Sunday's Message - Living the Call: Decide to Follow

Although it’s not hard to believe that we’ve been called by Christ, actually living that call may be a whole lot more challenging. And so, during the Sundays between the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent, we’ll consider seven ways we can live as followers of Jesus. The topics are listed below. 

• January 16 – Decide to Follow (Mark 1:14-20)
• January 23 – Grow in the Word (2 Timothy 3:10-17)
• January 30 – Pray in Faith (Matthew 6:5-15)
• February 6 – Claim the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26)
• February 13 – Fellowship with Believers (Colossians 3:12-17)
• February 20 – Witness to the World (Matthew 28:16-20)
• February 27 – Minister to Others (1 John 3:15-24)

During this first message, we used Mark 1:14-20 to discuss how we might decide to follow Jesus Christ. 

You can stream all our services live by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube channel. If you miss one of these messages, you can find a copy and podcast on the Sligo Presbyterian Church: Our Congregation and Community blog (https://thenettransform.blogspot.com/). 

The passage and message are below: 

Mark 1:14-20 [Contemporary English Version]

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God. He said, “The time has come! God’s kingdom will soon be here. Turn back to God and believe the good news!”

As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting their nets into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.

Jesus walked on and soon saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat, mending their nets. At once Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father in the boat with the hired workers and went with him.

Decide to Follow 

Now we’ve entered what I like to call “the dog days of winter.” As a matter of fact, three years ago, I preached a sermon series this time of year entitled “Plowing Through the Dog Days: Overcoming the Winter Blues.” And when you think about it, why wouldn’t this time of year sort of bring us down a little bit? I mean, we’re caught between the holiday season and the coming of Spring. And with the exception of skiing and sledding, most sports have either moved indoors or gone into hibernation. And speaking for myself, although I certainly complain about raking leaves and cutting grass, both are a heck of a lot better than shoveling snow. And even though, technically, we can still sing “Sled Ride” and “Jiggle Bells,” let’s be honest; is it really as fun to sing them now as it was last month this time? I think we all know the answer to that. But it’s not just out in the world; even around the church, right now we’ve entered this weird time between the seasons of Advent and Christmas and the seasons of Lent and Easter. Man, some church calendars even call it “Ordinary Time;” and I’ll tell you, that probably says it all. Frankly, I really don’t think I’m overselling it to say that we’ve enter a pretty “blah” time of year.

And for that reason, I thought a series of messages that we might be able to apply all year long, I thought that just might tide us over until Lent. But instead of focusing on surviving these “dog days,” over the next month and a half, we’ll be looking at how we might live the call of Christ. In other words, we’ll be using scripture to focus on seven different ways we can live as followers of Jesus. 

And this morning, we’re going to start with what I think you could call both the first and most important step, and I’m talking about making the decision to follow. And for me, this is a no-brainer, because let’s get real, no one will follow anything or anyone unless he or she has made the decision to do it. I mean, dah. But you know, it’s kind of interesting, although I hope everybody would agree with that, well, I’m not sure we’d all agree on what making that decision actually demands. In other words, I may say with all kinds of enthusiasm, even passion, that I’ve decided to follow Jesus, but I may not be all that clear about the demands actually are. And so, with that in mind, we’re going talk about what’s involved in deciding to follow. And to do that, we’re going to consider what happened when Jesus called his first four disciples, and I’ll tell you, when we do, I think we’re going to see three things that are really necessary, if we decide to follow. 

For example, first, I believe that any decision to follow Jesus demands that we open up our minds. In other words, regardless of where we are or what we’re doing, I think it’s important for us to be ready to hear God speaking but also to be willing to listen to what he has to say. But more than that, we need to be willing to listen even when what we’re hearing is unexpected and maybe a little uncomfortable. And I’ll tell you, that’s only possible when our minds are open.

And I think we see that in the passage we just read, but also in some of the other calling stories. I mean, just think about Peter and Andrew, James and John. Now I seriously doubt that when they got up that morning, they expected to be called by guy they’d never met. And I’ll tell you something else, I also doubt that they were thinking about that possibility as were either casting their nets into the sea or repairing their nets in a boat. You see, if they hadn’t been willing to hear, they’d have never paid attention to this guy who was actually distracting them from their work. And if they hadn’t been willing to listen when he said, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish” [Mark 1:17b, CEV], they’d have never recognized that this guy had a kind of authority they may never have encountered before. You see, if they hadn’t been willing to open their minds to something that was definitely out of left field, those four men would never have put down their nets and left their father and followed Jesus. But of course, this willingness to become open to the possibilities, man, we see the exact same thing when Jesus called Nathanael. Just listen to the Evangelist John:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.”

Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Philip answered, “Come and see.”

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn’t deceitful.” 

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!” [John 1:43-49, CEV]

Now that’s what happened to him. Nathanael was willing to hear and listen and that led to change. 

And I’ll tell you, it can also happen to us when we open our minds to new possibilities. Although don’t get me wrong, it isn’t easy, we can put aside our assumptions, in other words, we can put aside some of the stuff we’ve assumed was true and we can put aside some of those prejudices that we’ve always used to determine what’s right and what’s wrong and who’s in and who’s out. And then we can intentional do something that Debbie says I don’t always do, we can put ourselves in a position to hear and we can decide to really listen to some of those voices we may have ignored in the past. Now, I’m not saying we should automatically buy whatever it is they’re selling, but we can listen. Because when we do, some of those barriers that we’ve put up, and I’m talking about barriers that probably shouldn’t be there in the first place, man, they start coming down. And suddenly, we’ll encounter possibilities that we may never have appreciated before, you know, like the possibility of coming with Jesus and becoming fishers of people. You see, if we decide to follow, we really need to be open our minds. And that’s one.

And second, I also believe that our decision to follow Jesus demands that we leave behind our past. In other words, based on what we hear, we may need to leave behind some of our assumptions and some of our prejudices, not only because they’re just plain wrong but because they’re actually preventing us from becoming the men and women God has created us to be. It also means seeing beyond all those limitations that we’ve set for ourselves, many of which came from folks who, for whatever reason, seemed far more interested in telling us what we couldn’t do rather than telling us what we could. 

And again, we see that happen in the passage we read from Mark. I mean, just because Jesus came to them and he called them with authority, that didn’t mean that Peter and Andrew, James and John had to go. Man, they could have stayed exactly where they were. You see, as Mark shapes the story, for them to actually go, they were going to have leave some stuff behind,  and regardless of how you cut it, that was going to be tough. For example, since they were fishing at the time, following Jesus meant that Peter and Andrew would have to leave behind their profession and their very way of life. And since they were in the boat with their father, James and John, man, they were going to have to leave behind their family and their heritage. To follow, those four men had to leave a lot of their past behind. In fact, it was the same kind of thing Jesus would teach them later, when he said, 

Don’t think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. Your worst enemies will be in your own family.

If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples. If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it. [Matthew 10:34-39, CEV]

You see, deciding to follow may demand a sacrifice on our part, specifically some of those things we may have valued from our past.

And again, although it may not be easy, this is also something we can do. You see, we can make the conscious decision to look honestly at our own personal history, you know, at the places we’ve been and the things we’ve learned and the people we’ve trusted. In other words, we can look at all those things that have shaped us and recognize that, when you get right down to it, the past is really a mixed bag, isn’t it? I mean, for most us, man, there’s been an awful lot of good, and I’m thinking about basic values and fundamental principles that, not only do we to hold fast, but that we want to pass on to future generations. And this is the good. But if we’re honest, there’s also been some, well, not so good, and I’m talking about some mistakes and poor decisions that we’ve all made and probably paid for. Now, this is certainly part of the history that we can lay aside as we move forward. You see, if we decide to follow, we really need to leave behind some of our past. And that’s two. 

And related to that, I believe our decision to follow Jesus demands that we move into our future, and in my opinion, that’s the third thing we might need to do. And even though it may not be as important as opening our minds, there’s not going to be much following unless we decide to get up and move. 

And of course, that’s exactly what those fishermen did in the passage we read from Mark. Remember, with Andrew and Peter, “Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.’ Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.” [Mark 1:17-18, CEV] And with James and John, “At once Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father in the boat with the hired workers and went with him.” [Mark 1:20, CEV] You see, these guys were able to move forward into a future they couldn’t have envisioned in the past. And you know, I think that’s something with which the Apostle Paul could identify. I mean, he wrote this to the Galatians:

You know how I used to live as a Jew. I was cruel to God’s church and even tried to destroy it. I was a much better Jew than anyone else my own age, and I obeyed every law that our ancestors had given us. But even before I was born, God had chosen me. He was kind and had decided to show me his Son, so that I would announce his message to the Gentiles. I didn’t talk this over with anyone. [Galatians 1:13-16, CEV]

I think you could say that following Jesus always means moving forward.

And I believe this is something we can do as well. But to do it, man, I think it takes faith, and I’m talking about deep and focused trust, but not primarily in the world or in others or even in ourselves. No, to move forward as followers of Jesus, I think we’re going to have to put our trust in God, and I’m talking about the one who loved us before he laid the foundation of the universe and will love us long after time has lost it’s meaning. You see, when we trust in God and believe that, as Paul wrote to the Romans, “nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Romans 8:39b, CEV], we no longer have to play it safe. Instead we can step forward with confidence, willing to take some risk for the truth, assured that when we make mistakes, we’re forgiven and when we succeed, we can offer praise and thanks to the one who called us. You see, if we decide to follow, we really need to move into the future. And that’s three.

Now, if we believe The Weather Channel, Winter Storm Izzy is on her way and should arrive later this afternoon, reenforcing the inescapable fact that what we might consider a “winter wonderland” in December is a real pain-in-the-neck in January and reminding us, once again, that we are truly in the dog days of winter. But as we hunker down for the snow, let’s remember that we can spend some of our non-shoveling time thinking about how we might live our call as disciples of Jesus Christ and in particular, how we might decide to follow him by opening our minds and by leaving behind our past and by moving into our future. And this is something we can do, whether the dogs are howling or not.