Answering Christ's Call
Sermon text for January 27, 2008
Matthew 4:1-22
It seems like an irreverent thought, but sometimes I wonder if the world wouldn’t be better off if God just had better marketing skills. In Jeremiah 31 God promises a new covenant which will be written on believers’ hearts. The prophesy says, “I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’ for they shall all know me.”
Fulfilling this promised new covenant would seem to be a much more efficient way of handling things. For one thing if everyone knows God, it would be hard for us to mess things up. If I were running things I would have God say something like, “Let there be profound knowledge of me throughout the earth. Let every person know that I am God.”
Well, I am not running things and the promise has not yet been fulfilled and so we are left to struggle along each with our own understanding – each picking and choosing what we believe. And if we move away from the most basic of Christian creeds, ”Jesus is Lord” it is almost impossible to find complete agreement, even in a very small group.
And so we struggle, sometimes with one another, and sometimes against one another in the name of the gospel. The new covenant is not yet written on human hearts, so God relies on us to find the gospel truth and share our discovery with others. So the knowledge of God is spread on human hearts one person at a time.
Faith sharing comes hard for most Presbyterians. Some of us don’t feel we can share our faith even with our best friends or spouses. Faith lives deep within us, in a place so personal that we rarely let anyone else share that part of us. True faith sharing requires being vulnerable to others and risking being hurt or rejected. Perhaps this kind of vulnerability is possible only for those who feel safe in the Savior’s love. When we live securely in the Savior’s love, we are part of an ancient story that demands to be told over and over again. Faith-sharing is at the heart of our gospel lesson.
The Bible says that when Jesus heard that John the Baptizer was arrested he withdrew to Galilee and made his home in Capernaum by the Sea, “in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, on the road by the sea … Galilee of the gentiles.” Zebulun and Naphtali were traditionally gentile strongholds of which Isaiah spoke when he said, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
Galilee was heavily populated by gentiles and Capernaum itself was very cosmopolitan. The small city welcomed visitors from all over the Mediterranean world. They came in caravans along a major international highway that Matthew calls the road by the Sea. When Jesus was at home in Capernaum he ministered to those whom the gospel characterizes as “living in deep darkness.”
If we use our imaginations we can see Jesus walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. As he walks he encounters some fishermen plying their trade; they are casting a net into the sea. Jesus says to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” They immediately leave what they are doing and follow Jesus. Walking a little further along the shore, Jesus sees other fishermen working with their father mending their nets. “Follow me,” he says, and like the others, these fishermen walk away from everything to learn how to “fish for people”.
When Jesus lived, the knowledge of God was not yet inscribed on the hearts of the people. Both Jew and Gentile lived in what the Bible calls “deep darkness”. Jesus invited the fishermen to “fish for people” by shining the light of God’s love into the darkness in which they lived.
I believe that as soon as we dare to call ourselves “Christians” we must stand with Jesus and all believers who came before us. Like them our primary job is to shine the light of God’s love into lives that are being lived in darkness. We must continue to shine the light until the new covenant is written on every human heart.
I have been with you for almost a year and in that time I have been very impressed with the way you surround visitors to make them feel welcome. Some of the visitors were truly living in “deep darkness”, and you shined the light of Christ’s love into their lives.
Now you need to take the next step and learn how to “fish for people” who have not yet walked through the door. This is Jesus’ call to those who want to be disciples. The good news is that when Christ calls us, Christ also empowers us. So when we “fish for people” Jesus is a part of that conversation.
You are awaiting the arrival of your new pastor. Some of you may be thinking that once the “new pastor arrives, everything will be alright. The church will grow and we will be like we used to be.” It is important for you to know that a pastor’s role in bringing new people into the church is very limited. Most people visit a church because a friend or relative invites them. So that means church growth is primarily up to you.
You are a welcoming congregation and now you must become an inviting congregation. Start by telling your faith story to each other. When you feel confident, try sharing with a trusted friend. As your comfort level grows, try telling your story in a more risky setting. Remember that you do not have to know everything about the gospel. You only need to know what Jesus means to you, and how to express it to others. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself comfortable with telling your faith story and connecting your story to the church. Sharing faith is the mark of true discipleship. It means we have heard Jesus’ invitation spoken to every generation of believers. “Follow me”, he says, “and I will make you fish for people.”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Matthew 4:1-22
It seems like an irreverent thought, but sometimes I wonder if the world wouldn’t be better off if God just had better marketing skills. In Jeremiah 31 God promises a new covenant which will be written on believers’ hearts. The prophesy says, “I will be their God and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord’ for they shall all know me.”
Fulfilling this promised new covenant would seem to be a much more efficient way of handling things. For one thing if everyone knows God, it would be hard for us to mess things up. If I were running things I would have God say something like, “Let there be profound knowledge of me throughout the earth. Let every person know that I am God.”
Well, I am not running things and the promise has not yet been fulfilled and so we are left to struggle along each with our own understanding – each picking and choosing what we believe. And if we move away from the most basic of Christian creeds, ”Jesus is Lord” it is almost impossible to find complete agreement, even in a very small group.
And so we struggle, sometimes with one another, and sometimes against one another in the name of the gospel. The new covenant is not yet written on human hearts, so God relies on us to find the gospel truth and share our discovery with others. So the knowledge of God is spread on human hearts one person at a time.
Faith sharing comes hard for most Presbyterians. Some of us don’t feel we can share our faith even with our best friends or spouses. Faith lives deep within us, in a place so personal that we rarely let anyone else share that part of us. True faith sharing requires being vulnerable to others and risking being hurt or rejected. Perhaps this kind of vulnerability is possible only for those who feel safe in the Savior’s love. When we live securely in the Savior’s love, we are part of an ancient story that demands to be told over and over again. Faith-sharing is at the heart of our gospel lesson.
The Bible says that when Jesus heard that John the Baptizer was arrested he withdrew to Galilee and made his home in Capernaum by the Sea, “in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, on the road by the sea … Galilee of the gentiles.” Zebulun and Naphtali were traditionally gentile strongholds of which Isaiah spoke when he said, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
Galilee was heavily populated by gentiles and Capernaum itself was very cosmopolitan. The small city welcomed visitors from all over the Mediterranean world. They came in caravans along a major international highway that Matthew calls the road by the Sea. When Jesus was at home in Capernaum he ministered to those whom the gospel characterizes as “living in deep darkness.”
If we use our imaginations we can see Jesus walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. As he walks he encounters some fishermen plying their trade; they are casting a net into the sea. Jesus says to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” They immediately leave what they are doing and follow Jesus. Walking a little further along the shore, Jesus sees other fishermen working with their father mending their nets. “Follow me,” he says, and like the others, these fishermen walk away from everything to learn how to “fish for people”.
When Jesus lived, the knowledge of God was not yet inscribed on the hearts of the people. Both Jew and Gentile lived in what the Bible calls “deep darkness”. Jesus invited the fishermen to “fish for people” by shining the light of God’s love into the darkness in which they lived.
I believe that as soon as we dare to call ourselves “Christians” we must stand with Jesus and all believers who came before us. Like them our primary job is to shine the light of God’s love into lives that are being lived in darkness. We must continue to shine the light until the new covenant is written on every human heart.
I have been with you for almost a year and in that time I have been very impressed with the way you surround visitors to make them feel welcome. Some of the visitors were truly living in “deep darkness”, and you shined the light of Christ’s love into their lives.
Now you need to take the next step and learn how to “fish for people” who have not yet walked through the door. This is Jesus’ call to those who want to be disciples. The good news is that when Christ calls us, Christ also empowers us. So when we “fish for people” Jesus is a part of that conversation.
You are awaiting the arrival of your new pastor. Some of you may be thinking that once the “new pastor arrives, everything will be alright. The church will grow and we will be like we used to be.” It is important for you to know that a pastor’s role in bringing new people into the church is very limited. Most people visit a church because a friend or relative invites them. So that means church growth is primarily up to you.
You are a welcoming congregation and now you must become an inviting congregation. Start by telling your faith story to each other. When you feel confident, try sharing with a trusted friend. As your comfort level grows, try telling your story in a more risky setting. Remember that you do not have to know everything about the gospel. You only need to know what Jesus means to you, and how to express it to others. Do whatever you need to do to make yourself comfortable with telling your faith story and connecting your story to the church. Sharing faith is the mark of true discipleship. It means we have heard Jesus’ invitation spoken to every generation of believers. “Follow me”, he says, “and I will make you fish for people.”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 8:44 PM
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