Rabbits In A Cage

Rabbits in a Cage

Matthew 4:18-20

1st slide

This is Bun Bun. He is our adopted pet rabbit.

Bun Bun lives to chew on leaves, tease the dogs and make jelly beans.

2nd slide

This is a local groundhog. He makes a living burrowing in the ground and generally being a nuisance around the house.

5 minutes after this picture was taken, he may or may not have died of lead poisoning.

When we stop and consider the lives of these two animals, we all might want to believe that Bun Bun has the better life.

In fact, many of us have a rabbit’s existence!

We are perfectly happy to live out our life in a box with no real threat or danger in our life.

We are all perfectly fine with being rabbits in cages!

After watching Bun Bun last week, I came to the conclusion that I have no desire to be like him.

I don’t know about you but our forefathers fought for freedom from being caged up.

I would rather take my chances and be like the ground hog.

Sure you have the chance you will be run over by a car, attacked by a predator or shot by someone but at least you are free!

Being free means that you take chances

Being free means there is risk involved!

WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?

Everything

If God is in it, you can’t fail.

If you learn a valuable lesson, you can’t fail!

But the bottom line is that if you sit around and never try, you will have a very tame and normal life.

Normal is boring!

Jesus said:

32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Freedom does not mean a life of never taking chances

Freedom in Christ will never be a life of not getting your hands dirty.

Too many Christians have these false beliefs that once you are saved you are done.

You can go through this life without a care in the world and without any responsibility

As we look at today’s text, I want to show you the difference between freedom and life in a cage.

Matthew 4:18 (NKJV)

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

Jesus began His ministry not by preaching long messages or teaching doctrine but His ministry seemed to have truly begun with walk.

His was a ministry that began with a stroll along the Sea of Galilee where He probably saw several fishermen in various stages of their work day.

We really can’t be sure why Jesus’ attention to Simon Peter and Andrew.

These two men were hard at work.

If you’ve never casted a net, there is a skill set necessary in order to do it right.

It isn’t as easy as you think either.

I wonder if it was the way that they worked together that got Jesus’ attention.

It was really obvious even to the untrained eye that these two guys were good at what they did.

They were probably out every day working their craft and becoming proficient at it.

What is really amazing to me about this story is the fact that verse 17 states that Jesus began His earthly ministry and in verse 18 we find Him walking along the Sea of Galilee and is drawn to fishermen.

He didn’t go to the Temple

He didn’t go and have a conversation with the Pharisees either.

What was the big fascination with those two brothers?

Now don’t get me wrong; Jesus knew about these guys long before He came to Galilee.

The Pharisees would have been jumping at the chance to work with the Messiah as His “advisors.”

Jesus was looking for an empty vessel that could be filled with what He had to offer.

He was looking for someone possibly like you.

1st point

I. It’s easy to get comfortable.

Simon Peter and Andrew were used to being fishermen and no doubt they were comfortable with the way they made a living.

Their entire existence was probably spent next to the Sea of Galilee.

They never left it because they didn’t have a reason to.

Every day it was fish, fish, fish.

It was repetitious and probably boring at times.

Christianity should never, ever be boring friends!

Do you realize that serving the Lord is the greatest adventure that you will ever go on?

Yet there are so many of you sitting here today that never leave your Sea of Galilee and experience the freedom that comes from serving Christ.

And honestly friends why shouldn’t we remain comfortable in our salvation?

Most of us choose a comfortable existence because it makes sense to us.