dead … had seen a great light, it turned toward that light and blossomed! Well, Matthew wrote … after the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ … and therefore with the full realization of who this man of God was … he wrote that the Light had certainly dawned on the people by the sea, the kingdom of heaven had definitely come near; it had dawned and come near in the person of Jesus Christ … in the personified love and power of God that makes people … different … alive! Robert K. Schneider, Follow the Maker. Adapted by Brett Blair,www.Sermons.com If you have truly seen the light – how hard is it to help others to see the light for themselves. We have to provide a space for others to see that life is so much better in the light of Christ. Commentary Jesus lived three years with his disciples. They went everywhere together and did everything together. They ate, slept, and breathed the life of Jesus and yet it was difficult for them to make the transition in their minds from a Messiah who would be a mighty King of Jews to a Messiah that would die for the sins of mankind. But Jesus never wavered in his mission. Throughout his entire ministry among the people and his training of the disciples he held in his heart this hope: That Peter along with the rest of his disciples would lose their earthly ambitions and become feeders of sheep--fishers of men. The very first words of Jesus when he and Peter met at the waters was, "Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men." His very last words to Peter, again down at the waters of the Sea of Galilee, and after his resurrection, were, "Feed my sheep, Follow me." Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com Peter understood the invitation to salvation in his life and in others – what about you? Let us pray….Amen. Fishers Of Men by Mark A. Hultquist Passage: Matthew 4:18-22 • Lectionary: Epiphany 3 Item 1 of 21 | Back to Results Text: Matthew 4:18-20 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Materials: A stick with a string and fishing hook attached and a regular fishing pole and tackle box filled with supplies. Message: Do any of you want to go fishing? When I was growing up my dad would take me fishing in two different places. The first was a lake where my uncle had a cabin. We would fish on Saturday mornings and catch little sunfish and other kinds of fish, all very small. But in the summers we would go deep sea fishing in the ocean and then we would catch the bigger fish - haddock and cod and sometimes even sharks! One of the things you learn very quickly when you go fishing is that you have to use different kinds of equipment, depending on the type of fish you want to catch. If I wanted to go fishing today and all I had was this stick with a string and hook on the end, do you think I would be very successful? I might do okay in a small pond trying to catch those sunfish, but that is about the best I could do. So if I wanted to go after the big ones, what would I have to do? Right! I would need a better fishing pole, and the right kind of lures to attract the fish. With all the right equipment I would have a much better chance! One day when Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers who were fishermen, Peter and Andrew. He said to them, "I will make you fishers of men!" Jesus meant he would teach them to tell people about how great God is and how His love can change their lives! They followed Jesus for three years to learn how to do that. The Bible also says that you and I are called to be fishers of people. That means we also need to learn how to tell others about God. In order to do that we need to be growing in our faith. If the most we can say about God is that He exists, we will not catch many fish. However, if we spend time learning about God, and growing in our faith so that people see Jesus in our lives, then we are like this kind of fisherman who is ready for whatever might come along. We will be prepared to answer people's questions about God and to reach them where they are, so they can come to know Christ. God wants to make us into that kind of fishers of men! FROM A MUSTARD SEED, Mark A. Hultquist, CSS Publishing Company, 1996, 0-7880-0847-1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Follow Me There was a field covered with freshly fallen snow. A father and a son enter the field. As they walk across the field, you notice that the father pays no particular attention to where he is going, but his son, on the other hand, follows directly behind, making a special effort to step in his father’s footprints. After the two have crossed the field, you notice that there is only one set of tracks visible in the field, although two had walked across it. The Christian life is that way. In our daily walk we ought to be following Christ's example. Whether in times of suffering, sorrow or need, whether in times of health, joy, or abundance--if someone were to observe the snow-covered fields of your life, would there be one set of tracks, those of Christ? Or would there be two sets, one belonging to Christ and the other distinctly yours? Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993, p.53. Adapted _______________________ A Moment of Decision In his commentary William Barclay notes the significance of Jesus' move from Nazareth to Capernaum. He says, “There was a kind of symbolic finality in that move. In that moment Jesus left his home never again to return to live in it. It is as if he shut the door that lay behind him before he opened the door that stood in front of him. It was the clean cut between the old and the new. One chapter was ended and another had begun. Into life there come these moments of decision. It is always better to meet them with an even surgical cut than to vacillate undecided between two courses of action.” William Barclay Recently, I was listening to a teacher by the name of Rob Bell and he spoke on the selecting process that Rabbis would use to choose their disciples. At the Age of 6, children would begin to learn the Torah, this training was called Bat cipher, from 8 to 10 they would have the torah by heart, memorized, (Gen – Deu) by the end of bat-cipher, most kids would go and learn their family trade, but the best of the best would advance to the next level, the ones with the most natural ability would then memorize (Gen to Mal), after this the best of the best of the best would then apply to a rabbi to become his disciple. A disciple does not just want to know what his Rabbi knows, but he wants to be like his rabbi, and do what his rabbi does. Different rabbis had different sets of interpretations, which were called a Rabbis’ yoke. So you would then apply to the rabbi, the rabbi would grill you, the rabbi wanted to know if this kid can do what I can do, can he spread my yoke, but after the rabbi grills you, he might say you love god and knows the torah, but he is not good, then he would say go learn your family business, but if the rabbi thought this kid has what it takes, he is the best of the best of the best, the rabbi would then say come follow me, you would then leave your family, friends and your synagogue and village and you would devote your entire life to being like your rabbi, learning to do what your rabbi does, this is what it means to be a disciple. All this has huge implications to Jesus. In the gospels, we see Jesus calling Peter and Andrew to come and follow him. If they are fishermen then they are not following another rabbi. That means that they are not the best of the best. The Bible says, they dropped their nets and followed after Jesus. Of course they would have done that because in those days rabbis were the most honored and respected people. Picture this, Jesus, a Rabbi, is walking along the beach and says come and follow me. What He is really saying, you can do what I can do, you can be like me, then the story continues, with the men fishing with their fathers That means they are learning there families business and that means they did not make the cut, they were not considered the best of the best to any other rabbis. But Jesus tells them that He chooses them and they did not choose Him (john 15). A rabbi chooses his disciples on the basis that they have the potential to be like him. God believes in us, you know. The question is what about Jesus’ faith in us, He must have faith in us because he tells us to go and make more disciples, what if He actually believes that we can be like Him and live like Him. Jesus has faith that you can follow him and be like him, he believes it and that is what the foundation of our calling should be based on. May you believe in God and may you come to see that God believes in you. That is, why He chose you! A. Dr. Karl Menninger, a world-famous psychiatrist, was answering questions after giving a lecture on mental health when one person asked, “What would you advice someone to do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Most people expected the doctor to say, “Consult a psychiatrist.” Instead he said, “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.” B. this psychiatrist knows that those who serve others have less mental and psychological problems. The best way to bring on a heart attach or a mental, emotional breakdown is to think about yourself all the time.