GOSPEL OF MARK: GOD’S SERVANT IN ACTION
THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
A. Mark 1:14-20 (READ)
1. How many of you like to FISH. (I know we have some avid fishermen in this church.)
ILLUSTRATION:
I used to FISH quite a bit when I was younger, but hardly ever anymore (last time was with Don Pettingill a few years ago). I remember the first time I went FISHING with Brenda. We hadn’t been MARRIED long. Brenda really hadn’t FISHED all that much, so I, being the EXPERIENCED FISHERMAN, was going to show her how to do it RIGHT. I put the BAIT on her LINE and she threw it out into the water. Then I CAST out my line.
Within MINUTES Brenda got a NIBBLE on her line. And I told her that when you feel the FISH biting on your LINE, just JERK it back and HOOK it. She JERKED that FISH back with such FORCE that it came FLYING out of the WATER, flew over her HEAD, and HIT the GROUND behind her so HARD that it KILLED it INSTANTLY. . . .If that FISH HIT any HARDER, it would have FILLETED the THING and been READY for the FRYING PAN.
By the time we left, Brenda had caught 3 or 4 more FISH and I caught absolutely NOTHING—I didn’t even get a NIBBLE. . . . By the way, the other FISH SURVIVED.
2. When I did FISH, it was more of a time of FELLOWSHIP—just to be have FUN with the GUYS.
a. I didn’t put a lot of INVESTMENT into it. (I had a couple of rod-and-reals and a small tackle
box full of cheap tackle.)
b. I didn’t spend a lot of money on BAIT. (Most of the time I just dug up some EARTHWORMS
or caught some Grasshoppers.)
c. I wasn’t too keen on GUTTING and FILLETING fish, so it was more CATCH and RELEASE or
GIVE them to the other GUYS.
B. Now for Peter, Andrew, James and John, FISHING wasn’t just some weekend PASTIME or something
they did for FUN. It was their JOB—their LIVELIHOOD.
1. Jesus was asking a lot from these men when he approached them one day while they were at WORK and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
2. So, what can we learn from the story of these FISHERMEN regarding Christ’s call to DISCIPLESHIP?
MESSAGE:
I. JESUS CALLS HIS FIRST DISCIPLES
A. Jesus is just beginning His ministry and CALLING into SERVICE the men who will be His apostles.
1. He first calls the FISHERMEN, who will actually become His closest FRIENDS.
a. Once again, Mark, as well as Matthew, don’t go into a lot of DETAIL about this ENCOUNTER.
COMMENT:
Their accounts leave the IMPRESSION that Jesus was just walking on the BEACH one day and came across these FISHERMAN, and said, “Hey, guys, I know you are BUSY, but why don’t you just QUIT your JOBS, leave your BOATS and all your FISHING GEAR behind,
and come HANG OUT with me.”
b. That might have happened in the 60’s during the HIPPIE movement, but not here.
2. Luke’s gospel gives us more details as to what took place in Luke 5:1-3 (READ)
a. Jesus is not just taking a casual walk on the BEACH; He is TEACHING a CROWD of people
who had been FOLLOWING Him.
COMMENT:
Here we find the FISHERMEN “washing their nets” while in Mark’s account they are “casting their nets.” Some scholars believe that when Jesus first came on the SCENE with the CROWD of people the FISHERMEN were CASTING one last time, and by the time that JESUS and the CROWD got to them they were DONE fishing and putting up their GEAR.
Jesus gets into Peter’s BOAT and asks him to PUT OUT a little from SHORE. Then He sits down and begins TEACHING the people.
b. Now this seems a bit presumptuous of Jesus just to STEP into some strange fisherman’s BOAT, and then have the GALL to INTERRUPT his WORK to put his BOAT a little way from SHORE just so that He could have a place to SIT and TEACH.
3. In John’s gospel we learn that Peter had already met Jesus before this took place.
a. In fact, “Andrew was the one who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus” - John 1:40-42.
ILLUSTRATION:
Now, this PART takes a little IMAGINATION: From the day Peter first met Jesus I think he developed a LIKING for this new Rabbi. I suspect that Peter would slip away (once in a while) to hear Christ preach. It was a pleasant DIVERSION from the DAILY GRIND of FISHING… and he actually felt BETTER after LISTENING to Jesus.
You might say Peter had become a member of the “JESUS CHURCH.” But that’s pretty much all Peter had been up to this point. He was just a MEMBER—a PEW SITTER. He SANG a few songs, PRAYED a few prayers, quietly LISTENED to the sermon… then he’d go home. No
real COMMITMENT.
b. At this time Jesus was not the FOCUS of Peter’s life – FISHING was!
COMMENT:
After a long night of FISHING without CATCHING anything, Peter and his brother Andrew and their partners, James and John, are ready to call it QUITS for the day. But then, here comes Jesus. He’s PREACHING again, and it appears that he needs Peter’s HELP. Peter is probably thinking, “Well sure! I like this Rabbi. I’d be glad to help.”
So, Peter throws his NETS into the BOAT, puts out from shore, and for the next hour or so Peter gets a FRONT ROW SEAT to some of the FINEST PREACHING anybody’s ever heard. Then, the SERMON is over. The CROWD goes HOME, and Peter is ready to call it a day.
4. However, Jesus isn’t DONE with Peter- Luke 5:4-11 (READ)
a. Have you ever had anyone try to tell you how to do your JOB?
ILLUSTRATION:
I would never tell Darrell Hunt how to be a DIESEL MECHANIC. If there was an ENGINE PROBLEM, I would know enough to LIFT the HOOD but that’s where it ENDS—even then I
might need help.
Just recently, I have learned the HARD WAY that if I need to know how MEDICINE works and its SIDE EFFECTS, I should call Russ Mathis. He’s the PHARMACIST, not me. SELF-MEDICATING doesn’t always turn out well.
b. So here is this ITINERANT PREACHER and CARPENTER trying to tell Peter, a seasoned
FISHERMAN, how to FISH. (It would be like me telling Don Pettingill how to FISH.)
COMMENT:
Peter reluctantly does what Jesus says. He casts his NET out into the DEEP and pulls in the biggest CATCH of FISH you’ve ever seen. The NET begins to BREAK, and he has to call his PARTNERS over to help him.
5. That’s when it hits Peter like a ton of bricks that this Rabbi who is in the BOAT with him is not
some ordinary TEACHER, He is truly the CHRIST.
COMMENT:
Peter falls to his KNEES and says to Jesus, “Go away, Lord. You don’t want to be around me! I’m a sinner.”
B. Jesus is not there to CALL these fishermen to SALVATION.
1. This is not their initial CALL to FAITH. John’s gospel infers that these men were DISCIPLES of
John the Baptist and had already been introduced to Jesus, the “Lamb of God”.
a. Jesus is there to call Peter, Andrew, James and John into the SERVICE of His KINGDOM.
b. But when Peter realized that he was in the presence of the Son of God, he immediately felt so
UNWORTHY to even be NEAR Him. “You don’t want somebody like me.”
2. Jesus is calling Peter into a DEEPER RELATIONSHIP with Him—not just to be an ADMIRER of
Jesus, but a FOLLOWER—a true DISCIPLE.
a. Jesus says to Peter, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”
b. Both Mark and Luke records that “the Fishermen left everything and FOLLOWED Jesus.”
COMMENT:
No more delay. No more excuses. No more self-doubt. These men left everything BEHIND to be DISCIPLES of Christ.
II. JESUS CALLS US INTO DISCIPLESHIP
A. The same CALL that was extended to these FISHERMEN is still being extended to US today.
1. Just before Jesus’ ascension into heaven, He gave His disciples the “Great Commission” to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”- Matt. 28:19-20a.
2. Jesus wants DISCIPLES.
a. However, a DISCIPLE is more than someone who merely wears the name “Christian”.
COMMENT:
There are countless number of people out there in the WORLD who call themselves Christians, but are far from being a true DISCIPLE of Christ.
b. There is more to being a DISCIPLE than mere CHURCH ATTENDANCE.
COMMENT:
Throughout the GOSPELS we find multitudes of people who CROWDED around Christ, but Jesus challenged their COMMITMENT and LOYALTY to Him. Just because one never misses a
WORSHIP SERVICE doesn’t mean that he or she is a true DISCIPLE of Christ.
SO, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
B. A CALL of DISCIPLESHIP is a CALL to… - Mark 1:16-20
1. Singular Loyalty
a. Notice that Jesus’ CALL to Peter and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee is to: “Follow ME”.
COMMENT:
Jesus doesn’t say “Follow the PHARISEES.” “Follow the POPE or your favorite PREACHER or favorite AUTHOR.” He doesn’t say “Follow your HUSBAND or your WIFE.” He doesn’t say “Follow your HEART or your FEELINGS”—“I know what the Bible says about ADULTERY, but I FEEL in my HEART that God would want me to be happy.”
b. Being “FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST” requires two things of us:
(1). That we FULLY COMMIT our LIVES to Him.
COMMENT:
The problem is, SOME of us have gotten rather COMFORTABLE with our “CASUAL RELATIONSHIP” with Christ.
After all, Jesus is a NICE GUY, and we LIKE church for the most part—it gives us something to do on the WEEKEND. We kind of LIKE what’s going on—and there’s always GREAT FOOD at the PITCH-IN DINNERS.
But this idea of being more COMMITTED, of taking our RELATIONSHIP with Christ to a DIFFERENT LEVEL? We get a little ANXIOUS when we think about that. . . .That probably means that I need to start READING my Bible and ATTENDING a Bible Class. . . . Oh, no! I’d have to get INVOLVED in a MINISTRY, won’t I?
Brothers and Sisters, there is no such thing as a CASUAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus. We are either ALL IN or we’re NOT IN.
Jesus- “You are either for me, or against me”- Matt. 12:30.
(2). That we PATTERN our LIVES after Him—to be LIKE Christ.
COMMENT:
When our WORK FRIENDS and FACEBOOK FRIENDS cannot tell us APART from anyone else. . . .When they can’t tell if we are a Christian or non-Christian. . . .When they can’t see Jesus LIVING in us.
Then we are not “FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST”.
2. Spiritual Service
a. Jesus said to the FISHERMEN, “You follow me, and I will make you FISHERS of MEN.”
COMMENT:
Jesus had a MINISTRY for these men, and that was to REACH OUT and bring PEOPLE to God. Life wasn’t simply about dragging in dead, stinking FISH all day—it was about PEOPLE: INVESTING in them, LOVING them, and CASTING NETS into ETERNITY.
From that very first Gospel Sermon that Peter and the other apostles preached on the Day of Pentecost, “thousands of people turned away from theirs SINS and GAVE their lives to Jesus
Christ in BAPTISM”- Acts 2:36-41.
These four DISCIPLES became better FISHERS of MEN, than they were FISHERS of FISH.
b. So what SPIRITUAL SERVICE has God CALLED you to?
COMMENT:
Not everyone can be a PREACHER and TEACHER, but God has a MINISTRY in MIND
just for you. There are so many AREAS in this CHURCH where you can SERVE.
In fact, we have several MINISTRIES that urgently need to be FILLED since two of our most DEDICATED Servants have left: LORI MARTINEZ was called home to Heaven and JOEL
BOWERS is being called home to Tennessee.
c. WE NEED:
-Children’s Worship Helpers
-Someone in charge of the Food Pantry
-People to help prepare and clean-up communion trays
-Someone to step in to help with building and property maintenance
-Someone in charge of our Greeter’s Ministry.
-The Praise Band needs musicians and singers.
-There are so many more MINISTRIES to FILL.
d. There is a PLACE for you, if you are only willing to let God use you in SPIRITUAL SERVICE.
3. Sacrificial Lifestyle
a. Mark said that “they left their nets and everything behind to FOLLOW Jesus”.
b. What are you HOLDING ONTO that is keeping you from being ALL you can be for Jesus?
What do you need to GIVE UP—to LEAVE BEHIND?
COMMENT:
Maybe there is a RELATIONSHIP that is HOLDING you back SPIRITUALLY that you need
to SEVER.
Maybe there’s a HABIT that you need to GIVE UP or an ADDICTION that you need to get
under CONTROL.
It could be that there is a DESTRUCTIVE, sinful BEHAVIOR that you haven’t yet SURRENDERED to God.
What is Jesus calling you to SACRIFICE to have a DEEPER and more FULFILLING RELATIONSHIP with Him?
c. No matter who we are, there is always ROOM to GROW in our RELATIONSHIP with Christ. And if anything is PREVENTING us from accomplishing that, we need to GIVE IT UP.
CONCLUSION:
