Follow Me

Follow Me – Transcribed using OCR

Dr Mason of Burma once wanted a teacher to visit and labour among
a warlike tribe and asked his converted boatman if he would go. He
told him that as a teacher he would receive only four rupees per
month whereas as a boatman he was receiving fifteen rupees.

After praying over the matter, the boatman returned to the doctor and
the following conversation occurred.

“Well Shapon,” said the doctor, “what have you decided? Will you go
for four rupees a month?”

No, teacher,” replied the Shapon, “I will not go for four rupees a
month but I will go for Christ.”

Transition point one

Mark’s gospel passage is telling us two things, one it is following on
from John’s gospel of last week, when we recalled the calling of
Nathanael and Phillip and secondly, According to Mark this is the
first time Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus does not at this point say much about the kingdom, but the
passage goes on to say more about the calling of four more disciples.
The reality that the gospels make much of the stories of Jesus calling
his disciple’s and who he chooses tells us just how important it was
and still is today.

But let’s first look at Jesus statement, The Kingdom of God is near,

repent and believe the good news.

Main point one

Jesus message of the Good News has those three great, dominant
words of the Christian faith. There is the good news, repent and

believe.
The good news gives us six points to hold on to.
Until Jesus came, people could only guess and grope about after God,
but with the coming of Jesus, people could clearly see what God is
like. The news that Jesus brought was of hope. The world at that time
was a pessimistic world and people became defeated very quickly.

It was good news of peace. Everyone has two competing natures, the

nature of goodness and the nature of sin. The coming of Jesus unities

the two natures and victory is won over the sinful nature.

The good news is God’s promise. God is often perceived to bea God
of threats, but Jesus shows us that God is a God of promise, always
more ready to give more then we are to ask.

The good news that Jesus brings us is the news of immortality,

characteristically we are all dying, but Jesus came with the news that
we are on the way to life, eternal life not to death.

Finally there is the good news of salvation. This is not simply
liberation from penalties and escape from past sinfulness, it is the
power to live our life in such a way that leads to victory.
The second dominant word is repent. Jesus is calling us to repent.

True repentance means that we have come to hate the sin, not just the

consequences. There are many people who are sorry for the mess that

their sin has gotten them into, but who would probably commit the

same sin again if the consequences of such could be avoided.

The final word here is to believe. To believe in the good news is
simply to take Jesus at his word. To believe that God so loves the
world that he will make any sacrifice to bring us back to himself. To
believe in what sounds too good to be true, yet is truly the truth.

Transition point two

This brings us to the second part of Mark’s writing today and is
perhaps for some of us here today a very important call. Jesus
continues to call his followers, his friends, the ones who will carry his
message on when he has gone.
Jesus was a good leader, he knew he needed staff, so he set about
inviting people to join him in his vision. Inviting ordinary people, for
one doesn’t have to be exceptional to be a disciple of Jesus.

Main point two

Who were these men? They were fishermen, simple folk, neither
learned nor wealthy, not from the ecclesiastics or aristocracy. They
were ordinary people. People that Jesus believed in. What were they
doing? They were doing their work, catching fish. Josephus, who was
governor of Galilee and was an historian of the Jews, tells us that in
his day there were 330 fishing boats that sailed the waters of the lake.
That is how ordinary these men were. Fish was the staple diet in
Palestine and was mostly salt fish as there was no other means of
transporting fresh fish. So many people in the area would have been
employed in some way in the fishing industry.

God calls those that work, when we sit idle God has little for us to do.
There is that old saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy
person to do it.”

Transition point three

How did Jesus call them? He simply said “Follow me”. There was no
interview, or suggestion that they might like to be involved in a new
theological debate, just a quiet invitation to follow. Which raises the
question, “why did they?”

Main point three

These men, had no doubt been in the crowds that had listen to Jesus
and maybe had stayed to ask questions. Their hearts had been stirred
and they felt the magnetism of his presence. They followed in
response to their own personal reaction to him. The greatest number
of people who follow Christ do so, not because of anything that Jesus
said or did but because of everything that He is.

What did Jesus offer them? A task, work, service, Jesus offered them

a cause to which they could dedicate their lives to.
Jesus told them that he would make them fishers of men. Meaning
this was a call to be of service to others. These men were not called to
be of service to himself, but to others. Jesus was not looking to
round himself with a group of people who would do his bidding
and be his slaves. He called men who would carry on after he had

gone.
This call meant giving up all their own plans, ambitions and
securities. James and John in particular, they were in their father’s
boat and would have expectations of inheriting upon their father’s
death. They put their careers on the line so to speak. This was not just
a change of career, but a whole new vocation that which would serve
others.

Conclusion
If Jesus were to walk among us today and see us at our daily work,
would he see that special something within us that would encourage
him to say to us “Follow me”. Even more importantly would we be
ready to leave our nets and go