Mark 1:18: What Does It Mean to “Follow Jesus”?

INTRODUCTION

In our church we have Sunday school classes for children as young as two years old. A mother of one of these toddlers told me this story. When her two-year-old daughter came home after her first Sunday school class, she asked her daughter what she had learned. The little girl stood up straight with her hands at her sides and looking straight up at her mother, she repeated, “Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’”

I don’t know what a two-year-old would think it means to “follow Jesus,” but I think that’s a good place to start teaching a little child what it means to belong to Jesus and live for him.

The story (Mark 1:16-18):

And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus 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. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

I. Let us picture the scene in our minds.

A. The Sea of Galilee is really only a large lake about 12 miles long from north to south and 6 miles across from east to west. It is at the northern end of the Jordan River, which runs south through Palestine to empty into the Dead Sea.

Along the six miles of the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee was a well-traveled road with many fishing towns and villages. In the time of Jesus, one of these towns was Capernaum. The town was the hometown of Peter, his bother Andrew, James and his brother John, and also Matthew. After Jesus began his public life Capernaum was Jesus’s home base.

Fishing was an important occupation in that country.

Fish was by far the most important meat that ordinary people ate.

We read several times in the gospels of meals that included fish.

Fishing was a demanding and dangerous occupation.

B. We don’t know much about the previous life of Peter and Andrew.

We know that Peter had a wife because Jesus healed his mother-in-law of a fever. We know that he spent some time at his home in Capernaum. Paul wrote in one of his letters that Peter took his wife on his travels.

We know even less about Andrew, but it was Andrew who brought his brother to Jesus. Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist before he met Jesus. One day he was with John and another of John’s disciples when they saw Jesus. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.”

Andrew went and found his brother Peter and brought him to meet Jesus

So it was some time later that Jesus saw the Peter and Andrew beside the lake casting their nets into the water, he called them to him, and they were ready to respond to his call.

Later the same day, Jesus found two more fishermen, the brothers James and John who were mending their nets. He called to them also and they left their father and the hired men in the boat and also followed Jesus.

C. It is noteworthy that the people Jesus called to him were working people.

There was only one man Jesus called to himself who was what we might call wealthy, and that was Matthew, the tax collector, and, though he had money, his profession wasn’t respectable.

In those days, upper class people didn’t do much work.

They could spend their time in pleasure or discussing religion or philosophy.

I can think of reasons why fishermen might have been well-fitted to be disciples of Jesus:

They were used to hard work.

They were used to danger. Fishing was dangerous because the Sea of Galilee was treacherous. The lake was prone to sudden storms.

In the early chapters of the book of Acts we read of James’s execution. Many years later both Peter and Andrew would die, as Jesus did, on crosses. Only John would life on into old age.

II. Jesus said, “Follow me.” Let’s consider what it would have meant for them to follow Jesus.

A. First of all, to follow Jesus would have meant giving up the security of their trade.

They exchanged the security of their fishing business for the adventure of following Jesus for the three years before Jesus’s death and resurrection.

In those days, occupations were typically passed from father to son for generations, sometimes for hundreds of years.

Fishing was probably the only way to make a living that Peter and Andrew and James and John had ever known and all they expected to know. They would have assumed that they would continue as fishermen and pass the trade on to their children.

So the decision to leave their nets and follow was a Big Decision. They would be giving up the security of the only life they had ever known to venture into an unknown future.

They didn’t know where they were going, they only knew that they were going with Jesus.

B. Following Jesus was far more than just believing something about Jesus. It was a life to be lived. When they followed Jesus, their lives were no longer their own.

They were disciples. Philosophers had disciples who followed them around and learned from their conversation. To be a disciple of Jesus meant to learn from him, to obey him, and to serve him.

In the language of today we might call them apprentices or interns. They would spend three years with Jesus, listening to his teaching, watching his example, serving him, and learning what they needed to know to carry on his work. They would learn from Jesus how to call on God’s power to heal sick people. They would learn how to preach the gospel. They would learn how to nurture young believers in the faith. They would be examples of what it means to belong to Jesus.

As “fishers of people,” they would learn how to catch people for God.

APPLICATION

Jesus also calls us to follow him.

For us to follow Jesus means to depend on him.

It means to trust him—to commit our lives to him in faith and obedience.

It means to live our lives to please Jesus and not ourselves.

When I was little I loved to go to my granny’s house in Kansas City.

Granny was generous and gracious.

She always thought of the needs of others.

She had a big box of unusual toys for us children; that was one reason we loved to go to her house. She had thoughtfully picked out unusual toys that we had never seen before that we could play with.

She had the first push-button radio we had ever seen. We loved to listen to that radio and push the buttons to change from station to station.

She had a shelf just under the ceiling all around the walls of her dining room, and on it were displayed unusual plates with pictures on them. She had a little organ that you pumped with your feet.

Granny sent money to many missionaries. They would write her letters from countries in Africa and other exciting places. I collected stamps, and whenever we visited she would call me over to her desk and give me the envelopes with colorful stamps from the various countries the missionaries wrote her from.

One thing I remember clearly about Granny’s house was a framed Bible verse on the stairway landing.

Written in pearl-inlayed letters was this Bible verse from Romans (15:3): “Even Christ pleased not himself.”

That verse summed up my granny’s life. She didn’t live to please herself. She lived to please other people. And especially she lived to please Jesus.

A “fisher of people” doesn’t live to please himself or herself.

Followers of Jesus live to please others. They might be pastors or evangelists or “soul winners.”

None of us are pastors or evangelists or soul winners, but we are still followers of Jesus if we belong to him, and live for him, and serve others in his name.

God has put us into a community, which is called the “church.”

The church’s mission is to bring people to Jesus and nurture them in the faith.

We don’t do God’s work by ourselves. We fulfill the church’s mission together.

Today I would like you to remember the many ways in which during your long life you contributed to the church’s mission of “fishing for people.”

Some of you taught Sunday school.

You invited people to church.

You cleaned the building or cut the grass. You prepared food for potlucks and picnics.

Some of you sang in the choir or played the piano for worship.

You visited the sick.

You extended hospitality to lonely people by inviting them for dinner.

You gave money for good causes.

You came alongside people were hurting to comfort them, and you remembered to pray for them.

In your old age, you can still serve Jesus in some of these ways. Maybe there are more ways you can live out your faith by serving others. Think about what you can do.

There are lonely people here that need a friend who cares. Maybe you can be that friend.

A STORY

I will end with a story that a pastor, John Fanestil, tells about how his grandmother brought him to God.

He tells about his visits when a child to his grandparents’ little house in El Dorado, Kansas.

He and his seven brothers and sisters would lie on the floor of the living room in their sleeping bags jabbering beside the grate above the furnace burning in the basement.

When they had all gotten to their sleeping bags and were getting drowsy, their grandmother would come into the room and kneel on the floor beside each of them, starting with the youngest, would rub their backs and stroke their heads, whispering to them, and putting them to sleep one by one.

Pastor Fanestil says that sometimes when he is anxious and having a hard time falling to sleep, he can still feel the hand of his grandmother on his back, so cool, so calming. He can still feel her hand on his head, fingers running through his hair. And he can still hear her voice whispering softly in his ear.

He says that as a young man he wandered from the faith but eventually came back.

Some of his sophisticated friends asked him why he returned to faith.

He says that the honest answer to that question was “because my grandmother used to rub my back.”

He remembers his grandmother’s cheerful trust in God, her grateful spirit, her Bible reading, and her unceasing prayers.

He says, “Because my grandmother used to rub my back and place her hand on my head, I know that my life, too, has been touched by the hand of God.”

(John Fanestil, Mrs. Hunter’s Happy Death, pp 55-57)

We don’t have any apostles here, but Jesus calls even us to follow him. And I have reason to believe that you responded and followed him and he has used you—and will continue to use you—to bring people to himself.

But maybe you aren’t sure you have ever responded to the call to follow Jesus.

It’s not to late to come to Jesus and give yourself to him. And he’ll give you something to do for him by serving others.

Genesis 50:20: A Lesson from the Story of Joseph

INTRODUCTION

All of us have mental scars, hurts that we feel all our life long. The worst hurts are memories of the unkindnesses of others. I have known people who have bad memories so deep that long after the one who has hurt them has died, they just can’t let go of their bitterness.

Now, you are thinking that I am going to talk today about forgiveness. But, important as forgiveness is, that will not be my lesson for you today.

The experiences of our past are what has made us what we are today—experiences of pleasure—and especially experiences of pain. Experiences in our past can cripple us as we face our future. Experiences from our past can make us hateful. You have seen it.

But experiences from our past—especially painful ones—can also make us stronger, more caring, more useful people.

One of the longest and most fascinating stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph. You will remember the story of Joseph from Sunday school.

Today I want to review the story of Joseph for you because I think the lesson at the end is one of the most important lessons of life.

I. Joseph’s story is a story of trouble.

A. The first we read of Joseph is when he was 17.

Joseph’s story begins with these lines in Genesis 37:

Now Israel—that is, Jacob—loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves [some translations call it a coat of many colors].

But when his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

There was a reason why Jacob, Joseph’s father was partial to Joseph. Joseph’s mother, Rachel, was the love of Jacob’s life. She had been barren for many years and when she finally conceived and bore a son, it was like a miracle. So, foolish and as unfair as it was to Jacob’s other sons, Jacob doted on Joseph. It’s no wonder his brothers hated him.

Do you remember when you were a child, how you and your brothers and sisters used to share your dreams at the breakfast table? Well, Joseph had a couple of dreams, which he was unwise enough to pass on to his family.

In his first dream Joseph saw himself in the field with his brothers binding sheaves, and he saw his sheaf rise up and the eleven brothers’ sheaves bowed down to it. In his second dream he saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him.

His father figured out right away that the sun and moon were himself and Joseph’s mother, and the eleven stars were Joseph’s brothers. He said, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?

His father wondered at the dreams, but his brothers hated him for them.

B. And the time soon came for his brothers to get even.

The brothers caught Joseph alone in a field and thought to kill him, and throw him into a pit, and tell their father that a wild animal had devoured him.

But they hit on a better plan, a plan that would spare Joseph’s life and also to make them some money.

They sold Joseph as a slave to some slave-dealers who were passing by for 20 shekels. (A shekel in ancient times was a silver coin about the size of a quarter.)

They splattered some blood on the beautiful robe and told their father that poor Joseph must have been attacked and killed by a wild animal.

Their father Jacob mourned Joseph, and the brothers were satisfied that they had finally gotten rid of their troublesome little brother.

C. Joseph was sold to be a slave of a rich Egyptian named Potiphar.

Joseph must have been awfully discouraged, but he got busy and made the best of a bad situation.

Joseph was so smart and so industrious that he was the best slave Potiphar had, and he was soon in charge of the whole household.

We read, “His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. …So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, having him, Potiphar had no concern for anything but the food which he ate” (Genesis 39:3-6).

But then disaster struck Joseph again. Joseph was a handsome youth, and the master’s wife fell in love with him, and when he refused her, she lied and accused him of assaulting her.

So Joseph ended up in prison.

D. But Joseph had learned through his adversity. He was a model prisoner. Although still a prisoner, soon Joseph was in charge of the prison.

We read:

“But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever was done there, he was the doer of it; the keeper of the prison paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.” (Genesis 39:21-23).

You will remember that while in Pharaoh’s prison Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners, Pharaoh’s chief butler and Pharaoh’s chief baker.

As a result, years later, when Pharaoh himself had a dream, the butler told him about Joseph, and Pharaoh called Joseph out of prison to explain his dream.

And as the result of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream the people of Egypt were saved from starvation during the great famine that came eight years later.

Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph’s wisdom that he put Joseph in charge of all the business of the country.

Pharaoh said, “Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are; you shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only as regards the throne will I be greater than you” (Genesis 41:38-40).

By this time Joseph was 30 years old. Thirteen years had gone by since his brothers had sold him into slavery.

E. Then the famine hit the land where Joseph’s family still lived.

Jacob, Joseph’s father, sent the brothers to Egypt to buy grain. They met Joseph, and Joseph finally made himself known to them.

Pharaoh invited Jacob’s father and the whole family to come to Egypt to live.

After several years Jacob died. The brothers were afraid. They had every reason to believe that Joseph would be holding a grudge against them for their cruelty to him so many years before.

II. And what happened next is what I want us to take from the story of Joseph for our lesson for today.

A. When Jacob, their father, died, and his brothers said to one another, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.”

So they sent Joseph this message: “Your father gave this command before he died, ‘Say to Joseph. Forgive, I pray you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you’” (Genesis 50:17). And the brothers asked for forgiveness.

When Joseph read that message he wept. That tells us that Joseph had already forgiven them.

B. Then the brothers came in person to own up to their sin and ask for forgiveness: ”Joseph said to them: “Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he reassured them and comforted them. (Genesis 50:19-21).

This is the part that is important for us: “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…”

It was not good that his brothers had sinned against him. We don’t know what good would have come into Joseph’s life if his brothers hadn’t sold him into slavery. The point is that God brought good out of the evil.

Joseph found satisfaction in the good that had come out of the tragedy of his life.

The lives of Egyptian people had been saved from famine. And his own family had been saved from starvation.

APPLICATION

This is the application for us of the story: God can bring good out of evil. This happens in our lives too.

We read in Romans 8:28: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”

All of us carry scars from bad and hurtful experiences in our past.

The scar may be as small as a cutting remark someone made… but which still hurts a lifetime later.

The scar may be an injustice suffered from a parent or teacher or boss or friend.

Some people never forget an injury. They make themselves miserable because they can’t let go of their bitterness.

But our experiences have made us what we are.

And our painful experiences can help us to be humble and thankful for present blessings.

I had an unhappy childhood. Some of my unhappiness was because of the injustices from another person. But my unhappiness as a child has helped me to be a more sympathetic person than I would otherwise be.

The things I’ve suffered have helped me know my need for God and to appreciate the gift of salvation.

If I had never experienced difficulties, I maybe would never have come to God, and I wouldn’t have experienced the love of Jesus in my life.

If my life had been painless, I could never imagine the pain of other people.

Painful things have happened to all of us that we wish hadn’t happened, but God’s word teaches us that God can bring good out of evil—if not in this world, then in the world to come.

This is the line from the story of Joseph that I want us to remember: “As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”

A STORY

Malcolm Muggeridge was a clever and popular English journalist.

He was a lifelong agnostic. But at age 79 he became a Christian believer and joined the Catholic church. He used his remaining years to bear witness for Christ. He wrote a best-selling book, Jesus Rediscovered. I read that book. It is a good book.

One day Muggeridge was speaking at a church, and all local atheists showed up. After the meeting they had coffee and Mr. Muggeridge answered questions.

When the pastor sensed that time was up, he asked for one more question. Having dealt with that last question, Mr. Muggeridge noticed a boy in a wheelchair—evidently a victim of cerebral palsy—trying to say something.

Muggeridge said, “There is someone who wants to ask me a question. I will wait and answer it.”

The boy continued to struggle to get the words out, but nothing came.

“Take your time,” said Mr. Muggeridge. “I will wait.”

As the boy’s struggle continued to produce only agonized contortions, Mr. Muggeridge stepped down from the platform, walked to where the boy sat, put an arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “Just take it easy, son. It’s all right. What is it you want to ask me? I want to hear, and I will wait.”

Finally the boy blurted out, “You say there is a God who loves us.”

Mr. Muggeridge agreed.

Then the boy said, “Then—why me?”

(This is a question all believers have had to face, especially those with grave afflictions such as cerebral palsy. The question: If there is a God who loves us, why is there so much undeserved suffering?)

When the boy said, “Then—why me?” Silence filled the room. The boy was silent, the audience was silent, Mr. Muggeridge was silent. Finally, he asked “If you were fit, would you have come to hear me tonight?”

The boy shook his head.

Again Malcolm Muggeridge was silent. Then he said, “God has asked a hard thing of you,” he said, “But remember, he asked something even harder of Jesus Christ. He died for you. Maybe this was his way of making sure you’d hear of his love and come to put your faith in him.”

“Could be,” said the boy.

The lesson from this story isn’t that God caused the boy to be born with cerebral palsy—that was the devil’s work.

The important thing is that God may have used the boy’s affliction to bring him to Christ.

This is what we mean when we say that “God works all things together for good for those who love God.”

This is what Joseph was talking about when he said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”

If Joseph’s brothers had not sold him into slavery--if Joseph hadn’t suffered through those 30 years of servitude—Joseph wouldn’t have found himself in the position to save the lives of multitudes of Egyptians—and the lives of his family.

Joseph found it easier to forgive his brothers, because he could believe that there was a purpose for his suffering.

CONCLUSION

Think back on the hurts in your life. They have made you what you are.

If you have brought your hurts to God, you have gained wisdom and insight because of them.

Your afflictions have given you the ability to put yourself in the place of other sufferers. You have become more compassionate.

Your hurts have given you the opportunity to prove your faith by your forgiveness.

Your hurts have made you cling to God…and yearn for the Promised Land where all tears will be wiped away.