Follow Me!

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I'm not sure about you, but I have already found our time in Mark's gospel to be an incredibly rich journey for my own soul, and I hope that as we continue it will be for you as well. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on Sunday morning that one of the ways that we are changed into the image of Jesus Christ (and I took you to that passage in 2 Corinthians 3:18), is by gazing at Him, by looking at Him and His glory, by looking at who He is and looking at His demands upon us. That by doing so we are changed into His image as Paul says there in 2 Corinthians.

So, it's a joy to look at Him again tonight as we look at His ministry and particularly His call of four men. I want to read the passage to you as we begin, turn with me to Mark 1, Mark 1:16,

"As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and went away to follow Him."

The obvious theme of this short text is Jesus' call to serve Him and to further His mission; Jesus' call to serve Him and His mission. And here Mark gives us two very similar examples of what that kind of call looks like. He puts flesh on it, if you will, so that we can see in real life what it means to follow Jesus Christ. These four men are important. They will become the core of men Jesus chooses to represent Him. They become the core of the apostles. There is so much we can learn from this event in the life of Christ, and their responses should serve as examples of our own response to Jesus' call to serve Him and His mission.

Now as we look at these two separate examples that I've read for you, although they're two separate events, they both essentially follow the same structure, and so, we'll walk through them together. First of all, you have the circumstances of the call, then you have the call of Christ itself, and then you have their response. So, as we look at these two different events that occurred on the same day and in the same place, very close distance between them with only a short time between the two events, we'll sort of walk our way through each of them down this path.

Let's begin by looking at the first example and that is the call to serve Christ. Example number 1 is the call to Peter or Simon and Andrew his brother, found in verses 16 to 18. Let's look first at the circumstances in verse 16. You'll notice verse 16 begins, "He was going along by the Sea of Galilee…." Of course, the Sea of Galilee figures prominently in New Testament history. But let me just make sure that you know a little bit about it because it will figure prominently in our future study of this great gospel.

It, obviously, is a large freshwater lake. It's called a sea. Luke calls it a lake, but it is a lake essentially; if you've been there, if you've seen it. A large fresh-water lake in northern Israel, it's about 13 ½ miles long by 7 ½ miles wide. It is fed by the northern end of the Jordan River. The Jordan River comes and flows into the top of the Sea of Galilee and then flows out of the bottom of the Sea of Galilee as well. It sits at its almost 700 feet below sea level. It's in that great Syrian rift, the Syro-African rift that forms the one of the lowest places on earth; in fact, the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. But the Sea of Galilee sits at 700 feet below sea level.

It's called by several other names in Scripture. It's called the Sea of Tiberias because the Roman town of Tiberias was on one side, the western side of the lake. The Sea of Chinnereth, because of its shape, in Hebrew that simply means the harp sea if you look at a map, you can see that it looks somewhat like an ancient harp from the sky. And it's also called the lake of Gennesaret because of the plain of Gennesaret there nearby. It's associated with that as well.

Much of Jesus' ministry occurred along the north shore of this fresh-water lake called the Sea of Galilee. In fact, as we look at Mark's gospel the Sea of Galilee is the backdrop for Mark 1:16 all the way through 8:26, because we're dwelling in the Galilean ministry of our Lord. Now just to give you, for those of you who haven't had the opportunity to be there, just to remind you a little of where it is.

Here we are, that's the Sea of Galilee, that's the northwest corner of the sea where a number of important events occur, let me just show you a photograph from the hills above it, the cliffs of Arbel; what that northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee looks like. I showed you this several weeks ago. We were doing our survey, our virtual tour of the land of Israel. But you'll notice that you have a number of important places. You'll recognize from the New Testament history. Bethsaida, you have Capernaum which is where Jesus establishes His headquarters for His Galilean ministry, and we'll get there within the next couple of weeks. You have the mount of Beatitudes. So much of the New Testament history occurs on this northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee.

Another picture, just to give you a little idea of the pastoral setting of that sea even today. That's the northern shore. Here is a harbor near Capernaum. This may very well have been the harbor where these fishermen were and where their boats were docked because it's really one of the nearest harbors to that area.

Now, when you talk about the Sea of Galilee, it's pretty obvious that the primary industry is fishing. In the first century that was true, and there's still a great deal of truth to that today. Primarily three kinds of fish were sought by fishermen of antiquity in the Sea of Galilee; sardines, (which by the way was what that little boy had with him that Jesus broke and blessed.) barbles, which are like a carp, and then the fish you see at right there which are really like blue tilapia; if you're familiar at all with any of those. So, those are the fish, that's called also known as Saint Peter's fish today, it wasn't obviously known as that then. They can weigh as much as 3.3 pounds, so it gives you a little idea of the size. Typically, fish caught in the Sea of Galilee were dried, pickled or made into a fish sauce that was put on a number of different things in the ancient world.

I labor this because I want you to understand something. When you think about the fishermen around the Sea of Galilee; typically, you think of some sort of indigent day laborers who are scraping to make ends meet. In reality, fish was the staple food, not just among the Jews in the ancient world, but also in the Greco Roman world. Fish were imported (or excuse me) exported from the Sea of Galilee as far as Alexandria, Egypt in the south and Syrian Antioch in the north. So, these fishermen that we meet here were not day laborers, they were shrewd successful businessmen.

In Jesus' day there were some 16 different ports around the Sea of Galilee. And there were so many boats in the first century on the Sea of Galilee that Josephus, when he was still a commander, was able to commandeer some 230 boats for a military transport across the Sea of Galilee in 68 AD.

It's a wonderful place to live and fish except when the storms come, and you read about some of those in the New Testament particularly in the winter. Storms come quickly and dangerously off the surrounding cliffs, especially off the Golan Heights to the east. They can (the winds that come and the storms that come off of there can) generate violent storms, in fact there are modern records of waves, even though it's a small lake, of waves hitting the city of Tiberias 10 feet high on the western side of the lake. This is where these men were. The text says, "He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen."

Now, remember that Mark's gospel was essentially Peter's gospel. So, what we get here in this account is a recollection from Peter through Mark of what happened that morning. We are, first of all, introduced to Simon and his brother Andrew. John tells us that these men were originally from Bethsaida. You remember on the map I showed you earlier, a city along further east on the northern side of the Sea of Galilee. That's where they were from, but their family had moved to Capernaum and established a nice home near the synagogue there. And we'll look at that home in coming weeks; it still exists. And we got a chance to see it while we were over there. But Peter and his family moved to this city and built a home near the synagogue. Probably the events we read about here occurred somewhere near Capernaum perhaps in that harbor at Tabgha that I showed you a moment ago.

Mark will refer to this first disciple as Simon until he announces the name that Jesus gives to Simon, the name Peter later in 3:16. Both of these men are Jewish, but both Simon and Andrew are Greek names. So, they apparently grew up in a family that was open at least to some limited Greek influences. At some point Peter had married, in fact we meet his mother-in-law in the next chapter, and she actually lived in Peter's home. Here, in Mark 1, we're told that these men were fishermen by trade, commercial fishermen, and together they had built a very successful fishing business. In fact, according to Luke 5, Peter owned his own boat. So, they were cashing in on the popularity of fish in the first century and the exports that left and went all over the country itself, first century Palestine but also beyond to Antioch and Syria in the north to Alexandria Egypt and those regions in the south.

Now, you'll notice that we're told that when Jesus walks up, they are doing exactly what their trade was. They are fishing. But you'll notice the verb, it's an interesting verb there in verse 16, it says, "… they were casting a net in the sea…." The verb that Mark uses occurs only here in the New Testament, and the noun form occurs only once, and it occurs in the parallel passage in Matthew 4 because it refers to a particular kind of fishing and a particular kind of net. It's a cast net. It looks something like this. It was usually throne from a boat or from a pier, or while you were wading in the water. After it's throne (while it's still in the air, it spreads out into a circle) usually somewhere between 10 for a small man and 20 feet in diameter, and as it's in the circle with weights on the outer edge, it collapses to the bottom of the water, the weights cause that circular net to sink to the bottom, trapping whatever fish (or between the surface of the water and the bottom of the water) as it falls. Along the outside edge of the net are weights that cause that, as you draw it in with the rope to pull in the catch. The weights close around the fish, making it impossible for them to escape.

I understand this. When I was growing up in Mobile, I actually owned a cast net very similar to this one and would often go over to the bay, and I would use it. It was especially fun when the fish were running you know in the fall there would be large schools of fish. That was a fun time to use a cast net. That's exactly what they are doing here. They had apparently already been out in the boat that they had the evening and night before, which was the time when they fished, and then now they are still trying to earn a living using the cast net. So, that's the circumstances. Jesus comes up on them as they're doing their normal career trying to make a living in the successful business that they have built.

That brings us to the call. Those are the circumstances, let's look at the call of these two men. Look at verse 17, "And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Now to fully understand what Jesus means here we really have to consider the larger context of Jesus' life and ministry. And particularly we have to look at His previous contacts with these men. We have to look back at the history of interaction between these two men and Jesus. So let me briefly do that with you. Very important to understand what's happening in Mark 1 that you understand what has happened before.

Jesus had first met these men shortly after His baptism more than a year before this encounter that's recorded in Mark 1, more than a year before. It's recorded for us, His first interaction with them, is recorded in John 1, turn there with me for a moment. Remember Mark is fast forwarding to Jesus' Galilean ministry. But a lot happened between Jesus' baptism and His Galilean ministry.

John is the one who fills in some of those details for us. These events occurred shortly after Jesus' baptism. You'll notice in verses 35 - 40, there are two disciples we meet of John the Baptist. Notice verse 35,

Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" [Now remember this is after the baptism. He now knows who Jesus is, the dove has descended, he acknowledges and recognizes who Jesus is, and he points Jesus out to these disciples of his.] The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. … Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What do you seek?" They said to Him, "Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?" [And] He said …, "Come, and you will see." So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who followed was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

Now, you have two disciples of John here. You have Andrew and then one who is unnamed, we don't know for sure who the unnamed one is. Tradition tells us that it was John the brother of James whom we'll meet in just a moment back in Mark 1. We can't be sure, but then if you continue down through John 1, you see in verses 41 and 42 that Peter is introduced to Christ. This is again early in Jesus' ministry shortly after His baptism; and then Philip in verses 43 - 44; and then in verses 45 - 51 of this same chapter, Nathaniel. Now we're not sure who this Nathaniel is. If he is eventually one of the 12, he may possibly also be called by the name of Bartholomew which is the name that occurs in the list. But he may not be one of the 12 at all, and in which case he's not mentioned anywhere in Scripture except in this one text. We really can't be absolutely sure.

So, Jesus then meets these men early in His ministry. Now, as you continue through John's account here, you'll see in 2:2, that Jesus and His disciples go to a wedding up in Cana, up in Galilee so that means that these men traveled with Jesus into Galilee for what was apparently a family wedding. And then apparently several of these men traveled with Jesus intermittently during that first year. For example, we know that they were with Him at the end of the first 8 months in Judea because John tells us they were, look at John 3:22, "After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea where He was spending time with them and baptizing."

You go to 4:1-4, and you find that Jesus had these disciples with Him, baptizing. So, these men are traveling to some degree with Jesus. Then, when they leave Judea and head north up to Galilee, we know that they travel with Him as He starts His ministry in Galilee. Because when He encounters the Samaritan woman, He's on His way up to Galilee to start His ministry and on His way, He meets the Samaritan woman, and we read in John 4:8 and 27 that they were with Him then. Then they're not mentioned again, these disciples, until after Jesus preaches the message in Nazareth; is rejected in Nazareth and moves to Capernaum in Luke. You can see that in Luke 4:16, 30, and 31.

So, at some point (here's what I want you to get) during that first year (Jesus met them early in that first year); they traveled with Him some during that first year. At some point however, they returned to their jobs and to their families, to their homes. Then, a few weeks later, Jesus finds them. So, although these men knew Jesus and had previously traveled with Jesus, they had returned to their jobs and homes at some point before this encounter.

Now, just another couple of points that you need to understand about Jesus' interaction with these men. What Jesus is doing here in Mark 1, the account I just read to you, is He is asking these 4 men to accompany Him for part of His ministry around Galilee. Actually, He begins a preaching tour of Galilee with these four men. We're going to study it as we continue through Mark 1. After this Galilean tour, at some point these four men return yet again to their homes and families and businesses. And there is a second call of these four men. It's recorded in Luke 5.

I'm not going to take you there tonight, but if you've ever read Luke 5 and tried to fit it with these other passages, there's a good reason why you haven't been able to. It's because it's not the same event recorded in Mark 1 or Matthew 4. How do we know that? Well, it's absolutely clear from the order of events in Luke, the order as you read them; they happened at different times.

But also, from the differences in the details. In Luke, Peter and Andrew are fishing from a boat; not here. In Luke, Jesus enters the boat; not here. In Luke there's a great catch of fish, you remember the story, nothing about that here whatsoever. And in Luke they permanently leave their businesses; that doesn't happen here.

So, there's a second call later, after this event we're reading, and at that point they become permanent fulltime followers of Jesus Christ. They abandon their businesses to become, in short order, His apostles.

The main point I want you to get is this, don't miss it in the details. I gave you the details because I want you to see the biblical history here; but don't miss the main point and that is that Jesus knew these men before the encounter on the beach in Mark 1. After they had interacted with Jesus for more than a year off and on, Jesus finds them at their business. That's what happening here, and notice what He says to them. "Follow Me." Follow Me; you know literally the Greek text says this, "here behind Me." Here behind Me. This command is common in the Gospels, and it's essentially Jesus' call for these men to bow to His authority, His Person and His teaching. He is not calling them as equals in His ministry. He is calling them as slaves, as disciples, as pupils. Follow Me is the translation that we have.

The verb for follow is used in other contexts, and it's used here later in this context as well. And it's used throughout the Gospels. But it's important that we understand that this idea of following Jesus is not a static idea that always means exactly the same thing in every context. If you examine how it's used; it's used for example of the initial call to conversion. There are times when Jesus says follow Me, and what He is saying is repent, believe in Me, and obey Me, submit your will to Me, and come with Me. You can see that in John 1:43. He finds Philip whom we have no record of his ever having any interaction with before that time, and He says to Philip, "Follow Me." And Philip abandons his previous life to travel with Jesus for that short period of time. But in this case, based on everything that we know from the New Testament, it was an initial call to conversion.

In Mark 8:34, "He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and He said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." This was a gospel invitation. This is Jesus saying give up your life, and get behind Me. So, it was the call, the initial call to conversion. He uses the same language in Mark 10:21. This one is clearly an evangelistic call, because it's to the rich young ruler. "[And] … Jesus feeling a love for him says to him, "One thing you lack; go and sell all you possess give it to the poor, you'll have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." So, sometimes when you see the expression "follow Me" it is a call of the gospel, it is an evangelistic call to give up your life and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior and experience the forgiveness that He brings.

Sometimes this expression, "follow Me" though is not used of the initial call to conversion, but it's used of the call to service. I believe that's what's going on here in Mark 1, and I'll explain that in just a moment. A third use of this phrase "follow Me" is of a call to full-time ministry. I mentioned Luke 5 is that second time Jesus shows up to these same guys and tells them to follow Him. And it says, "When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him." And Jesus, in that case, says from now on. It's for good. They never returned to their businesses again. So, in that case, it was for these men, a call to full-time ministry.

It can also be used, "follow Me" of a call to continued faithfulness. After Jesus' resurrection, you remember the interchange that He had with John and Peter. In John 21:19, "He explains to Peter what kind of death He would glorify God by, And when He had spoken this, He says to … [Peter], "Follow Me!"

Get in line behind Me, I have ordered your life; I have ordered your death. Get in line behind Me. So, it was a call not to conversion, not so much even to service or fulltime ministry, because all of those were already true of Peter. It was a call to continue faithfulness, to keep on following Jesus Christ.

Same idea in John 21:22, "Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come," [Speaking to Peter about John,] "… what is that to you? You Peter follow Me!" So, you can see that this expression "follow Me" is not a static one but a rich multifaceted one and can be used in different ways. In the end though, it has the same basic idea in all of these contexts because it means you bow and submit your will to Jesus Christ, and you get in line behind Him, and you walk in step with what He chooses.

Now, before the events of Mark 1, these four men have already accepted Jesus as their Messiah and King, as the Son of God. We read about it in John 1, remember? So, a year before they had already acknowledged that He was the Messiah, John the Baptist had predicted. But if Mark's readers haven't read the other gospel accounts, they don't know that. So, as far as Mark's readers are concerned, this is Jesus' first encounter with these men. It's not, but as far as they're concerned, it is. And so, Mark is using this call that Christ has here to follow Him with, I think, two of these ideas in mind. I think, for those who read Marks gospel, it was a reminder of that initial call to follow Christ, a year before, that is to repent and believe in Christ, to embrace Him as the Messiah. And it was also a call to become His student and His servant, to become His apprentice; to become His slave.

Notice what Jesus links to this call to follow Him. Look at verse 17, "Follow Me," Here, behind Me "and I will make you become fishers of men." I will make you become fishermen of men. You see what Jesus was calling these men here to. He was calling them to service. Specifically, Jesus was calling them to accompany Him in Capernaum, which they'll do you'll notice down in verse 21, "They went into Capernaum; and Jesus enters the synagogue and begins to teach."

It was a call to accompany Him on His first preaching tour of Galilee down in verse 35; Jesus takes them with Him, notice verse 38, "He said to them; "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby; so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for."

So, it's a call to accompany Him in Capernaum as He ministers there; to accompany His first preaching tour in Galilee, but mostly it's a call to what? To evangelize. That's the picture behind this expression fishermen of men. If we had time, I'd take you to Matthew 13, you remember the kingdom parables. One of them says the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet. It's a net cast out to capture men for the kingdom. Of course, that net captures some of the real thing and some of the false as well, and so at some point there'll be a weeding of the stuff caught in the net. But the point is they are to fish for men, to bring them in to the kingdom that Jesus described that we learned about last Sunday night; the kingdom over which He rules and which we bow to His authority. They're to fish for kingdom citizens. This was to be the disciple's main task. In fact, later, even after Jesus' death and resurrection, this was their main task. Matthew 28, we quote it all the time, the great commission. "Go and make disciples." Acts 1:8 "You shall be witnesses of Mine."

This was their call. This was their mission. So, in Mark 1, Jesus is calling these four men who already believe in Him to serve Him, but (and here's a key point) not yet in permanent fulltime ministry. And this is where it gets practical for most of you sitting out here tonight. This call of these men wasn't about becoming full-time ministers. They were going to travel with Jesus and return to their businesses. That full-time comes later. Here it is a call to serve; to evangelize; to share the gospel. In this case Jesus is calling them to leave their homes and businesses to go on a short term mission trip, if you will, with and for Christ. William Hendrickson in his commentary puts it like this,

"… the Lord, by saying come follow Me, exercises His sovereignty over Simon and Andrew. He shows that He has a right to claim them for service in His kingdom, they must be ready to follow immediately when He calls them."

This is where the application is clear, and we'll come back to it. Jesus has a right as the One who has redeemed you and me to show up and demand that we serve Him. Notice their response as you look at this first example of Simon and Andrew, verse 18 says (and of course Mark loves this word we've talked about it before) "Immediately they left their nets and followed Him."

Here you see the compelling force of the character and authority of Jesus because you have successful no-nonsense businessmen who are quick to respond to His command. Leave that stuff and come. I have kingdom business for you to do. It's really a question of priorities, isn't it? These men had businesses. They would return to these businesses yet again. But Jesus says these things are not your priority; kingdom work is. They got it. They left their nets, and they followed Him.

Now, let's go on quickly to this second example, the call to James and John; the call to serve Christ offered to James and John. Verse 19 gives us the circumstances, it says, "Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending their nets."

Nearby there is another group of fishermen; their names are James and John. These two men are also commercial fishermen. But instead of fishing like Andrew and Simon were, casting nets; instead, they are repairing and cleaning and folding their nets after the night's work and are preparing for the next expedition. James, by the way, is always mentioned first in the New Testament except with except two times, so he is probably the older of the brothers. And the name James that we use is actually the old English form, goes all the way back to Wycliffe, but it's, the name is Jacob, the Old Testament name Jacob. James, by the way, would be the first apostle to die as a martyr in Acts 12.

John, you know very well, John is known primarily as the disciple whom Jesus especially loved. Along with James he became part of that inner circle of Jesus' disciples. He wrote the gospel that bares his name and three inspired letters. And this is interesting, two brothers, one of them the first of the apostles to die for Jesus Christ the other of them, John the last to die marooned on the isle of Patmos at the very end of the first century.

Now these two men, we're told here in verse 19, are sons of Zebedee. They were part of a very successful and influential family. This Galilean fishing family was known and respected all the way down in Jerusalem. In fact, according to John, John was even known to the high priest of Israel at that time. The family of Zebedee had a partnership with Andrew and Simon, that's why I think they were nearby here. They were partners in business. Luke 5 says, "James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon."

So, they were in business together, and one of them, one group is casting the nets while the other prepared the nets on the boat for that night's fishing expedition. In this passage, by the way, you can see how successful this family had become, notice they have a boat. Typically, these boats were about 25 feet long. They would hold about 10 to 12 people comfortably. They could be used with oars or with sails rather in their fishing expedition.

In 1986 a wooden boat (dating to the first century) was discovered in the mud by the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Because of the conditions it was beautifully preserved, and here you can see a first century fishing boat as they have worked hard to preserve it there in Israel. It's in a museum right next to the Sea of Galilee. It was made primarily of cypress and cedar wood. The shell was constructed by mortis and tendon, and then the crossbeams were added for support. This is what it would have looked like in Jesus' day. This is a model of that boat made, here's a another shot and here you glimpse inside of it; what that boat would have looked like inside. Again you can see a place for oars, a place for a sail, as well as sufficient room for 10 to 12 people. This is what that boat looked like that they owned.

They also had nets. Verse 19 tells us they're cleaning out their nets. This is the different kind of net; it's the generic Greek word for nets. But typically, the kind of net that would be used from a boat would be what's called a trammel net. And I couldn't find a good picture of it because they're not really used anymore. This is a sketch, an artist's rendering of what it would have looked like. Essentially, it was a net that was let out from a boat, and the boat circled around and made a giant circle with the net, and then the fish would be trapped inside and would be pulled in. They were cleaning and repairing the nets preparing them for that night's expedition.

But notice verse 20 says, not only do they have a boat, not only do they have nets, but they had hired servants. This was a successful fishing family. Now, you also need to know one other thing about James and John. James and John probably knew Jesus even before they met Him a year ago, back in John 1. The reason I say that is because they were probably related to Jesus. Their mother was probably the sister of Mary, Jesus' mother. You can put several texts together, Mark 15 and Matthew 27. You can look these references up later, and this will be online if you want to catch up later. If, in fact, this is true, and many believe it is, then their mother was Mary's sister that made Jesus their cousin. So, there was a connection there as well, and eventually they came to embrace Him as their Messiah.

So, they're there, they're fishing, look at look at the call that comes in verse 20. "Immediately He called them." The implication is He said the same thing to them He said to Andrew and Simon shortly before. And notice their response, verse 20 says, "… and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him."

Notice, if you will, what these men left for at least several months to serve their Messiah and King. They left their careers; they left their successful business with their hired servants; they left their partnership with Andrew and Peter; they left their father. And this is an interesting note, he's never mentioned, their mother is mentioned as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, but their father Zebedee is never mentioned as a follower of Christ. In fact, he's mentioned only in conjunction with these two boys. We can't be sure, either Zebedee died shortly after this; or perhaps Zebedee never came to embrace their faith, we just don't know. But they left all of that immediately to follow Christ.

Now, I want in the time we have remaining, to consider the call to serve Christ in its application to all of Mark's readers; to us. What do we do with this call? I want you to see, first of all, what this passage teaches us about Christ. We're looking at Christ, and I want you to see Christ in this passage and what we can learn about Him here; because it's, I think, compelling.

First of all, Jesus delights in using ordinary people for extra ordinary tasks. Jesus didn't look to Jerusalem to the elite of the culture for those who would represent Him in the world. He looked at businessmen; those who had proven themselves, they'd worked hard, God had blessed their efforts; as France and his commentary says,

"… the kingdom of God that Jesus is preaching comes not with fanfare but through the gradual gathering of a group of socially insignificant people in an unnoticed corner of provincial Galilee."

God delights in doing this. And you can see Jesus doing this. You say, well I'm not important enough to be used by God. Listen, God delights in using unimportant people.

In fact, listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians; turn over there with me for a moment, 1 Corinthians 1:26, Paul says,

"… consider your calling, brethren, … [God didn't call] many wise according to the flesh, [nor] … many mighty, [many impressive, aristocracy] not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, … God has chosen the weak of the world to shame the things … [that] are strong, … the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, … that He may nullify the things that are."

Folks, I hate to tell you this, but Paul is saying that you and I are the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised, the nothings and the nobody's. Why did God choose us, even though that was true of us? Look at verse 29, "… so that no man may boast before God."

God delights in using the ordinary and insignificant. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "… we have this treasure in earthen vessels…."

That's a pretty grandiose translation of that expression, it literally is clay pots. That's what he says. We have this treasure in clay pots. That's what we're like; so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not of ourselves. God delights in using the ordinary and insignificant to accomplish His purposes.

There's another message that we can learn from about Jesus from this passage. He demands absolute submission to His will. There is no indication here that He explained Himself to these men. He just shows up, and He says, "Come." Leave everything and follow Me. There's no indication that He told them that they'd be coming back, which they eventually did. He just says, "Come, follow Me. Here behind Me, here we go." He demands absolute submission to His will.

Another lesson about Christ we learn here is that He equips His disciples for the tasks He assigns. He says, "I will make you become fishers of men." The clear implication there is equipping and preparing. And Jesus does just that. If Jesus wants you to fill a particular role, He has His ways of equipping you to fill that role; giving you the gift you need to fill that role in the church, in the life and ministry of the church. He'll give you the gift you need. He'll put people around you that can help you hone those skills, Jesus does this.

Fourthly, He requires a willingness to leave everything to follow Him. By the way, this is exactly what He will eventually demand of these four men. You find it in Luke 5, "… from now on, He says, you'll follow Me and be fishers of men." You're going to make a break with everything you know. You remember what Peter says to Christ later in His ministry? Peter says what will be what will be given to those of us who have left everything to follow You? Peter did, in many regards, leave everything. And Jesus requires a willingness to leave everything to follow Him. Jesus demands that our loyalty be first and foremost to Him. In Luke 14, we read,

… large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."

You say, hate, what does that mean? Do I really have to hate them? Well, compared to your love for Christ you do. Here's how He puts it in a parallel expression, Matthew 10. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."

You understand this? You can't just decide that you're going to be an armchair Christian. Jesus didn't give you that option. Jesus says you must be loyal first and foremost to Me; more than you're loyal to anything or anyone else, even your own desires. That's what Jesus demands of you if you're a Christian and nothing short.

Jesus, finally, we learn in this passage, He decides the role that each of His followers will fill. He called these four, but He apparently did not call a number of other disciples who had been disciples of John the Baptist, like these four. He did not call them to be His apostles ultimately. And there's a lesson here, Jesus makes that decision. He equips and gifts and calls people to different tasks in the church. We're going to study that in Ephesians. He equips each of us to serve in a certain capacity; and He decides, you don't make that decision. He decides by the gifts He gives you and the providential place He puts you. He's in charge of His followers.

Quickly, I want to look also at what this passage teaches us about us and about our responsibilities. First of all, Jesus and His kingdom must be our highest priority. Listen folks, if you're a Christian, you don't get to decide what you do with your life. You don't get to decide what you do with your business. In some cases, Jesus may ask us to abandon our family and careers to serve Him; to move to some foreign mission field, to leave where our family is, to prepare to serve Christ.

In other cases, Jesus may allow us to continue the family ties that we enjoy and our secular careers. But listen, even if that's true, you must keep Jesus and His kingdom as your first priority. That's the message behind this call. Where do you put your energy? Where is the priority in your life? Honestly, this past week, was the emphasis of your life on Jesus and His kingdom, or was it on you and your kingdom? To be a Christian means to have Him and His priority or His kingdom rather as our highest priority. We must be willing to let it go if He chooses, or can I say and this may be even harder, to let our children go if He chooses; to let them go and serve on the foreign field if that's His choice; to let them go through the difficulties of ministry. Whatever it requires, Jesus and His kingdom must be our highest priority.

Number two; we must be actively serving Jesus Christ, even if we're not serving Him full time. That's what happens with these men. They are not yet serving Jesus full-time that comes in Luke 5. Here it's like a short term mission's trip. And it's a reminder that Jesus demands all of us who know and love Him to serve Him. That's why when we put our essentials up on the board, when we talk about core essentials of our church and of every Christian; one of those is service. Let me just ask you, are you serving Jesus in some way? Are you using the gifts He gave you in the life of the church to serve Him by serving others? It's not an option. We must be actively serving Jesus Christ, even if we're not serving Him full-time.

Number three; we must be characterized by obedience to Christ. Those who know Christ, follow Him. In John 10, several times Jesus says, My sheep, what? Hear My voice, and they follow Me. To be a Christian is defined by following Jesus, by walking behind Him in lockstep obedience to what He commands.

Number four; we must be actively seeking to bring others to Jesus Christ. That's what we learn from this lesson. What was the task Jesus came for? How did He define it? I have come to seek and to save that which was lost. I'm on a search and rescue mission. And folks, He gave these disciples the same mission. And He has to you as well. Are you a fisherman of men, do you care? Are you trying to reach into the lives of the people at work and in your family and in your home?

Number five; there is in Jesus' call to these four a reminder that Jesus still calls people today. As He had called these men a year before, He calls people to faith and repentance; to follow Him, to become for the first time His disciples, and they too have to decide. They have a choice, if you're here tonight, and you know you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, through these written words that we've studied together, it's as if Jesus were extending a call to you. He's saying here, behind Me; here, behind Me. You remember we looked last week at His message. It was very simple, repent of your sins and believe the gospel if you want into My kingdom. Jesus is extending that invitation to you, it's as if through this passage that Mark wrote, under the direction of Peter and ultimately under the direction of the Holy Spirit is saying, "here, behind Me." He's offering you Himself, He's extending to you the universal call of the gospel. It's as if He were saying, "follow Me." It's your choice.

Jesus made this same demand of the rich young ruler as we'll see over in Mark 10, later in His ministry. He said, "sell everything you have and come follow Me." He put His finger on that young man's problem, which was his love of money, and he wasn't willing to let it go, and he didn't come and follow Jesus. He walked away grieving.

You can do that tonight. Jesus can be saying, "here, behind Me" and you can walk out as He walked out. But Jesus is still saying, "here, behind Me." The question is this, are you willing as these men to give up everything else to get Jesus.

One last passage I want you to turn to as we finish our time. Look at Philippians 3, Philippians 3. It can't be described better than this because here's the conclusion Paul came to. Paul gave up everything for Christ, verse 7,

… whatever things were gain to me…. [This is Philippians 3:7] … whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, [Now watch this,] … I [for Jesus] have suffered the loss of all things….

Paul lost everything, and he says, but I count what I lost as skubvalon, as dung, as rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. The question is: have you come to the place in your life where you see Jesus Christ as more valuable than everything else. Paul did. And that's Jesus' invitation to you tonight.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank You for this amazing passage. we thank You for the clear example that it sets of the demands that Jesus makes upon those who will come after Him. Lord, we acknowledge to You that we are not equal for these things; that we are by nature selfish, that we are by nature rebels against authority. But Father, we ask that You would work Your grace in our hearts so that we would respond to Jesus.

Lord, I pray for the people here tonight who have never bowed their knee to Jesus Christ; they've never repented of their sins; they've never believed in His gospel; they have never embraced Him as Lord and Savior. I pray that tonight would be the night when they would follow Him.

Father, I pray for those here tonight who are believers. May they hear the call these four men heard on the beach that day, the call to serve Jesus and His kingdom and His mission. Lord, may we who have that call take that seriously. Lord, may the Christians here understand that Jesus Christ and His kingdom must be their highest priority, whatever else You may be allowing them to be involved in. May they hear the call to service and respond.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.