Inviting Voice

Thank you for listening to an audio resource from Stanwich Church, located in Greenwich in Stanford, Connecticut.

The vision of Stanwich Church is to know Christ and make him known.

This can be found on page 994 of your Pew Bible.

Jesus calls the first disciples with a voice that carries both invitation and authority, which prompts four fishermen to drop what they're doing and follow him, not knowing where he is going.

A reading from Mark chapter 1, beginning with the 16th verse.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.

And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

May God add his blessing to the reading of his holy word.

Many people say that their spouse is their rock.

No offense to my wife, but in my case, my children are my rocks.

In the morning I tell my teenagers time to get up, and there's no sound and no movement.

Rocks.

What is it that made them do it?

Well, I thought about it a little bit, and it can't be that they were just pliant personalities or just generally gullible.

It is true that you can make the case that Andrew profiles as one of those.

He was originally a follower of John the Baptist, and then Jesus comes along, and now he's following him.

So, you know, he might just be oriented towards following shiny new spiritual leaders.

And he also likes bringing people to him.

You know that time when 5,000 people had nothing to eat?

Andrew was the one who brought the boy with the bread and fish to Jesus.

Another time there were some foreigners who wanted an audience with Jesus, and he brought them right in.

So fine, it may be that he's a born follower.

But his brother Simon?

Jesus did nickname him Peter, which means rock, but unlike my kids, uh, this one talks.

You've been in class with him, you know, the one who takes up all the airtime, even though he did none of the readings.

I'm sure you've met them in your office too.

You know that that type of fellow is not one for following.

And James and John, their nickname was uh Sons of Thunder, so enough said.

It can't be that they followed because their personalities made it easier for them to say yes.

And if that's not what it is, it also can't be that they responded because the request was a small one, you know, one that does not cost you anything, like, you know, click follow on Instagram.

James and John, you don't see it in the English translation, but it's quite likely that their nets are for larger scale fishing than Simon and Andrews.

If Simon and Andrews' boat was the equivalent of a Ford F-150, theirs was a freightliner that needed to stop at the way station.

The text tells us that they had hired servants.

That is to say, they had a comfortable enough life, like many of us do.

And you may think, well, you know, fishing is a pretty smelly business, so you know, they maybe they fancy to change.

You know, I'm ready for a new challenge, you know, go to LinkedIn and click the open to work button.

Well, that's not how it works.

In their culture, one's work is tied to one's family, it is tied to one's identity.

How were people known then?

It was through their father's names.

Levi, son of Alphaeus, Simon, son of Jonah, James, son of Zebedee.

So when our text tells us that they left their father Zebedee in the boat, it's not just idle description.

They were giving up their very identity and their place in society.

That's quite an ask.

You didn't work your way to Greenwich and get to be part of the circles you're now part of just to uproot yourself and walk away from it all.

And for what?

Jesus didn't promise them a bigger boat or shed loads of shekels, so that does not explain why they went with Jesus.

What Jesus said was, follow me, which literally is come after me.

He's making clear that there's a hierarchy here.

I come first, you come after me.

Me front, you behind.

So from having servants to order around for James and John, it's now the other way around.

And you know, many of us here being leader types, this following business may not exactly be part of our skill set.

We'd rather tell Jesus what to do.

We'd rather tell Jesus what's right than what's wrong.

We'd rather retain ultimate decision-making authority.

It was certainly hard for Simon.

As they were walking with Jesus one time, he heard Jesus speaking nonsense about suffering and dying.

And so he takes Jesus aside and says, Listen, Lord, cut it out with all this crosstalk.

That's not gonna happen.

And how does Jesus respond?

He says, get behind me, Satan.

We may need an instant replay to see what happened there.

Simon tried to boss the boss around.

You know, he went to a seminar that told him to manage up.

And and and and and Jesus had to remind him, me front, you behind.

In fact, right after saying that, Jesus also adds, you are a stumbling block to me, which can be translated as, you're a rock that causes stumbling.

Simon the Rock, Simon the Stone.

Well, Jesus' offer was, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

And I don't know about you, but the phrase fisheries of men doesn't exactly conjure the most pleasant of pictures for me.

Doesn't get me excited.

So maybe to understand better what it means, let's listen to this very short story from Jesus that we find in Matthew 13, verse 47.

Matthew 13:47

The kingdom of heaven, he said, is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad.

So it will be at the end of the age.

Now I'm sure some of you are hearing that, and many of you don't like this good over there and bad over there business.

Who are you to say that what is good?

And who are you to tell me that what I'm doing is bad?

But I just have to say, we like to ask God to stay out of our business.

And then some terrible terror attack happens, or we experience some unimaginable evil, and we then ask, where is God?

It's not fair, isn't it?

We want to have it both ways, whereas God can't win.

But I do get it.

Some people are rightly reacting to the fact that people of faith have sometimes wielded God as a weapon.

James and John made this mistake.

One time they went up to Jesus and said, Teacher, can we make a little request?

Could you grant when you come in your glory that one of us will sit on your right and the other on your left?

You know, they were like uh early angel investors who wanted to cash in at the IPO.

When they thought of the kingdom of God, they were thinking in terms of position and power.

They were thinking, what precious metal will my throne be made of?

What gems will my crown be studded with?

What scepter do I get to hold, and who do I hit on the head with it?

That is the way of the devil, not the way of Jesus.

When Jesus said, follow me, the way he was on was the way that led to the cross.

And that is the way for all who would follow him.

That is what we read in Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Verse 5.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Now make no mistake, Jesus was not all about the exercise of power, but he did exercise authority.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus talked?

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says, be silent and the demons go quiet.

He says, be open and a deaf mute regains his senses.

Jesus says, Be still and the stormy sea becomes calm.

He says, get up and a girl who's dead comes back to life.

And when he drove out the demon, they said, What is this?

A new teaching with authority.

When he still the storm, they said, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Make no mistake, there in ancient Palestine, when he drove out demons, when he opened eyes, when he brought the dead back to life, he was showing what he meant by the kingdom of God.

He was judging evil, yes, but he was doing that in service of renewing and recreating the world.

That's what he meant by fishing for men.

He's already doing it.

He's going to do it anyway.

And all that's left to figure out is whether we have a part in it or not.

Can I give you some advice?

Do you notice how Jesus uses the short two-word sentences to do what he does?

Comply before he starts using longer sentences.

And whatever you do, don't let it get to the point where he starts asking you rhetorical questions because then you're really in trouble.

Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own?

Can you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?

Or this one.

What does it profit you to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul?

In their moment of weakness, James and John sought the crown instead of the kingdom.

In this moment of weakness, Peter imagined a kingdom without a cross.

Like Adam and Eve before them in the garden, they allowed themselves to be seduced by the snake.

They gave ear to the serpent.

They listened to another voice.

As you and I have at various times in our life.

In our striving for achievements, in the shame of our failures, in the pain of betrayals, in our search for significance, in our longing to be loved, in our reaching for those things that can only be received.

We listened to the devil telling us we're just gullible.

But Andrew wasn't gullible.

He had great spiritual insight, seeing before anyone else did, the savior of the world.

And so he kept bringing people to Jesus quietly, one person at a time.

Simon wasn't a natural-born follower.

But when others had fallen away and stopped following him, Simon stayed on with enough self-awareness to say, Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

And after Pentecost, the first time he preached, 3,000 people became followers of Jesus.

We listened to the world telling us that it's all too much to give up.

James and John, who left their father and their mother and their family.

In the end, one of the very, very, very few people who stood by Jesus at the foot of the cross was a woman named Salome.

Know who he who she is?

The mother of James and John.

How do you think she ended up there?

James and John gave up their family for a time and gained them back for eternity.

And Jesus said, There is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and the age to come, eternal life.

Three years ago, as chair of the elder board, there was a period of time where I had to keep to myself the knowledge that Pastor Nathan was leaving, and soon after that Pastor David was leaving too.

Couldn't tell anyone.

During that time, I sat as usual in that corner of the balcony where my family usually sits.

And for many Sundays I felt the desire to wrap my arms around all of you, the same way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, as Jesus puts it.

And that was when he said, Follow me.

Go into pastoral ministry.

And full disclosure, I didn't do the immediately part.

Instead, I said, Well, you gotta convince the missus.

You know, make it hard enough that you never have to say yes.

I left it at that and said nothing to my wife.

But a month later, out of the blue, she comes up to me and she says, If you go to seminary, I will support you.

I actually wasn't paying attention, so it actually flew past me.

And it was two weeks later where I thought, was that it?

And then in the next month was the first time I preach here at Stanwich Church.

And after the service, she finds me and she says, You have to do this.

So here I am today in the second half of life, studying in seminary.

And I'm not gonna lie to you, it hasn't been easy.

The academics are easy enough, but the spiritual attacks are frankly unbelievable.

But what about you?

How is Jesus calling you to follow him today?

What broken nets are you still messing around with?

And what boats are you trying to be comfortable in?

What identities are you trying to hold on to that that are for you to let go?

Not everyone is called to vocational ministry, but some of us might be who don't know it yet.

Not everyone is called to vocational ministry, but every one of us have people around us who are our responsibility to bring to Jesus.

They're waiting.

And you who dearly want to follow Jesus but think you've messed up once too often that you can't be used by God.

Remember Simon who denied Jesus once, who denied Jesus twice, who denied Jesus three times.

Remember how after Jesus' resurrection there was one day when he went out walking by the Sea of Galilee once again, and once again he sees Simon there.

Remember what Jesus said to him?

He said, Follow me.

The exact same words, the exact same invitation.

Unchanged.

Except maybe this time we hear something else.

Kindness where we expected condemnation.

Restoration instead of reproof.

Friendship, like before the fall.

Do you hear that voice?

Is it a voice you could follow?

No matter how many times you have failed or denied or betrayed him, remember Jesus is in the business of renewing and recreating.

All we stumbling stones can become rocks upon which he builds his kingdom.

History tells us that in the end, Andrew and Simon, following in the way of Jesus, died by crucifixion.

And gladly so.

James was the first apostle martyred for the faith, and John the only one not martyred, preserved by God to pen the final words of this book.

Why did they follow Jesus to the end?

And in the first place, at the very beginning, why did they leave everything to follow him?

It had to be his voice.

Full of authority yet full of love.

The voice that spoke the world into being at creation.

The voice that declared paradise open again on the cross.

The voice that calls to you and to me today.

Follow me.org.