Grow: Back To Basics

To grow spiritually is to grow in your knowledge of God, love for God, obedience to God. Let’s start this morning with four questions related to spiritual growth.

#1:How many of you would say, “Yes, I want to grow spiritually? I want to grow in my knowledge of God, love for God, obedience to God”?

#2: Next question: how many of you would say that you put some effort into growing spiritually?

#3: Now, this question requires honesty and humility: how many of you would say, “As of today, I have not grown spiritually to the extent that I had hoped I would by this point in my life”?

#4: Here’s the last question: How many of you would say, “I feel shame and guilt to some degree because of my lack of growth?”

The first thing I need to tell you this morning is that you are not alone.

The second thing I want you to know is that there is hope because Jesus is for you in this endeavor, not against you.

And the third thing is going to be the focus of this sermon: To grow spiritually, we must go back to basics and re-learn three things.

Before we start a new Bible reading plan, or set a new resolution, or make yet another commitment, go back with me to the basics and relearn along with me three things. I’ve phrased each of these three things we need to learn as a question.

#1: Do you realize Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you?

Do you realize Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you?

This question matters more than you might thing. But before we look at why it matters, look at the text with me. Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you.

We all are familiar with this text. Four Jewish fishermen by the Sea of Galilee. They’re going about their business — fixing their nets, casting their nets, making pay dirt, as it might be called.

In the first century, guys like this were in a distinct social class. Fishing wasn’t a hobby for them; it was how they put food on the table. And guys like this were tough.

My dad is an expert fisherman. He’s been fishing Lake James so long he could probably be one of those fishing tour guides. And he’s tough. He’ll be there when the sun comes up and he’ll be there to see it go down too, even if it’s cold and damp.

Then again, fishermen usually weren’t educated; they weren’t very refined. Sometimes their manners, their etiquette, was displeasing to higher classes. [see ISBE vol. 2 p1115]

But the most important thing for you to know this morning about fishermen was that for them, it was a business. Most of you guys who fish, you do it for fun. If you could do it for money, I know some of you would. These guys really did. Keep that in mind - fishing was their livelihood. That’ll become very important as we go along.

So Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee. And He chooses four men. Where do we see that? The word “choose” is not in the text at all. But another word is: Look at verse 18: “While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he” — here it is — “he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.”

Same thing two verses down in v. 21: “And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets...”

You saw those two occurrences of that word: “He saw...” Jesus has all knowledge, past/present/future. He knew where they would be, and when they would be there. So when Matthew tells us Jesus saw the disciples, it means Jesus was seeking them out. He didn’t walk along and happen to see them and it happened to occur to Him that here were four men who could be His disciples. No, Jesus had already chosen them. Hence He was searching them out. And having seen them, He called them. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

For now, here’s what I want you to hear, absorb, and take with you:

Learn to picture Jesus having hand selected you to be His disciple.

Rid yourself of the picture of you having chosen Jesus. Does that sound unbiblical to you? Remember that Jesus Himself said this: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16 ESV). Jesus also said this: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44 ESV).

Yes, of course I must make a conscious choice to follow Him. Yes, it has to be my decision and mine alone to follow Jesus. We choose. And — not but, and — not only do we choose Jesus, but before that has even taken place we have already been chosen to follow.

This is important to grasp, church. You need to see that Jesus wanted you. You are not a nameless, faceless person in His mind. He created you and knows you intimately; He knows you down to the darkest recesses of your heart and He loves you. And what’s more, He has chosen you for the purpose of growing. Remember that verse? You did not choose me, I choose you? Jesus goes on in that verse to say this: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you” — why? “that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16 ESV).

To follow Jesus is to grow, or seek growth. The call to grow is one and the same with the call to follow. The call to be sanctified is embedded within the call to repent and trust.

Do you realize that Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you? Next, do you understand the role He has called you to fill?

[SLIDE: DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE ROLE…]

#2: Do you understand the role He has called you to fill?

Do you understand the role He has called you to fill?

Jesus saw these fishermen because He already had chosen them. What had He chosen them for? Growth, right? But what kind of growth? What is the job? Verse 19: “He said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

These are two things, not one. There is a command here, and a promise.

First the command. We Baptists focus hard on “I will make you fishers of men,” but we sometimes overlook what comes first. First, before Jesus says “I will make you fishers of men,” Jesus says, “Follow me.”

If you were a young Jew in the first century and you wanted to learn God’s word, you would find a rabbi. A rabbi was a Jewish teacher. You would literally follow your rabbi. You would go where he goes, do what he does, so that as he’s teaching you the OT scriptures, you’re also observing how he lives it out in his daily life. It’s the best possible way to learn. Teaching and relationship.

So when Jesus says, “follow me”, He is commanding your allegiance. But that’s not all: Jesus, when he says “follow Me”, He is inviting you into a relationship.

“Follow me” is relationship language. In the original language it literally says, “Come after me.” It’s an invitation to closeness with the Savior. Jesus is saying “I want a close relationship with you. And I want you to have a close relationship with me.”

Follow me - it means closeness with Jesus, close proximity to Him. It means following him where he leads us and doing what He tells us. It means a relationship with Jesus. He commands and invites these four men, “follow me”.

He’s asking you the same thing today. That’s why this story is in the gospel. Matthew doesn’t tell us about Jesus issuing this call to the four fishermen just for our information. He wants us to see, “Jesus is calling you, each one of you, to follow Him too, in just the same way as HE called Simon and Andrew, James and John.

Jesus wants a relationship with you. He will pursue you, lovingly but persistently, until you surrender.

The question then becomes: Do you want a relationship with Him?

You have to make your choice. That much is clear. Jesus one time in Matthew’s gospel had some people come to Him and request to follow Him, but they were not really all-in. Here’s how Jesus responded:

Matthew 8:18–22 ESV

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Follow me — that’s the command — and the invitation.

But there’s also a promise. “Follow Me,” Jesus says, and then this, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

Maybe you’ve heard of the evangelist D. L. Moody. Moody once went to an art museum in Chicago and there he saw a painting called “The Rock of Ages.” This painting entitled the Rock of Ages featured a man in the ocean being buffeted by violent waves, and this man as he’s being assaulted by the ways he’s clinging to a rock. On the top of the rock this man is clinging to is a wooden cross planted in the rock.

Years later, D. L. Moody saw another painting. That painting was pretty much the same as this one — the only difference was that in this painting, the main is clinging to the cross, not the rock. He’s clinging to the cross with one hand, and with the other hand he is reaching out to someone who is once where he was, in the water, about to drown. [MacArthur, Matthew 1-7, pp116-17]

You see, when Jesus says “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”, he does something really important: he makes my growth, my own discipleship, inseparable from the growth and discipleship of others.

Follow me also means obedience. Total obedience. The command to follow includes all the other commands. In following Jesus you are committing yourself to do everything Christ has commanded you to do:

To follow Jesus is to lay your life down for others.

To follow Jesus is to be a meaningful part of your church.

To follow Jesus is to fight anger and lust and bitterness.

To follow Jesus is to seek to do good to all.

To follow Jesus is to share your faith

And most importantly, to follow Jesus is to commit to help others follow Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus is to disciple others. To commit to grow yourself, you are also committing to help others grow.

Maybe for some of you that idea is kind of foreign. We’re accustomed to thinking of our faith as private. Me and Jesus. “You’re telling me I’m responsible for someone else’s faith?” Our faith is not just about us. My relationship with Jesus is personal, yes, but never private.

Now this is about where the doubt starts for a lot of believers:

Was Jesus really talking about me? I can’t do help others grow.

I don’t feel like I’m spiritually gifted to help others grow.

I’m scared.

What these questions boil down to is this: Am I qualified?

I’ll go ahead and take the mystery out of it for you: you’re not qualified and neither am I, on our own. God calls us to a task, and then He equips us for the task.

Do you realize Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you? Do you understand the role He has called you to fill? And lastly, have you responded to His call with total and immediate commitment?

[SLIDE: HAVE YOU RESPONDED TO HIS CALL…]

#3: Have you responded to His call with total and immediate commitment?

When I was a kid, my mom and dad had to tell me many times to do many things. Shocking, I know. You don’t like to think of your pastor as having had that problem as a kid. Too bad.

And the Bible says the sins of the parents are visited upon the children to the third generation. That means at the Mace residence, Shannon and I have to repeat a lot of our instructions to the kids. Actually, come to think of it, there might be some things that I have to be told many times before I end up doing them.

How different is the response Jesus demands of those who would follow Him! Look at how the four fishermen respond, and remember, this is more than just a story — this is Matthew telling us how Jesus expects us to respond, too.

[SLIDE: TWO ASPECTS OF JESUS’ CALLING]

Two aspects of Jesus’ calling:

Divine directive

On-the-spot obedience

First Jesus issues the call. “Follow me”. It is a divine directive. That’s the first part. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Divine directive.

Then comes the on-the-spot obedience and we see it in both verse 20 and verse 22. Verse 20 is Simon and Andrew: “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

Again in verse 22, with James and John: “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

There’s no hesitation. No wavering. No second thoughts. ”No one,” Jesus said, “who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62 ESV). On-the-spot obedience.

But it’s not just on-the-spot obedience. It’s costly obedience.

They not only followed him. They left something behind. What did they leave? Simon and Andrew left their nets — their livelihood. Their job, their income. Really left it. They would never return to it. Following Jesus required trusting that God would provide for them some other way which at the time they did not know what it would be. On top of this, James and John left their jobs and income and, verse 22 tells us, their father.

Church, these men left their income and their families behind. When they left their income, they left two things: security and certainty. When they left their families, they left companionship, affection, and love.

Why? What compelled their choice? What was their motivation?

[SLIDE: WHY “ON THE SPOT OBEDIENCE”]

Why?

Why “on the spot obedience”?

They believed the truth of the message

The saw the value of the mission

The witnessed the reality of the miracles

A book I read last week listed three reasons. They believed the truth of the message. Do you, church, or do you doubt? They saw the value of the mission. Do we see the value of the mission? Or do we complain, wondering why we’re wasting valuable resources on those people out there? Third, they witnessed the reality of Jesus’ miracles. [O’Donnell]

And I would add one of my own: they trusted that what they left behind in terms of security and family, Jesus would more than make up for them.

Didn’t Jesus actually promise us this? Matt. 19:29-30

Matthew 19:29–30 ESV

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

This was their confidence.

I fear that many of us lack the willingness to follow Jesus in this radical way. Some of us, I fear, are here not because we have answered the call to follow Jesus, but because we like the music or our Sunday School class or this activity or that activity, and the way we know we’re at church for the wrong reasons is this: when those things don’t go the way we’re used to, we complain. We grumble. We talk to others who share our feelings and we reinforce each other’s negative mindset. We might disguise our negativity in religious language, saying that we don’t feel the Spirit here anymore. We may even vaguely threaten to leave.

I care about all that because I care about you. Jesus cares about all of that. Jesus wants us to enjoy being with our church family. But He wants more for us than mere enjoyment. He wants us to know the joy of growing spiritually and helping others grow spiritually.

Do you realize Jesus has chosen you for the purpose of growing you? He has hand-selected you to be His disciple, to learn from Him what it means to love God, obey God and trust God. He has chosen you so that you might grow, that you might bear fruit and that your fruit would abide.

Do you understand the role Jesus has called you to fill? He has called you to be fishers of men — to share the gospel with others and then disciple them, help them grow. Any believer can do this. You do not have to have a seminary degree or be in the ministry to disciple someone. Jesus never intended for you to sit on the sidelines. Discipleship is your privilege, but it is your responsibility to take what He’s showing you as you grow and teach it to others, model it for them, that they might grow.

Have you responded to His call with total and immediate commitment? Jesus’ call is a divine directive requiring total and immediate commitment, on-the-spot obedience.

Conclusion and call for response

Bruce Ismay was the name of the chairman of the White Star Line that commissioned the Titanic. If you’ve seen the movie Titanic — and really, who hasn’t — after they hit the iceberg, the captain, the ship’s architect, the first officer and Bruce Ismay are in the chart room looking at technical documents of the ship’s layout. The ship’s architect and the captain and the first officer — they’re talking about how bad the damage is.

And Bruce Ismay, the chairman of the shipping line, all of a sudden loses his temper and says, “When can we get underway again?”

The ship’s architect looks at him and says: five compartments are flooded. Titanic can stay afloat with one or two or three or even four compartments flooded, but not five. As of this moment, Titanic will sink. It’s a mathematical certainty.”

The captain asks, “How much time?” And when the ship’s architect says, “an hour, two at the most”, Ismay’s face just goes white.

You see, he failed to understand the gravity of the situation. And when he was finally shocked into reality, it was too late. Not nearly enough time to get three thousand people off a ship. Even if they had been able to, the paucity of lifeboats would have prevented everyone being saved.

Church, let’s not miss the gravity of the situation. People around the world are lost and perishing without Christ. That’s why we’re going to Hungary this summer, Lord willing.

But, hey, forget the ends of the earth (Hungary) — what about the people right here, within a three mile radius of our church. There are way more people within a three mile radius of our church who are lost than you would think. They are lost, unchurched, without hope, and headed for hell. We need to wake up and remember the urgency of the situation.

We need the urgency of the missionary and pastor John Knox who said, “Give me Scotland or I die.” Meaning, “we must share the gospel with every man, woman, and child in Scotland. I long for this, and without it, I may die.”

We need the urgency of Jesus.

Matthew 23:37 ESV

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

We need this serious mindset. But things stand in our way. So here are some questions to help you:

What habits and patterns of thought and behavior must we give up?

What loyalties must we break?

What is that thing or person or pattern constantly pulling you away from church?

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