WEBVTT 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.740 Ramona is going to come and read God's word for us. 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:08.120 Steve's already said we're going to read from 1 Mark 16 to 20. 00:00:10.540 --> 00:00:17.940 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. 00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:23.300 Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:26.580 At once they left the nets and followed him. 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:34.739 When they had gone a little further, he saw James, son of Sebedee, and his brother John in a boat preparing the nets. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:41.640 Without delay, he called them, and they left their father Sebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:43.759 This is the word of God. 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:50.119 Thanks so much, Ramona. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:53.480 Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help as we come to his word. 00:00:53.480 --> 00:00:53.879 Let's pray. 00:00:56.579 --> 00:01:06.299 Heavenly Father, we're just so conscious together of our need to hear you speak. 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:13.539 There are many things to distract us, to turn our hearts away from you. 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.459 There's lots of competing voices that we've heard in the week. 00:01:17.459 --> 00:01:25.339 So we pray now that you just might quieten our hearts, that we might hear you, that you might speak to us from your word, by your spirit. 00:01:26.539 --> 00:01:29.000 Please, Lord, be at work in me. 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:33.259 Be at work in all of us, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:34.259 --> 00:01:34.619 Amen. 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:41.100 Well, if you keep that passage open, we shall try and work our way through it. 00:01:41.140 --> 00:01:46.500 It's a very simple story, one that you might be familiar with if you have looked at the Bible before. 00:01:46.500 --> 00:02:08.379 I think as we come this morning and you think about the idea of following somebody, I reckon if you try and summarize what our contemporary idea of following is, you would say something like the phrase, like and, oh my goodness, subscribe. 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:08.920 Right? 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:09.539 Don't you do that? 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.060 Isn't that the thing that we hear all the time at the end of every YouTube video? 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:22.259 If you're a particular committed follower, you might like, subscribe, hit the bell icon, become a channel member. 00:02:22.979 --> 00:02:25.479 If you're really serious, you might buy some merch as well. 00:02:26.539 --> 00:02:29.379 This is how it works, isn't it, in our culture now. 00:02:29.539 --> 00:02:40.740 We stumble across people and things that we are interested in, that intrigue us, that wow us, that teach us something, and we click to say that we're interested in following. 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:42.800 We are going to pick up what they put down. 00:02:43.060 --> 00:02:48.000 I suppose you might say that we become a disciple of theirs. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:03:05.120 Now, if you were to take that definition of follow into Mark 1, verse 17, when Jesus says, come, follow me, then our assumption would be that Jesus is reaching out to people who are, in some senses, intrigued by who he is. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:12.819 He's stumbling into people who have kind of come across him in whatever the first century equivalent of the algorithm was. 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:29.900 Now, actually, it's fair to say that that sort of thing did happen, obviously not in an online way, but still, young people, predominantly young men, in want of a further education, would find themselves, especially in Jerusalem, scouting for a rabbi. 00:03:29.900 --> 00:03:35.420 Somebody to follow, somebody to follow, people who would teach them and pass on their knowledge to them. 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:48.459 And then these young men, predominantly, would attach themselves to the rabbi and follow them around as a kind of apprentice, learning their ideas and their philosophies to pass it on to the next generation. 00:03:48.460 --> 00:04:03.200 And when you read Mark 1, you find, actually, that not only does Mark 1 contrast to our kind of like and subscribe culture, but actually Mark 1 stands in stark contrast to the culture of his day, too. 00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:06.600 There are many surprises in these verses. 00:04:07.379 --> 00:04:08.879 Let me show you the first one. 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:15.680 The first surprise here is that it is Jesus seeking people, not people seeking Jesus. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:16.900 Did you notice that? 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.360 In verse 16, you'll see this is what is happening. 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:27.560 Jesus is the one walking by the lake, looking for people to follow him, not the other way around. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:34.899 Simon and Andrew in verse 16 and James and John in verse 19 are simply just getting on with their work. 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:35.620 They're fishing. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.079 You know, this is not Jerusalem. 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:40.460 These guys are not looking for an education. 00:04:40.660 --> 00:04:45.379 This is Galilee, and these men are uneducated fishermen. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.639 The Sea of Galilee was teeming with fish. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:53.980 So many people had small family businesses catching and selling fish. 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:56.040 It's a job which is hard work. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.540 It's physically demanding. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.000 It requires a certain level of skill, preparation, and full concentration. 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:08.100 It is not done by the people who are scouting for a rabbi, looking to apprentice. 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:08.460 Jesus. 00:05:08.460 --> 00:05:12.439 So as Mark sets the scene, he's very clear who's looking for who. 00:05:12.820 --> 00:05:17.420 Jesus is the searcher, and he is searching in a very unlikely place. 00:05:19.320 --> 00:05:25.480 Jesus is sort of contrasted, isn't he, to Simon, Andrew, James, and John, right? 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:28.820 They are fishing in a place that is teeming with fish. 00:05:28.819 --> 00:05:35.040 Jesus is fishing for people to follow him in the educational wilderness of his death. 00:05:36.899 --> 00:05:39.199 Now, I know that is obvious, isn't it? 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.120 I've not shown you anything that you hadn't already seen or wouldn't have noticed. 00:05:42.219 --> 00:05:48.060 But let me just try and point out the significance of that truth for us. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.620 Theologically, this has massive consequences. 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:56.899 A friend of mine talks about what he says is the theology of the bus. 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:00.980 I don't know whether you have that kind of idea, but it's a sort of popular theology. 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:03.459 It's what everybody thinks, yeah? 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:06.840 The sort of assumed ideas of our age. 00:06:07.579 --> 00:06:10.959 And the theology of the bus, when it comes to seeking and following, 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.180 is that somehow in our world, God is hiding. 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:21.240 And that if you're interested in knowing God, you have to go and look for him. 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:26.959 We call the people who are especially keen to find God seekers, 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:31.560 and churches run seeker-friendly services for them, or seeker courses. 00:06:32.620 --> 00:06:37.860 And the thinking goes, you know, if you are one of those people who has managed to find God, 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:39.620 well, then you're particularly lucky. 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:43.939 Because lots of people are looking, and not many people seem to meet with success. 00:06:45.100 --> 00:06:47.579 But here, notice, Mark contradicts that idea. 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:50.660 He flips that theology of the bus on its head. 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.760 He says, we're not in a world of seekers looking for God. 00:06:54.200 --> 00:06:57.080 No, rather, we're in a world where God is seeking for people. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.760 In other words, the story of the Bible, according to Mark here, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:07.460 his sort of assumption here is that humanity are hiding, not God. 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:12.339 So much so that when God bursts onto the scene of human history, 00:07:12.799 --> 00:07:17.060 as we were thinking last week, he comes as one who seeks people. 00:07:18.579 --> 00:07:23.679 Now, if you've read any of the Bible, you will know that Mark is absolutely right. 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:24.259 Don't you? 00:07:24.259 --> 00:07:31.860 In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve in the garden, they eat the forbidden fruit, and God enters the stage. 00:07:31.939 --> 00:07:34.420 He walks around the garden in the cool of the day. 00:07:34.659 --> 00:07:36.139 And what are Adam and Eve doing? 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:37.759 Hiding. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:38.939 They're hiding. 00:07:39.599 --> 00:07:43.620 Desperately covering themselves over with leaves to hide their bodies from God and from one another. 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:45.319 God is the seeker. 00:07:45.459 --> 00:07:46.399 Humanity is hiding. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.799 And it goes on all the way through the Bible. 00:07:49.359 --> 00:07:52.299 God calls Abraham and Moses and David. 00:07:52.679 --> 00:07:56.039 It finds out that God is not looking in the most likely places, is he? 00:07:56.139 --> 00:07:59.299 He finds David who is out looking after sheep. 00:07:59.379 --> 00:08:01.219 He's overlooked even by his own father. 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:06.099 And then the parables of Jesus, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the runaway son. 00:08:06.599 --> 00:08:09.199 God is seeking, not people. 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:12.759 Now, why would that be the case? 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:17.500 Why does the Bible say that people aren't looking for God, but God is looking for people? 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:22.779 What is wrong with humanity that would make us want to hide from the God who made us? 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:33.399 Well, of course, the Bible says that this hiding or running away is morally wrong, isn't it? 00:08:34.379 --> 00:08:38.120 You know, it's not a sort of just an ignorance of God. 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:42.279 It's a sort of moral hiding that we're doing. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.860 You know, we're not so much like the kid in Westfield who got lost. 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:51.139 You know, I know when I said to you earlier that had anyone got lost and a number of you put your hand up. 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:54.799 I know I was lost as a kid, but I also once ran away as a kid. 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:58.860 I said, well, I didn't actually say anything. 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:00.080 I was fed up with my mum. 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:01.980 And so I just left the house and ran away. 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:03.399 I ran into the local woods. 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:05.179 There was like a big concrete pipe. 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:07.200 I hid in there for a few hours. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:08.259 It seemed like ages. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:10.659 And then got hungry, so went home. 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:13.860 And that's what's going on here, isn't it? 00:09:14.339 --> 00:09:21.600 It's not simply that, you know, we've kind of morally in a neutral way hidden ourselves from God. 00:09:21.659 --> 00:09:23.860 No, actually, we're on the run from God. 00:09:23.860 --> 00:09:31.600 In the story of the Bible, the reason that people aren't looking for God and are hiding from him is because we don't want to be found by God. 00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:37.500 We understand intuitively, even if we don't acknowledge it, that we are not on good terms with God. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:40.960 And if he were to find us, well, we'd be undone. 00:09:41.620 --> 00:09:42.620 So we're scared, aren't we? 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:43.740 We're terrified of meeting him. 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:45.460 It's guilt that makes us hide. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:47.500 And we might hide in lots of different ways. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.580 We hide by burying ourselves in work. 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:51.320 We distract ourselves with entertainment. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:07.820 Some people even use religion to hide from God, hoping that if there's enough religious activity, God might not notice that actually we're living in his world for our own glory, that we've sullied our lives with a million immoral actions and base instincts. 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:11.559 See, here's Mark's penetrating idea for us this morning. 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:15.059 Let me try and put it as bluntly as I can just to try and capture your attention. 00:10:15.059 --> 00:10:21.139 We don't want to find God because we don't want to be found out by him. 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:24.759 Let me ask you if that's you this morning. 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:37.839 Perhaps you've come to church and you sort of hope, listen, if I pay God a little bit of attention, if I turn up to church every now and again, maybe he'll do the kindness of leaving me alone for the rest of the week, will he? 00:10:39.479 --> 00:10:41.000 Can I hide in plain sight? 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:48.720 Or perhaps a few of you are sitting here uncomfortably and it's because you think God might find you in a place like this. 00:10:49.820 --> 00:10:50.639 It's scary. 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:54.440 Of course, that's only half the point, isn't it? 00:10:54.980 --> 00:10:57.059 The point is not simply that we're not looking for God. 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:00.120 The point of the passage is that Jesus is looking for us. 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:02.179 He's come for people. 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:11.039 In last week's passage, if you remember last week's passage, we heard Jesus say that the kingdom of God was near and we should repent and believe the good news. 00:11:11.539 --> 00:11:18.839 And we see here that Jesus is ensuring that his kingdom is going to be full of people because he is not waiting for them to come to him. 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.059 He is going out calling them to follow him. 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:33.639 And as we found, he looks in the most unlikely places, calling out to distracted fishermen who have no idea that they're casting their necks into the ocean, just a stone's throw away from God himself in human flesh. 00:11:34.519 --> 00:11:40.419 Jesus is calling for followers, distracted fishermen and distracted Londoners. 00:11:41.199 --> 00:11:45.599 People who have no intention of looking for Jesus, but who find that Jesus is looking for them. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.579 And notice not to condemn them, but to save them. 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:54.420 I think this is perhaps the best bit of the story here, isn't it? 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:57.840 That Jesus is calling out with good news. 00:11:58.820 --> 00:12:05.060 I know you don't want to be found out by God, but I am here to find you and rescue you. 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:12.879 And a friend, I'm going to call her Mary, it's not really her name, but she was on the run from God. 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:17.440 She kind of knew she was, she was really self-conscious about it. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.240 She knew that she was running from the Lord. 00:12:19.580 --> 00:12:21.639 She'd heard the gospel as a child. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:25.259 She'd even made a profession of faith as a young person. 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:29.200 But now as an adult, she'd graduated from university. 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:30.280 She'd got a good job. 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:34.500 She was making quite a lot of money and she was out to live for herself. 00:12:36.040 --> 00:12:38.860 Bright, successful and rich. 00:12:39.580 --> 00:12:44.060 She bought her own home away from churches and away from other Christians. 00:12:44.059 --> 00:12:48.899 It turns out that God was looking for her. 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:57.179 And to her surprise, a new local church opened their doors just 100 yards from her house. 00:12:58.939 --> 00:13:00.599 Leaflets started coming through her door. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:03.519 An irritating pastor knocked on her door. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:09.360 Eventually, she started coming to church and was found by the Lord. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:16.600 I remember speaking to her after a church service and we sort of chuckled together at the lengths that God had gone to to find her. 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:19.199 You weren't looking for God, you were on the run. 00:13:20.299 --> 00:13:24.899 So he started another local church just at the end of your street in order to find you. 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:28.059 Maybe that's you this morning. 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:34.879 The second surprise here, though, is that Jesus gets an immediate response to his call. 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:37.120 Jesus' call gets an immediate response. 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:43.759 Throughout history, there have been lots of people who have doubted the divinity of Jesus. 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:50.659 And often the fuel for their cause is that they say, well, Jesus never really claimed to be God. 00:13:50.659 --> 00:13:59.039 You know, they scour the Gospels imagining that, you know, if I was God in flesh, right, I would be standing up and saying that all the time. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.860 It would be the thing that I would stand up and shout about on the street corner. 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.779 And they discover that that's not exactly what Jesus does. 00:14:06.839 --> 00:14:08.500 And so they conclude that he can't be God. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.759 Alex O'Connor, if you know him, is someone who says this. 00:14:13.059 --> 00:14:17.579 Jehovah's Witnesses who knock on your door or stop you in the street, they will say that too. 00:14:17.580 --> 00:14:20.700 But the fact is, they completely miss the point, don't they? 00:14:21.020 --> 00:14:28.940 Because not only does Jesus say on several occasions that he is the Son of God, he is divine, and he eventually ends up crucified for blasphemy. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:35.800 But more so, it misses the point because the disciples don't believe Jesus to be divine simply because he said so, 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:39.680 but because of what he did demonstrates who he really is. 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:44.140 His divinity is oozing out of his actions all the time. 00:14:44.139 --> 00:14:49.159 You see, Jesus is capable of things that nobody else is capable of. 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:50.720 And you see that here, don't you? 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:55.919 Jesus' divinity is proved to you in two words at the beginning of verse 18. 00:14:56.059 --> 00:14:58.580 It's the words, at once. 00:14:59.059 --> 00:14:59.899 At once. 00:15:00.439 --> 00:15:01.299 Look at what's happening. 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:04.740 Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee, seeking out his disciples, 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:10.879 and he's doing it in the most unlikely of places where no sane rabbi would expect to find any followers at all. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.840 These are slim pickings for disciples right here. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:21.220 And he sees Simon and Andrew in a boat, busily fishing, and he calls out to them, and at once they listen. 00:15:21.939 --> 00:15:25.320 They drop everything, get out of their boats, and follow him. 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:26.960 It's an immediate response. 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:31.620 It's the same idea with James and John in verse 20, but a slightly different emphasis. 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:35.279 The NIV translates it different, but it's the same two words in Greek. 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:37.820 Without delay is literally at once again. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.259 But here it's Jesus doing it at once. 00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:43.159 In other words, Jesus is not kind of building up to this. 00:15:43.220 --> 00:15:44.340 He's not going to pitch. 00:15:45.319 --> 00:15:46.939 In other words, he's just calling out. 00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:49.519 He calls to James and John. 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:54.679 Not only do they respond immediately, but here the emphasis is that they respond completely. 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:56.360 They obey completely. 00:15:57.159 --> 00:15:58.580 They leave their father in the boat. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:02.039 They abandon the family business to take up with a total stranger. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.539 Again, it's so obvious, isn't it, that we miss how remarkable it is. 00:16:07.539 --> 00:16:10.939 I mean, imagine, just try it yourself. 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:16.519 Try asking anybody to do anything and see whether they do it at once. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:21.339 I guarantee you that no one will do anything you ask them to do at once. 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:28.099 If you're a parent, you can't even get your child to put on their shoes to go out to somewhere where they want to at once. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:35.580 And yet Jesus here calls out to complete strangers engaged in their daily business. 00:16:35.980 --> 00:16:39.180 And he says to them, not just what would you like to do? 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.820 He says, follow me. 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.279 Abandon what it is that you're doing and come follow me. 00:16:44.560 --> 00:16:50.500 And these guys do it without hesitation immediately and completely. 00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:57.879 We were thinking earlier that the story of the universe, according to the Bible, is of humanity hiding from God. 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:01.840 Hiding not in moral neutrality, but hiding in moral shame. 00:17:02.379 --> 00:17:03.759 We know we're in the wrong. 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:04.960 We feel it instinctively. 00:17:05.099 --> 00:17:09.259 Our consciences tell us that if we were to meet a holy God, we'd be absolutely undone. 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:17.039 Yet, that holy God in the person of the Son calls out to ordinary God hiders. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:20.339 And you might imagine that they would get in the boat and go, right, let's row. 00:17:20.659 --> 00:17:21.319 Guys, let's row. 00:17:21.399 --> 00:17:22.460 Let's go the other direction. 00:17:22.879 --> 00:17:24.240 God is calling out to us. 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:24.799 He's here. 00:17:24.879 --> 00:17:25.920 Let's get away from him. 00:17:26.420 --> 00:17:27.259 But they don't. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.500 They drop everything and come to him. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:29.980 Why? 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:31.940 Well, because of who he is. 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.440 Because Jesus is God in flesh. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.059 Come with a mission of grace and mercy to forgive and to save. 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:42.839 Now, think about what's going on here. 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:45.759 Jesus is the eternally divine Son. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:51.500 He is the one, the scriptures tell us, that by whom and through whom all things are created. 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.839 Jesus is the one who spoke the world into existence. 00:17:56.400 --> 00:17:58.920 Let there be light and there was light. 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:02.519 That's been Mark's introduction, hasn't it? 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:06.319 Father, Spirit and Son, a new beginning, a new creation. 00:18:07.259 --> 00:18:11.019 And now we find that this creator God is speaking in the world again. 00:18:11.019 --> 00:18:15.980 His word, which made life in the first place, now makes new life. 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:20.420 As he calls out to these fishermen, come, follow me. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:22.980 And of course, they follow him. 00:18:23.819 --> 00:18:31.920 Transforming their everyday, run-of-the-mill, ordinary fishermen with no thought of following Jesus into disciples of the living God. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:37.100 Before we move on, just ponder this with me some more. 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:50.820 Down through the centuries, theologians have distinguished between what they call the general call of the gospel and the effective or effectual call of God. 00:18:50.819 --> 00:19:04.559 The general call of the gospel covers this idea that we are to preach the good news of the Lord Jesus to everyone and anyone. 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:11.799 The message of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior who was sent to die on a cross to save us from sin, 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:15.240 that message is to be preached to everyone everywhere. 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:21.500 It's the general call, it's the job of the church to preach Christ to everyone and anyone. 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:30.720 But the truth is that that general call on its own has no power over people who are preoccupied with themselves, 00:19:31.120 --> 00:19:34.079 lost in false religion or dazzled by the world's treasures. 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:36.220 It kind of bounces off, doesn't it? 00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:37.599 You see that all the time. 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:42.940 If you were to stand on a street corner, and people in this room do this in London, 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:46.299 they stand on street corners and they will preach the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:50.860 And most of the time, for most people, that message just bounces off. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.279 They're not interested. 00:19:52.420 --> 00:19:54.259 It's the general call preached to everyone. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:01.140 What we really need is an effectual call of God into the hearts of people. 00:20:01.980 --> 00:20:06.500 The God to speak internally to the hearts of individuals by the Spirit 00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:10.279 and to call them to him in a way that they simply cannot resist, 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:16.099 with an effectual, an effective call that comes with Holy Spirit power to transform. 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:19.180 And that's what's going on here, isn't it? 00:20:19.380 --> 00:20:25.700 The Spirit is making the disciples alive to what Jesus is saying so that they might respond to him. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:30.680 Jesus is speaking and making followers at the same time. 00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:34.259 Jesus is not like me here shouting to you and saying to you, 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:35.240 come, follow Christ. 00:20:35.700 --> 00:20:40.099 Jesus is speaking with Holy Spirit power into the hearts of his disciples saying, 00:20:40.259 --> 00:20:41.599 come, follow me. 00:20:41.660 --> 00:20:45.240 And they cannot resist because of who Jesus is. 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:47.640 Because he is God himself. 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:51.819 Calling with an effectiveness, calling people to repent and believe, 00:20:51.819 --> 00:20:56.099 to jump out of their boats, leave their family businesses and follow him. 00:20:57.799 --> 00:20:59.859 Of course, that begs the question this morning. 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:05.839 I can't point to you and say, come, follow Jesus. 00:21:06.579 --> 00:21:11.519 I can do it in a general way, but God alone can do that for you this morning. 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:16.319 I get the great privilege this morning of preaching this general call, 00:21:16.639 --> 00:21:23.959 but God does the effective calling even at the same time as I am speaking the general call of the gospel. 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:24.879 That's how it works. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:30.660 I will speak to you and God by his spirit calls out to you. 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:37.720 So let me ask you this morning if you've ever had one of these at once moments, if we might call it that. 00:21:38.180 --> 00:21:38.340 Yeah. 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:46.119 You've maybe had a moment in your life where you have known for sure that you have to follow Jesus. 00:21:47.299 --> 00:21:50.299 That this is not a suggestion from the Lord. 00:21:50.639 --> 00:21:55.059 This is not one of the options on the panel P of things that you might choose from to live for. 00:21:55.439 --> 00:22:00.259 No, this is Jesus speaking to you and saying, come, follow me. 00:22:00.899 --> 00:22:02.199 And you know you can't resist. 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:08.200 This is the experience of all of our church members. 00:22:08.380 --> 00:22:10.900 They have all had this at once moment. 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:13.519 For some of them, it happened when they were small children. 00:22:14.259 --> 00:22:22.160 For others, it happened in a church gathering like this when they just knew that God was speaking to them and saying, you must follow me. 00:22:23.160 --> 00:22:25.759 For one of our church members, it was in the Congolese jungle. 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:29.120 For another one of our leaders, it was while in a prison cell. 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:31.240 What about for you this morning? 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:34.620 Maybe you think, oh, you know what? 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:36.019 Steve, that's all very well. 00:22:36.100 --> 00:22:37.819 I just thought I'm not that kind of person. 00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:44.180 You know, I know that some people kind of feel like that, but I don't ever have that. 00:22:44.600 --> 00:22:46.460 I'm not really that kind of religious person. 00:22:46.580 --> 00:22:47.660 I'm not really that interested. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.080 I'm busy with my work or my studies. 00:22:50.519 --> 00:22:53.400 I've got my hands full of stuff to do in this world. 00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:54.319 I'm waiting. 00:22:54.460 --> 00:22:55.380 I'm just not that guy. 00:22:55.860 --> 00:22:56.580 I'm not that woman. 00:22:57.259 --> 00:22:59.220 You're speaking to somebody else, not me. 00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:03.440 Let me tell you that that's just the kind of person that Jesus calls in Mark 1. 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.140 Person who's busy and distracted, had no thought of following Jesus. 00:23:08.180 --> 00:23:09.440 Busy with their nets. 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:11.460 Busy fishing in the family business. 00:23:11.460 --> 00:23:14.420 And Jesus says, come, follow me. 00:23:15.019 --> 00:23:16.259 And they had no choice. 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:18.759 People overlooked by most of the world. 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:22.819 The final surprise in these verses then is this. 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:26.680 That being called by Jesus changes what your life is for. 00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.960 Stereotypes are a dangerous thing, aren't they? 00:23:30.019 --> 00:23:32.180 But I think I'm on fairly safe ground. 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:37.640 When I imagine that Simon and Andrew and James and John, probably not the journaling type, right? 00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:39.480 I don't know whether they were. 00:23:39.560 --> 00:23:43.600 Maybe they did, you know, drew pretty pictures every evening about the fish that they caught 00:23:43.600 --> 00:23:45.340 and the waves and all that sort of stuff. 00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:46.200 But I doubt it. 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:51.580 But if they were, they would look back at this day when they heard Jesus call and go, 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.480 that day everything changed for me. 00:23:54.120 --> 00:23:57.519 This is a new journal day, right? 00:23:57.880 --> 00:23:59.360 New app. 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:00.340 Clean break. 00:24:00.700 --> 00:24:02.240 Scrap the old, in with the new. 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:04.039 This is the day that everything changed. 00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:06.140 This was the best day of my life. 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:08.380 Everything changed after this day. 00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:10.200 Everything was different after this point. 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:13.620 Just notice as we come towards the finish, look down at verse 17. 00:24:13.619 --> 00:24:15.179 Jesus calls them to follow him. 00:24:16.019 --> 00:24:21.739 Literally, it is to walk in his way, which hints at this idea that repenting and believing 00:24:21.739 --> 00:24:25.379 that we were looking at last week is not just a one-time event. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.379 It's a transformation in how we live and how we act. 00:24:29.879 --> 00:24:31.739 And that's exactly what Jesus spells out. 00:24:32.199 --> 00:24:37.019 He says, come, follow me, verse 17, and I will send you out to fish for people. 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:41.099 The word send there is literally the word to make. 00:24:41.099 --> 00:24:47.559 The idea here is not that Jesus so much is sending these disciples out on mission, 00:24:47.959 --> 00:24:52.319 rather that it is those who hear his call, who come and follow him, 00:24:52.719 --> 00:25:00.519 who he himself is making, transforming into a new kind of people who themselves are passionate for mission. 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:02.019 Does that make sense? 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:05.199 It's not that he is sending them as they are. 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:08.139 He is transforming them, not only into people who want to follow him, 00:25:08.140 --> 00:25:10.440 but people who are passionate about his mission. 00:25:10.540 --> 00:25:13.640 He is making them into fishes of man. 00:25:14.420 --> 00:25:19.259 So they go from fishing for fish to being like Jesus and fishing for people. 00:25:20.060 --> 00:25:23.940 In other words, at repenting and believing, denying yourself, taking up your cross, 00:25:24.360 --> 00:25:28.420 becoming a Christian, believing in Jesus, responding to this effectual call, 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:30.080 whatever the language we want to use is, 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:35.579 that not only involves a radical turnaround in repentance and faith in Jesus 00:25:35.579 --> 00:25:38.720 for this sin of hiding ourselves in the dark, 00:25:38.859 --> 00:25:43.819 but also at the same time comes with a total transformation of purpose. 00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:47.399 My life is for something different now. 00:25:48.179 --> 00:25:50.220 And that purpose is not self-generated, right? 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:52.139 This is not, and churches can do this, right? 00:25:52.139 --> 00:25:53.339 They can preach the gospel like this. 00:25:53.740 --> 00:25:55.799 You know, they say, come to Jesus and follow him. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:56.639 He will forgive your sin. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:25:59.040 But then you better well try hard to live for him. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:25:59.880 It's not that. 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:07.020 Come to Jesus, follow him, and he will make you into a new person. 00:26:08.320 --> 00:26:12.200 Transforms your life's purpose, making you into a fisher of people. 00:26:14.220 --> 00:26:18.300 So we find that we have come to be found by Jesus, 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:22.940 and then we are sent out to find others for him. 00:26:22.940 --> 00:26:29.580 And we find, don't we, that we are now more interested in the idea that others might find Jesus 00:26:29.580 --> 00:26:32.740 than we are interested in catching fish in the sea, 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:36.480 or making deals in the market, or lessons in school, 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:39.620 or our reputations, our ambitions, our desires. 00:26:40.340 --> 00:26:46.400 So much so that the disciples become the ongoing means of people hearing Christ calling out to others 00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:50.920 as they, like Jesus, seek others like them to follow Jesus. 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:53.580 And you need to be careful here, don't you? 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:56.779 Jesus is not saying that fishing is wrong or that work is bad. 00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:59.279 He's not even saying it's a necessary evil. 00:26:59.800 --> 00:27:03.380 It's not saying this is something you must do, but God's not really interested in it. 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:05.240 Jesus is not hating on fishing here. 00:27:05.620 --> 00:27:09.860 He's not saying here everything that needs to be said about work and its place in our lives. 00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:13.080 Rather, his point is that following him, hearing his call, 00:27:13.220 --> 00:27:16.840 comes with a transforming desire of purpose. 00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:27.720 I am more interested in seeking that lost people find Jesus than I am in whatever else it was that I was interested in before. 00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:33.139 When I went to university, like a long, long time ago, right? 00:27:33.179 --> 00:27:35.399 I went to university and the only thing I wanted, 00:27:35.939 --> 00:27:42.419 the only thing I wanted was a job where I got a Land Rover and a Gore-Tex jacket. 00:27:42.579 --> 00:27:43.500 That was all I wanted, right? 00:27:43.500 --> 00:27:48.359 So I'd been working on a farm and doing some forestry, 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.920 and all I wanted was to drive around on my own in the rain, 00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:54.680 maybe with a dog or something like that running around as well. 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:56.680 And I got to university. 00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:57.759 I was a Christian already. 00:27:57.900 --> 00:27:59.180 I just wasn't a very mature Christian. 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:01.980 I got to university and found, to my surprise, 00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:06.480 that the best way and the most joyful thing in my life 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:10.759 was seeing other people, hearing this call of Jesus and wanting to follow him. 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:14.619 I knocked on one of my friend's doors and said to him, 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:15.960 are you interested in looking at the Bible? 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:18.819 Because that's what our Christian union was telling us to do. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.619 I kind of like steeled myself to do this. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:22.920 And he went, do you know what? 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:26.700 I've been reading a Bible for months and no idea what it's about. 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:29.240 He became a Christian. 00:28:30.259 --> 00:28:32.180 And his best mate became a Christian. 00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:35.000 And her friend became a Christian too. 00:28:35.859 --> 00:28:37.420 This is amazing, I thought. 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:39.920 This is way better than a Land Rover and a Gore-Tex jacket. 00:28:41.120 --> 00:28:42.820 And that's what's going on here, isn't it? 00:28:43.800 --> 00:28:47.480 The call of Jesus Christ comes with this transformation in purpose. 00:28:47.600 --> 00:28:50.740 All of a sudden, the thing that I long for in life, 00:28:50.820 --> 00:28:53.160 that you must long for in life if you follow Christ, 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:57.900 is that other people might find, be found better by the Lord Jesus. 00:28:58.539 --> 00:29:01.279 You see it here, don't you, with James and John in verses 19 and 20. 00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:03.420 They leave Zebedee's family business to join Jesus'. 00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:05.980 Their priority shifts. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.820 They join in the seek for God's people. 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:13.460 There's a uniqueness, obviously, isn't there, to these first disciples. 00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:18.259 They're being called by Jesus to be the founding 12 apostles of the church. 00:29:18.600 --> 00:29:21.160 But this fishing for people, this family business, 00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:23.480 gets passed on from generation to generation. 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:24.620 And that's our role here. 00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:27.160 And if you're a member of this church, 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:29.640 this is our family business as well. 00:29:30.080 --> 00:29:32.360 This is the family business of the church to which you belong. 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:34.740 This family business is not my job. 00:29:34.879 --> 00:29:37.819 It's not my job as the pastor to do this for you. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:41.399 This is all of our jobs together, to go fishing for people. 00:29:42.419 --> 00:29:46.379 It's a job that we're being called into, made into by the Spirit of God. 00:29:46.380 --> 00:29:53.300 I have to say that one of the most encouraging things in this church merger is this. 00:29:53.980 --> 00:29:57.540 That here what you've got is a bunch of people from two different churches 00:29:57.540 --> 00:30:04.340 who have decided to set aside comfort, tradition, personal preference, 00:30:04.520 --> 00:30:05.440 and said, you know what? 00:30:05.780 --> 00:30:12.000 What's most important to us is that people in Kilburn, in Queen's Park, hear about Jesus. 00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:14.140 That matters to us the most. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.740 And that is Mark 1 in action. 00:30:17.779 --> 00:30:20.420 What's best for the gospel is always what is best for us. 00:30:20.500 --> 00:30:23.640 And so our passion here is to be a church that preaches Christ to the lost 00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:28.819 and disciples believers into thinking that the lost people hearing about Jesus 00:30:28.819 --> 00:30:30.700 is the best thing to spend our lives for. 00:30:31.819 --> 00:30:33.440 Well, we need the Lord's help for that. 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.819 Let's pray that he might make us into these fishes of men. 00:30:36.900 --> 00:30:37.299 Let me pray. 00:30:37.299 --> 00:30:37.359 Let's pray. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:37.400 Let's pray. 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:37.440 Let's pray. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:37.460 Let's pray. 00:30:37.460 --> 00:30:41.980 Let's pray. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:31:11.980 Let's pray. 00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:15.019 We're transforming our church step by step, bit by bit, 00:31:15.539 --> 00:31:19.680 into a place where people hear about Jesus and are called to follow him. 00:31:19.779 --> 00:31:22.960 Make us into fishes for people, we pray. 00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:24.460 In Jesus' name. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:25.360 Amen.