Scripture: Mark 1:16-20; Genesis 12:1-4
Theme: Followability
Title: Followability?
Sermon focuses on the reality that great leaders are also great followers – Jesus calls us to Follow Him – let’s see what that means.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Each of us has experienced people who through personal contact, being able to listen to them or reading their literature have greatly impacted our lives.
For me, it has been the likes of John Wesley who lived in the 19th century, C. S. Lewis who lived in the 20th century and three people who are still alive today – Richard Foster, Leonard Sweet and Lois Tverberg. There have been others of course, but those five have been very important in my life.
When I looked at this week’s passage, verses 16-20, I was reminded of some of Leonard Sweet’s writing and speaking. Several times over the course of a few years I had the privilege to sit under some of his teaching and preaching.
It was at a time in my life that I was also taking a few classes that were dedicated to learning how to be an effective and efficient church leader. I would travel to Florida for a session and then travel to California for a session.
I learned a great deal in those classes. A great deal that has helped me both in the ministry and in life in general.
But it was later listening to Dr. Sweet teach about a certain style of leadership that really turned my world upside down.
It wasn’t about how to lead people per se, but how to follow Christ.
He suggested the idea that followability is where the real heart of being a leader can be found.
He then fleshed out that idea using example after example in the Old and New Testament along with some passages like the one we find this morning in Mark 1:16-20.
Jesus did not call these men to accept him. He did not pass out a decision card for them to sign. He didn’t even have them pray a certain introductory prayer.
He simply looked at them and said – Follow Me.
Let’s take a few moments and see what that means for us as individuals and as a church body. What does it mean to answer the call to Follow Jesus.
I. It means to put your trust in Jesus
That is what these four men did that day when they put down their nets, climbed out of their boats and started walking, talking and experiencing life with Jesus.
Just how radical was that decision?
Simon Peter was already married. He had a wife to take care of along with a mother-in-law. He had quite a lot of responsibilities.
Andrew had already heard Jesus speak and had been attracted to his teaching. But was he so attracted that he would pick up his nets and follow Jesus?
James and John’s family had been in the fishing business for generations. It’s all their families knew how to do. They had employees and clients that needed their product. Their fishing business was more than a hobby, it was a growing enterprise. Do they just leave all of that behind?
Trust is a big word and yet repeatedly we read about different ones in the Bible that just stepped out in faith (in trust) to follow God’s leading.
+Abraham is called to leave his ancestral family, pick up roots and go hundreds of miles away to live in the Promise Land.
+Moses is called to go back to Egypt where he was a wanted man and attempt to do the impossible – to get Pharoah to divest himself of millions of free laborers and allow them to follow the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY out of Egypt and towards the Promise Land.
+Rahab is called to trust God for the safety of her family by helping the Israelite spies avoid being captured inside the city of Jericho.
+David is called to trust the LORD even as King Saul is doing everything he can to capture and kill him.
+Mary is called to trust God by allowing God to use her to bring the Messiah into the world.
All those people – Abraham, Moses, David, Rahab and Mary were great leaders – but their great leadership was not based on their own innate qualities but on their ability to trust and follow God.
Listen to what the Bible tells us about trusting God:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” - Jeremiah 17:7-8
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes (*trusts) in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
The first thing we must do and continue to do with Jesus is to put our trust in Him. The more we trust him the closer we will walk with Him. The more we trust Him we will not only be more obedient but more like Him.
The Christian walk begins and continues with us putting our trust in Jesus.
II. Secondly, following Jesus requires us to be teachable.
Following Jesus starts with Trust and continues with us developing a learning Spirit.
As you read the Gospels you discover how the lives of these four men were transformed as they walked with Jesus. They allowed Jesus to show them and teach them new ways to think, new ways to see things and new ways to experience life.
Simon Peter time and time again shows us how that he struggled with Jesus’ teaching – loving one’s enemies, putting God before himself and understanding that his main responsibility was not to be the leader of others but to be the one who followed Jesus the closest.
Two of my favorite passages in the Bible are Psalm 46:10 and Galatians 5:22-23.
+One requires that a person be still – to clear their heart, mind and soul and allow the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY to speak to them.
+The other one reminds us that we are invited to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us so that His fruit can be seen in our lives. To allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and practice self-control.
Now, some of us may stumble a bit in these areas.
We may be good at trusting but not so good at being teachable. On the other hand, we may be excellent at being teachable, but we struggle with trusting someone.
It’s not easy at times to be a follower of Jesus.
It’s not easy to put your trust into His hands.
It’s not easy to study God’s Word – to be open for God to show us new things, to be open for God to change our current way of thinking.
And yet, if we are going to follow Him – then it means that we must trust Him no matter what comes our way. And it means that we must be open for God to do a new thing in our lives.
Abraham had to learn how to trust before Isaac was born and especially after Isaac was born.
Mary spent her whole life trusting and learning. Trusting God would take care of her and her baby boy named Jesus. Learning what it means to raise a child that is both her son and at the same time the Son of God.
Sometimes we get comfortable and don’t want to learn any more.
When we do that, it is like digging a ditch and deciding that we are finished. We stop digging. We are finished. We are not going to move anymore.
Suddenly over time we realize that we have not only dug a ditch we have also dug a grave. All that needs to be done is to fill it up while we stand there determined not to do anything anymore.
III. Finally following Jesus is endless – it’s a forever walk.
When we choose to follow Jesus, we do so for the long haul.
We are not weekend followers or merely followers for just a little while.
When Jesus calls us to follow Him, it’s a forever invitation.
It’s also a double-sided invitation.
We follow Him and He leads us.
Now, think about that just for a few minutes.
We tend to think about our following Jesus. And we all know that at times we are tempted to take some detours, to stop following Him and listening to Him.
We see that in the lives of the greats.
Abraham got distracted with Hagar and that caused quite a mess.
David got distracted by thinking he was above obeying God and made quite a mess a few times including those with Bathsheba and his children Ammon, Tamar and Absolom.
Moses got distracted a few times as well as we see him getting angry at the Children of Israel and striking the rock when he should have been speaking to it.
Even Mary gets distracted as Mark 3:21 shares that Jesus’ family wants him to come home because they thought he has gone mad.
We could talk all day long about how many times these four men in our passage along with the other disciples that would follow Jesus got distracted, became terrified and even at times lost their way.
But that is not the whole story.
The whole story is that Jesus didn’t walk away.
When Jesus calls us, it is not only an invitation for us to follow Him, but also a commitment that He will walk with us forever.
Listen again to what Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 28:20 –
“Behold, I am with you until the end of the age.”
How does Jesus do that?
Through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit.
We are never alone. We will never be alone. We have the promise of God’s Holy Spirit leading us, guiding us and comforting us.
Listen to these words:
John 14:26 ESV
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Romans 8:26 ESV
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
This morning here at the front of the Church is the Lord’s Table – what we call Holy Communion.
It is both an invitation and a commitment.
It is an invitation for us to follow Jesus and to continue to follow Jesus.
It is also a commitment made by Jesus – a commitment that He would walk with us every day of our lives.
When we receive the cup and the bread – Jesus is saying today, tomorrow and forever I will be with you. May grace will continually flow upon and in you. My healing, my anointing and my presence will be with you each day.
So, this morning as we prepare to receive Holy Communion let’s do so by reaffirming God’s invitation – Follow Me.
And let us receive His grace, mercy and continual love as we receive the Bread and the Cup.
Prayer – Holy Communion
Blessing
