Text: Luke 5:1-11, 27-31
Title: Have you heard his call?
Topic: Christian Living
Theme: Committed Christian Living
Purpose: to be the Holy Spirit’s second witness challenging God’s people in my care to commit everything to Jesus as they follow him.
Response: Individuals will receive Communion and either commit or recommit everything in their lives to Jesus.
Pattern: An exploration of possible reasons why Jesus’ disciples must leave everything and follow Him – eliminating all but the fact that His call makes sense when we realize that He gave up everything for us.
Visual Aid: fish nets, a boat
INTRODUCTION
Nate Saint and fellow missionaries Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian had set up camp on a little sandbar in hopes of making contact with the primitive Aucas, known for their fierce infighting and hatred of outsiders. The five missionaries had a deep burden to share the gospel message with a South American people known only for hunting and killing. Their first friendly contact ended in death by spearing.
Why didn’t the missionaries defend themselves with their guns? Why did they leave five young women widowed, nine children fatherless?
Less than three years after the massacre, Rachel Saint (Nate’s sister) and Jim Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth, were living with the tribe. They practiced basic medicine and began to write out their language in hopes of someday translating the Bible. But why would they do it?
Even the Aucas did not understand what happened on that little beach in January of 1956. As they repeatedly discussed the raid, one question haunted them: why hadn’t the missionaries used their guns to defend themselves? Two of the Indians had been wounded. But the Aucas were certain that the superficial wounds were unintended, since one was hit only after his mother grabbed a missionary’s arms and the other knew no one saw where she was hiding.
These wounds, actual evidence that the missionaries were capable of defending themselves and chose not to, were a major factor in the Aucas agreeing to allow Rachel Saint and Elisabeth Elliot to live with them. The killers had to know why would the outsiders let themselves be killed rather than kill, as any normal Auca would have done?
Citation: Christianity Today International / Christianity Today Magazine Vol. 40, No. 10, Page 20 © 1996,
GOOD QUESTION -- WHY DID THEY DO IT?
Why would grown men, married with children, give up life in America and go to the jungles of South America? Why would they allow the natives of that jungle to kill them leaving their wives and children alone in the world? Why did they give up everything?
THE FIRST MEN TO FOLLOW JESUS WERE NO DIFFERENT.
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
Simon answered, "Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners’?"
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:1-11, 27-31 NIV).
WHY DID THEY DO IT?
1) Someone might say Jesus’ disciples were impulsive and left everything without thinking it through. But none of them ever turned back. Peter, James, John and Matthew chose to suffer and die for Jesus. That’s no the act of impulsive people.
2) Some might think it was because Jesus was family to them. (It seems like James and John may have been His cousins.) But what about Peter and Matthew? They weren’t family. Besides Jesus’ family thought He was going crazy. That’s no reason to leave everything and follow Jesus.
3) Maybe they were just curious about this carpenter turned preacher who knew where the fish were hiding. But their curiosity cost them everything – their homes, their businesses and eventually their lives. Curiosity is no reason to leave everything and follow Jesus.
4) Someone might suggest these men had nothing else to do. Maybe they were bored and just had a lot of time on their hands. Maybe the economy was slow and they were out of work. The only problem is that these men were successful in their work. Jesus called them from their nets and tax office. James and John had hired help in their fishing business. Boredom and unemployment aren’t good enough reasons to leave everything and follow Jesus.
WHY DID THEY DO IT? BETTER YET, WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT?
Who would ever dream of amputating his own leg? Nobody-- unless that person had lost his mind or was faced with the grim choice of losing either his leg or his life.
That was Bill Jeracki’s terrible predicament, according to The Denver Post, when he was out fishing alone in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He was trapped when a boulder fell on his leg, and he was unable to free himself.
Knowing that as night came on he might die of exposure, Bill did what he knew he had to do. Relying on his skill as an assistant to a doctor at a Denver hospital, he took a nylon rope out of his tackle box, tied it tightly above his knee, and cut off his leg with his knife. He then dragged himself to his car and drove 10 miles to the nearest town. He not only survived the trauma, but with an artificial limb he is out fishing again.
What a decision--your leg or your life! But what if the stakes were even higher? Suppose you had to choose between giving up some habit, ambition, or relationship, and giving up heaven. The Lord made the issue of following Him that decisive. He said, "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26). It’s a question you and I must answer. --VCG
Citation: Our Daily Bread, January 12, 1995
WHEN JESUS CALLS YOU TO FOLLOW HIM SAYING “YES” IS THE BEST ANSWER.
When you know you’re sick, you call your doctor. When you realize you’re a sinner, you call Jesus. He’s the only one who can remove the guilt and bring you into God’s family. When you recognize that Jesus gave up everything – even His life – for you, it begins to make sense to do the same for Him.
The Bottom-line was stated well by Jim Elliot who wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
1) (Nod to Joyce.) Bow your heads and close your eyes so God can meet with each of us privately.
2) Have you heard his call? Have you left everything and followed Jesus?
3) Of course you can’t do what Peter, James and John did. And very few are asked to do what Jim Elliot and his friends did. But you can have the same commitment. You can have the same attitude for living. You can give everything to Jesus and follow him.
4) Are you ready to give everything to Jesus and follow him? Are you willing to renew your trust and faith in him? Then do it now as we receive Communion together.
5) Pray
6) There are some questions to consider before communion in your bulletins. Please, go through them now and ask God to help you answer them honestly.
Questions to Consider before Communion
Is there any unconfessed sin in my life? Is there any sin I must stop making excuses for so I can really repent of it?
Is there a self-righteous attitude in my life? Am I feeling more or less dependent on Jesus Christ for my salvation?
Is there a fellow Christian to whom I owe an apology? Do I need to make restitution to someone?
Is there a brother or sister in Christ I find difficult to put up with? Is there someone I need to forgive?
Do I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? Do I love my neighbor as myself?
Why am I celebrating communion today? Is it to fulfill a duty? Is it only a habitual ritual? Am I trying to live up to someone else’s expectations for me? Or am I seeking to know God and to receive his grace for me?
A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep
(1 Corinthians 11:28 – 30 NIV).
