16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
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How many of you have ever had a job? I've had several, everything from shoveling horse manure to valeting cars to cleaning pools. I had to pay for my own car insurance as a teenager, and the thought of losing the privilege of driving kept me hard at work.
The only problem
with working is that people expect you to do something for the money
they're going to pay you, right? Have you ever had a job that
consisted entirely of you not working, not showing up, but the
paychecks keep on coming? There is a Sherlock Holmes episode which
is based entirely around the fact that a man comes to visit Holmes
because he can't figure out why he is being well-paid to copy the
encyclopedia. It just doesn't make sense.
All jobs require
work in order to be paid. Well, at least all the jobs I've done or
heard about. Know what happens when you see a sign by the side of
the road promising lots of pay for little work? You ignore it,
right? You know it's too good to be true. If such things were
possible, they wouldn't have to advertise for people to sign up for
such jobs—we'd be beating down the door demanding them, right?
There are two parts
to a job. One is the pay you receive, the other is the work you put
in. To do work without pay is slavery. To receive pay without work
is too good to be true, right?
Well, this is what
makes the message of the Gospel so astounding. What the Good News
tells us is that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross, doing the work
of atonement that we did not and could not do. In return, we receive
the glory and honor that is due to the eternal Son of God. The
righteousness that belongs to him is imparted to us, while the
suffering that is due to us is imparted to him. It's absolutely not
fair, and we are the benefactors of this arrangement, thanks be to
God. We receive eternal life as a free gift.
Now, let me be
very, very clear. We are not saved conditionally—we are not saved
by God on the assumption or as the result of anything we can or will
do. Our life isn't some grand 'trial period' by the end of which we
are required to prove ourselves as worthy. If you leave today with
the belief that you must prove yourself worthy to God or meet some
celestial requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven, then this has
all gone terribly wrong.
While I don't
believe that we will be 'fired' from the church for not fulfilling
perfectly our end of the bargain, I do believe that we fail to
experience the fullness of the abundant life Christ promises here on
earth when we fall short. Sin interferes with our ability to
experience the grace of God.
What I do want to
emphasize, though, is that our call has two parts to it. We see that
here in Mark 1. When Jesus called the first disciples, Simon and his
brother Andrew, it wasn't just a call to 'follow me'. It was first
that, but Jesus tells the disciples what will happen if they follow
him. Note, he doesn't say, 'follow me and then I'll let you keep
following if you do this.” He describes to them what their lives
will be like if they choose to follow him.
“Follow me and I
will make you fish for people.”
There is the call
to follow, and there is a description of the life that follows. The
link is made by Jesus Christ – if Simon and Andrew choose to follow
Jesus, that will directly affect the lives of others around them. If
they so choose to leave their old life behind and be transformed by
the grace of God, their future interactions will be so colored by the
grace and love of God that nothing will ever be the same.
Rather than be
inwardly focused, Jesus tells them that their lives will be focused
on other people. They will be an outward-looking group, sharing the
awesome good news of God.
Now, the Christian
church in America focuses a lot on the promises God makes to
individuals, and with good reason. We talk about the unconditional
love of God and the grace and strength God gives you that allows us
to make it through whatever challenges come our way. We talk about
how Christ is light for our darkness and hope for our despair, and
these are all vital, vital things. We cannot stop talking about
these promises of Christ, about the victory over death that we
participate in when we baptize. These are all part of what it means
to follow Christ.
But, as the church,
perhaps we have not done as good a job in describing the
transformation which Christ details in this conversation. Perhaps we
have failed in noting that following Christ means that the gifts we
already have will be used to help us reach outward, that the rest of
our lives are called to be focused on other people, on inviting them
into the wonders of a life lived with the recognition of God's
gracious and selfless love.
Notice, friends,
that Jesus tells the fishermen that they'll fish for people. He
affirms the gifts they have and tells them that God will use those
same gifts in their future lives of discipleship. In the same way,
our calling doesn't mean we leave the old behind—it means that
Christ transforms it and promises to use it for his kingdom, rather
than just using it to enrich oruselves or for our own little
kingdoms. God uses what we have. God gave it to us, after all.
So the call to life
in Christ is a call to be transformed, and its a call to look
outward, to reach out. To sit comfortably and focused on ourselves
doesn't conform to this call. To be still and rest with all of our
lives (there is a place for rest, but not always) isn't allowing
ourselves to be transformed. We're called to reach out.
Two weekends ago, I
was in Haiti. Haiti is a desperate place, filled with desperate
poverty. In the poorest slum in Haiti, I witnessed children running
around naked because they didn't have clothes. In that same slum, I
watched as people baked mud pies, desperate for anything with which
to fill their stomachs. There are not words to describe much of
Haiti—it must be seen to be understood. It is a poor country, with
80% unemployment, and from far away it would seem that there is
little hope. It would be easy to give up on Haiti.
But Haitians have
not given up. They believe God is at work in their country, and they
are hard at work joining in with what God is doing. The Christian
church is alive and well in Haiti, and one individual at a time, they
are reaching out. Lives are being transformed, and children are
being educated with the hope that they might grow up to be the future
leaders of Haiti. There is great hope in Haiti, and many of the
Haitians are excited about what God is doing. Many Americans have
joined in with God's work in Haiti, partnering with the Haitians to
work together to reach out to people. They understand it as their
calling. They are following Christ, and he is leading them to reach
out to love others.
Friends, following
Christ's call to be transformed doesn't mean you have to go to Haiti.
There is plenty of work to be done in America, even here in
Chattanooga. Around you are some boxes filled with sack packs for
hungry kids here in Chattanooga. It may not seem like much, but I
promise that the kids who receive these sack packs are excited each
week to know that a church in this city loves them enough to reach
out, to leave what is easy and comfortable behind and reach out to
transform others in simple but profound ways.
There is plenty of
work to be done in Chattanooga. There is other work around the
world. As a church, I believe we are sent forward, sent out into the
world. When Christ calls us, he calls us not only to be transformed
but to live for the purpose of others. We are called and sent, and
we gather to worship and be strengthened so that we might be sent out
to proclaim his glory through word and deed. It's not just about
being saved. It's about living into our calling and living out the
radical message of God's unconditional love. You have been called.
You have been sent.
So may we seek to
join in with what God is doing. I believe that God has plans for
this church, that we as a body may join together with God's work in
the world. Maybe it's sending a team to Haiti. Maybe it's finding
more comprehensive mission in Chattanooga that might involve all of
us reaching out to the community around us. Maybe it's both. But I
believe that we, as a church, are called to reach out, are called to
be transformed and to live for the sake of others. God will use what
we have—he gave it to us for that purpose. May we live boldly for
him, never giving up, always believing that Christ has a next step
for us in mind.
Let us pray.
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