Come Follow Me

January 26, 2020 Year A Matthew 4:12-23 Disciples Answering the Call 3rd Sunday after Ephiphany Children’s Time Matthew 4:12-17 · Jesus Begins to Preach 2 of 5 Children's Sermon by Wesley T. Runk Turn Around! Matthew 4:17 Object: A framed picture with the back showing. Good morning, boys and girls. Today we have one of the simplest lessons to learn, but one of the hardest things to do that we have ever talked about. I brought along a picture with me and I am going to put it right in front of you so that you can see it very clearly. (Put up the picture with the back facing them.) It's a beautiful picture and one that I enjoy having in my house. Sometimes I just stand in front of it and look at all of the wonderful things that it describes. It must have taken someone a long time to paint such a beautiful picture, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. (By this time the children are telling you that they can't see it and you must turn it around.) You can't see it? You mean that it is going in the wrong direction? If you are to see this beautiful picture, I must first turn it around. I will if you will listen to me for just one more minute. Jesus used to preach, "Repent," and he would say it over and over again. "Repent, repent, repent." Do you know what repent means? (Let them answer.) It means to turn around. Jesus was telling people that they were going in the wrong direction with their sin, and they should stop and turn around and come back to God. In other words, when Jesus was saying, "Repent" he could have said, "Turn around, turn around, turn around." The right way to go is towards God and not away from him. When we commit sin we are going away from God and Jesus tells us to turn around. Now I am going to turn the picture around because this is the way it was meant to be. No one ever painted a picture to be hung on the wall facing the wall. When people paint pictures, they want them to be seen. When God made us, he meant for us to go in the right direction and he didn't make us to sin. But we do sin and we do head in the wrong direction. That's why Jesus preaches for us to repent, to turn around and head in the right direction. The next time you see a picture and it is hanging so that you can see it, I want you to remember the day that someone asked you to look at the back of the picture. We knew it was the wrong way and we had to turn it around. That is the same thing that we must do with our lives after we sin. We must repent and turn them around. C.S.S. Publishing Company, THE ONE-HANDED CLOCK, by Wesley T. Runk Stewardship Moment Once upon a time there was an old man who owned a donkey. He loved his donkey more than anything in the world. He talked to it; he curled up beside it on cold nights and it carried him and his belongings when he was tired. One day the old man met a woman who had three daughters. Now the woman had 17 donkeys. She was very rich! The woman wanted to divide her donkeys between her three daughters do that they had a fair share. She wanted her oldest daughter who did most of the work to have a half share of her donkeys, She wanted her second oldest daughter, who didn’t do quite as much work to have one third share of her donkeys. Ans she wanted her youngest daughter who did little work to have one ninth share of her donkeys. The problem was it just didn’t work out Seventeen donkeys cant be divided in half – so this did not work out. But when she see’s the old man and his one donkey, her problem was solved. She asks the old man for his only donkey. He is upset, but helps her out. So now the division works out. Half, then a third, then a ninth. But she discovers that she still has one donkey left over – the old man’s, he gives it away, but in the end he gives it away – how is that mathematically possible? Scripture Matthew 4:12-23 Common English Bible (CEB) Move to Galilee 12 Now when Jesus heard that John was arrested, he went to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, which lies alongside the sea in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled what Isaiah the prophet said: 15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, alongside the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the people who lived in the dark have seen a great light, and a light has come upon those who lived in the region and in shadow of death.[a] 17 From that time Jesus began to announce, “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” Calling of the first disciples 18 As Jesus walked alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, because they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 20 Right away, they left their nets and followed him. 21 Continuing on, he saw another set of brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father repairing their nets. Jesus called them and 22 immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Ministry to the crowds 23 Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues. He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people. Footnotes: a. Matthew 4:16 Isa 9:1-2 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon 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. As disciples we have to tell others that the kingdom of God is at hand. 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. Invitation from a Jogger Tom and Stuart McLean had been with their father in his growing business for three years. Their father was an electronic genius and had developed some exotic products that fit a very narrow customer need in the industry. When Stuart graduated from M.I.T. with a degree in engineering, he had accepted his father's offer to come into the company as his older brother had done two years before. In three short years the father and his two sons were the chief cogs in the business. While Tom and Stuart enjoyed working with their father, their work didn't give them much physical exercise, so they put on their jogging shoes in order to get back into the physical shape they both enjoyed in college. After gradually getting into shape, they settled into a jogging routine, and eventually covered three miles per day. By the sixth month of their regular jogging they began to recognize other joggers on the trail, occasionally nodding to them or greeting them with a smile. One day as they neared the end of their three miles, an African-American jogger joined them. He said very little other than a greeting, but joined them again during the following week. On one of those days he sat with them in the locker room of their club and chatted with them after they all finished their showers. "How would you like to join me in a project I'm thinking of starting?" he asked during their chat. "What do you have in mind?" Stuart asked. "I came from the bad side of town," he started to explain, "and I'm going to go back there and set up programs for the kids. I was lucky, because I got an athletic scholarship to go to college, but most of those poor kids have got nothing to look forward to," he continued. "Well, that's all well and good," Tom commented, "but what are you going to do? And ... and this kind of thing usually takes money ..." The man went on to explain his plan and what it would do for the young people in the poor neighborhood from which he had come. "But who's sponsoring you?" Stuart asked, not wanting to demean what the man was proposing, but at the same time knowing it takes money to do things like this. "No one is sponsoring me," the man replied. "The need is so great, I can't help believing that somehow we'll make it. I'm quitting my job to get into this project ... how would you guys like to join me?" The three of them were dressed by now and the brothers said parting words to the other man and headed for home. On the way home Tom said, "Craziest thing I ever heard of," not quite convincingly. "Yeah, perhaps so," Stuart agreed. "You know, we were raised in a pretty privileged home and don't really know what poverty means." "So?" Tom replied. "What are you driving at?" "Let's help him," Stuart challenged. "Are you crazy, too?!" Tom accused. But they talked about it, and sat in the driveway giving it more thought before entering the house. Their dad was watching the 6:00 news. "Dad," Tom stuttered, "Stuart and I are leaving the company." "What did you say?" their dad asked, not quite believing what he had heard. "It's a long story," Stuart began. Merle G. Franke, Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit Cycle A, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. 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. Additional Illustrations Working for Christ Christianity began as a working man's religion. No, that is not the gospel according to Marx; it is the Gospel According to Matthew. Matthew tells us that immediately after Jesus began a public preaching ministry, he took four fishermen as his apprentices. He was walking by the Sea of Galilee and spied Andrew and Peter casting their nets. He called them to follow him, promising to make them fishers of men. In Matthew's Gospel, then, linked tightly together are Jesus' ringing pronouncement, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and his invitation to the fishermen, "Follow me." You and I, who believe in Jesus Christ and count ourselves his disciples, are not to follow a trade or profession as though it were the Holy Grail. We are to follow Jesus. Work is to take a secondary role in our lives. If Christ is truly our Master, then work cannot be equally important. We may be engaged in work, but never married to it. And whenever we are pressed or tempted to make work supreme, we are to recall the story of the four fishermen. We are to remember how they left their nets and their boats to go and be with Jesus, to do what he would have them do. John C. Purdy, The Call to Adventure A Job vs. A Ministry Someone has said there is a huge difference between having a job at church and having a ministry at church. ... If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry. ... If you're doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you're doing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry. ... If you'll do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with other activities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it even when it means letting go of other things, it's a ministry. ... It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not to get excited about a ministry. An average church is filled with people doing jobs. A great church is filled with people involved in ministry. Mickey Anders, The Beginning of Ministry Essential Personnel Even if we live where it rarely snows, the phrase is a familiar one. When budget talks collapse and the government shuts down, this is the phrase that is trotted out. When the earth suddenly moves under the people of California, often a certain group of people are called out while the rest are told to stay at home. When tornadoes blow through the Southwest and disrupt everything in their course, only certain people should risk the dangers involved. These are maintenance people, road crews, ambulance drivers, fire fighters, electric and gas company workers, truck drivers, and a whole host of service people who are taken for granted when things are running smoothly. We call them "essential personnel." Think about that phrase. Think about what it means to be essential personnel. Then, if you want to be humbled, think about what it is like to be non-essential personnel. Consider the fact that the world can go on without some of us. The good news is that in the church we are all, or at least all can be, essential personnel. We are called to be a special group of people and to do some important things. William B. Kincaid, III, And Then Came The Angel, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. Fishers of Men (Witnessing) Most of our witnessing is likely to happen in passing moments of conversation--those occasions when we show, in relatively minor ways, who we are and to whom we belong. I think of a suburban woman who was playing tennis with her good but quite secular friends. In a conversation break between sets she began referring to something she had read that morning. It would have been easy to say, "I read something this morning." Instead, with no attempt at piosity, she simply introduced one word: "In my devotional reading this morning." It was not a major soul-winning engagement. It was, however, a true sowing of seed. By a word, she had opened the door for some further conversation. Perhaps our greatest problem in becoming Christ’s fishermen is that we are not enough in earnest to grasp the opportunities that come to us; or we are so possessed of the idea that we must say something dramatic and far-reaching that we fail to say the small, immediate and potentially significant thing. To put it in the language of our lesson for the day, most of us really don’t act as if we even have a call to "fish." We’re out in the waters of human need every day, but we don’t seem to know it. The issue is not that we should become more aggressive about sharing our faith. It is that we should be more sensitive to the needs of the world around us, and more sensitive to the subtle prodding of the Holy Spirit. The two sensitivities are wonderfully intertwined. To be sensitive to the Holy Spirit must mean that we will be more sensitive to people and their pain; to be more sensitive to people ought to make us more open to God and his purposes. J. Ellsworth Kalas, Reading the Signs, From Empty Nets to Full Lives, CSS Publishing Company 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 One Unknown At the end of Albert Schweitzer's book "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" Schweitzer writes these words: He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal Himself in the toil, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is. Staff, www.Sermons.com 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 God Reigns Archbishop William Temple wrote in 1930: While we deliberate, God reigns; when we decide wisely, God reigns; when we decide foolishly, God reigns; when we serve God in humble loyalty, God reigns; when we serve God self-assertively, God reigns; when we rebel and seek to withhold our service, God reigns -- the Alpha and the Omega, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Archbishop William Temple. Quoted in "Context," February 1, 1992.