The King’s Call
Text: Mark 1:14-20
Core Idea: Jesus is calling us to repent, believe, and follow Him. It’s true that He calls us to radically abandon our lives but in return, we will receive Him – the Author and Perfecter of life. Jesus is worth losing everything for.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. It’s so good to be together. If you’re joining us for the first time, we want to warmly welcome you. And whether you’re joining us online or here in-person, I pray that we would all be captivated by the beauty of the gospel – that it will move us, renew us, and transform us. I want to actually begin by pointing out that today begins the season of Advent. The word “Advent” comes from a Latin word “Adventus” which means “coming” or “arrival.” And in this season, Christians are called to remember and celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, did you know that God hasn’t mandated we celebrate Advent, Christmas, or Easter? Nowhere in the Bible does it command us to celebrate these occasions. Then why do we celebrate Advent? We celebrate not because it’s an obligation, but because it’s an opportunity – an opportunity to slow down from our busyness, to meditate on the true meaning of Christmas, and to cherish Christ as the greatest treasure of our hearts. We must remember that Christmas is never about seasonal excitement that comes and goes; the joy we experience must lead to permanent transformation and continual worship for our beautiful Savior. Then this year, instead of being distracted by the things that often rob us of this wonder of the gospel story, I invite you to turn your gaze to Christ. I’ll be preaching more on Christmas in two weeks time; so, I encourage you to invite your family and friends to hear the good news.
But today, we’ll continue to plow through the Gospel of Mark. So, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 1:14-20. Let me read for us.
14 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 has come 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 send you out to fish for people.” 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.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Last week, we saw that Mark introduced Jesus for the first time – and that the path He took was unexpected. As the Savior King, He came from a place of nowhere, He humbled Himself to be baptized, and He faithfully endured the wilderness for God’s glory and our salvation. But at the same time, we learned that as always, God’s ways are good, for Jesus and for us as well. In our passage today, we hear Jesus’ voice for the first time. And the first thing He says is, “Repent, believe, and follow Me.” It was a call to respond. Then as we wrestle with this passage, I pray that we would learn the truth that will help us understand what it means to follow Jesus; but more importantly, that we wouldn’t fail to ask this crucial question: “Am I following Him? Am I really following Jesus right now – or have I been led astray, distracted?” Then three things from this passage:
THE CALL
THE INVITATION
THE RESPONSE
1) THE CALL
Verse 14. “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” Jesus begins His ministry by going into Galilee as He preaches the good news of God. He doesn’t heal the sick; He doesn’t cast out demons; He doesn’t feed the poor; He preaches. Why? Because He knows that right doctrine leads to right living. I love what Andrew Davis writes, “Having a wealth of biblical knowledge does not guarantee spiritual maturity, but progress toward maturity is impossible without accurate knowledge of the Word of God. The constant flow of biblical truth sustains faith, transforms character, and results in the godly life that God has commanded of all His children.” In other words, if we want to experience true, radical, long-lasting transformation, it cannot happen apart from immersing ourselves in the Word of God. Or to put it negatively, we will not experience growth, maturity, transformation without the constant nourishment of the Word of God. The Word is absolutely essential to our walk with Jesus. If you feel like you’re not growing, if you feel like you’ve been stagnant in your faith, if you feel like you’re drifting away from Him, ask yourself, “Am I feeding myself the Word? Am I being immersed in the Word? Am I listening to what Jesus says?”
Then what does Jesus say? Two things: first, Jesus declares in verse 15, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near.” Usually when we think of a kingdom, we think in a geographical term. But that wasn’t the case for Mark’s audience. Greg Gilbert says, “Biblically speaking, the kingdom of God is best understood as more a kingship than a kingdom as we usually use that word. God’s kingdom is therefore God’s rule, reign, and authority.” The Jews had been waiting, hoping, and praying for the dawning of the kingdom for centuries – for the day when God’s rule would be established on the earth and His people would finally be vindicated. Then Jesus was telling them that the wait is finally over; the time has come – Jesus is here; the Savior King is here; and everything’s about to change. You see, Jesus’ coming was more than just a visit from the Creator – it was the launching of God’s plan to destroy, demolish, debilitate the work of Satan and re-establish God’s reign that has been tainted by our sin. The time has come.
Second, Jesus declares, “Repent and believe the good news.” I shared a couple of weeks ago that repentance simply put is turning away from sin and turning to the Savior. The Greek word for “believe” can also be translated as “to have faith.” Faith is one of those words that has been misused for so long that many people are confused about what it really means. Many people would define it as believing in something you can’t prove or believing in something ridiculous – essentially, you’re betting on the uncertainty. But that’s not the biblical definition of faith – it’s reliance on someone. In our house, we have a set of stairs. I don’t remember how it started, but Eli would always ask me to catch him as he jumped toward me. But it wasn’t always like this. In the beginning, he was hesitant, even scared, to jump off. But I would encourage him, “It’s okay, daddy’s here. I’ll catch you; I promise.” He looked at me with a lot of uncertainty – and wouldn’t do it. But after a few more tries, he finally jumped – and I caught him. After that, I could see his face brightening up, and telling me, “Daddy, let’s do it again.” Now, Eli’s trust was never in his own ability to jump and land safely. It was in me and my promise, “I’ll catch you; I promise.” When we turn to Jesus in our repentance, we are choosing to believe in Christ and the certainty of His promise that He will forgive us knowing that “He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). We are certain this will be because we are certain of His character – who He is.
Now, the other side of that coin is turning away from sin. To put one’s faith in King Jesus is to renounce His enemies as well. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Of course, this doesn’t mean that we stop sinning – in fact, because we’re still fallen sinners, we’ll continue to struggle with sin until we’re glorified with Jesus. But even if it doesn’t mean an immediate end to our sinning, it does mean that we will no longer live at peace with our sin. It means that we’re declaring war against sin. We begin to grow in our hatred toward sin. This is something that I think many of us have failed to live out. We know we should love Jesus and all that He loves. But we don’t pay enough attention to the things that we’re called to hate. We must intentionally grow to hate our sins. Pastor William Arnot writes, “The difference between an unconverted and a converted man is not that the one has sins and the other has none; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.” I wonder if this is why some of us are not growing in our faith – it’s true that we’re learning to love the things of God but at the same time, casually co-existing with our sins. We’re not hating but hiding our sins. Brothers and sisters, we’re called to hate our sins. Then how do we grow in our hatred for sin? Is it just by trying harder – forcefully telling yourself to hate it? No, it can’t be; it must be by praying for a heart transformation. Pastor Jason Meyer writes, “The way to see sin is not primarily through self-introspection and self-examination, but by ‘going into the presence of God’ and seeing ourselves in comparison to His absolute purity… Repenting is resizing. We should start with God as our standard of reference and then resize all that we see in relation to Him.” This helped me tremendously – and I hope it helps you as well. As you learn to see all things in reference to God, as you learn to resize all things in reference to Him, I pray that your hatred for sin or anything that competes with your love and devotion for God will grow. Continue to size up things in your life with God.
Friends, the true King is here – and He will make all things right again. Then to receive this King, He calls us to repent and believe in Him. In Mark 9, like Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven spoke again – and this is what He says in verse 7, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” I pray that you’ll listen to Him today.
2) THE INVITATION
Verse 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.” Verse 19. “When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.” If you look closely at these two verses, you’ll notice that there’s one similarity: Jesus saw them. An invitation to follow was given after Jesus saw them. Maybe this didn’t really jump out at you, but it would have for a first-century reader. Typically, in Jewish traditions, a disciple would go out and seek out their teachers. This implies that the teacher would not have known of your existence until you came to him. Disciples chose their teacher; and the disciples had to prove themselves worthy to be accepted. But here, we see that it was the other way around: Jesus as the teacher was seeking out His disciples. Then the implication is this: Christianity doesn’t begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ’s pursuit of us. Christianity doesn’t start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us. You see, thinking that we can even make this kind of invitation to come into our lives shows that we don’t grasp the gravity of our sin. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 2:1, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” On this verse, Eric Geiger says, “We don’t have a sin problem. We have a death problem.” We were completely dead in our sin. This is significant to note because dead people don’t seek out help; dead people don’t ask for forgiveness; dead people don’t ask for resuscitation. All these things are impossible for those who are dead. In the same way, inviting Jesus to come into your heart is impossible when you’re dead in sin. In your death, you just need someone else, completely outside of you, to give you life. And that’s exactly what Jesus was doing here for these men – He was graciously calling the dead to live again and follow Him.
It’s also worth noting that there was nothing in these four men that drew Jesus to them. In other words, Jesus wasn’t calling them because of who they were, but despite who they were. They were lower class, uneducated people; least spiritually qualified people for the task that Jesus had in mind. Yet Jesus comes to them, and He invites them to become His disciples. Now, isn’t that a reflection of our story as well? No one here was saved from their sins, made alive because we had pursued Jesus, or we had anything worth that attracted Jesus to us. No, everyone here who has been saved will gladly, humbly acknowledge that they have been pursued by Jesus even though we had nothing to offer. Listen to these beautiful words from Ephesians 2:4-5, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” Brothers and sisters, this is our story. We didn’t seek out for Jesus; He sought us out and found us.
Let’s continue. Verse 17. Jesus says to them, “Come, follow Me.” Isn’t it interesting that He didn’t say, “Come, learn from me. I have a lot of wisdom to impart to you”? No, He says, “Follow me.” What does this mean? First, it must imply that He’s going to take us on a journey. When you say, “Follow me,” to someone, it must mean that you’re on your way somewhere. Then Jesus is saying, “Wherever I go, be with me. Do life with me. Watch what I do and what I don’t do. Keep in step with me. Follow me.” Following Jesus, or discipleship, is to be on a journey with Jesus. And it’s going to be a life-long process. There’s no end point in our relationship with Jesus. There’s no graduating from His class to move onto something else. We’re called to fix our eyes on Jesus and be on this path with Him until the day He calls us home. Because He pursued us, we’re now called to pursue Him, stick with Him, not turn back or to the side, don’t give up, but wholeheartedly, faithfully, passionately follow Him. Brothers and sisters, are you following Jesus? In the challenges of life, are you following in His steps? In the grind of everyday life, are you running after Him? Are we helping others to follow Him by encouraging them, praying for them, rebuking them if necessary, teaching them? Or have we been distracted because we took our eyes off of Him? I pray that these words are not coming as a guilt-laden, shame-filled burden; but as a loving invitation from the Lord to draw you back to Him. Jesus is calling us to follow Him again. Will you listen to Him?
Now, Jesus shares that there’s a purpose to our pursuit of Him. Jesus says in verse 17, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” Now, I really don’t like doing this; but I must point out that NIV’s translation of this verse is very different from the way it was originally written in Greek. It’s more accurate to translate it as, “I will make you become fishers of people.” This is very important for us. He doesn’t say, “You’re now fishers of people.” No, He says, “I’m going to put you through a process of making you fishers of people. Come as you are but expect to be changed.” Saved people experience transformation. Actually, the order is also important here. The change comes after you follow Jesus; not before. People sometimes say, “I want to become a Christian; but I’m not ready yet. I need to do this first. I need to stop doing this” – and the list goes on and on. If anyone thinks this way, they really don’t know Jesus and they don’t understand the gospel. Jesus is not expecting us to clean ourselves up before we come to Him; He wants us to come as we are, and He will cleanse us of our dirt.
Then what are we being transformed into? Fishers of people. Every follower of Jesus is a fisher of people. Every disciple of Jesus is a disciple-maker for Jesus. Pastor Jane and I meet weekly to talk about ministry and something she said this past week stuck with me – and it fit well with this message; so, I told her that I’ll be quoting her. This is what she said, “Many Christians today want to be discipled but not many want to disciple. They want to grow but they don’t want to impart. This is why the church must intentionally help our people not only to grow but also to be empowered to make disciples.” Brothers and sisters, if we’re not making disciples, we have missed what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ – our obedience to His calling is incomplete. Pastor David Platt says, “To follow Jesus is to live with urgent obedience to His mission. We desperately need to be reminded that the Great Commission and the call to fish for men are every Christian’s privilege and responsibility.” Like pastor Jane said, the leaders will do our best to equip you, empower you to do this well, but it doesn’t change the fact that all of us are called to make disciples. It could mean that you’re called to share the gospel to non-believing friends and family. It could mean that you invest your resource and time in another young believer in this community. It could mean that you’re intentionally leading your children to love the Lord with all of their hearts and minds. Now, I wonder if some of you are still thinking, “I can’t do that. I’m just not ready. I should be discipled, not disciple.” If this is you, I want to tell you, “It’s true, you can’t do it. But that’s the point. We can’t do it. That’s why we need Jesus to make us what we cannot be on our own.” Isn’t this what discipleship is all about? We follow Christ as He makes us fishers of people.
3) THE RESPONSE
Verse 18. “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” Verse 20. “Without delay He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.” They left everything and followed Jesus. It’s so important to see that Jesus never said, “I’m going to move in to live with you here. Teach me how to fish. Let me help you live your life in the most fulfilling way.” No, that’s not what He says here. Yes, He comes to them; but He doesn’t remain where they are. Many Christians want Jesus to come into their lives this way. They want Him to come into their lives so that He could offer some good advice, offer a helping hand. They like that idea because it means that they get to still live their lives. It feels like they don’t have to give up control, give full allegiance to Him. But Jesus calls them to come with Him – leave their lives and follow His. Jesus is not asking to be invited into our lives; when He calls, He invites us to His life, His mission. Then leaving isn’t optional; it’s a necessary part of discipleship.
Then what did they leave behind? They left behind everything that was familiar and natural for them. They exchanged certainty for uncertainty. They left their careers, possessions, families, and friends. Following Jesus is costly. It involves radical abandonment of everything that we once held dear. Pastor David Platt says, “In a world where everything revolves around self – protect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, take care of yourself – Jesus says, ‘Slay yourself.’” Now, what does this mean? Do we have to sell everything we have, leave our jobs, and our families? Pastor Tim Keller says it this way: “Jesus is not calling us to hate actively; He’s calling us to hate comparatively. He says, ‘I want you to follow me so fully, so intensely, so enduringly that all other attachments in your life look like hate by comparison.’” In other words, we must prioritize our lives. Jesus must be the first; everything else becomes second. Now, this may feel very extreme for some people – it feels like the cost is too high. Then why did these four follow Him? You know, Jesus asked them that once. There was one point in Jesus’ ministry when a lot of people deserted Him because of His teaching that was hard to accept. John 6:67-69 says, “’You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” Yes, the cost may be high; but Jesus is someone worth losing everything for. He has the words of eternal life.
APPLICATION
Before we end, I want to point out these words again: “At once” in verse 18. “At once, they left their nets and followed Him.” Friends, Jesus’ call to repent, believe the good news, and follow Him is to be obeyed at once – right now. It’s not to be delayed. What Andrew Davis writes is so powerful: “Today in Paul’s text means ‘right now;’ ‘the time in which you are currently living, deciding, and acting.’ Today is the only time in which we can possibly serve God, obey God, love God, follow God. We can learn from yesterday and we can prepare for tomorrow. But we cannot obey God yesterday or tomorrow. Today is all we have, and it is all we will ever have in this world. The tapestry of our lives will be woven with one strand after another from the spool called Today; so what we do with today is everything.”
If you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, I invite you to count the cost – but remember what you’re receiving. You may give up everything; but you’ll gain life – eternal life in Christ. What Jim Elliott said is incredibly helpful: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Friends, I pray that you won’t hold onto the things that you cannot keep and lose the greatest treasure that’s available for you right now. Turn to Jesus. Respond to His call today.
Christians, we must remember that Jesus left everything to seek us, which means that when He says, “Follow me,” He’s calling us to take the path that He already took. We’re called to leave everything to seek Christ and help others find Christ. Brothers and sisters, we too must not delay in responding to His invitation. Let us follow Him today – and as He makes us the fishers of people, let us make every effort to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, the time has come; the kingdom of God is near – and Jesus is calling us to repent, believe, and follow Him. It’s true that He calls us to radically abandon our lives – the cost is high. But in return, we will receive Him – the Author and Perfecter of life. Jesus is worth losing everything for. Though we may be uncertain as to where we’ll go, we’re certain of who we’ll follow. Then let us joyfully follow Him today.