They left their nets
Mark • Sermon • Submitted
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· 32 viewsThe call to discipleship is authoritative, weighty and costly
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Close our series on Christian discipleship.
We looked at the call to discipleship - come follow me
We looked at the task of discipleship - I will make you become fishers of men
Today we are going to focus on the response of the disciples
We find the responses of these four men in verses 18-20.
I just want to begin by pointing out some key facts.
All four men were doing something else when they were called: Andrew and Simon were fishing; James and John were mending a net.
All four men responded to the call immediately. In LBLA our passage reads:
Y dejando al instante las redes, le siguieron. Yendo un poco más adelante vio a Jacobo, el hijo de Zebedeo, y a su hermano Juan, los cuales estaban también en la barca, remendando las redes. Y al instante los llamó; y ellos, dejando a su padre Zebedeo en la barca con los jornaleros, se fueron tras Él.
“Immediately” - they didn’t take their time, they didn’t think it over. They immediately responded.
How did they respond? Andrew and Simon dropped the net. James and John walked away from the boat and from their father Zebedee. They responded immediately and decisively.
Luke puts it even more strongly in his narrative:
Y cuando trajeron a tierra las barcas, dejándolo todo, le siguieron.
This is the picture of discipleship that the gospel writers paint for us. It is a picture of men who immediately and decisively respond to a specific and unique calling - the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The disciples’ response reminds me of the exchange between Christian and the Worldly Wiseman in The Pilgrim’s Progress:
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott A Christian’s Commitment to Having His Burden Removed
“Worldly Wiseman: … Hear me; I am older than thou: thou art like to meet with, in the way which thou goest, wearisomeness, painfulness, hunger, perils, nakedness, sword, lions, dragons, darkness, and, in a word, death, and what not. These things are certainly true, having been confirmed by many testimonies …”
“Christian: Why, sir, this burden upon my back is more terrible to me than are all these things which you have mentioned: nay, me thinks I care not what I meet with in the way, if so be I can also meet with deliverance from my burden.”
The disciples response shows us the authority of the one who calls, the value of what is offered and the cost of following. So this is the outline that I want to follow this morning.
Jesus’ Authority
Jesus’ Authority
The call
Y les dijo Jesús: Venid en pos de mí, y haré que seáis pescadores de hombres.
rolls off the lips of the Lamb of God - the Messiah. It is an authoritative calling.
Andrew, Simon, James and John know Jesus. This is not their first encounter. In fact, they were disciples of John the Baptist. And they were present when John the Baptist pointed out Jesus saying:
El siguiente día vio Juan a Jesús que venía a él, y dijo: He aquí el Cordero de Dios, que quita el pecado del mundo.
The disciples knew Jesus, they knew his authority. And likewise Jesus knew them, eve from before the foundation of the earth. This is the substance of effectual calling. The WCF x.1 describes effectual calling as follows:
Todos aquellos a quienes Dios ha predestinado a la vida, y a ellos solamente, tiene Él a bien a su tiempo señalado y aceptado llamar eficazmente[1], por Su Palabra y Espíritu[2], de ese estado de pecado y muerte, en el que están por naturaleza, a la gracia y la salvación por Jesucristo[3]; iluminando espiritual y salvíficamente su entendimiento, a fin de que comprendan las cosas de Dios[4]; quitándoles su corazón de piedra y dándoles un corazón de carne[5]; renovando sus voluntades y por Su omnipotente poder predisponiéndolos a lo que es bueno[6], y trayéndolos eficazmente a Jesucristo[7]; de manera que ellos vienen muy libremente, habiendo sido hechos dispuestos por Su gracia[8].
They were not forced to respond. They responded very freely; they were made disposed to the calling by his grace.
So the first thing we can say about the disciples’ response is that they were responding to an authoritative call.
Application
Application
Here at IBSJC we place a great emphasis on the preaching of the Word of God. We do so because we believe that God speaks to his people consistently and continuously through the preaching of his Word. Every time you listen to the Word of God preached, every time you participate in a Bible study - you are hearing the very Word of God.
The question is: how do you respond? Do you consider the preaching of God’s word as God’s authoritative calling upon your life? It is very easy for us to be distracted. Like the disciples, the Lord’s calling upon our lives doesn’t come when we aren’t doing anything - it comes when we are in the middle of something else. Sometimes we are distracted by our current responsibilities. Sometimes we are distracted by the person delivering the message. Maybe you are upset with the speaker at the moment and that distracts us. But every time the Word is preached it is preached not with the authority of the speaker but with the authority of Christ.
The weight of Salvation
The weight of Salvation
Jesus’ calling is not only an authoritative call, it is also a weighty call. The same calling that we see in Mark 1:17 is echoed in
Y llamando a la gente y a sus discípulos, les dijo: Si alguno quiere venir en pos de mí, niéguese a sí mismo, y tome su cruz, y sígame. Porque todo el que quiera salvar su vida, la perderá; y todo el que pierda su vida por causa de mí y del evangelio, la salvará.
It is a calling of salvation. It is a great salvation:
Por tanto, es necesario que con más diligencia atendamos a las cosas que hemos oído, no sea que nos deslicemos.Porque si la palabra dicha por medio de los ángeles fue firme, y toda transgresión y desobediencia recibió justa retribución,¿cómo escaparemos nosotros, si descuidamos una salvación tan grande? La cual, habiendo sido anunciada primeramente por el Señor, nos fue confirmada por los que oyeron,
Andrew, Simon, James and John were responding to weightiness of the calling: come, follow me. It is a calling that marks a fundamental change.
En aquel tiempo estabais sin Cristo, alejados de la ciudadanía de Israel y ajenos a los pactos de la promesa, sin esperanza y sin Dios en el mundo.Pero ahora en Cristo Jesús, vosotros que en otro tiempo estabais lejos, habéis sido hechos cercanos por la sangre de Cristo.
The disciples were responding to the weightiness, the fundamental importance of Jesus’ calling. Commentator Alan Cole remarks that
Mark: An Introduction and Commentary ii. The Call of the Disciples (1:16–20)
Left and followed (18) correspond to the double call of Jesus in verse 15 ‘repent and believe’ (Minear).
Application
Application
What weight do you give to God’s summons on your life? Do you consider it to be the most vital calling in your life or do you give priority to other callings and demands?
Last week I talked about a higher vocation that we have as Christians. We recognize the Lord’s grace and mercy in providing us with an earthly vocation, and even so we understand that we must use that vocation in the service of the Lord. That is why these four fishermen were called to become fishers of men.
Let’s take a look at Luke’s narrative:
Respondiendo Simón, le dijo: Maestro, toda la noche hemos estado trabajando, y nada hemos pescado; mas en tu palabra echaré la red.Y habiéndolo hecho, encerraron gran cantidad de peces, y su red se rompía.Entonces hicieron señas a los compañeros que estaban en la otra barca, para que viniesen a ayudarles; y vinieron, y llenaron ambas barcas, de tal manera que se hundían.Viendo esto Simón Pedro, cayó de rodillas ante Jesús, diciendo: Apártate de mí, Señor, porque soy hombre pecador.
The Lord gave the disciples much success in their chosen vocation and then asks them to choose between fishing for fish and fishing for men. Sometimes the Lord blesses you in your work to drive you towards serving him.
The cost of discipleship
The cost of discipleship
In his famous book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer distinguishes between cheap grace and costly grace. Cheap grace he says:
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott (Cheap Grace and Costly Grace)
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without contrition. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate” (p. 38).
Costly grace, he says, is:
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Cheap Grace and Costly Grace
“Such grace is costly … because it costs a man his life and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner” (p. 5).
Costly grace - that is what these four men were presented with. “Come, follow me” was not a suggestion, not an option - it was a crossroads.
I want you to notice two points about the disciples’ response.
First it was immediate. And second it was decisive.
Andrew and Simon immediately dropped the net. James and John immediately left the boat.
At the same time, it was decisive. The net was their means of subsistence. It was what they knew best. And even so, they dropped the net.
The boat was their place of work. It was the place where they told each other stories, learned their trade, broke bread with family and friends, and even so, they left the boat.
Application
Application
So how would you characterize your own response to Jesus’ calling this morning? Is it immediate? Or do you need to think about it? Do you need to finish what your doing or will follow him when he calls?
Is your response to the Lord’s call this morning decisive? Are you willing to drop the net? To leave the boat? Or do you want to keep the net in one hand and respond to Jesus with the other?
The Lord calls upon our life not to entertain us, not to give us something to think about - he calls upon our life with a powerful word that will not return to him empty but that will complete its purpose. And its purpose is to mold your heart and to change your life.
Beloved congregation, my prayer is that the Word will complete its function today and reinvigorate your hearing of the word preached. The preaching of God’s Word always demands a response - a response that is immediate and decisive. Will you respond that way this morning?
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Lord is so gracious and so merciful with his people. His calling is continuous - that is way the Reformers considered the preaching of the Word the primary ordinary means of grace. It is a primary means of grace because it is God’s authoritative Word to us today and because it is God’s truth about the most weighty issues in our lives. The question is: how do we respond to God’s word preached?