Now that you have seen, follow

3rd Sunday after Epiphany Matthew 4:12-23 Year A Now that you have seen, Follow Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Children of God, when fears press in on every side, we can proclaim with confidence: God is our light and salvation! Whom shall we fear? When our problems overwhelm us and we feel pressed in on every side, we can declare with confidence: God is the stronghold of our lives! Of whom shall we be afraid? No matter the troubles we face, we seek after God and to live in the house of God forever. God shelters and protects us in the day of trouble. Come, let us worship God with joy, for God is our light and salvation! We come to worship as bearers of the Light. Thanks be to God! Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, July 2025. Opening Prayer Holy God, we do trust you to guard and guide us from day to day. Thank you for this hour of worship when we can tune our hearts to sing your praise. Open our ears and our eyes to your presence among us. Be gracious to us as we seek your face in scripture and sermon and song. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon: “Watching or Following?” (Have a simple object if possible: a toy fishing pole, a piece of rope, or even your hands shaped like a net.) Good morning, friends! I have a question for you. Have you ever watched someone do something really interesting—maybe baking cookies, building something, or playing a game—and thought, “That looks fun!” You didn’t do it yet… you just watched. That’s called watching. In the Bible, when Jesus first met some of his friends, he said, “Come and see.” hat meant, “Come watch. Come learn. Come spend time with me.” But later, Jesus said something different. He said, “Come and follow me.” That didn’t mean, “Just watch me.” It meant, “Walk with me. Do what I do.” Here’s the difference. If I’m baking cookies and you just stand there and watch, you might get hungry. But if I say, “Come help me,” now you’re stirring, pouring, and tasting. Now you’re part of it! That’s what Jesus was doing. Then Jesus said something really funny. He said, “I will make you fish for people.” Now, did Jesus mean we use fishing poles to catch people? (No!) Fishing for people means helping people know God’s love. We fish for people when we: • are kind to someone who feels left out, • help someone who is sad, • invite someone to come with us, • forgive when it’s hard. Every time we love like Jesus, it’s like we’re saying, “Come and see God’s love.” And when we choose to follow Jesus with our actions, we’re saying, “I’m walking with Jesus.” So remember: • Jesus says, “Come and see.” • Jesus says, “Come and follow.” • And Jesus helps us share God’s love with others. Let’s pray. Prayer: Jesus, thank you for inviting us to come and see and to come and follow. Help us love others the way you love us. Amen. Prayer for Transformation and New Life Holy Companion of our difficult days, you call us toward what is new even when we feel worn or uncertain. We confess the weight we carry— worries we rehearse, the fears we nurture, the habits that hold us tight, patterns we cling to, the moments we turn from compassion, the truths we avoid. Unbind what tightens around our hearts. Lift what has grown too heavy. Make room in us for generosity, justice, and the courage to begin again. Shape us for your healing work as this new day unfolds. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Michael Anthony Howard) Words of Grace Hear the good news of the Gospel: People who have walked under heavy burdens have been met by the One who lifts them. People who have carried what felt unshakeable have felt the yoke break from their shoulders. Into every place of strain or sorrow, God’s mercy draws near. God’s compassion reaches out. God’s grace opens a way forward. In this promise, receive your freedom. In this grace, begin again. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Michael Anthony Howard) Scripture Matthew 4:12-23 Sermon Now that you have seen, Follow “From Come and See to Come and Follow I don’t know about anyone else, but it seems like January has just went on forever and ever. And it is not over just yet. Even theologically, this has been a long month. Exactly a month ago we were here celebrating the birth of a new baby. Within this one month, we have watched as wise men came to visit him as a toddler, we saw him left behind on a family trip to the temple at twelve, we watched him get baptized by his cousin. And in one month’s time he is thirty years old. Time is really flying by. And we have no idea of what he has been doing or where he was in that 18 years. Some people believe that he came to America and sailed back to Israel. We do know that his favorite cousin is inprisoned, and he decides to take over his ministry. Matthew never gives a hint of where Jesus was in those 18 years, but our scripture starts out by saying that when he heard that John was in jail, he retreats to Galilee to a little town called Capernaum. Matthew tells us that when Jesus begins his public ministry, the first thing he does is not perform a miracle, preach a long sermon, or organize a movement. He walks along the shore. Jesus sees ordinary people doing ordinary work—casting nets, mending nets, living their lives—and he says four simple words that change everything: “Come and follow me.” 1. From Curiosity to Commitment This moment in Matthew is not the beginning of the disciples’ relationship with Jesus—it is a continuation. In the Gospel of John, when Andrew and another disciple first encounter Jesus, they ask him, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus replies, “Come and see.” (John 1:39) “Come and see” is an invitation to curiosity. It is an invitation to observe, to spend time, to ask questions, to sit with Jesus and discover who he is. Many of us start there. We come to church. We listen. We watch. We wonder. We “come and see.” But Matthew shows us that there comes a moment when curiosity is no longer enough. Now Jesus says, “Come and follow me.” That is different. “Come and see” is about exploration. “Come and follow” is about direction. Jesus is not inviting us to a new life, he commands it. “Come and see” asks, Who is Jesus? “Come and follow” asks, Who will you become because of him? 2. What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus? When Jesus calls Simon Peter and Andrew, and later James and John, he is not asking them to admire him. He is not asking them to agree with him. He is not even asking them to fully understand him. He is asking them to reorder their lives. Matthew says, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Those nets weren’t just tools. They were security. They were identity. They were livelihood. To follow Jesus means allowing him to define: • our priorities, • our values, • our time, • our relationships, • and our purpose. A disciple is not simply someone who believes in Jesus. A disciple is someone who patterns their life after Jesus. Now this story of Jesus calling the disciples is so important that you can find it in all 4 gospels. We just heard this story in John last week, when Jesus says come and see, he is not talking to fishermen. But in Matthew Andrew and Simon Peter are brothers and so are James and John. Jesus tells them all to stop what they are doing and come and follow. He tells them that he will make them fishers of men. In this story Jesus doesn’t tell them how to get more fish (that is in Luke) he tells them to stop fishing and to see life from a whole new perspective. Instead of working for a living, live for a life of service. He tells them to bring the spirit of God into every little thing that you do. In 1983, Steve Jobs recruited John Sculley, the then-president of Pepsi-Cola, to become the CEO of Apple by challenging him to choose between a comfortable career and changing the world . This recruitment is a defining moment in tech history, culminating in the famous, blunt question: "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?". Jesus challenges each of us to bring meaning to our lives by becoming disciples. Discipleship is not about perfection. It is about direction. To follow Jesus means we are willing to keep moving—learning, changing, growing—wherever he leads. 3. We Are All Called to Be Disciples This call was not just for fishermen by the Sea of Galilee. It is a call that continues to echo. Jesus does not say, “Come and follow me if you are religious enough.” He does not say, “Come and follow me once you have your life figured out.” He simply says, “Come.” Every baptized believer is called to discipleship. Not just pastors. Not just church leaders. Not just “spiritual” people. To be a Christian is to be a disciple. There is no separation between the two. Discipleship is lived out in our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our neighborhoods. It shows up in how we love, forgive, speak, serve, and stand up for others. 4. “I Will Make You Fish for People” Then Jesus adds something that makes us nervous: “I will make you fish for people.” This does not mean manipulating others. It does not mean pressuring people. It does not mean winning arguments or checking boxes. Jesus starts where they are. They are fishermen—so he uses fishing language. Fishing takes: • Patience – you don’t force the fish • Presence – you have to show up where the fish are • Trust – you cannot control the outcome Fishing for people means living in such a way that others are drawn toward the life and hope we have found in Christ. We fish for people when: • we listen before we speak, • we love without condition, • we show up when others are hurting, • we tell our story honestly, • we invite rather than coerce. Most people don’t need a lecture. They need an invitation. “Come and see.” “Come and follow.” In Jesus world, there are no casual moments. Everything has a deeper meaning. Fish for people means more that we think. We think it means evangelism. Jesus is talking to actual fishermen, but he is think about the text in Jeremiah which says to hook the fish. As a prophet, Jeremiah is addressing the conditions that cause people to suffer. Many of the prophets note that people are struggling because those in power are not being fair to others. So when he says put the hook in the fish, the fish are rich and unfair leaders. So to be fishers of people is to insist upon justice in the world, to do what is right. We catch fish by doing what is right, by living in a fair way. We catch fish by making sure that everyone has a place at the table. Jesus invites us to transform our perpective, so that we can live in a just manner, and transform the lives of others. 5. Following Still Changes Everything Matthew tells us that Jesus goes throughout Galilee teaching, preaching, and healing. And he invites others to walk with him as he does it. That invitation and the directive still stands. Jesus still calls us from curiosity to commitment. From observation to participation. From “come and see” to “come and follow.” And when we do, he promises something beautiful: He will make us into people who help others find life, hope, and grace. Not because we are perfect, but because we are willing to follow. So today, the question is not: Have you ever come and seen? The question is: Where is Jesus asking you to follow next? A Local Illustration: Watching vs. Joining Think about something very familiar to us. In a small community like ours, it’s easy to watch good things happen. You can watch a food drive take place. You can read about volunteers helping after a flood or a storm. You can see photos of a community meal or a mission project posted online. That’s “come and see.” But there’s a difference between watching and showing up. At some point, someone doesn’t just post about the need—they hand you an apron, or a box, or a list of names and say, “We could really use your help.” That moment—when you step in, get your hands dirty, rearrange your schedule—that’s “come and follow.” You haven’t just observed compassion. You’ve participated in it. That’s the shift Jesus is inviting his disciples to make. 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. He Took Me Fishing One of the fondest memories I have of my Grandpa Anderson, was when he took me fishing with him on the St. Lawrence River. I was probably only 6 or 7 the first year I went with him. We’d get up early in the morning before it was light, and motor out in our little boat to one of his favorite places. He’d rig up his poles with practiced hands, and deftly get his lines ready, and then he’d guide me ever so patiently, and carefully, through the steps to preparing my own line. Then as we sat there in the shell pink dawn, quiet, and still, he’d murmur his observations to me - " Now put your hand right here - do you feel that gentle movement? That’s a fish tasting the bait so I wait, and wait, and now!" Then he’d set the hook and the line would start whirring off the reel, and he’d wheedle that fish into the boat. I believe that Christ invites us to become disciples in similar fashion. Christ invites us to join him on a learning journey - to follow and learn the ways of the Spirit. Christ invites people to undertake a gentle journey towards growth and transformation. Christ invites everyone to leave their nets, and to turn around, and follow. Edmund L. Hoener, Jr., Making Light Work When we commit to growing in faith every day, when we are willing to serve Christ in everything that we do, then we have decided to come and follow Jesus. Let us pray….. _______________________________ Amen. Song I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. TFWS 2129 Pastoral Prayer DO NOT PRINT God of all creation, who called every being into life, who is mindful of humankind in all its diversity, who embodies us with dignity, granting different gifts and talents to shape life in this world, we ask for your Spirit to unite us where we face lack of understanding and disunity in our churches, in our communities, in our countries. And in silence, we lay before you the burdens of our hearts. (Silence) We ask for your Spirit to unite us in the face of the conflicts, hatred, and violation of life experienced in so many regions of the earth and, in silence, we bring to you the pain of the victims. (Silence) We ask for your Spirit to unite us wherever fear prevents us from caring for our neighbour, from meeting people of different ethnicities, cultures, and faith communities with respect and, in silence, we bring to you the brokenness of human relationships. (Silence) God of all creation, in Christ, we are reconciled, and so we ask for your uniting Spirit to help us overcome all our divisions that we may live in peace. Posted on the Monthly Prayers page of the Christian Aid website, http://www.christianaid.org.uk/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2017/09/prayer-for-unity-amidst-diversity.html. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment DO NOT PRINT. What an abundance of gifts we have to offer: musical talent, the melody of laughter, the use of our minds in solving problems, curiosity, compassion, patience, urgency, spiritual reservoirs and financial resources. All these gifts and others that bear our personal marks are symbolized in our offering. As we give, and as we worship God with this offering, let us commit ourselves to give as forgiven and reconciled people. (Adapted from an invitation in Chalice Worship, Chalice Press, 1997, p. 391) Prayer of Thanksgiving Thank you, Creator, for the abundance with which we are blessed, and for the capacity to share our resources. Help us utilize these gifts to their full potential, seeking to spread Good News through support of this congregation and the ministries to which we are committed. Renew in us a yearning to be disciples of Jesus, who shared his life with all he encountered. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for YouTube Let us take God's light into the world. We will go to join others in pilgrimage of trust. Let us go to gather the burdens of others. We will take away their fears and offer them to Jesus, who helps everyone in every moment. Let us go to live in the Spirit's presence. We will follow the Spirit into the peace which is offered to all of God's people. (Lectionary Liturgies, Thom Shuman) Community Time Joys and Concerns Benediction Your heart beckons you to “Come! To seek God’s face!” (based on Psalm 27:8) Let us listen to the needs of our heart and leave this house of worship ready to seek, find and follow our Savior. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. ( Presbyterian Outlook, Terri McDowell Ott) Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener - The Powerful Moments That Change Your Life Forever - Matthew 4:12-23 I am a collector of lists. I want to share with you this morning my favorite list of all time. It’s a list of answers given by English school children on their religion exams. Noah’s wife was called Joan of the Ark. A myth is a female moth. Sometimes it is difficult to hear in church because the agnostics are so terrible. The Pope lives in a vacuum. The Fifth Commandment is “Humor your father and mother.” This is my favorite of all: Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day and a ball of fire by night. The point is: right answers are important, but have you thought about this – so are right questions! So the right question I want to raise with you today is this: How long has it been since you had a powerful moment that changed your life forever? The New Testament was written originally in common Greek and the Greeks had several different words for our one word love. Agape = unconditional love Eros = erotic… bargaining love (I’ll do this for you if you do that for me, which, if you think about it, is not really love at all) Phileo = philanthropic, brotherly, sisterly, or humanitarian love Storge = family love. New Testament Greek also had two words for time – chronos and kairos. Chronos, which give us our word chronology, is tick-tock time. Each second is exactly like the one that preceded and the one that follows it. It is boring time, humdrum time, drudgery time, meaningless time, empty time. Let me paint the picture of chronos time. Imagine a convict in a prison cell; a lawyer with insomnia, who hears the unrelenting incessant ticking of a clock; an office worker who hates his job and can’t wait for 5:00 to come so he can get out of there; a college student in a 3-hour biology lab (right after lunch) all experience chronos time. Chronos time is empty time; it is a void that must be filled. It is time we must “put in” or endure. It’s what we are talking about when, of all things, we talk about “killing” time. So, chronos equals tick-tock time, humdrum time, boring time, and routine time. Thank God, there is another kind of time… _________________________________ The Art of Following - Matthew 4:12-23 If you’re my age or older you may remember Homer and Jethro. They were a comedy team who specialized in country music parodies and satire. They were sometimes referred to as “the thinking man’s hillbillies.” One of their routines went like this: HOMER: Jethro, if you was to win the Irish sweepstakes for two million dollars, would you give me half? JETHRO: Why, Homer, you’re my best and closest friend. You know I would. HOMER: I do know you would. That’s what friendship is all about. HOMER: Jethro, if you had two big luxurious houses like those ones in the Beverly Hills and I was livin’ yonder under the bridge without no home, would you give me one of your big luxurious houses? JETHRO: Homer, you’re my best and closest friend. You know I would. HOMER: Yessir, we’re best friends. Didn’t I know you’d say that. HOMER: Jethro, if you had two prize winnin’ Holstein cows and I had nary one, would you give me one of your cows? JETHRO: Homer, you wouldn’t even have to ask. You’re my closest friend and you know I would. HOMER: Jethro, if you had two really great huntin’ dogs... JETHRO: Hold on a minute, Homer. I got two huntin’ dogs. Homer and Jethro knew that charity is easy to idealize but hard to practice. I saw a routine like that played out in the area of theology and religion when I was in seminary. The professor was lecturing on the gospel of Luke and he had come to the third chapter where we find John the Baptist’s sermon to the people of Jerusalem. _________________ Trying Something New After falling twice in the 1988 Olympic speed-skating races Dan Jansen sought out sports psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr, who helped him find a new balance between his sport and his life. He also helped Jansen learn to focus on the mental aspects of skating Peter Mueller became his coach, putting him through workouts that Dan has since described as the “toughest I have ever known.” By the time the 1994 Olympics arrived, Jansen had more confidence than ever. He had set a five-hundred-meter world record just two months earlier. The Olympic title in that event seemed to belong to him. Unfortunately, Jansen fell during the five-hundred-meter race. He was disappointed and shaken. But, Dr. Loeher immediately advised him to start preparing for the one-thousand-meter race. He said, the five-hundred-meter race is gone. Put it behind you.” However the thousand-meter race was Jansen’s weakest event. But, there was no other chance for him to receive a medal. Jansen won the one-thousand-meter race and did it in record time. Since Jansen had followed the wisdom of his coach, he had put his failure behind him and tried something new. We can play it safe and remain secure in what we know. Like the fishermen, our lives will remain in the darkness until we are willing to follow and move in a new direction. Jesus called the disciples to something that would not only give purpose and meaning to their lives, he called them to a vocation that would change the world. They followed, and from then on their lives would never be the same. Keith Wagner, Ice Fishing, Anyone? __________________________________ 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 Follow Me… "Follow me, and I will make you fishers," said Jesus. Fishing takes practice, preparation, discipline. One must learn how to best throw the net, how to make the mouth of the net come open too. I can throw the actual cast net a long way, but I can't always make the net come open so that it will actually form a circle around the fish. One must learn how to cast the line on a rod. Again, some folks can cast a long way, but their accuracy is awful. There may be fish on the right, but they know only how to cast the line to the left. There may be fish on the left, but they keep casting to the right. Casting, like discipleship, is an acquired habit. It rewards practice. Fishing is noticing the weather, watching the wind and the clouds. Fishing, like the gospel, dear friends, like the gospel, fishing is always practiced in context. It does no good to sit at one lake and wish I was on some other lake. It does no good to stand at the ocean and wish the weather were different. On that day, in that place, I fish in context according to what the conditions are. So it is with the proclamation and the living out of the Christian gospel. It does little good wishing that we were somewhere else, in a different time or in a different country perhaps. Our context is this time and this place. Know where the wind blows. Watch the clouds. Samuel G. Candler, Follow Me and I Will Make You Go Fishing A Problem of Presentation Jesus came preaching that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What was there about that kingdom that got these fishermen so excited? And why are we not just as excited? Maybe we don't understand what the kingdom is. Or maybe it just hasn't been presented very well. It reminds me of a woman who read somewhere that dogs were healthier if fed a tablespoon of cod liver oil each day. So each day she followed the same routine. She chased her dog until she caught it, wrestled it down, and managed to force the fishy remedy down the dog's throat. Until one day when, in the middle of this grueling medical effort, the bottle was kicked over. With a sigh, she loosed her grip on the dog so she could wipe up the mess. To her surprise the dog trotted over to the puddle and begin lapping up what had been spilled. THE DOG LOVED COD LIVER OIL. It was just the owner's method of application the dog objected to. Sometimes I think something like that has happened to the good news of the Kingdom of God. It has been so poorly presented to us that we have never been captured by its attractiveness and its power. King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com 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 Have You Caught Any People for Christ Have you been fishing lately? Have you caught any people for Jesus? If you are a typical Presbyterian (or Methodist or Lutheran or mainline Christian of any sort) the answer probably is a shrug of the shoulders and a bewildered look. "He can't be serious, can he?" A few years ago there were some statistics floating around in church circles. If you take a middle aged church member who has attended church regularly most of his/her life, by the age of fifty they would have listened to 1760 sermons, sung 5280 hymns, placed money in the offering plate about 1500 times and never introduced another person to Jesus Christ. True - most of us, if asked, can't remember ever talking to a non-believer about our faith. We just don't do that sort of thing. We haven't done much fishing. James L. Collier, Go Fish! The Evidence of Life Is Growth A disciple is one who studies with a great teacher. It is implied that those who follow Jesus need to grow. We do not blossom overnight into mature spiritual giants. As Dr. Dwayne Dyer said in his book, Your Erroneous Zones, "How do you distinguish between a flower that is alive and one that is dead? The one that is growing is alive. The only evidence of life is growth." So it is with the life of the spirit. One prominent evangelist has complained that despite the burgeoning statistics, the church today is not growing. It is merely getting fat. That is, persons are coming into the church but they are remaining spiritual babes. They are not growing. "We are simply multiplying spiritual babies," he charges. To be alive is to grow. Peter encourages us "to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3: 18). King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com