Call Me Maybe

Call Me Maybe

September 30, 2012

Mark 1:16-20

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

"Call Me Maybe" is a song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen for her EP Curiosity (2012). The song was written by Jepsen and Tavish Crowe as a folk song, but its genre was modified to pop following the production by Josh Ramsay. It was released as the lead single from the EP on September 20, 2011, through 604 Records. After Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber and his girlfriend actress/singer Selena Gomez tweeted about the song, it gained international attention.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_Me_Maybe

The song has become wildly popular in the United States and is played over and over on contemporary radio stations. Now many of you listening this morning have probably never heard of the song, but trust me people who listen to this genre have heard it so many times you might wish it would go away. It’s one of those songs that just get stuck in your head and replays continually until you can find something to take its place.

Musically it’s not a masterpiece. Jepson wasn’t well known, or popular before writing this song. She didn’t have a large following or previous claims to fame other than placing third in the 2007 Canadian Idol television program. She released an album following that victory, but she didn’t become a household name until releasing “Call Me Maybe”

The lyrics are simple, and it’s really just one section that has captivated the world and sparked heated debate among music lovers. They read as follows:

Hey, I just met you,

And this is crazy,

But here’s my number,

So call me, maybe?

Now we aren’t here to debate popular music, or even to find hidden or overt meanings in the lyrics of songs. We are here to talk about a call. We are here to look at the ultimate call, the call of Christ on our lives.

Matthew 22:14 says:

"For many are called, but few are chosen."

Many receive the call of the Lord and choose not to follow Him. Today we are going to look at what it means to respond to that call, and the journey we choose as we practice faith and obedience to The Way.

What Is The Call?

The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, was looking for a few good men. He was in search of the men He wanted to follow Him and form the core of believers that were going to rock the world. He sat down with a consultant, drafted a list of specific requirements, maybe even a list of preferred degrees from acceptable universities and set out to find the most highly qualified candidates. Right?

No!! Of course not. Jesus extended His call to follow Him to ordinary fishermen. They were not the religious elite, nor were they highly educated scholars of the Torah.

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

He could have reached out to anyone, but He chose to seek people that were ordinary working people just like you and I. It was not their skill set he was looking for, it was their willingness to follow Him.

Henry Blackaby once wrote, 

“When God was ready to judge the world with a flood, He came to Noah. When He desired to build a nation for Himself, He turned to Abraham. When He heard His children groaning under Egyptian bondage, He appeared in a burning bush to Moses. They were three of the most ordinary of men. But God had work to do, and He knew just who to do it with. God has always given His people assignments that are too big for them to handle alone, so that a watching world can see—not what we can do—but what God can do.”

That is one of the most exciting aspects of following Christ. Over and over we see God using ordinary people to get His will accomplished. We must never neglect the call of the Lord because just maybe we think we don’t have what it takes.

Not only were these fisherman ordinary people, they were busy people. There are many reasons we may think we are too busy to answer God’s call. Some of those reasons may even be legitimate reasons as opposed to excuses. We all recognize the importance of spending time with God, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time.