sermon - follow me

I don't usually post sermons - but I got a lot of very positive feedback on this one and I mentioned my Dad in it. So - here it is



14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
16As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.

17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.
20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
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I will make you fishers of men
Fishers of men
Fishers of me
I will make you fishers of men
If you follow me

How many of you sang this a child in Sunday school?
Do you remember what it meant to you?
For me it meant you were supposed to bring a friend to Sunday School

We use this image as adults too
Our denominational evangelism bulletin used to be called “Net results” – which is about catching Christians, growing churches, more people in the pew

Or we use this text to talk about our "call"
Maybe the minister might talk about their call that led them out of their old life into ministry

Or let me tell you about someone I read about in a book – like Mother Teresa – who got called into working overseas

But what does this have to do with us who don’t change their careers
And don’t go to serve God in foreign countries

You who are sitting here live in a world where you have responsibilities Most of you will not leave what you do
- still live in an environment where you are wondering if you will be laid off and you are watching people you care about get laid off
- still live with health problems – depression, chronic pain,
- still live with demanding children or parents
- still live with financial instability

So what is this text saying to us – we have become Christians already…….What is the message

, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Key word – Repentance
Which does not mean being sorry for the sins that you have committed…
But to turn around and to change -
It is to change the source of your security
From being self sufficient - To God dependent
Symbolized here as the disciples drop their nets
Leaving jobs and family relationships and Follow Jesus

This is about moving from one Life to Another –
Talk first about self sufficiency
When we live the self sufficient, self reliant life - it’s all up to us
We see our selves in control and in charge
It affects our relationships with other people
Frequently competitive – checking out each other – who is in control, who has more, who is smarted
We grew up in a system of comparison and competition –
- reading groups – bluebirds, and robins and red birds – every body knew who was smartest and not so smart
- Bell shaped curve – you know what that means – only so many A’s and B’s and somebody has to get the C’s and D;s
When it is up to us – we also operate in the premise that there may only be so much. If I don’t watch out and protect myself there may not be enough for me
Media of course encourages this – look what happens to us at Christmas!
Starting with Christmas toys – cabbage patch dolls, beanie babies –
To today when now wonder whether there will be enough social security when I retire – for ME!

And it is it is all up to me I become, of course, self centered. And it isn’t just selfishness – because that is part of it
It is what we have learned in life – if I don’t do it no one will
Maybe did not have a family to rely –
Learned behavior –You have asked people to do something for you and they drop the ball
And over time you develop this understanding about life: if you don’t take care of your self no one else will

And so – we live in this world – we breathe the air – that we need to be self reliant – and we can be.

Fundamental problem with that – which many people have and are and will experience……The problem is that it doesn’t work
People die, there are job layoffs beyond our control, retirement and investments fund disappears, and now what
We can’t even count on ourselves ! We face the weaknesses inside ourselves – it can be an addiction that is destructive; it can be cancer, or diabetes – and we cannot control it
And we face the truth that we don’t always know what is best for us. Our perspective can be limited and we are wrong.

Many of you know exactly what I am talking about.
And when those moments happen when we that which was our security is gone we are left with the big questions:
Who am I going to be now – without my husband? Without my job? What is going to happen in the future?


As a woman of faith – nearing the age of 60 – you learn that all that you thought was secure in your 20’s is not very secure
And so where does that leave us?

Jesus comes and says follow me
And watch this – a life lived trusting in the security of God

Following him means we have a different relationship with each other – not in competition at all
Learning that we are each unique and valued
And each of is in our own way weak and suffering and we are all interconnected
And something happens and we learn or we become more compassionate. – interested in, concerned for and connected to one another

Following him means that we have a different relationship with stuff – holding it lightly, and learning that when we trust God there will be enough……More than enough
Abundance. As our expectations change and our eyes open to the blessings

And of course, we stop looking to ourselves to fix the problems and to stabilize the boat in the storm
We learn to LOOK for God in the midst of it all
And seek to be guided by God
Repentance – changing the security on which we base our lives.

How does that happen? Well, looking at the disciples - the changes in them did not happen right away.
It took years – as they competed with each other, tried to get back at enemies, didn’t trust that there would be enough food for a crowd, and denied Jesus at the end

But they kept with him. They followed him.
And slowly but surely something happened – God changed them.
And that is what we see in this text today.
It is about something more than bringing people to church
Or growing a church

It is about being willing to follow – to be with Jesus.
For us – it might mean to spend time with God’s word,
to sit in silence and solitude,
to be in the presence of the ones God loves – the poor,
to be involved in a Christian community.

We follow as a day by day, step by step enterprise.
As slowly over time we learn that God is real, can be trusted and his way can give us security – peace, purpose.
And he is the only security that we need

The text shows the beginning of the calling of the disciples
And you and I were called by Jesus a long time ago
It is in the living of our lives that over time we learn that this way of life – is the only true security in a very insecure world
And I have to say – in my own experience – the only way of life that makes sense and gives me peace and the strength to keep going at times. – But I have learned this through experiences of having that which seemed secure fall away. For example:

In 1994 the most important man in my life died. My father – of pancreatic cancer. He got sick in May and was dead by Labor Day. It happened fast. He was a big man – six foot three, two hundred twenty pounds and full of life. Always had a joke and filled the space with his personality.
He was – my foundation because he was my biggest supporter of my life. No matter what happened I always knew my dad was on my side.

But when he died I learned that beneath the foundation of his presence and his love was another. Another father, another support, another form of security. And that was God.

Sometimes we don’t know until we have to know how much we can trust God.
But the blessing of our lives is that we have followed so that when those moments come we know…..He is there
We are not alone and we can trust him

The message of this day for all of us – is keep on keeping on.
Follow Jesus – spend time with Jesus and know that he is making you one who becomes a fisherman of others.
God is making you into the person that others say – Watch HIM or Her – living a life depending on God
And that helps them to begin to learn what we keep learning
That this Way is the way of life
And peace and JOY