“GONE FISHING!”

Text:  Mark 1:16-20

INTRODUCTION:

            When I first started preaching, I asked an Executive Minister of our denomination if it was okay to preach a sermon more that once.  His answer was, “You bet!”  I then asked, “How many times can you preach the same sermon?”  And, his answer was, “You ought to be able to preach a good sermon 6 or 7 times!”

            Well, I’m bringing out a sermon that I have preached before in this church.  In fact, I preached this sermon exactly 2 yrs. and 1 month ago, today—I checked.  So, why am I preaching a sermon that I preached 2 yrs and 1 month ago?  I’m really not too lazy to prepare a new sermon this week.  In fact, I love preparing new sermons. 

            I am preaching this same sermon because we are going through the Gospel of Mark passage by passage, and this is the one and only sermon that I have preached from Mark’s Gospel before.  Can you believe that?  I have preached hundreds of sermons and only 1 sermon from Mark before we started this series. 

            Anyway, if you have heard this sermon before it’s because I have preached it before and you have a very good memory.  But, if you haven’t heard it before, that means you weren’t here 2 yrs and 1 month ago.  And, this is a brand new sermon for you.

            Last week you remember, Mark introduced Jesus as the preacher.  Jesus was baptized, he spent time in the desert being tempted by Satan, and now Jesus was ready to begin his work.  Jesus was preaching in V.15, “The time has come.  The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news!”  Jesus was consistent in proclaiming that message through the rest of his life.  So, where are we going, today?  What was Jesus doing in our passage?  Jesus was looking ahead 2,000 years, and he was seeing you and me. 

            Jesus knew building God’s kingdom would be a lot of work.  He knew he was going to the cross in about 3 years.  He knew he wasn’t going to be here for 2,000 years.  So, Jesus began building a church—a church that would last 2,000 years.  In our passage today, Jesus was beginning to build his church.  With Simon/Andrew and with James/John, Jesus knew his church would continue on to reach you and me.  And, you and I, just like Simon/Andrew and James/John are to continue that church until he returns.  We are to be his disciples!

            As I told you 2 years and 1 month ago, I’m not an on-fire wild and crazy guy when it comes to fishing.  I’ve done my share of fishing.  I used to have a cabin on a great fishing lake in South Dakota, and I would go fishing quite a bit.  Fishing was fun.  But catching fish was always a bother to me.  The best part of fishing was taking a good book out in the boat, finding a nice shady spot in the lake, and losing myself in the book.  The problem was that the lake was a really good fishing lake, and there was always fish that wanted to be caught.  I didn't like losing my place in the book just to pull in a fish that couldn't tell the difference between my lure and some real fish food.

I never really appreciated the fishing story that is in our text for today.  I never understood what the big deal was about Peter, Andrew, James, and John leaving their fishing to go with Jesus.  To my way of thinking, just about anything was more fun than fishing. 

The fishing they did was not a weekend outing with their friends.  Fishing was what they had been trained to do.  It is what they did for a living—how they fed their families.  So when Jesus came walking by the lakeside that day, and he said: "Follow me, and I make you fishers of men," why did Andrew and Peter follow Christ that day?  And why did James and John follow Him? 

We simply don't know why they followed Jesus that day.  But we do know by our text today how they followed Jesus.  And that is what we are going to explore today.  How did Andrew, Peter, James, and John follow Christ?  And how are we to follow when he comes along, and he says to us:  "Follow Me!"

I.  WE SHOULD FOLLOW CHRIST IMMEDIATELY:

            First of all, when Christ calls:  "We should follow Him immediately."  In our Scripture today, 2 verses give us all of the information we need.  Verses 18 and 20.  Verse 18 says: "At once they left..."  And verse 20 says: "Without delay he called them, and they left their father..."  Our apostles didn't waste time thinking.  They were gone immediately.

I remember when I was a boy my passion was playing baseball.  I could play baseball 24 hours a day.  I loved baseball.  No matter what I was doing, if I saw my friends coming up the street with ball gloves, get out of the way.  I immediately joined them.  That is how I picture Andrew, Peter, James, and John.  They saw Jesus coming up the street, and they were gone.  Excitement was in the air.

When Jesus calls, do we go immediately?  "Follow Me!" He says. Is Jesus calling you to come at once—to leave your nets and immediately follow Him?  So many times we hear the call, but we put it off.  We say:  "There is no hurry."  Or "Maybe tomorrow I'll answer His call."  Are you sure there will be a tomorrow?  James 4:13-14 says: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.'  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."  And I Thessalonians 5:2 says: "...the Lord will come like a thief in the night."   Tomorrow is not guaranteed, is it?

There is a fable about 3 apprentice devils who came to earth for their apprenticeship.  They were talking to the chief devil, Satan.  They were telling Satan about their plans to tempt and ruin men.  The first one said:  "I will tell them there is no God."  Satan said, "That won't stop too many.  They know that there is a God."  The second said, "I will tell men that there is no hell."  Satan answered, "You won't deceive anyone that way.  Men know even now that there is a hell for sin."  The third said, "I will tell men there is no hurry."  And Satan said happily, "Go, you will ruin them by the thousand!"  The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. 

The most dangerous day in man's life is when he learned that there is such word as tomorrow.  There are things which must not be put off.  For no man or woman knows if tomorrow will ever come.

II.  WE SHOULD FOLLOW CHRIST TOTALLY:

            The second thing we need to do when Christ calls is:  "We should follow Him totally."  Verse 18 says of Andrew and Peter: "...they left their nets and followed Him."  And verse 20 says of James and John: "...they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him."  They left everything they had or knew.  Following Jesus always means leaving something behind.  And sometimes our friends and our families will have a hard time approving of our decision—or even understanding our decision.

I was baptized when I was 11 years old.  I accepted Christ as my Savior.  But looking back, I didn't accept Him totally.  It took 35 more years before I accepted Him as my Lord, too.  I didn't totally commit to Jesus Christ.  I didn't leave my nets, and my boat, and my father to follow Him.  I only followed him when it was convenient for me.  Like many people, I didn't risk anything.  I played it safe.  And I didn't grow spiritually for all of those years. 

There were many times that I almost followed Him totally.  Have any of you ever been there—almost totally following Him?  Just about, but not quite.  I am reminded of something that I once read: 

"I was almost your person today, Lord.  Then I thought what it would have been like if Jesus had done the same thing.  What if God had almost revealed Himself in Jesus Christ?  What if Christ were almost born and almost lived and almost died?  What if he would have said, "Ask and it will almost be given you; seek and you will almost find; knock and it will almost be opened to you?"  What if he would have said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavyladen, and I will almost give you rest?"  And what if Jesus had told his disciples, "For whosoever would save his life will lose it, and whosoever loses his life for my sake will almost find it?"

Too many of us say "Almost" when we should be saying "All the way with Christ."  Only when I said: "Okay Christ, here I am; I am yours totally; you are my Lord and Savior."  Only then did I begin to grow spiritually.  Only then did my true relationship with Christ begin.  And how great it has been.

When Cortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519 to begin his conquest of Mexico with a small force of 700 men, he purposely set fire to his fleet of 11 ships.  His men on the shore watched their only means of retreat sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.  With no means of retreat, there was only one direction to move, forward into the Mexican interior to meet whatever might come their way.  In paying the price for being Christ's disciple, you too must purposefully destroy all avenues of retreat.  Resolve that whatever the price for being His follower, you will have to pay it.   

III.  WE SHOULD FOLLOW CHRIST ACTIVELY:

            The third thing we need to do when Christ calls is:  "We should follow Him actively."  Let's go back to verses 18 and 20.  Both verses end by saying that they "followed Him."

Andrew and Peter didn't say to Jesus:  "We have to stay here and take care of our families.  Tell you what Jesus, go do your thing, and then write a book about it.  And we will buy the book and read all about it."  And James and John didn't say:  "We know you are a pretty good speaker.  How about taping your sermons.  And then sending us the tapes."

None of them said:  "We'll read about it.  Or we'll listen to the tapes.  Or we'll watch you on TV."  They dropped everything, and they followed Him.  They physically followed Christ.  They got up out of their boats, and they walked along with Him.

Our apostles, at times, seemed to be a sorry lot.  We don't know a lot about Andrew.  But Peter often said and did the wrong things.  James and John were called "Sons of Thunder" by Jesus.  They were the ones who argued who would be the greatest in heaven.  Why did Jesus pick these fishermen to continue His work?  I think it is because He knew their hearts.  He knew they weren't perfect.  But Jesus saw in them what others may have missed.  They were willing to give up everything and follow Him.  They were willing to walk with Jesus. 

There is a wonderful story about the angel Gabriel talking to our Lord after Jesus’ returned to heaven.  “Lord,” said Gabriel, “You have suffered terribly.  Do those humans know and appreciate how you love them?  And do they know what you did for them?”  Jesus replied, “Not yet.  At the moment, just a few people in Palestine know.”  Gabriel was perplexed, “Then what have you done to let everyone know about your love?”  Jesus answered, “I have asked Peter, Andrew, James, John, and a few others to tell others about me.  They will tell others who will tell still others until every person on earth has heard the story of how I gave my life for them.”  Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical.  “What if they become weary, or forget, or others don’t listen?  Surely you have made other plans?”  And, Jesus replied, “No, Gabriel.  I have made no other plans.  I’m counting on them.” 

And, you know what else?  Jesus is counting on us!  I read somewhere that God doesn’t look at our ability—He looks at our availability.  It is important that we Christians not only "talk the talk."  But we must "walk the walk."  We need to get up and do for Christ.  We need to actively follow Him. 

CONCLUSION

            When Christ comes by and says, “Follow Me!” we should follow him immediately.  Don’t put it off—there may not be a tomorrow.  We should follow him totally.  Following Christ always means leaving something behind.  He wants your total commitment—he wants all of you.  And, we should follow Christ actively.  He wants us up off our backsides following him.  He wants us walk the walk for him.  Let Jesus lead you into a life of discipleship!  Follow him!