WWJS - What Would Jesus Say --- Follow Me

Welcome to “Back To Church Sunday!” Can you believe that summer is almost over? Everyone is back to school and all the fall activities of sports and homework have begun! Fall officially begins next Monday, September 23rd. “Back to Church Sunday” marks the beginning of all of our Fun, Fantastic, Fabulous and Faith-Building small groups, including youth group which begins tonight! Tomorrow night Band of Brothers, known as BOB, begins then on Wednesday Get A Life Group begins and on Thursday our women’s group, BOSSY, kicks off their study on Psalm 40.

It’s always a wrestling match for me when I pray about what to teach on during the year. We go from Advent at Christmas time, to the New Year and renewing our baptism, to Lent and Holy Week and Easter. Then we continue with Pentecost and finally we’re into our SUMMER series—which we just concluded on The Apostles’ Creed. All year long, I’m praying and researching the Christian curriculum out there. I’m studying and seeking the Lord for what in the world THE SEED needs to focus on in order to keep growing in our faith. Fall is an exciting end to the church calendar year! We will have our Fall Series, and then conclude the church year with Christ the King Sunday late in November. Then we’re back to Advent and Christmas. (I won’t tell you that is only 100 days away!) This fall, the Holy Spirit has put it on my heart to teach a series entitled, “What would Jesus say!?” As I’ve been studying during the year, my curiosity was peaked when I’d read my gospels and see the words, “FOLLOW ME.” Do you remember that years ago there was a trend to make shirts, bracelets and all kinds of cards and artwork with WWJD --- What Would Jesus Do? As we journey to Christ the King Sunday, I encourage you to pick up your Bible and read a chapter of a Gospel a day. Matthew has 28 chapters, Mark has 16 chapters, Luke has 24 chapters and John has 21 chapters. If you read a chapter of a Gospel a day, you’d be really close to being able read through all four Gospels by the end of our series. Read for yourself how often Jesus says, FOLLOW ME.

Let us turn to our first reading in the Gospel of Mark. Before we open God’s Word, let us come to the throne of grace in a moment of prayer.

Lord, Jesus, You are our Lord and Savior, You call to us and come and follow You. Help us to have ears to hear, eyes to see, arms and feet ready to follow and serve where you call us. May your Words be life to our weary souls. Amen

Mark 1:14-20

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” 16 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. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. [i]

Retired minister and author Bob Russell told the following account to illustrate how Christians often go along with the moral pace of those around us, and that by comparison we feel safe since "Everyone is doing it," therefore, we're okay. Russell writes: Two months ago my wife and I were visiting our son Rusty and his family. One day Rusty was test-driving a foreign-made car and was frustrated because he couldn't figure out how to change the speedometer reading from kilometers to miles. That evening he suggested we take the kids and all go out for ice cream. "We'll need to take two cars," he insisted, "so you and mom just follow me." I followed him … and was surprised when a policeman whizzed up behind us with his lights flashing. I couldn't imagine he was after me because it didn't feel like I was speeding. And besides, I was going the exact same speed as the guy in front of me. The officer came up to my window and said, "Sir, you were going 58 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone. But wait right here, I'm going to deal with the car in front of you, and I'll be right back." When he went to my son's car, Rusty quivered, "Officer, I know this is going to sound like a line, but this is the first day I've driven this car, and I can't figure out how to change it from kilometers to miles, so I had no idea how fast I was going. The guy behind me is my dad, and he doesn't know what he's doing either!"[ii]

Let me set the stage for the context our passage. Mark does not give us a lot of information. We are told that after John the Baptist was put into prison, Jesus went to Galilee. While Jesus is in Galilee, He goes about proclaiming the Good News. The good news is both from God and about God. This Good News is the Gospel that brings forgiveness, mercy, restoration, reconciliation, renewal and resurrection new life. The people had been longing to hear such a message. Just like today. we all long to hear Good News.

Now those around Galilee at this time did not only hear about the Good News of forgiveness, grace, restoration, reconciliation and mercy, but they actually encountered the One who was able to deliver it. How we long to encounter the Risen Christ and let Him speak forgiveness, love, grace, restoration, reconciliation and mercy into our lives today. FOLLOW ME—key words to note.

RADICAL MESSAGE --- TIME HAS COME --- I WANT TO RULE --- REPENT!

The first thing that Jesus proclaims is Good News! Jesus is the Good News! But Jesus challenges them with these powerful words … “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” “The time has come!” God knows where you are, and God knows what you are facing. God knows the time to show up and speak into your life, just like He knew that the time had come for Jesus to speak into the lives of the early disciples. “The Kingdom of God is near!” What Jesus is saying is that the time for God to rule and reign had come. That is a powerful statement, a powerful act of surrender to allow Jesus to become our ruler and to reign in our hearts, our homes, our places or work. Jesus is in Galilee saying the time had come, “Repent and believe the Good News!” Repent! Means to stop walking in one direction and turn around. Repent means to have a change of mind and heart.

In an article titled "Whatever Became of Repentance?" Christianity Today's Mark Galli writes:

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther is said to have posted 95 theses, or "Disputation on the Power of Indulgences," on the door of All Saints Church. The professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg was proposing an academic debate about indulgences—the practice of doing good works or offering money in order to remove punishment for sin. Luther was disturbed by how indulgences encouraged people to pay for forgiveness rather than repent. Instead, Luther argued: "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said 'Repent,' willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance." That is as hard to swallow today as it was then. We are not the first to notice how absent the theme of repentance is today. Karl Menninger's 1988 bestseller Whatever Became of Sin? could have easily included a sequel, Whatever Became of Repentance?

Galli notes that repentance is unpopular because we're "addicted" to justifying our own actions and pointing out the evil in others. If I really looked at my own self-centeredness and pride, Galli argues, I'd have to admit that I am a hypocrite and a moral failure. He concludes:“Aren't we all? That's precisely why Jesus came, to save the world from itself and to save us from ourselves. That's why the word repentance is usually connected to the phrase "good news," as Mark highlights in his summary of Jesus' early preaching: “Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15)[iii]

Not only is Jesus calling the people to repentance, Jesus is calling them to believe in the Good News! This may be the only place in Scripture where we are told to believe in the Good News. The Greek word Jesus’ uses for “believe” is a present active imperative. In the Greek it means that this a command and the action of believing is non-stop and ongoing. To “believe” in the Greek culture was to place your trust, to rely on, to have confidence in and to put your faith in what Jesus had said --- not just once, but every day, every hour and every minute.

So What? Hear the Good News! The time has come! The Kingdom of God is near. The time that God will rule and reign. The time that Jesus will have supremacy in our lives is at hand. The time has come for us to change our minds, to turn back, to turn around and to change direction is at hand. I propose a preposterous idea: maybe today on Back to Church Sunday you might be hearing Jesus calling to you to turn around, to come back, to change your mind and follow Him.

RADICAL CALL --- FOLLOW ME

In the days of Jesus walking around the Sea of Galilee we need to understand the amazingly radical call of Jesus. During the days of Jesus, the Rabbis (the priests of the synagogue) would come to town and choose the best and brightest of the youngest boys to become their disciples and they would take them and train and educate them. The boys who were not chosen would go into their father’s businesses and work. We can assume that Peter and Andrew, James and John and the rest of the disciples were not among the best and brightest of students because they were working in their father’s businesses. Jesus comes walking along the shore and calls out to them, “FOLLOW ME.” The Greek word for “follow” is “opiso” and it means to “come after or come behind.” To follow in Jesus day was to accept and follow the leadership or guidance of a person which usually literally meant walking or following behind.

Put yourself in this story. You have grown up in a little fishing village called Bethsaida all of your life. You may have made a trip or two to Jerusalem, but you’ve most likely never traveled very far from home. You had no hope of doing anything greater than working in your father’s fishing boat. Listen again to Jesus words … “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

What a radical message! Let Christ rule and reign in your life. Repent and turn around, change your mind, your heart and your direction. Believe and keep on believing. Never stop having trust or faith in this Good News! What a radical call! Come follow me! I will make you fishers of men!

RADICAL OBEDIENCE!

Enter this story. These untrained, uneducated fishermen were now being called to follow Jesus! They had not traveled very far. They had most likely never talked about much other than what was happening in their little fishing village. Along comes Jesus and their world is turned upside down. History tells us that John became the Bishop of Ephesus, Peter went to Rome, and Andrew went as far as the borders of Russia! By following Jesus, their hearts had been enlarged to take in the whole world—and not just the four corners of Bethsaida.

Mark tells us that immediately they left everything and followed Jesus. A radical call demands a radical obedience. “Immediately” means at once, without delay, without hesitation.

So What? As we begin to study our fall series, I want us to hear the words of Jesus as if they were spoken to us. I want us to hear them new and fresh each and every morning. “Follow me.” Remember Bob and Rusty Russell? Rusty had no idea as to how fast he was driving…but Bob—Bob knew exactly how fast his car was going: 58 in a 45. Bob had decided to follow Rusty. That’s our choice each and every day, are we going to follow Rusty or are we going to follow Jesus? Let’s start with the gospel of Matthew and let’s read the first 7 chapters this week. Let’s see where Jesus is begging us to FOLLOW him.

Let us pray …

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

September 15, 2019 Back to Church

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Mk 1:14–20). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[ii] www.preachintoday.com

[iii] Mark Galli, "Whatever Became of Repentance?" Christianity Today (9-20-17)

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