INTRODUCTION:
Get up…eat breakfast…head to work…work all day… return home…eat some supper…watch a little tv…go to bed… and then repeat those same steps tomorrow.
Some of us may have a few more steps; some of us may have a few less steps. No wonder people ask the question: “Is this all there is to life?” And it not just unbelievers who ask that question; there are many who know Christ as their Savior that ask that exact same question.
God tells us in John 10:10 (NKJV)
10 … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
God says there is more; and if we don’t see it; or more so, if we are not living that way then we are missing something. And so, over the next several weeks, we will try to see those missing elements in our life that can change our lives from the routine to the abundant.
Today, we begin with a passage of Scripture from Matthew 4:17-25.
SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 4:17-25 (NKJV)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19 Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.
25 Great multitudes followed Him--from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In our passage of Scripture today, Peter and Andrew, and James and John were doing what they routinely did, day in and day out. They were fishermen; so, you would expect Peter and Andrew to be casting their net into the water; you would expect fishermen like James and John in their boat mending their nets for another day of fishing. What happened that day that I did not expect is that all four men would leave what they were doing and follow Jesus? And I want to know “why” because in finding out why I may discover part of the missing ingredients that could make my life more than what it is now.
POINT #1 LIFE CALLS YOU AND ME TO A ROUTINE; GOD CALLS YOU AND ME TO A CALLING.
Look at verse 19 “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of me.” And now verse 25 “He called them”. And as Jesus called the first apostles, He has been calling men and women ever since. He calls them to move out of a route into a calling.
Think with me for a second. Sunday morning. You did the routine that you do every Sunday morning. You got up the same time you routinely get up on a Sunday morning. You drank the same number of cups of coffee that you always drink. You got into your car or truck about the same time you do every Sunday morning. You drove to church the same way you drive to church every Sunday morning. You sat in Sunday School, in the same chair that you usually sit in unless some visitor is sitting in it. You came into the church house and sat in the same pew that you usually sit in. We are people of routine.
I know that Dale Coon will be driving up to Dale’s Auto Salvage on Tuesday Morning at 7:00 a.m. to unlock the gates of his business. How do I know that, Dale, just like everyone of us is a person of routine? God forbid, the doctor’s office tells Anne that she must be there for a 9:00 a.m. appointment. She doesn’t finish her morning routine to 9:30 a.m. It will break her routine and Anne is a person of routine just like all of us.
Now a calling is an invitation by Jesus to break your routine and to join Him in accepting your salvation or to join Him in His work. He called these four apostles to break their routine of fishing and follow Him. He doesn’t call just preachers; He calls every one of us. Let me give you a couple of Scriptures to prove that.
Ephesians 4:1 (NKJV)
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 Thessalonians 1:11 (NKJV)
11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling…
So, if you woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. and God called you to get up and pray for someone right then, would you get up or would you roll over and go back to sleep. Are you going to heed the calling or stick with the routine?
Or if you got in the car to come to church, and you hear God call you take another way to church and as you are driving you see someone walking down the road and God calls you to pick them up would you heed the calling or just pass them by.
We fight the calling of God, because we like to stick in our routines. The only problem is that routines are not fulfilling, God’s calling are fulfilling.
POINT #2 WE FAIL TO GET MORE OUT OF LIFE BECAUSE WE WANT THE WHOLE PICTURE LAID OUT BEFORE US AND GOD IS ONLY GOING TO SHOW US THE STEP IN FRONT OF US.
Think about Peter as he is out there casting his net into the sea of Galilee. When Jesus said “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. Do you think that he thought to himself, one day I am going to lead the church? Do you think that he thought to himself, one day I will preach and on that day of Pentecost, I will lead 3,000 souls to Christ? Do you think that he knew that he would ever write something called 1st & 2nd Peter, and that these Epistles would be read by people 2,000 years later? Do you think that Peter thought if I follow this man, I will be remembered by people two thousand years after I am gone? The only thing that he knew was the next step was to follow Jesus.
Peter and Andrew, James and John were obviously looking for more out of life than fishing and when Jesus called them to be fishers of men, they obviously did not know what that meant but it sounded more fulfilling then catching fish.
Understand when God calls you to do something most times you are not going to know how God has it planned out nor is He going to let you in on His full plan except one step at a time. Nowhere in this passage of Scripture do I see Peter or any other of three men asking Jesus: now how is this going to work. If they wanted to follow the call, they had to take the step.
And just like the apostles, He calls us to be faithful to little steps, so that He can entrust us with much.
POINT #3 IF WE DO NOT RESPOND IMMEDIATELY TO THE CALLING OF JESUS WHEN WE HEAR IT IN OUR HEART, WE WILL STICK TO OUR ROUTINE.
There is this game people play to see who wins called rock, paper, scissors. And my understanding any one of those three things can win. It depends on the combination to see which one wins.
Well, when it comes to routine and calling either one of those two things can win. What it depends upon is not the combination like in that rock, paper, scissors game. It depends upon the timing of your response.
Routine will win out if your response is not immediate; calling will win out if your response is immediate. In our story all four men joined up with Jesus. But looked what it says how they responded.
To Peter and Andrew, Jesus said: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
To James and John, Jesus called to them and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.
In the Gospel of Luke 14, there is a parable called the Parable of the Great Banquet. Three people were called to the banquet, all three hesitated, made an excuse and didn’t attend.
And that is the same thing with us, we hesitate, and we will not do what God called us to do. And the result is that we miss getting more out of life.
CONCLUSION
If you are looking for more out of life, push aside the routine when God knocks on your heart and follow the calling.
Let us pray.
