You may have heard news reports recently about a young man with the name of Douglas McAuthur McCain. He was the first American that we know of who died in Syria fighting for ISIS, the Islamic State. And you wonder, “How in the world did an American end up dying as a jihadi in Syria?”
The Washington Post reports that he was born here in Illinois in 1981, but his family moved to the Minneapolis suburbs when he was young. He grew up a fan of Michael Jordan, “The Simpsons” and Pizza Hut. He joked around a lot. He played pickup basketball a lot. He floated a lot. He attended two different high schools, but didn’t graduate from either one. He started getting into trouble with the law, with 9 misdemeanor convictions. He worked a lot of unskilled jobs.
I watch young adults and often see a moment where their life gels, where they find themselves, a purpose for living, a career goal that will guide, fulfill them and motivate them. It’s clear that Douglas McAuthur McCain was having trouble with that.
We don’t know the whole story, but at about age 23 he converted to Islam and his tweets say he felt it was the best thing that ever happened to him. But he was still floating.
His parents knew that he had travelled to Turkey. And then all of a sudden the news came: he had died in battle, fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It is estimated that at least 100 Americans have made the same journey now. What’s going on?
A lot of study has been done to try to understand why someone would do such a thing. We have it awful good here in America. Hundreds of thousands of people are working really hard to get the privilege of moving into America, thousands risking their lives to sneak in if they can’t get in legally. But Douglas McAuthur McCain just up and left. He was black, which still presents real obstacles in America, especially if you don’t have a high school diploma. But in America he could live in safety and freedom, with good hospitals nearby, educational opportunities if he wanted them. In Syria he was living in the middle of a vicious civil war, he probably had lousy food, a lousy bed and the totalitarian environment of ISIS. He left everything! Why would he do that?
It seems that ISIS attracts bullies, angry people who just want to kill people. They have psychopaths in their midst. But there is no evidence that Douglas McAuthur McCain was a psychopath. It looks to me like he was someone looking in the wrong places to find meaning in life.
And how I wish he had been invited to a vital, living church, where he had found all the challenge and meaning he could have dreamed of.
For some, joining a group like ISIS is one way of filling the need for purpose in your life.
Obviously Douglas McAuthur McCain had been floating for a long time. And we are not designed to float. God put a deep longing for meaning into each one of us. We are on this earth to make a difference. Have you felt the difference in your life between times when you had a challenge and purpose and it maybe it was hard, but it felt good, and then other times when there just didn’t seem to be any point? God calls Bethel church to be a place where people of all ages will find a passion for life in serving God.
Related to that is the longing for success, to be a winner.
When the Seattle Seahawks won the Superbowl last year, I’ll bet they sold a whole lot of caps and jerseys and posters of people wanting to identify with a winner. That doesn’t hurt anything. But ISIS has been an amazing winner lately, conquering city after city, dominating their enemies, and people want to jump on the wagon with a winner. Personally, I don’t like conquering or dominating, but I hope we all have a desire to really accomplish something with our lives, to make a difference, to make things happen. We are created in the image of our creator God. We are here to make things happen. God calls Bethel church to be a place where people of all ages will find that as they follow Jesus together they get involved in our world and make a difference.
The ISIS fighters often carry a deep concern to right the wrongs of this earth.
For them, that’s a deep sense of grievance, feeling that Islam is being persecuted, and, especially, that what they consider to be “true Islam” has been corrupted and suppressed for too long. ISIS fighters have left everything to stand up for what they think is right. And most of the world can recognize that the particular form of Islam that they are fighting for is disgusting, a cancer on the human race. But, again, it’s a good thing to care about the injustices and sufferings of the world and a good thing to dedicate yourself to alleviating the things that are wrong.
God calls Bethel Church to be a place that rights the real wrongs of this earth, that pushes back the kingdom of darkness.
ISIS is a tragic, evil, blight on the human race. But this morning I want us to look at the healthy desires that they exploit and look at some men who found a much, much better way to meet those desires.
The New Testament gives us many stories of what it meant for people when they met Jesus. Today we meet some young men who were hungry to make a difference with their lives and found their deepest hunger satisfied when they met Jesus. Our text for this morning is Luke 5:1-11.
1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, `Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.' 5 Simon answered, `Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, `Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!' 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, `Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.' 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
This was a day that changed everything for 4 young men. Our text from Luke’s gospel starts with Peter and doesn’t mention his brother, Andrew. But Mark’s gospel tells us Andrew was there, too. And then there were their partners, another pair of brothers, James and John.
Let’s trace the story of how Jesus called them into ministry. When I think about it I recognize that this is my story, too. And I believe that Jesus calls every one of us to be his disciple, even if he doesn’t call all of us to give up our day jobs. And I hope that looking at this story will help some of us recognize the voice of Jesus calling you, as well.
From what Luke tells us Jesus was a total stranger to them, so it sounds pretty impulsive to just drop everything so suddenly. But I’m glad that the early church preserved for us all 4 of the gospels because John’s gospel tells us that Peter and Andrew had been looking for how they could serve God for some time. In the first chapter of John’s gospel we read that Peter and Andrew had been disciples of John the Baptist. They had left Galilee and were with John where he was baptizing in the Jordan River. They were listening to learn from his every word, standing beside John to help him in his ministry. And John the Baptist had pointed Jesus out to them and told them that Jesus was the Son of God.
So I hear that there had been a stirring in their hearts for a long time, a longing for something more, a desire to make their lives count for God. But in our text they are back fishing again. And on this morning it wasn’t going very well. They had fished all night and hadn’t caught anything.
Sometimes churches get very cautious about ever really challenging anyone, about asking people for a commitment. And I’ve been a pastor long enough to know that there are always people who come to church dead set against anything changing, who come for the purpose of being safe and comfortable. And if you challenge them very much they’ll find some excuse to make you pay for it.
Sometimes we think that new people will be more likely to come and join us if we make it really, really easy for them, if we don’t ask anything of them.
In our text today we meet some young men who were looking for a challenge, who were looking for more in their lives.
Is there anybody here who is tired of the same old, same old? Is anybody here hungry for more of God? Is anybody here hungry to see God move more in our church, to see lives changed?
That’s why we are bringing Dr. Jones to Shannon in 2 weeks, on September 20. He’ll help us chart some new directions for more effective ministry.
Well, back to our text. Jesus was teaching beside the Sea of Galilee and quite a crowd had come to hear. Our 4 fishermen had worked all night. They just had to clean the seaweed out of their nets and spread them out to dry and then they could go home to eat breakfast and get some sleep. And Jesus tells them to go back out, get the nets wet again, probably get the nets tangled with seaweed again, and try fishing one more time.
And Peter is tired. He’s hungry. He’s been fishing all night. He knows the fish aren’t around today and it’s a waste of time. He said, “`Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.” Luke 5:5.
Is there anybody here who can identify with Peter? You’ve been doing your best for God. You’ve been disappointed with the results. And you think you can hear Jesus saying to you, keep trying. Go back out again.
And this amazing Peter said, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' Luke 5:5. Aren’t you glad that Peter listened to Jesus and went back out? They caught the biggest load of fish they had ever seen. But Peter knew there was more happening than just catching fish and at the end of the story they just walked away from the fish. Fish didn’t matter when you were touching the power of God.
Where is Jesus calling us to cast our nets? Where is he calling us to try one more time? Where is he calling us to reach out? Will we listen? Will we obey? Will we see God’s miracles in our lives?
Well, they didn’t see anything much sitting safe on the shore. But when they got out in obedience, even though they were tired, even though they couldn’t see how it was going to work, they caught the biggest catch of fish they had ever had. And they knew God was moving.
And Peter was scared. He knew something was up that was a lot more than he had bargained for. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, `Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!'
He knew that he didn’t have the zeal for God that he had seen in John the Baptist. He knew that he didn’t have the understanding of what God was doing that he had seen in John the Baptist. Maybe he knew deep down inside that when he had gone back to fishing he was running away from God’s call. Maybe the devil was reminding him of all his sins.
And God’s call is often scary. He calls us to steps of faith, which means that sometimes we take one step not knowing what the next step will be. He calls us to do things we never thought we could do. He calls us to try things that would take a miracle to happen. And sometimes you dare to try it and you have that wonderful privilege of seeing a miracle happen right before your eyes.
And Jesus told them not to be afraid. “Do not be afraid.”
From now on they would be catching people. That’s scary. They didn’t know how to do what Jesus was doing, but Jesus was there and he would show them and teach them and coach them.
And so when Jesus called them to leave everything comfortable and familiar and safe and just follow him, what happened? They did.
Now I’m sure someone is thinking that’s really irresponsible, to abandon the boats and nets. So let me fill in another detail that Mark’s gospel tells us. It tells us that when James and John left, their father was there, working in the boat and there were hired men. So the family business was OK. So this many not be as crazy as it sounds.
But when these 4 young men took off to follow Jesus he led them on the most incredible adventure. Life became exciting. Their faith was stretched and stretched and stretched. Jesus molded them to be more capable than they had ever dreamed they could be. When they followed Jesus they discovered that their lives really made a difference. They saw God do miracles. They saw people whose lives were a mess just turned around and filled with God’s love and hope and peace. Some of them lived long enough to see thousands of people take the step of following Jesus and little churches popping up all around them. And I can imagine them years later talking about it. “Wasn’t it crazy to just drop everything and follow Jesus?” “I’m so glad I did.”
Now there’s something about properly reading the Bible that it never stays comfortably in the past. This is my story. I did a crazy thing. I went all the way to Kabul, Afghanistan when I was 22 years old for one short term mission experience. And there was no reason to do such a thing except a little voice inside saying that this is where God was calling me to go. And that was a hard summer. But I met an equally crazy woman there and we have had the most amazing adventures together ever since. We have been stretched until we felt like we couldn’t stretch any farther. We have seen lives changed. We have seen miracles. God has become our friend.
And this is your story, too, because the call of Jesus comes to everyone. He has wonderful plans for every one of us. Mostly it doesn’t mean giving up your day job or leaving town. But it will pretty much always mean taking steps of faith where you don’t know what’s ahead. It will pretty much always mean getting your heart really stretched. And it will pretty much always mean amazing adventures.
This is a story for our kids. God has a plan for you. Keep listening for his still, small voice in your heart. Keep coming to church every Sunday to listen for what he has for you. Do everything you can to learn the Bible so that you can learn to recognize what God is up to. God has a plan for you.
This is a story for those who aren’t kids anymore. God has a plan for you. Whatever age you are, whatever responsibilities you carry, God has a next step of faith for you. It probably won’t mean leaving town or giving up your day job. It will probably require a step of faith, so you won’t know where he is leading. It may very well come when you feel like you have just fished all night and its hopeless. It may very well feel like it’s something impossible for someone like you. But so what? Take the step. Follow Jesus. He’ll show you.
This is a story for Bethel church. Methodism has been serving God in Shannon for 150 years. There are a lot of really good things that we have gotten down pretty well. But we are here to follow Jesus and he’s always coming up with new things, new opportunities, new challenges, new lessons. Let’s be listening for his call. Let’s be brave to follow.
Douglas McAuthur McCain died far away from home, fighting for a cause that will go down in history as shameful and a failure.
How I wish he had walked into a Christian church, a decade ago, and he had caught a vision of the great adventure of following Jesus, a purpose in life that is worthy of our full devotion, that he had been able to see lives being changed, risks taken, wrongs righted and all things being done in love, without violence at all.
Let’s be a church that accepts God’s call and dares to follow Jesus. AMEN
