Sermon Tone Analysis
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"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
"The Main Thing"
(Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20)
*INTRODUCTION: *
* *Lugging along a huge black bass, one fisherman met another fisherman whose stringer consisted of twelve small fish.
The first man said, /"Howdy,"/ laid down his fish and waited for a comment.
The other fisherman stared for a few moments and then calmly responded, "/Just caught the one, huh?"/ (1)
I like fish stories and I like to fish.
There's nothing quite like the feel of a big old black bass on the end of your line.
There's nothing like making that perfect cast and seeing the water explode as the lure hits the water and a bass grabs it.
Watching that thing dance across the water is one of those simple joyous pleasures of life.
This morning we've got a couple of fish stories.
First we've got the story of Jonah, the biggest fish story in the Bible.
And then we've got the story of how some of the biggest fishermen in the Bible became followers and disciples of Christ.
Most fish stories are just that, fish STORIES.
The difference between the fish stories of the Bible is that they are more about fishing than about fish.
*I.
THE INVITATION:*
* A.*
In this case, each of our characters was invited by God to become more than just fisherman, they were invited to become fishers of people.
Jonah was invited to become one of the first Traveling Evangelists.
God called him one day and said, /"Jonah, boy, have I got a deal for you.
I want you to pack up enough stuff for a little trip I've got planned.
I want you to get your Bible and your Hymnal and I want you to head on out to Sin City.
I want you go up to Nineveh and to preach.
I want you to tell the folks there that if they don't clean up their act, that God is going to get really ticked and their gonna be nothing but toast."/
/ /Well, old Jonah hears God's invitation, gives his R.S.V.P. and, if you remember the story, he promptly heads out in the other direction.
He reminds me of an old Peanuts comic strip where Charlie Brown says, /"There's no problem so big that I can't run away from it."/
(2)
Jonah runs and that's when God creates his own fish story.
Jonah gets himself swallowed by the biggest fish in the Bible.
But Jonah is so disagreeable that after three days the fish spits him out.
And that's where we pick up the story.
God calls Jonah a second time.
This time, smelling like fish guts, Jonah sets off and carries out God's command.
Nineveh is a city so big it takes three days to walk from one side to the other.
Jonah walks about a third of the way in, stops and cries out to the crowd, /"In forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown!"/
(Jonah 3:4) That's sort of a disappointing sermon.
No introduction, no humor, just the bottom line given in a shotgun blast style.
But someone was listening.
Enough someones that before Jonah could get out of town, the whole city was in the midst of a revival.
Jonah didn't give an altar call but they came anyway.
It was the greatest revival ever, preached by the most reluctant preacher ever.
*B.*
Contrast that to Peter, James, John and Andrew.
They had heard Jesus preach.
Jesus had been in the synagogue there in their home town of Capernaum.
It was right up the street from Peter's house.
Jesus taught and preached and these four fisherman had been intrigued by his message.
They had probably even discussed it among themselves trying to figure out just who this guy was.
They might have been discussing it the day our passage took place.Æ
Notice the contrast between Jonah and these four other fisherman.
Jonah was a reluctant prophet and took off in the opposite direction.
Here were Peter and Andrew, honest hard working men.
Pillars of the community.
Partners in a thriving fishing enterprise.
Peter and Andrew weren't the poor, dumb fisherman we generally think they were.
They were the upper middle class.
Not wealthy, not well to do, but they had plenty.
People worked for them.
They were hard working and well respected.
Jesus came walking along, invited them like God invited Jonah and they dropped everything and followed.
Jesus preached a one sentence sermon and altar call and the disciples followed *IMMEDIATELY*.
They didn't stutter and stammer.
They didn't make excuses.
They didn't head out in the opposite direction.
They didn't finish pulling in their nets.
They didn't finish the job or the day's work.
They didn't make arrangements for others to take over.
They didn't even call home and tell their wives they wouldn't be home for dinner.
They immediately dropped everything and followed.
They let go of the nets and walked off.
That's pretty strange behavior for such upstanding citizens.
When was the last time you just dropped everything?
When was the last time you did something IMMEDIATELY?
It wasn't any different with James and John, Peter and Andrew's partners in the fishing business.
Jesus came up to them and said the same thing, /"Follow Me, and I will make you fish for people."/
*(Mark 1:17).
*Without so much as a /"by your leave"/ or and /"Excuse me."/
James and John did the very same thing.
They didn't ask their father's permission.
They dropped their nets and walked out on the family business to follow this itinerant preacher.
The point is, that Jesus was so compelling, so inviting, that these men were drawn to him like the Cowboys to the Super Bowl, like bees to honey.
They dropped everything to follow him.
That same invitation is made to each of us today and every day.
We're called and invited to become /"fishers of people."/
That's the Church's first and foremost calling.
We're invited to bring other people into this adventure of faith which we are a part of.
That is our commission.
It's our purpose for being.
It's the main thing we do.
*II.
THE COMMISSION:*
* A.*
When Jesus said, /"Follow Me, and I will make you fish for people,"/ he was establishing the purpose of the Church.
Like Jonah and the disciples, we are invited to be a part of the ministry, we're invited and commissioned to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to a hurting and lonely world; a world lost in sin.
That is our number one purpose.
It is the main thing which we are called to do.
A couple of years ago, on the opening night of Annual Conference, at First United Methodist Church in Ft.
Worth, we sang that glorious hymn of praise by Joacim Neander, /"Praise To The Lord, The Almighty."/
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