Sermon Tone Analysis

Mark 1:16-45

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Introduction

When I was in university I had a variety of different jobs.

Each year when school was out I would start a job.

I remember the first day I worked for Rempel Glass.

We had to cut the old caulking out of the expansion joints at a school in St. James and re-caulk them.

It was a cool May 1 and most of the day I stood around while the professional did the work and I moved his ladder.

One year I worked for a friend of mine shoveling gravel in basements in houses that were being constructed(this was before skid steers and you had to do it by shovel).

I remember that I worked at that job for about a month and then went on a mission trip.

Just before I left he told me that I was just starting to be worth something.

What kind of new jobs have you had?

What do you do on the first day of your new job?

Whenever I have started work at a new church, I have spent my first days getting to know what I have to do and trying hard to get to know the people I will be working with.

Several weeks ago we began a series of messages on Mark.

In it we talked about the gospel which Jesus had come to bring.

In Mark 1:14, 15 we noted that after John the Baptist had been put in prison, Jesus began his new job by preaching the good news of the kingdom.

In Mark 1:16-45 we have some details of the early days of his ministry.

What was the first thing Jesus did?

            Tim Geddert says, “…the first order of business in establishing God’s reign is the creation of a kingdom people.”

Jesus did that by calling to himself a group of people who would follow him and learn from Him.

They were called to be His disciples and as such they were to learn from Him.

As he began to minister, in their presence, they got to know Him and they learned what it would mean to follow Him.

In this chapter, we have the call of the disciples and we have early indication of Jesus’ ministry and what it meant to follow Him.

As we examine these things, we also hear the call to be a disciple and learn for ourselves what it means to be disciples of Jesus.

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I.                   Discipleship

Jesus began his ministry in Galilee which was the area in which he had grown up.

As he walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he came upon two men who were fishing.

He called to Andrew and Peter and invited them to “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

The text says they left their nets and followed him.

A little further along the shore he came upon James and John who were also fishermen.

He similarly called them and the text says that they left their father and the hired men and followed Jesus.

The call to follow which Jesus gave them had three parts.

If we examine the statement which Jesus made in following them we notice that he invited them to follow Him; He promised that he would teach them and make them into something new and the goal of the training was that they would be involved in mission, or as He puts it “fishers of men.”

This is the call to be disciples.

It is similar to the call which He extended to all the disciples in Mark 3:14, which says, “He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and that he might send them out to preach…” This is the call to be disciples that also extends to us.

!! A.                 A Call to Follow

The first call of discipleship is a call to follow Jesus.

In the case of both Peter and Andrew and James and John, they understood it as a call to leave something.

In the case of Peter and Andrew, they left their nets and in the case of James and John, they left their father and the hired men.

The call to follow Jesus still involves these two aspects – leaving something behind and following Jesus.

Sometimes we are called to leave the world, sometimes we are called to leave family and always we are called to leave sin.

Following Jesus is a full time occupation.

We cannot give ourselves fully to following our own personal pursuits and following Jesus.

In the case of Peter and Andrew, this leaving did not mean that they would never see their family again, or ever get into a boat again.

In fact, in this very chapter, we find that they are back home again and Jesus ministers to Peter’s mother-in-law.

But there is an important decision that every disciple of Jesus must make and not just once, but many times in life and that is, “If I am following Jesus, then everything else must take second place in my life.”

What do you need to leave in order to follow Jesus?

Are you willing to leave it?

Geddert says, “Leaving everything to follow Jesus is thus about priorities more than about actually abandoning people and things.

It is about putting kingdom matters first.”

The positive side is the invitation to follow Jesus.

As these four disciples left their fishing, they did so in order to follow Jesus.

Their response to Jesus is truly amazing.

Of course it is possible that there is a background here that we don’t know about.

Had they followed John the Baptist?

Had they heard Jesus teaching before?

Yet the impression with which we are left is that they left immediately to follow Jesus.

They were responding to Jesus.

They were not responding to sound arguments or to an amazing miracle or to a persuasive sales tactic.

They were responding to Jesus and they wanted to follow Jesus.

Somehow their hearts were in the right place to recognize the divine authority in the voice of Jesus and when he called they were ready to respond immediately.

Is our heart in that place?

Is it our desire to leave everything behind in order to follow Jesus?

!! B.                 A Call to Be Changed

The call was also a call to be changed.

Jesus gave them the promise, “I will make you…” As they would follow Him a profound thing would happen.

They would observe Him to see what He was like and how He dealt with situations and what His character was like.

As they observed this, they would learn what God was like and their lives would be changed.

As they walked with Jesus, He would teach them and they would learn from what He taught them and their lives would be changed.

The promise to the disciples and to all of us who are disciples is that as we follow Jesus, He takes the responsibility to make us into something new.

Jesus wants to change us.

Being a Christian is not only about knowing that we will make it to heaven.

It is about a life in which we begin to be changed so that we will be fit to be in heaven.

How have we responded to the call to discipleship?

Are we resistant to the changes which Jesus wants to make in us?

Are we fighting against what Jesus wants to do in us?

Are we making time to observe Jesus and see what He is like so that we can also be like Him?

We have great opportunities to follow Jesus and be changed by Him.

His Word is easily accessible to us.

We have lots of opportunities for Bible studies and learning and growth and observing and following Jesus.

Are we taking them or are we distracted by all the other stuff?

In your heart, do you desire to be changed or are you comfortable where you are? Jesus has given us this great promise, let us allow Him to change us!

!! C.                 A Call to Engage In Ministry

Ultimately the call to follow Jesus leads to a call to be involved in ministry.

Sometimes we look at this in terms of levels of achievement.

We commit to believing Jesus, but not to following Him.

Then one day, we commit to following Him, but we don’t want to be changed too much.

Later, when we have opened our heart more we begin to allow Him to change us and when we have really achieved a high level, we serve Him.

But discipleship cannot be separated like that.

When we become Christians, we become followers of Jesus and as followers of Jesus, we are being changed and as followers of Jesus we are involved in ministry.

There are no levels of involvement.

That is why Jesus councils people to count the cost.

Being a Christian is an all or nothing thing.

Have we given ourselves to Him to follow, to be changed and to serve Him?

As we have already noted, Andrew, Peter, James and John immediately said “yes!”

There was a lot to learn.

They still would need to learn all that it would cost to follow Jesus.

They would learn how to minister effectively.

They would learn to trust Jesus – and as we will see in a future message, that was not something that came immediately.

But as they began, they set out on a direction.