Mark 1:14-20

Jesus Announces the Good News

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Introduction

Hello everyone.

Now I know we are now in late January but as I have you as part of an audience and I can’t do it in person to you I just want to wish everyone in the fellowship a happy new year and I hope that the Christmas break was a safe and peaceful one for you all. I pray that we all stay well and that we are at some point able to meet again. The news of vaccines of recent weeks and months despite the current lockdown does provide some hope that we are in sight of a change of direction.

I couldn’t quite believe that it was the Summer last year when I last undertook a sermon. After what has felt like a lifetime in moments of this long period of pandemic and also as if it were yesterday at other times, God has called me to do another with you today.

We are continuing the book of Mark – today it is on Chapter 1, verses 14-20.

The book of Mark is one of the first accounts of the life of Jesus and Jason has already touched on the first part of this chapter which was around John the Baptist and his similarities to Jesus in both life and death – and the strangeness of faith. But also of the attraction of faith – to those who would have viewed John as strange but also as fascinating – especially in regards to his faith and his hope. Jason also touched on the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry and the start of His church.

Today I want to talk to you about the next part of this chapter which is set in Galilee and is around the subject of discipleship and principally the first disciples that followed Jesus – the requirements for discipleship and how this ultimately branches out to making more disciples of God.

But first, I want to start today by showing you a short video by UCCF: The Christian Unions that I came across recently and it asks this question about the book of Mark and whether anybody is home? With our current situation where the pandemic is concerned, I thought it is very impactful and has a running theme of what I want to talk about today – so I will see you again in a few minutes.

Setting the scene

Welcome back! Now let’s remind ourselves of the passage we are looking at today. If you want to follow in your own bible then please do but I will speak it now:

Jesus Announces the Good News

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

So, this is about four very ordinary chaps – people very much like you or me today who were in a very ordinary business together for their time. This was until one day when something truly out of the ordinary happened to them.

There were two sets of brothers… Simon & Andrew and James & John. They lived next to what was a huge lake and fishing ran quite predominantly in their families – mainly because they lived so close to it. So as you can already probably guess they were all fishermen in their business together. I’m not sure if we have any fishermen in the congregation today so maybe it’s not so ordinary as I first mentioned! Feel free to let me know.

Fishing was then and still is today, very dangerous and manual work – although I wouldn’t know the first thing on how to fish and I can safely assume I might be waiting awhile myself to catch just the one, let alone a boat full of them!

On top of the whole fishing thing however, you also needed to have a good business head and also very importantly business acumen – and that goes for any business. They lived in a very prosperous fishing community where it was big business – because other foodstuffs such as meat were harder to come by.

These brothers were certainly not poor because of where they lived and the acumen they had made them successful. They were almost certainly well educated. They certainly owned their own boats and were extremely competent at what they do. Like many of you in your respective lines of work or if you’re retired then those skills probably come in handy still.

They were also Jewish of course  – so we can say with some certainty that as God fearing Jews, family was also very, very important to them.

So, we have to ask ourselves why would these four men with so much in their lives leave everything they had ever known – their security, livelihood, families and become disciples of an unknown Rabbi who just simply said ‘follow me’?

The passage goes a long way to answer this very question – and it brings up a subject that relates strongly to this and that is about making disciples. It really is what you can pinpoint as the defining point at which the church itself begins to emerge.

We can certainly learn a great deal from these verses about the very nature of discipleship and what it means to be a disciple of God and of Jesus Christ.

Imagine that you are a witness to the events in the passage. What would you be thinking of what has just occurred?

Jesus says the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Believe it or not

Really?

Do you dare believe that this is true?

Would you allow yourself to get excited at an event of which your ancestors had been waiting generations for?

That the moment has finally arrived?

What is Jesus going to do to follow that statement he has made?

Well, he goes for a walk. He’s going to find some fisherman at the lake and he’s going to call on them to follow him.

Some may say is that it? Is this how it is going to occur? Some would say it is a very strange way indeed to show that the Kingdom is here.

And what is even stranger is that Mark tells us that ‘immediately’ they left their nets – without hesitation or preoccupation.

They left their staff, their father and went to follow him.

It’s somewhat at odds with how you would think ordinary chaps would behave or act, especially to a relative stranger? It certainly is at odds for me to fully comprehend that action of dropping everything and following and Mark doesn’t really give us any more on this.

Thankfully however there are other accounts in the bible – namely in John which also mentions this event. In this depiction both Andrew and Simon and spent considerable time with Jesus in the build up to this event occurring and before John the Baptist was arrested which is at the beginning of today’s passage.

So, Jesus has already spent at least a day already with Andrew and already met Simon – so they are not strangers. They have already talked to him and have made the decision that He is the promised King – the one who would lead, teach and save God’s people.

So rather than a sudden decision to simply drop everything they are in fact giving a considered response to the call when Jesus said ‘Follow me’.

It’s not a rash decision. Having said that – it is still a pretty amazing response to make. They are showing an absolute transformation when the call to follow is obeyed.

And fundamentally that is what being a disciple is all about – which is obedience to the call of Jesus and the first consideration of being a disciple.

The aspects of obedience

Mark records six different aspects of obedience in his passage which Simon, Andrew, James and John must have taken on board when they followed. They are:

• A call to Repentance – v15 ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent…’ – or change in another way of looking at it. Turn around and stop living the life to please yourself and start living your life in the opposite direction to in fact please your creator.
• A call to Believe – again carrying on after repent in v15 it states to ‘believe the gospel.’ It’s great that Jesus doesn’t say that you can follow him if you pass a rigorous set of tests. He doesn’t say to follow if you’re intelligent, wise, strong physically or mentally? He simply says to repent and believe in the gospel – that is all. Belief that Jesus was the kind of man that you leave everything for. They had to believe he was good news. The one would indeed save God’s people.
• A call to Fellowship – what these verses demonstrate is that Jesus is building a community. It doesn’t begin with one person – it actually begins with four – and it rapidly builds to 12 and then upwards again to form a community. A community based around one thing – Jesus and ultimately God.
• A call to allegiance – v17 ‘and Jesus said to them, “Follow me…”. Not Follow me and your job or business, not follow me and your family… To be a disciple means there can only be one fundamental thing that can be followed for total allegiance as it is the most important thing of all. But Jesus isn’t saying to discard what is around you – family, job, friends and go and become a monk or nun. The four men of this story didn’t walk out on their families or livelihoods and possessions as v29 demonstrates – Simon still has a house and in v30 he is caring for his Mother in Law. So we have to assume he is married. We also know that James and John’s mother is still around as I recall my last sermon in the summer in Matthew and the mother confronting him about who sits on the left and right of his throne. Take a look at the website if you want to recall that one. Ordinary men in ordinary situations with businesses, homes and family – but they will never ever be the same again after this decision to follow. Never. As it is a call to an exclusive allegiance.
• A call to count the cost – v18 to v20 ‘and immediately they left their nets and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants’. There is a cost to discipleship and Jesus wants us to consider the cost of the call. You can’t become a disciple without doing that. Financial costs maybe? Relationship costs? Political costs? Physical costs even? But if anyone has told you there is no cost in becoming a disciple then I’m afraid to say they are incorrect in that assessment. We come to our final call and that is…
• A call to serve – by making other disciples – v17 ‘And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” ‘ Jesus is still calling people today and the question we need to ask ourselves is – Are you a disciple? Not a casual ‘Are you interested in Jesus?’ or ‘Have you made a decision in your life for Him’. But are you believing in him by repentance? In obedience? Are you in fellowship? Are you accepting allegiance? Are you counting the cost? Are you believing in him so much that you believe He will be the salvation of your soul? Jesus is still calling. Today. Even in this online environment we are using at the current time. Two simple words. Follow me.

Respond to Him

I urge you, if you have not to respond to him. All you need to do in the first instance is to say Sorry and to ask for his help to live for Him. A simple prayer – said in a way that is truly authentic to you. God will never ignore your call. Do it today. If you need someone to help you – even in these unusual times there is our minister – Jason, the deacons or even members of the church that can help you do so – over the phone, by text or on a video chat.

To say sorry and that you want to live for Him – that’s all it takes.

Maybe you have been struggling for connection recently? Given the current times we live in I would not be surprised that at times it could be difficult to hear Him. Perhaps go through the six points I have just mentioned and apply them to how you could reconnect?

• Something that gives you cause to make a call to repent
• A call to believe – looking to the gospel however that may be easiest for you to invest in it – reading the bible, listening to the spoken word maybe in a podcast or a sermon online or from someone you get spiritual renewal from
• A call to fellowship – get in touch with the fellowship we have – reconnect – maybe it’s been a while because of the pandemic and you haven’t spoken to someone for nearly a year? Use it as an opportunity to reconnect?
• A call to allegiance – do you need to reconnect and follow again?
• A call to count the cost – what has been that cost to you?
• A call to making other disciples – have others been inspired by what you have done the last few months – would they make the call and become a disciple too?

I want to end my talk with you today with another video to end on for you now – which is from Christianity Explored and it uses the beginning of Mark to illustrate many aspects of what is in this passage today and answering his call. I will see you after this for a prayer.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

The one and only Christ,

You called many people

From many walks of life –

To leave their own ways and follow you;

To be your disciples;

And to prize people as something to seek, find and restore.

Lord Jesus,

The one true leader of every church,

We choose to stand as one church – your church –

And to lift our focus from our differences and divides.

We will leave our own ways and follow you together;

Support each other as we seek to be your disciples;

And work together to focus on fishing once more.

For we must act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly together

Before you – and each other.

For the sake of our worship of you,

Our love for each other,

And the future and freedom of all those still living in poverty.

Lord Jesus,

We ask for your Spirit’s help with this

For we are quick to focus on ourselves, our labels and our differences

Rather than the same nets in our hands, and the same leader before us.

Christ have mercy – in your precious name which unites us all.

Amen.