When I was in elementary school, we didn’t have Upward basketball. The only league we had was the Westerville Parks and Rec. And for me the Westerville parks and rec league presented a problem. The problem was that I wasn’t allowed to play until the 4th grade. For those of you who don’t know, I have two older brothers. So for years I went to my brothers’ practices and my brothers’ games and waited for my opportunity to play. Finally the year arrived. My dad was one of the coaches, and our team was pretty good. (Show picture of me, then picture of the team, leave long enough for people to see and then go to a blank slide). I wasn’t very good, but our team was good. And as luck would have it, we won the whole thing; we were the champions of the league that year.
But winning the championship isn’t really what I want to focus on this morning. Oh no, I want to tell you about a boy who was on my team. His name was Davey. I won’t use his last name to protect his identity. But Davey was special. In fact Daveys’ whole family was special. Davey was extremely smart. But to tell you the truth, Davey didn’t even know he was on a basketball team. To Davey the court looked like a field of flowers where you jumped and skipped and sang.
According to the rules of the league, Davey had to play two quarters during each game. But, since Davey had a little trouble remembering that it was basketball he was playing, he had a little trouble staying with the man he was supposed to guard. At the beginning of each quarter, the players would stand opposite each other at mid-court and match up. And so one game my dad thought he would try a new strategy. He stood Davey in front of his man and he said Davey, this is the man you are guarding. Wherever he goes, you go. You follow him everywhere.
It wasn’t too long after that the opposing team called a time out. Our team huddled together and at some point during the time out the other coach starting screaming. She was really upset and it didn’t take long to figure out why. Davey had followed his man into the opposing teams huddle during the time out. Davey had heard and understood my dad. You follow him wherever he goes, and that is what he did. Well we had to convince the other coach that even if Davey had heard some sort of strategy, that he wouldn’t have understood it anyway, and the game went on.
I lost track of Davey after middle school. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was working for NASA today. My hope is that by the end of our time today, not only will we get a laugh from Davey, but we might learn something from him as well.
Turn with me please if you would to Matthew 4:18-22. (Mateo 4:18-22). We will have the passage on the screen if you do not have your bible today.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Mientras caminaba junto al mar de Galilea, Jesús vio a dos hermanos: uno era Simón, llamado Pedro, y el otro Andrés. Estaban echando la red al lago, pues eran pescadores. «Vengan, síganme —les dijo Jesús—, y los haré pescadores de hombres.» Al instante dejaron las redes y lo siguieron.
Más adelante vio a otros dos hermanos: *Jacobo y Juan, hijos de Zebedeo, que estaban con su padre en una barca remendando las redes. Jesús los llamó, y dejaron en seguida la barca y a su padre, y lo siguieron.
Sometimes those of us who are familiar with the bible and its stories miss some of the irony that is present. This story we just read, at first glance, is every parent’s nightmare. What do parents and schools always teach children? Never talk to strangers and especially never go anywhere with a stranger. If I were to hear this passage today for the first time, I would think this was weird. Let’s say I was in my front yard cutting the grass, and some guy drove up to my sidewalk and yelled out the window, come and follow me, I’d tell him to take a hike.
But scholars believe that this was not these fishermen’s first encounter with Jesus. They had certainly heard of Jesus and heard him teach before, and they had probably even met him. And after those events, Jesus comes to make a formal call for them to join him in his work.
There is something very significant about this call, something very special about the words of Jesus when he says “Come, follow me.” You see these are not only words for the disciples who lived almost two thousand years ago. These are words for us today. The call to follow is a call to everyone. El llamado a seguir es un llamado para todos.
Jesus called out to me, just like he did the disciples. I was 14 years old when these words had meaning to me. They weren’t audible words, but I knew they were for me and I said, I believe in Jesus and I am going to follow him. I’m confident that many of you could share your own stories when these words ceased to be just words on a page, just words for the disciples and became personal for you.
If you have never heard these words before today, they are for you. Christ continues to whisper, in your heart and soul, Come, follow me! Because Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father in heaven without following Christ to Him. The call to follow is a call to every single person in the world, and that includes you this morning. The call to follow is a call to everyone.
The call to follow is also a call to change. El llamado a seguir es también un llamado para cambiar. These men in our story were fisherman. They had learned how to fish from their father, maybe some uncles and perhaps even their grandfather. They had spent the majority of their adolescent and adult life learning how to survive as a fisherman. So their decision to abandon fishing in order to follow Jesus shouldn’t be one that we think of as simple or easy.
When we make a decision to follow Christ, we must be open to change. That decision means we abandon our plans in order to join God in what he is doing. That doesn’t always mean a change of career, but I’ll tell you what it meant in my life. I had always thought of working for my dad and eventually running his business. But answering the call of God first sent me to South America as an exchange student. I left what I knew behind, my church, the city where I grew up, my family and my friends, to go live in Ecuador for 10 months. I was following God and went where he was placing me for that period of time.
I guess I got off easy though, at least I knew where I was going. The very first call to follow God is found in the book of Genesis, chapter 12. God speaks to a man named Abram, who will later be called Abraham. And God says to him, leave your country, your people, and your father’s house and go to the land I will show you. Abram doesn’t even get a final destination, he just receives instructions to go, go and trust in God. The call to follow is a call to exchange our plans for Gods plans.
The disciples’ plans changed when they decided to follow Jesus. My plans changed when I decided to follow Jesus. Abraham’s plans changed when he decided to follow God. And so the call to follow is a call to change.
The call to follow is a call to learn. El llamado a seguir es un llamado a aprender. Christ had more in mind when he came to earth than just dying on the cross. We spend a lot of time preaching on the cross, and how we receive forgiveness through his death. But Jesus had a purposing in his living as well as in his dying. Christ came to show us what it is to be human. Christ gave us an example of how to live the way God intended when he created Adam and Eve in the garden.
The call to follow is a call to learn. Relationships, friendships are cultivated through time spent together. In order for Christ to teach man what it means to live the way God desires, he called 12 men to live with him, 12 men to learn from the example Christ set. In order for us to know Christ, we have to walk with him just like the disciples did. We do not have the luxury of actually, physically following Christ around town. But spiritually speaking we allow his word, and prayer to be our guide. They are the roadmap that shows us where Christ is going so that we may follow him.
I have several influential people in my life are hunters. And at least one of them has said, I’m going to make you a hunter as well. That would be Pastor Mark. But I have an uncle by marriage who is also a hunter. His name is Brent and he is a coon hunter. Coon hunting as you might imagine is a night time activity. The invitation was extended to me this past fall to tag along for the first time. Now for years I have been told not to go hunting with Brent because he would leave me in the woods, or worse. But I figured if they didn’t want me around, they would have gotten rid of me by now, so I’ll go.
So it was Brent, his son Jesse, who’s about my age, and I. And you know what I learned? I learned that I didn’t know the least bit about coon hunting. We got to our first spot, released the dog, and I asked, so what do we do? Jesse said, we sit down here and wait for the dog to bark. When the dog barks a certain way, we know he has got a coon up in a tree. And we follow his bark to find the dog, the tree and the coon.
Maybe this morning you feel like I felt when I went hunting the first time. This call to follow Jesus is brand new to you, or maybe you just started following Jesus a short while ago, and you’re not really sure what to do. Well I can tell you this for sure, it was dark in those woods and I stuck close to Brent and Jesse. I didn’t know where I was or where I was going, so I stuck close to my guides. And you can do the same thing. Stick close to Christ, stick close to this church because we are going to point you in the right direction, and stick close to someone who has been following Christ longer than you.
I’ve been coon hunting again since then, and I have plans to go again this fall. Each time I go, I learn more, and I have more confidence that I know what I’m doing. And the bark of the dog becomes a little clearer to my ear. It’s the same as a Christian. The more you walk with Christ, the more you learn, the more you understand why he says go here and not there, and the more you recognize His voice. The call to follow is a call to life long learning.
No matter where you are in your journey today. If you are hearing the call to follow Jesus for the first time, or maybe you are struggling with the change that comes along with Christ. Perhaps you have accepted both of those results of following Christ and are just continuing to learn from him. Let me encourage you to be like Davey. Keep your eyes on Jesus and follow him wherever he goes.
