“Change Your Heart and Life”
Matthew 4:12-23
Have you ever heard of the elephant seal of Argentina?
Well, apparently they exist.
And soon after giving birth to her seal pup, the mother seal will leave the pup on the shore to go feed in the waters off the coast.
After feeding, the mother seal will often become disoriented and return to a different part of the beach.
When that happens, she will start calling for her baby and then listen for a response.
Eventually, by following each other’s voices and scents, the mother and pup find one another.
From the moment of birth, the sound and scent of the pup are imprinted on the mother’s memory, and the sound and scent of the mother are imprinted on the pup’s memory.
And I think that is how it is with God.
We are imprinted with a memory of God, and God is imprinted with a memory of us, and we are meant to find one another.
And until we do things are not right.
I think we all have an unfulfilled longing in this life—a longing to be with God—to be fully restored to the right relationship for which we were created—and we might not even be aware of it.
It’s like something is missing, and we might not know what it is.
We feel lost, disoriented like we are drifting along without an anchor.
We are trying to figure out our place in this gigantic world, but we can’t seem to get to a place where we are at peace and fulfilled.
Does this describe you?
Can you relate?
Before our Scripture passage for this morning, Jesus, having been baptized in the Jordan by John, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
And what the temptations have in common is they were aimed at having Jesus use His own status, as God’s Son, to launch some kind of movement that would bring Him worldly power, privilege and glory.
They were meant stop Him from carrying out God’s calling which was to give His life for the salvation of the world.
And the temptations we all face, day by day and at critical times of decision in our lives, may be very different from the temptations Jesus faced, but they have the same point.
They are meant to distract us, to turn us aside from the relationship with God and the path of discipleship for which we were born.
There are many voices in this world, telling us to go different ways and choose different things—but God’s Voice is calling us to come to Him—to do His will and fulfill His calling as those who are meant bring God’s love and light into this dark world.
(pause)
After having been tested, Jesus begins His ministry.
And He starts by preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
The word “repent” means to “change direction; go the other way; or stop what you are doing and do the opposite instead.”
Or in the case of the disoriented Momma Seal, “turn around—you have headed the wrong way.”
Are you headed the wrong way in life?
Do you need to turn around?
My sister Lisa asked me what angle I was going to take in my sermon for Sunday.
I told her I was going to talk about God’s calling on our lives.
Her response was, “Maybe you can try and put it in terms for a lay person to relate.”
“For instance, I know that ministers are called but how do other people know what a calling is?”
“How do you know that you are really being called to something or if it’s just in your head?”
I replied, “Well, it has to be God’s will for your life, and there are a lot of different voices calling us to do other things.”
“But those aren’t callings,” she said.
“For instance, God didn’t call me to go into Finance.
It’s a choice I made.”
Then I asked, “So, you are saying that a calling means only to do the good things God wants you to do with your life?”
“That’s right,” she said.
Well, I think she got it, how about you?
What good things is God calling you to do with your life?
What talents do you have that are not being used to advance God’s Kingdom of unconditional love and altruism?
(pause)
I understand that if you go to Galilee today they will show you a boat that might have belonged to Andrew and Peter, or perhaps the Zebedee family.
Back in 1986 it was found sticking out of mud when the level of the Sea of Galilee dropped in a period of dry weather.
Archaeologists lifted it clear of the sea bottom, cleaned and preserved it.
Now, in a special exhibit, millions of visitors can see the sort of boat Jesus’ first followers used for fishing.
It has been carbon-dated to exactly the period of Jesus’ life.
The boat is a vivid reminder of the day-to-day existence of Jesus’ followers—and what it cost them to give it all up and follow Him.
They were, in today’s language, small business owners, working as families not for huge profits but to make enough to live on and have a little left over.
It was what they always knew they would do.
They never expected to be doing anything else.
That is, until Jesus came along.
Walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus said to Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew and James and his brother John, “Come follow me.”
The amazing thing is that they did just that.
They left their nets, their boat, their father, and followed Jesus.
And that’s what repentance looks like in a sense: hearing God’s call and obeying it even though it means radical changes of direction in life.
And I think that is what stops some people sometimes.
People are afraid to change.
Or people don’t want to change.
And so they talk themselves into unbelief as an excuse not to follow
Christ.
I’m good at making excuses, how about you?
I think the disciples, in following Jesus, were responding to what had already been imprinted on their souls from birth—the knowledge of the voice of God—so that when they heard the voice, they knew Whose it was and they didn’t make excuses or look for a way out.
Jesus called, they made the decision to follow.
I often wonder how many other people Jesus called who did not follow.
And oh, what they missed.
The opportunity they lost.
How many of us, today, are called but do not follow?
We may think to ourselves, “Oh, I’ll get around to it someday,” or “I’ll wait until I retire,” or whatever…
…but do we get around to it?
One of the requirements I did while preparing for ordination was to take what is called Clinical Pastoral Education, or CPE.
It is serving as a Chaplain in a clinical setting for a year and being evaluated by an instructor and your peers.
I worked in a Hospice Unit.
I spent most of my time speaking with and listening to persons who were near the end of their lives.
I spoke with a whole lot of folks who had a bunch of regrets.
But I never heard anyone say they regretted having followed Jesus, but I did hear a lot of people, too many people talk and cry with remorse about not having decided to follow Jesus.
Many felt they had wasted their lives.
I don’t want to get to the end and be like that.
Do you?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that the call to “follow me” is a call “to absolute discipleship,” and that only in surrendering ourselves to Jesus’ command can we know our greatest joy.
Don’t be afraid to give all you have for something infinitely more.
When Jesus first called Peter, Andrew, James and John I don’t think they had any idea where it was all going to lead.
“I will send you out to fish for people,” Jesus said.
What did they think it would mean?
Did they have any inkling that they would watch as Jesus healed multitudes—lepers, the blind, the crippled, the lame?
Did they have a clue that they would take part in feeding 5,000 people on a hillside, or watch as Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration?
Did they have the slightest idea that within a few years Jesus would be crucified, killed by those in powerful places and that He would rise again?
Did Peter and Andrew know they would end up being killed themselves for following Him and making other disciples—that is, fishing for people?
No, they didn’t.
God, in His mercy, reveals things little by little.
They didn’t have a clue about the glory or the pain that day when a young man walked by the Sea of Galilee.
They only saw Him and heard His call; and that was enough.
And it’s the same today.
Why does a person give up a promising legal career to become a preacher?
Why does a person become a missionary?
Why does another work in a homeless shelter or volunteer their time at a food pantry or in a ministry for middle school kids to learn life skills after school?
Why do people by the millions regularly give up lifestyles that look attractive and posh in order to seek to live with honesty, integrity, faith, hope and most of all—love?
The answer can only be found in Jesus Himself.
Do you know what’s really cool?
Jesus comes looking for us.
And He comes looking not just for the qualified—as if anyone is qualified…
…He doesn’t come looking just for the extremely smart or good-looking.
He comes looking for everyone, even for ordinary fishermen such as Peter, Andrew and the sons of Zebedee…
…and later, the troubled woman at the well…
…and Mary Magdalene, who was possessed by seven demons…
…and Nicodemus…
…and everyone!
And Jesus comes looking for you and me as well.
And Jesus invites us to repent and enter His Kingdom which is right here and right now.
The invitation is not only an invitation to eternal life, but it is also an invitation to become a disciple—a life-long learner and friend.
And this means Jesus offers us the opportunity to watch Him at work in our lives and the lives of others.
By doing this, we will learn more and more about Him, until we unconsciously begin to copy Him, His manner of speaking—His dealings with people, how He solves problems, and deals with opposition.
Slowly we will become more and more like Jesus the longer and closer we follow.
And as we follow and start doing some of the things Jesus does, we will naturally start catching other people for the Kingdom.
Is Jesus calling you?
Are you following?
If not, will you make the decision to repent right here and right now?
Will you come forward from where you are and kneel at the altar rails?
Will you give your life completely over to Him?
It is the MOST IMPORTANT decision you will ever make.
Maybe you have thought about doing this for a long time, but haven’t gotten around to it.
Perhaps you have said the words but never followed through.
Now is the time.
Don’t miss it.
Don’t miss out.
Will you pray with me:
Jesus,
I want to follow You.
I believe that You are calling me to repent, to turn around and go in the other direction.
I believe you are inviting me into your kingdom.
I want to be Your disciple, Your follower, Your friend.
I can’t do this on my own strength, but with Your strength and my willingness, You can re-create me into the person I am meant to be.
Be my Lord, my Savior.
From this moment forward, I will follow You.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake I pray.
Amen.
