Be Careful what you ask for

February 9, 2025 Luke 5:1-11 Be Careful what Blessings You ask For 5th Sunday of Epiphany Year B Fill My Life with Meaning Prelude Greeting Call to Plenty Leader: As we continue to examine how we might be transformed into devotees of the economy of Jesus, we remember this week that abundant lives are ones filled with meaning. Work and play are important parts of life but in the economy of Jesus, we are also called to fill our jars with meaning. What does this “mean,” so to speak? Amassing more resources than we need is a game that can leave us empty and can make us feel frightened even though we have enough. But when our lives are spent playing a different game of communal cooperation and transformation, we find a richness of soul and more than enough even in hard times. “Abundance” (sing refrain only) See music assets in your downloads God’s abundance is for all, no one is left outside, kin-dom come, all people one in trust and love abide. In this world of striving, we feel the yearn to earn. The world measures our worth in those earnings. But Jesus had different ideas. Where they held tight to their narrow worldview, he offered new interpretations that opened their minds to abundance. When we feel our own resources are lacking, we can view our lives and practices again from the economy of Jesus. Let us pray: God of Transformation, we come to you today, weary from fishing on the same old side of the boat, frustrated that the tools we have often fail to yield the results we desire. In the midst of our striving, remind us that we can choose new ways of doing things, to shift our perspective so that we may see Hymn Holy, Holy, Holy UMH 64 A Sermon for all Ages Leader: Welcome, children! We are so glad you are here [and for those joining us through the screen, welcome to you, too]. Remember these six big stone jars from last week? We are talking about the generosity of Jesus and these BIG jars represent how BIG the heart of Jesus is for each one of us. He wanted everyone to have plenty of everything they need, and now it is up to us to keep helping him do that. I have something here in my pocket that I want to show you [pull out a dollar bill]. What is this? [let them respond] Yes! It is a dollar. What does it mean? [pause to let them respond… this is a trick question so they might not have an answer] That’s a weird question, isn't it? Actually, it is a trick question. By itself, it doesn’t “mean” anything. Let’s get out our Jesus Piggy Bank for this week and see if we can answer that question in a better way. [pick up the third piggy and shake it gently] Oh my. This one seems to be empty! Wait… here is another note, just like the last three weeks! Let’s see what’s up! [open a note that has been taped to the piggy bank] “Dear children. I am so grateful for your help in spreading goodness, gratitude, and generosity all around! I know all the other piggy banks had things in them already. But this one needs help from your friends out there in the seats! I think they have something to put into the piggy bank. Will you go ask them? But remember, the dollars won’t stay in the jar for very long because we have plans for good use of it. We don’t keep things locked up all the time just filling our banks with more and more and more. We look at what we already have, and the fun is in figuring out how to give it away! Always yours, Jesus.” [invite the children to go collect cash money from the congregation… organize this as best works in your space] Wow! [shake the piggy bank (you might have someone drop a few coins in it, not just dollars, so it makes some noise)] Now we have enough to make some meaning! Hmmm… I can see we haven’t figured out what that “means” yet (hahaha)! Well, I have a page from a catalog right here, and we can pick out something to do with our Jesus Piggy Bank money. [use a catalog for an organization like Heifer International… adapt the next paragraph if you use something different - see the example PDF in your downloads] I think that we have enough money collected to make a gift to a family of a flock of baby chicks! Here is what it says, “Your flock of chickens gift donation helps provide a family in need with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks, along with the training that will empower them to turn your donation into a lifetime of opportunity. Each flock of chicks: 1) Provides eggs and protein for nourishment; 2) Boosts income through sales of extra eggs and offspring; 3) Ensures security for generations through Passing on the Gift.” Can you believe that what’s in this little piggy bank can do all that? Yes! And then we know what this [hold up the original dollar] “means.” What this means is that a family somewhere will have enough to eat, to make a better life, and it will last for a long, long, time through their children and their children. We can make a BIG difference even when we start small. We just have to take the time and make the effort, which is something God gives us every day. This week I invite you to see if someone wants to add coins or dollars to our piggy bank to help us buy more chickens for families who need them [let people know how they can contribute, especially to those online]. Every penny, every nickel, every quarter, every dollar helps… nothing is too small because when we put it all together, we have more goodness to give away. It will be so fun to send our love by sending chickens! Let’s pray a repeat-after-me prayer, and then we’ll go [instructions per usual for your church]. Dear Jesus… [children repeat, etc.] thank you for showing us… how to to share… thank you for showing us… how to to care… help us to know… that there is no doubt… the gifts that you give us… can never run out… there’s so much in store… that we’ll give it away… making sure there’s enough… for ALL every day… Amen… Responsive Reading Psalm 138 UMH 853   The Peace Leader: Just as our worth as humans is not dependent on the bottom line of our bank accounts, our relationships are not dependent upon the earning of favors and the limitations of “quid pro quo.” The peace of Christ has no limits, and we get more just by giving it. So may jar-fulls of peace be with you today. People: And also with you. Leader: You are invited to pass the “plethora of peace” among you, remembering to pass it to those joining us remotely. Scripture Luke 5:1-11 Sermon Be Careful What Blessings you Ask For Sermon Opener - Jesus Said: “Try Again” - Luke 5:1-11 Here is the good news for today from Luke 5:1-11. This is the Word of God! A word of great encouragement and hope. Hope is the unique signature of the Christian gospel. What makes a Christian a Christian is this inability to quit hoping. A new gift from God is at work on our behalf, at all times in all circumstances. The crowds had pressed Jesus right up to the edge of the water at the Sea of Galilee to hear the Word of God. There he came upon three defeated men. They had fished all night and had only an empty boat to show for their efforts. They had worked hard but had failed. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a children’s book. It’s one of my favorite books of theology. It’s about a little boy for whom nothing goes right. The story opens with these words: "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day… I think I’ll move to Australia. In the car pool Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window. Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window, too. I said I was being smushed. I said, if I didn’t get a seat by the window, I’m going to be carsick and throw up. No one ever answered. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And, that’s just the way it turned out. That night the little fellow said, “It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia.” Life does not stand still. There isn’t a once-for-all experience. It was Winston Churchill who said, “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.” There are going to be bad days. Sometimes we are going to fall on our respective faces. These failures don’t have to be endings. They can be the avenue to experience God’s grace more widely and more deeply. Jesus of Nazareth gets into the boat with the three defeated men… Alexander was convinced the he was having a bad day, and that he was pretty unlucky. Just as Alexander felt unlucky in church, I think that many of us feel unlucky in our faith. We are convinced that no one wants to come to church anymore – the church is in decline, Christianity is dead. So it is interesting that one of the early lessons of Jesus in the book of Luke – Jesus teaches the disciples about God’s gift of abundance. The bible has a long history of abundance stories – the tradition goes all the way back to Elijah. In the midst of a famine, Elijah goes to a woman’s house and asks her to feed him. She explains that she is about to eat her last meal before starving. She feeds Elijah and miraculously has enough corn meal to make food for two weeks. And life gets better. Elijah assures her to always believe that God will provide. Luke apparently loves abundance stories, he tells them throughout the gospel, but also in the book of Acts. According to Luke, when the church was founded it grew by leaps and bounds – it was a gift of abundance. In our scripture today Luke tells a story of abundance. I always look forward to hearing about the time when Jesus needed a boat to speak to the people. The fishermen give him their boat, when Jesus is done, he asks them how fishing is going. And they report that things are not going well. They have been out all night and nothing. Jesus suggests that maybe they should change up some things, maybe fish in the day, put the nets out on a different side. They don’t believe anything will happen, but they still listen. And low and behold – they catch so much fish that there is no room for the people in the boat. All of their boats are filled. Can you imagine this scene 2000 years ago, when they would have needed to get rid of all of that fish as soon as possible – or it would start to stink everywhere. I would imagine that they were knocking on neighbors doors far and wide giving away fish so that it did not go to waste. At least if that story happened today – we have an organized way to deal with it. We even have refrigerators to store the fish and cars to drive it to neighbors far away. We have a church, that is equipped to deal with abundance. And yet we still need to be reminded of God’s abundance amongst us. The church is not unlucky because we have Jesus. When we hear this story with modern ears – it is easy for us to get misled. We think this story is talking about the disciples and what they did to catch fish. We think that God’s abundance is about techinique, we think that abundance is something that we create. About doing something different. We have to remember that abundance is from God, not our efforts. Remember Luke’s story is about how the spirit was at work in the presence of Jesus. The characters around Jesus are inconsequential to the story. In this sstory, Jesus even gives the fishermen something to do. He tells them to recast their nets in a different place, But in reality, it is God who does all of the work. Everyone benefits. This story is not just about abundance, it is about what we do in response to abundance. It is the story about how Peter and the other fishermen flowed from adoration, to confession to commitment. They were willing to listen to Jesus even when it didn’t make sense. And their lives were changed forever. They became disciples. Notice how Peter recognized the work of the spirit. He know that waters, and he knew that there was nothing there. And yet through god’s actions that fish were plentiful. When he recognizes the work of God, he pauses and pays his respect. He says that words that many prophets before his have said – Lord I am not worthy of this attention because I am a sinner. That is his confession. I’m Just a Simple Housewife Once upon a time, in the late 60’s a new pastor came to a parish. Up until his arrival, the parish had pretty much limped along with the support of those folks who had grown up in the flourishing parishes of the pre-Vatican II days. They thought of the parish as a place where they belonged. However, there was little encouragement from the priests of the parish to respond to the challenges of the Council. The new pastor, though by no means a young man, still was enthusiastic about the ideas of the council. He was disappointed that so few of the parishioners showed any concern about the issues discussed at the council and that many of them were not even receptive to the new ideas. So he gathered together a group of men and women that seemed interested in some of his ideas and began holding weekly small group discussions with them. This was the time when most wives were not working so eventually a woman became the leading force of the group. Eventually, the pastor asked her to head up a program that would be offered to the entire parish. At first she demurred. "I’m just a simple housewife," she said. "I couldn’t organize anything. And I don’t know if the other members of our group would want me to do this or even help me do it." But the pastor persisted in his request, telling her she could do it. All she had to do was try and the others would follow her. And sure enough, she did what he expected she would do, She threw herself into organizing a program, appointing people to the various tasks necessary to make the program a success and eventually had developed an ongoing adult religious education program for the community. No one was more surprised at how successful the program was than the woman herself . No one was more confident that it would be successful than the pastor. Fr. Arthur M. Greeley _______________________ God works with ordinary people in ordinary situations. Some of the greatest miracles happen in the course of our lives. But it takes hindsight for us to even see it. We were worried about something and God handled it, we thought that there wouldn’t be enough and God provided, we were in a culture of scarcity- and some how we survived. We never even realized what was happening, until after it happened. Just like Jesus kept the disciples busy during the process, life keeps us busy. But we didn’t do anything special – God did all of he hard work. Catching or Getting Caught? As a boy I was never good at catching things, except a cold now and then. I tried to catch a pony to ride and failed. The butterfly trip was a disaster. I tried catching frogs but didn't try too hard because I didn't know what I would do with them once I caught them. Fish weren't my favorite for eating, so catching them was no treat, because I knew it implied that I would eat them with delight rather than gagging on them, which I always did. I never was good at catching things. A major church denomination has as its theme, "Catch the Spirit." As usual, the church got it backward. We are not to set our sights at catching or getting, but allowing ourselves to be caught. We are invited to be caught by a spirit that helps us make a giving instead of a living. The greatest spiritual arrogance is seen in the language of "catching." People are in search of God and will write endless numbers of books telling one how to find God. The truth of the gospel is that we cannot find God, but there are places we can go and things we can do where God can find us! The joy in Christian living is not in the catching but in the vulnerability of being caught by the one who made us in the first place. Catch the spirit? No! You can't. Be caught by the spirit? Of course! Life begins there. Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World, CSS Publishing Company _____________________ The Greek word catch means to hold onto and to keep alive. It is the spirit that catches us. But we have to realize that it is there. Fishermen have a reputation for telling big fish stories about the catch of their lives. About the big one. Humor: Fishermen It's like a man who had spent a fruitless day fishing. In desperation he picked out three fat fish at the local market. "Before you wrap them," he said to the clerk, "toss them to me, one by one. That way I'll be able to tell my wife I caught them and I'll be speaking the truth." Fishermen must be all alike. Someone has said that the only thing that casts doubt on the miracles of Jesus is that they were all witnessed by fishermen. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com _________________ Luke tells us this fish story to give us some hope in a culture of scarcity. He wants us to hear the story of the gift of abundance – to get us to listen. In the story, Jesus tells these fishermen that they will have to same success in fishing for people. Doubters – who see nothing in life but scarcity. The disciples were so committed to the good news of abundance – they went out and spread it to the whole world. If Jesus could make a group of motely fishermen successful beyond their wildest dreams – imagine what he can do for us – and we have cars, refirgerators- and most importantly we have the church. How can we teach about the gift of abundance in a world of scarcity? What is it that we need to do? What techniques do we need to learn? Maybe we just need to be reminded that abundance is a gift from God. All of the gospels tell the story of Jesus calling his disciples. And in most versions Jesus says come follow me. In Luke’s story – jesus doesn’t extend the invitation – Peter realizes for himself. He witnesses the presence of God and knows that he needs to be a part of it. When God calls us, God gives us a task, God provides the resources. God calls us to do our part to be a part of a larger story. There is always other things going on that we are a part of. Things just flow and they fall into place. When God Calls Andrew Young is known to many of us for his civil rights leadership and for his service as ambassador to the United Nations, as a member of Congress, as mayor of Atlanta, and as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Several years ago he wrote his spiritual memoirs, entitling them A Way Out of No Way, based on the title of an old African-American spiritual. Andrew Young captures something of the experience of those first disciples of Jesus, when he writes in his memoirs: I have found that when God calls anyone to a task, there is usually a larger plan of which any one person is only a small but significant part. The way is already prepared. There are problems and challenges to be faced, but these are often there to help us grow stronger. . . . I have come to understand that all of these obstacles are but a part of the divine process. Just as weightlifters get stronger by increasing the weight and strain on their muscles through practice and repetition, so spiritual strengthening comes as we learn to follow the plan of God and spiritually discern the hand of God guiding our lives. When the Lord calls any of us to a task, there is usually a moment in which everything seems to work itself out. Joel D. Kline, God’s Surprising Call ______________________ God’s abundance is not always about boats overflowing with fish, or having the largest church in town. It is about leaving room for God in the midst of our doubts. It is about allowing God to speak in the situation. Make Room for God Many years ago Oswald Chambers said to a group of students in a college chapel service: We have to learn to make room for God -- to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come as he chooses. Expect him to come, but do not expect him only in a certain way. At any moment he may break in. Always be in a state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come as he likes. Life is anything but predictable! Human nature is not fixed and settled. We live under hope. That hope is rested in God, not the situation. James T. Garrett, God's Gift, CSS Publishing Company _______________________ Let us pray for the spirit to move, and for us to be faithful enough to recognize God’s presence when we see it. Amen. Hymn Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise UMH 103 Prayers of the People Leader: In the economy of Jesus, we find abundance in the most unlikely places. We ask for God’s guidance to discern when we need to change direction or try things differently. We find abundant meaning in the midst of life’s uncertainties when we look to Jesu Each week of this series we will be focusing on naming gifts of abundance we have received in the week, instances where we have seen the abundance of Christ at work in the world, and we will ask for the wisdom and strength to change so that abundance is more available to all. There are notecards in the pews/seats and, if you wish to do so, you are invited in the pause between these petitions to write your observations and we will add them to the six stone jars as a sign of thanksgiving and commitment. In this pause, O God, we ponder the many gifts you have given us. Our gratitude seems never enough for the plenty you provide. We call to mind the gifts of creation, of relationships, of sustenance. [pause] In this pause, Christ Jesus, we ponder the ways your love is still at work in the world. Our awe and wonder at the goodness of others is profound. We call to mind acts of kindness, generosity, and selflessness. [pause] In this pause, Holy Spirit, we come asking you for strength. The temptation to live by the economics of not-enough is so strong in us. We ask for revelation in our thinking and doing, so that we might live with meaning in the house. [pause] Loving God, Christ Jesus, Holy Spirit, we are yours. We bring to you now the concerns of our day, of our communities, knowing that already you are present, already you are working to bring about comfort and healing. Today we pray for…. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (consider using CH #342, Tu Has Venido a la Orilla in Spanish and/or English as an offertory. Perhaps a soloist? Your choir? Or the congregation, singing in Spanish and/or English) Appearing in Matthew and Mark as well as in Luke, the story of Jesus appearing in Peter’s life may well be known to many of us. Peter had caught no fish despite being out all night. Jesus appeared, asked to use Peter’s boat as his speaking platform, and then encouraged Peter to throw out his nets one more time. Peter’s response was to acknowledge he was a sinful man. Then Jesus pointed the way to a whole new life, and the fishermen brought their boats to the shore and left everything they knew in order to follow Jesus. Most of us have not given up our entire life’s work in order to follow Jesus. Have you? In my own life, ________________ (offer one short story of what you’ve given – or given up – in order to be a follower of Jesus). And I remember _____________ (offer a short description of someone you’ve known who made a life change in order to follow Jesus). Today, I invite you to call to mind your own decision to follow Jesus as you share in our morning offering. Does your giving reflect your identity as a disciple/Disciple? How might this story from Luke inspire you to be more intentional about what you give as a Jesus-follower? Prayer of Thanksgiving God of all good gifts, Thank you for the ways you provide for each and for all your beloved daughters and sons. We rejoice in our capacity to join you in helping provide for sisters and brothers who are in need. Please accept these gifts. Help us put them to full use. Inspire us to dig deep into our resources to continue building up your Realm on earth, so every person will experience the abundant life you intend for each and for all. AMEN Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook The jars are full in the Kin-dom of God. The house is full of the meaning we need and the meaning we are called to offer others. We are transformed in the economy of Jesus, bearing the witness of dividends of grace. We have heard the call to invest our interest in the transformation of our communities. And so we go, doing likewise in the world, with the help of God, the guidance of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now and forever. Amen. Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Fellow children of God: Go forth, recognizing God’s grace on your journey. Go forth, discerning the Spirit’s calling in your life. Go forth, identifying the Christ as your guide. In this season of light, experience the steadfast love of God and sing the ways of our merciful Creator. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Michelle Torigan) Additional illustrations Many years ago the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake, was attempting to recruit a number of young men for an upcoming exploration. He gathered them around and told the group that if they came with him they would see some of the most marvelous things their eyes could ever behold. Sandy white beaches, juicy fruits, foreign peoples, priceless treasures, and gorgeous landscapes. And he told them that this wild adventure could be theirs if they came with him. Not one of them enlisted for the journey. The next day a different group came out. Drake told them that if they came with him they would encounter storms that would terrify them into tears. Tiger winds would hammer them and blow them off course for months. Water would frequently be scarce. At times they will be so thirsty that their very souls would cry out for simply one drop of water. In short, danger would always be their constant companion. Drake concluded by declaring that if they could handle these things, the joys of exploration would exceed their wildest dreams. Every single one of them in the group joined Sir Francis Drake that day, some did not even go home to say goodbye to their families, they just boarded the boat eager for the journey. What made the difference in these two groups? Why did the first group turn down the mission and the second jump at the chance? Was the second group different and more adventurous than the first? The answer is: No. It is not the men who had changed; it was the message. The first spoke of rewards; the second spoke of challenges. The first offered comfort; the second promised suffering. The first tempted them with things; the second seduced them with an experience unlike any other. I like to think that Sir Francis Drake discovered what Jesus knew all too well. And that is this: The paths that are offered to us must promise to shape us, build our character, change our world view, if they are to have any appeal to us at all. If we are presented with a challenge that will change, we will be eager for the journey. What is it about Jesus' message that made the disciples eager for the journey that was presented to them? 1. Jesus offered them a change. 2. The mission promised to be a challenge. 3. And their lives would never be the same. The Impala Problem One of the few creatures on earth that can out-jump Michael Jordon is the Impala. This is an African deer with a supercharged spring. It has a vertical leap of over 10 feet and can broadjump over 30 feet. You would think that the zoos of the world would find it impossible to keep such an animal enclosed. Not so! It's rather easy. Because the experts discovered something about the Impala. It will not jump unless it can see where it is going to land. Therefore, a solid wall even 6 feet tall is a sufficient enclosure. Lots of Christians have the Impala problem. They won't take a leap in faith unless they have all the answers in advance about where the leap will take them. But God is looking for some bold believers who, even in the face of the unknown, will leap when the Spirit says leap, will fly when the Spirit says fly, will launch when the Spirit says launch, all to the glory of the Lord. Bill Bouknight, 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 Little Transmitters In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe "Pioneer 10." Its main mission was to reach Jupiter and send back information about that planet. It was a bold plan because at that time no satellite had gone beyond Mars. Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and so much more. It swung past Jupiter in November, 1973, then passed Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. By 1997, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. Despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to earth. The most remarkable thing was that those signals were powered by an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light. Not even the most optimistic scientist could have ever imagined what that little 8-watt transmitter could do. So it is when you and I offer ourselves to God in faithful obedience. It’s just incredible what God can do through little 8-watt transmitters like me and you, when we’re turned on for him. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com It Is Darkest before the Dawn George Frederick Handel was dogged with misfortune. He had debt upon debt, despair upon despair. He had a cerebral hemorrhage and was paralyzed on his right side. For four years he could neither walk nor write. The doctors gave up on him. He wrote several operas, but again he fell in debt. At age 60 he thought his life was finished. Then he was challenged by a friend to write a sacred oratorio. He read the Scriptures and decided to work on the Messiah. For 24 days, without eating a crumb, he worked fanatically to produce the Messiah, which many today consider the greatest oratorio ever written. The prospects of something great happening can look grim. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus asked him to let down his nets for a catch. It seemed foolish to do so, because Peter knew there were no fish to catch. "But at your word," he said, "I will let down the nets" (v. 5). John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles, CSS Publishing Company. Adapted. _______________ Hooked for Life If fishing is one of your passions, you will love our scripture lesson for today. Though I prefer hunting to fishing, I have a soft spot in my heart for fishing because of a childhood experience. I was about 10 or 11 years old. One Wednesday afternoon Papa took me with him to a nearby pond to do a little fishing. I was just learning to use a rod and reel. Papa caught a little bass weighing about half a pound. Then he had to leave for prayer meeting. He asked me if I wanted to stay a bit longer and make a few casts. Of course I did. I remember to this day the top-water plug I was using. I tossed it over near some reeds and let it lie still for a few seconds. Then I just twitched it a couple of times. Then something exploded all over that plug, like an NFL linebacker demolishing a quarterback. I jerked hard and then hung on for dear life. I don’t know how long I fought that fish. Once or twice I thought it was going to pull me into the water. When I finally got him to the edge of the pond, I grabbed him by the gills and ran home. I couldn’t wait for Papa to return from prayer meeting and see my three and a half pound bass. Mama took a picture of us, Papa holding that puny little fish he caught beside my monster of the deep. I can show you the picture at home as living proof. Of course, I was hooked for life. Luke’s fish story involved a lot more fish than mine. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com For What Are We Fishing? The Synoptic accounts of this story include the miraculous catch. Kalas treats the Lukan passage in the following way: If this is where the story ended [ i.e. with the miraculous catch], it would be an interesting but rather inconsequential little miracle. It might feed our desire for a gospel of success in business and good grades in school, but it would hardly be worthy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fortunately, Simon Peter saw more than just the miracle. He was captured by the Lord behind the miracle. Thus, in-stead of responding with the bravado of a winner, he pleaded for forgiveness. Falling at Jesus’ knees, he begged, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." (Luke 5:8) At first glance, that may seem an unlikely reaction to a moment of success. Sometimes, however, it is the experience of achievement which forces us to see how superficial our victories are. Andre Thornton, star home-run hitter with the Cleveland Indians and an exemplary Christian, has predicted that there may be a very real religious awakening among athletes as a result of the exorbitant salaries so many are now receiving. He feels that when they find themselves suddenly so financially secure they will realize how little their wealth really means, and will thus be driven to look for deeper values. The truth is, a person can have full nets but still have an empty life. After you’ve sold the fish in the market and have put a share of the money in the bank, you may still feel an emptiness deeper than empty nets and a yearning more poignant than the desire for economic security. J. Ellsworth Kalas, Reading the Signs, From Empty Nets to Full Lives, CSS Publishing Company It Takes Work When talking about evangelism in one church I served, a member answered, "They know where we are. We advertise our worship times in the yellow pages and when the doors are unlocked." He expected God to make any new members jump through those open doors. That does happen at times. It is much more likely that a large catch of fish – or of new members – will take a lot of work by those who are already in the boat – those who are already members of the church. It might be a little crude, but I think that this section indicates that when we respond to Jesus' word, we are likely to have to work our butts off. The work will be more than one person (or one pastor) -- or even one crew can handle. Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes _______________________________________ Catching Men "And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.' " (v. 10) So often we read these words of Jesus and wonder why we do not see this taking place in our churches. A few years ago, Dr. Win Arn did a survey of 1,000 congregations. The answers that he received might help us better understand the problem. He asked both the members and pastors of these churches what they thought the purpose of their church really was. Dr. Arn reports that 89 percent of the people in those churches said that the purpose of their church was to take care of the needs of the members. The remaining eleven percent believed that the purpose of the church was to reach the world with the gospel. Contrast this with the pastors. Ninety percent of the pastors said that the purpose of their church was to reach the world for Christ while the remaining ten percent of pastors in those churches agreed with the laity that the purpose of the church is to take care of the needs of the members of the church. Is it any wonder why there is conflict in our churches today? The great Renaissance scholar Erasmus once told a very helpful mythical story. It seems that after Jesus returned to heaven the angels gathered around him. He told them about how on earth he had performed many miracles and how he spent time teaching the many who would come to him. He told them about his death, burial, and resurrection. He told them about his ascension to heaven. Then Michael the Archangel asked, "But Lord, what happens now?" Jesus answered by telling them that he had spent three years training his disciples to carry out his plan to reach the world with the gospel. He said, "I have left behind eleven faithful men who will declare my message and express my love. These faithful men will build my church." Then Michael asked: "What if these men fail? What then?" Then Jesus thought for a moment and said, "I have no other plan." Source: Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 82. Source: Tony Campolo, Who Switched the Price Tags (Dallas: Word Publishing), p. 170. " John R. Steward, Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, CSS Publishing three themes of Luke at this point • Jesus is popular, gathering witnesses in Galilee (until turning point of 9:50, when he heads to Jerusalem) • Jesus is a teacher (about abundance of the Kingdom of God) • Response is repentance • • sinner” - Peter never confesses to a specific sin, but this could be a cultural designation in which to the Jewish elite, sinners were those who did not attend worship or participate in the temple sacrifices. This would have included many of the poor living far from Jerusalem (which Peter might have been one of). Gonzalez • Only after his recognition that he is in the presence of the “Lord”/ the Holy that Simon is referred to as Simon Peter- the one who will later be commended for his declaration of Jesus as Messiah abunndance and Repentance are important themes. Jesus brought abundance, not to the entrenched powers or religious leaders, but to those who were in need of repentance.. He called and ate with a tax collector, Levi. He allowed a sinful woman to ‘waste’ oil on him. He tells the parable of the soil which bears great abundance. He heals a demon-possessed man in Gerasene. He feeds 5000. the story of the church is reflected to some degree in this story itself. When Jesus calls, Peter is hesitant and thinks that what Jesus asks of him is both unnecessary and too demanding. Nevertheless, Peter responds, and he discovers that life has a surprise in store for him. By doing what Jesus asks him to do, he experiences an epiphany of God.” (Arland Hultgren, Working Preacher)

Are You Prepared to Follow Jesus?

January 22, 2023 Matthew 4:12-23 Third Sunday after Epiphany Year A Are you prepared to follow Jesus? Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship One: As we come together to worship God, we remember Many: “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, One: and for those who sat in the shadow of death, light has dawned.” Many: In the light, our joy is increased! One: The weight of our burdens is relieved, Many: and we offer thanks to the Lord, our God! (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer Mighty God, we rejoice today like those who celebrate an abundant harvest! Your actions lift us up. As the days grow longer and we’re drawn closer to you, we eagerly anticipate seeing signs of your Realm, the kin-dom of heaven, coming near. Cue in us the joy of our salvation. Renew our desire to repent – to turn once more toward your love, made visible in the light of Jesus. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Song Jesus Calls Us UMH 398 Children’s Sermon Greet the children, bringing up some fishing equipment. Hello, children of God! You know what? I think I would like to do some fishing. Have any of you ever been fishing before? What do you need to do when you fish? I have with me some equipment that people sometimes use when they go fishing. (Hold up items as you discuss) So here is a fishing “rod”: you put some kind of “bait” on the end, and then you hold it until a fish comes along and bites at it. Then you turn this crank and try to reel it in! Here’s another kind of item you might use…it’s a net. This kind of tool might make it easy to scoop up fish if you had a lot of them in one spot. Sometimes people use really big nets to pull in fish. This was probably how people used to fish in the times of Jesus, in fact. They had huge nets that they would toss into the water to see what they could pull up. Here are some pictures of boats that might help people catch fish. So why are we talking about fishing? Well, here’s another question: have you ever been fishing for people? Wait, how does that work?? Can you catch people in a net?? (pretend to “catch” one of the students) That seems strange… But you know what, in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus invited His disciples to be fishers of men. He met a man named Peter, who had a fishing boat. Jesus began to preach from the middle of the lake, right on this boat! Then He told Peter to put his nets down to catch fish…Peter tried to explain that he hadn’t caught any fish all night, but he followed the directions of Jesus and put his net down again. When he did, he caught more fish than he could even carry! This made him realize that Jesus was something very special, was SomeONE very special. Peter bowed before Jesus. He was willing to do whatever it might take to follow this teacher. Peter left his fishing boat and his old job in order to become a disciple. Jesus told Peter and his brother Andrew that they would become “fishers of men.” This meant that He was going to use the former fishers in a special way. They would be gathering more followers for Jesus, and would serve people and help people just like Jesus did. Would you like to be a fisher for disciples? You can! Instead of sitting by a lake or scooping up fish in a pond, you can be a fisher by telling others about Jesus. You can share His love by loving others. Jesus wants us to tell everyone about Him and “make disciples” for Him. We can be fishers of friends! This is an amazing blessing and privilege that we have from God. We can still work at regular jobs, of course. But we can also spread the love of Jesus and “catch” other people to be part of God’s family! We need to be willing to follow Him, and encourage others to do the same. Why don’t we say a prayer about that now? ________________________________________ Children’s Prayer Moment (Have kids repeat each line) Dear God, Thank you for the love of Jesus Help us to follow Him and know what that means. Help us share His love with one another. Thank you that we can be disciples, too. Thank you for your love. We love you, God! Kristin Schmidt, Ministry to Children Prayer of Confession (Isaiah 9, Psalm 27,1 Corinthians 1, Matthew 4) God of our light and our salvation, sometimes we prefer to live in dakness, embracing the safety and anonymity of the shadows; sometimes we delight in our divisions, believing we are better than others; sometimes the yoke of our calling feels too heavy, and we seek to slip out from under the bar across our shoulders. Forgive our fear. Forgive our aversion to the light. Forgive our unresponsiveness to your call. Forgive our willful blindness and deafness to the Way. Help us know deep in our souls that you are our light and our salvation, our joy and our wonder, our very life. Hear us as we cry aloud in our need. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Carlson Brown) Words of Assurance (Psalm 27) Our God of light and love hears us when we cry aloud. We have nothing to fear. Know that this God of light wraps us in comforting arms, lifts us from the darkness of our guilt and sin, and forgives us once and for all. Know that we will dwell in safety in God’s house, now and forevermore. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Carlson Brown) Passing the Peace of Christ (Psalm 27) Greet one another with these words: “The God of light and love and salvation surrounds you with joy and peace.” (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Carlson Brown) Prayer of Preparation (Isaiah 9) Open the eyes of our hearts, O God, to the dawning light of your words of love and salvation. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Joanne Carlson Brown) Scripture Matthew 4:12-28 Sermon Are you prepared to follow Jesus? The key words to our sermon today are fishing, followers and fascination – fishers of men, followers of Jesus and then there is fascination. There was a woman who was the director of a drug rehabilitation center. One day a tall, strong man with a baseball bat entered the reception area. He was shouting obscenities and began banging the bat on the secretaries desk and the admitting personnel. They jumped back and tried to get as far away from him as possible. One ran into the back room and called the police. The woman who directed the center came our and walked right up to the screaming man waving the bat. She ducked under his reach wrapped his arm around his chest. In a heartfelt voice she repeated, oh you poor man. They stood together in that strange embrace for a while, and then the man began to sob. The woman led him to a chair. He slumped into it and waited for the police. He never let go of the baseball bat. That woman’s courage must be a fascinating story. I suspect she may be a follower of Christ. We can be also. In new testament times, people must have had that type of fascination with John the Baptist. – They wanted to know what was in him that made him so bold, so determined to meet a goal, what made him so able to cut through the chase. They were so fascinated with him that they flocked to the desert to see him. Even Jesus was drawn to his charisma, his ministry, his command to repent. No one knows why – but all of the gospels writers agree that Jesus never started his ministry until John the Baptist was arrested. Perhaps it was out of respect, perhaps out of fascination that Jesus waited. Of course when Jesus did go out and begin to tell others about the Kingdom of God, that fascination for John the Baptist – transfers to the ministry of Jesus. People were naturally drawn. Last week John the gospel writer talked about 2 disciples, today Matthew mentions 4 – Andrew, Simon, James and John. They all literally walk away from family, job, destiny and follow Jesus. Jesus tells them to put down your nets, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. In Israel, on the Lake of Galilee, there is this popular tourist sight called Peter’s boat. It was dark by the time that we got there, so there was not much to see. I just remember this old boat in the middle of the lake that was covered in mud. This was supposedly the place where Jesus first met Andrew and Simon Peter. Right next to the lake is a restaurant – I think it’s called Peter’s Place. There specialty is Peter’s catch of the day. I don’t remember what kind of fish it was, but I do remember that it was fried, really tasty, but way too big to eat all of it. But seriously, Jesus encourages us all to become fishers of Men. Fishing Takes Practice Ernest Hemingway loved fishing as much as he loved writing. He would never have been a great writer had he not fished, and he would never have been a great fisherman had he not written. Maybe his great work "The Old Man and the Sea" is so powerful because it is at one time so dramatically simple and also so dramatically deep. But "The Old Man and The Sea" is only one of Hemingway's great stories about fishing. His favorite saying apparently was this-something he learned while fishing and writing: Il faut (d'abord) durer. "It is necessary, above all else, to endure. It is necessary to endure," he said. Yes, fishing remains one of the great models of Jesus for the kingdom of God. Maybe our age and culture are in danger of losing the image because we no longer go fishing - just like we no longer herd sheep and know what a shepherd is. We no longer plant seed in the ground and know what growth is. We no longer draw water from wells and know what living water is. Fishing also teaches us about discipline. "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. Samuel G. Candler, Follow Me, and I Will Make You Go Fishing Not all of us know how to fish, but we can all follow Jesus. I think it is Max Lucado who tells the story of loving to fish with his father. 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 What does it mean to follow Jesus now, when we cant physically follow in his footsteps, even though his spirit is with us? We can be inspired to do his will, to make the world a better place and to draw others into the fold. Not all of us have been fishing but we can all fish for men. 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 In the age of COVID we all know what essential persoel are – but do we realize that in the church, we are all essential. It takes all of us to become fishers of men. Jesus invites all of us to come and follow him every day. Karl Barth who says that we should preach the gospel every day, and if necessary use words. Remember Christ in our actions. Our key words for today – fishers, followers and fascination. Someone defined a disciple as someone who is so fascinated with another person that they want to know everything about what makes that person tick. Are you fascinated with Jesus? Jesus was bold in life and in ministry. How can we live on the edge like he does. 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 Someone else said that being a disciple is making a decision – a decision to be in ministry to Christ in every things and in every place. I often wonder what would have happen had Jesus invited Andrew and Simon to put down their nets and come and follow me and become fishers of men and they said no thank you – I have work to do. None of us would be here today. We are all confronted, called and consecrated by Christ. Let’s all follow Christ – if nothing else – it will be an adventure. Peace Song Lord You have come to the Lakeshore UMH 344 PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE God of unity, We come before you dismayed at our own divisions. We have struggled as your church to live in unity; but we are divided – along the fault lines of our societies. The ruptures in our families, among friends, among denominations, among nations are wide and deep. When we attempt to get on the same page, we build taller walls and dig deeper trenches. God, help us! We know that Christ is not divided. We know that it is your baptism to which we have been called. It is your service to which we are compelled. You have called us to proclaim the gospel, but we even fight about what that is. Help us, God! Help us give up our power and our privileges. Help us to yield for the sake and cause of the cross of Jesus. Help us to want the unity you share, for you are one; in you, there is no division. Help us to embrace and to live the foolishness of a life emptied of power and given to service, in the likeness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Help us to walk in salvation – in the name of the servant Christ, amen. Carolyn W. Dandridge, The Africana Worship Book, Year A, Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua, eds., (Discipleship Resources, 2006), 85. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Sometimes I wish the Gospel writers would have described the call of Jesus’ disciples in more detail. It’s difficult to comprehend how these followers were able to hear Jesus’ invitation and respond in such a radical way. Did they “count the cost” of leaving their homes, families and businesses? What made it worth giving themselves so completely to following this wandering teacher? Jesus did not offer them an expense account, a time-share, or any indication how he would help meet their basic needs. Yet these people “left the boat and their father, and followed (Jesus).” In comparison, for most of us, the call to follow Jesus demands much less. And yet…when we take seriously the call to become a disciple, we cannot know all the ways that will affect our life. Today, I invite you to take a deep breath and imagine what it could mean for you in 2023 to be a full-time disciple of Jesus. Might it mean sharing more of your time? Your talents? Your treasure? Might it mean inviting your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, to join you in following the Way? As we offer our tithes, offerings and financial gifts today, may we channel our inner Simon and Andrew, James and John! Imagine the joy in heaven as we, too, accept the call to “FOLLOW”. Prayer of Thanksgiving O God, through offering these gifts, may we become a more open people— open-minded in hearing your word and wisdom, open-hearted in healing a broken world, open-handed in heeding your call to charity and enacted love. With thanks for all good gifts, we present these tithes and offerings as symbols of our whole selves. Amen. (adapted from William Flewelling, Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook (Based on Matthew 4) Jesus, the light of the world, calls us to follow. Go and tell the news of God’s love. Cast the nets of grace wide, that all may see the glory of God. Go forth and shine with God’s light! May God—Source, Word, and Spirit— bless you with the radiance of love. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Mary Petrina Boyd) Community Time Benediction Recognize the greatness within and around you. Follow Jesus out into the world to spread the radiance of Christ, to proclaim the good news, and to be instruments of healing and wholeness. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Additional Illustrations 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. _________________ 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 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. 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 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. Go Fish "Do you have any sevens?" "No. Go fish!" I remember playing that card game as a child - it consumed long hours on dull, rainy days. It didn't take much intellect but it chased away the boredom. "Go fish!" That's what Jesus said to his first disciples - only he wasn't playing games. He was serious. There at the very beginning of his ministry when he started recruiting his helpers, he called out to Peter and Andrew and said, "Come, follow me." Then he said, "I will make you fish for people." They already knew how to catch fish - that was their profession - but he called them to learn to bring in people. "Go fish!" he said and they did. James L. Collier, Go Fish! 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 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 ____________________________________ The World’s Only Hope G. Ray Jordon, Methodist preacher from North Carolina and teacher of preachers at Emory University, wrote years ago, "The hope of civilization is that we shall be able to produce enough Christlike men to save it." That is the world's only hope. It was when Jesus first walked along the Sea of Galilee. It still is today. Thomas A. Pilgrim, The Man From Galilee, CSS Publishing Company, Inc

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.