"The Messianic Call" Mark 1:16-20

Introduction:

We saw last Sunday that the ministry of King Jesus has begun. This is Kingdom ministry and the kingdom of God is here and it advances through what we often call ministry. It doesn’t advance through swords or spears and nor does it advance through any of the weaponry of our modern day.

The Kingdom of God is greater and it supersedes all of the Kingdoms and Super powers on earth. It advances through gospel proclamation by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is how God has decreed it to be. It is His gospel that He uses to work His transformation in the hearts and lives of sinners for His glory.

If you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit you have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God and you are a citizen first and foremost in the Kingdom of God under the Lordship of King Jesus.

This is what makes you a disciple of Jesus Christ and as His disciple you are being sanctified by the same grace and power that saved you. This is the same dynamic that has existed in the Kingdom of God from the beginning when Jesus called His first disciples as we see in our text this morning in verses 16-17:

I. The Call to Discipleship (16-17).

First we see the call being declared to Simon Peter and Andrew. The text tells us Jesus was passing along the Sea of Galilee and He saw Simon, better known as Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting their nets into the sea in order to catch fish. That is the way they made their living and they were getting ready to have an encounter that would change their lives forever.

Understand this was not just a chance meeting but it was a divine appointment. All of Jesus 12 disciple were appointed before hand by the Father to be the disciples of Christ, even Judas. We know this because of the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17:12 as Jesus prays He says, “12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

This is how we know that it is by divine appointment that Jesus passes by and selects fishermen as some of first disciples.

And then He declares the call: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Now it would appear from Mark’s gospel that Jesus just walked up to two strangers and called them to follow Him and they dropped everything and followed a total stranger. It was not like that. Once again, we know from John’s gospel chapter 1:35-42 that Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist.

And Andrew was present and heard John declare Jesus to be the Lamb of God. Andrew already had encountered Jesus and talked with Him.

Andrew then went and told Peter that he had found the Messiah and Andrew took Peter to Jesus. So Jesus was no stranger to Andrew and Peter at the appointed time of their call to be disciples of Jesus, they had already seen and heard enough to know He was the Messiah.

And notice Christian that Jesus taps into their fishing vocation and applies it to ministry. Their priority is getting ready to change. They will become fishers of men in the Kingdom of God. That is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, the Kingdom of God becomes the priority. And God is advancing His Kingdom through gospel proclamation one heart at a time.

Jesus was already proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom and now He was calling disciples to pursue this same ministry purpose as well. And in verses 18-20 we see their response to this Call to Discipleship. Look back at your text:

II. The Response to Discipleship (18-20).

Notice the text says they dropped their nets and followed immediately. And then two other brothers who are in a fishing business with their father, Zebedee, James and John are called and they were mending their nets and they immediately leave and go follow Jesus.

They don’t even stop to think it over. They don’t say well let us sleep on it and talk it over with dad. We got a lot at stake with our fishing business and there is a lot that we have to take into account and consideration. No, they drop everything and leave to follow Jesus.

To be a disciple of Jesus there must be an encounter with Jesus before you follow. These first disciples didn’t just follow blindly without being informed of Jesus’ identity. There was the prophetic witness of John the Baptist but even more so, there was the whole of the Old Testament bearing witness through the Spirit of prophecy.

They were informed and they had their own personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God. And they knew that the Messiah and His Kingdom took priority over everything else in their lives.

The cost of Discipleship is high and it is realized and experienced in some lives more than others.

Some may be called as a disciple and leave everything and go to foreign lands to be missionaries. Some may leave everything behind to go into full time Christian ministry.

But every disciple of Jesus Christ is called into Kingdom advancement through gospel proclamation and making a contribution to discipleship through the ministry of Christ’s Church.

The Church of Jesus Christ is the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth. And the Church is cross generational, cross cultural and Universal in scope. Don’t think necessarily in terms of buildings or other kinds of structures or institutions that man has built. You must think in terms of lives that have been transformed by the gospel and that are being discipled in the Kingdom.

One of my professors, who is a world class N.T. scholar, was dropped off under a tree in Sudan to teach pastors. They came from a distance to set for days to listen to him teach. There under that tree in the desert area of Sudan you had the Church under a tree with discipleship taking place for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of God.

Sunday School teachers here at Crete Church you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Youth leaders, you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Prayer warriors, you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Fellowship organizers, you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Church leaders, Elders and Deacons, you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Gems and Cadet leaders, you are doing discipleship for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Certainly the institutions, like Crete Church may play a role. But growth in numbers here at Crete Church is not necessarily the most important thing. The most important thing is Kingdom advancement through discipleship. If Crete Church becomes the priority we put an institution of man before the Kingdom of God. And it is a fine line that we dare not cross.

God has commissioned His Church to make disciples and to advance His Kingdom through discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ means to follow Him in faith in such a way that there is a desire to be obedient to Him in all He commanded and taught.

You may even have an occupational calling by God. Most of us do but that occupation is secondary to the priority of the Kingdom of God. As a matter of fact the believer’s occupation is a means that God uses to make you affective for His Kingdom.

God puts business owners in the Kingdom, He puts Professors of Universities in the Kingdom, He puts construction workers in the Kingdom, He puts garbage collectors in the Kingdom, He puts law enforcement officers in the Kingdom, He even puts lawyers in the Kingdom.

From every walk of life He calls everyday people with everyday occupations into His Kingdom for the advancement of His Kingdom in the world. This is one of the reasons He redeemed you, to do good works that He prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 3:10).

Everyone who is a member of Crete Church should be to one degree or another involved in the discipleship process. Not only does this mean learning and growing but having a place in ministry as a disciple of Jesus Christ while you contribute to the discipleship of others. Because following Jesus means that you are reeling others in or pulling them in like casting a net.

When I think how many people that God used in my life to make some contribution to my discipleship I am blown away. Let your mind go back down through memory lane and you can probably think of contributions your parents made, Sunday School teachers, church leaders, Christian friends and maybe even total strangers.

Conclusion:

God used others in your life as His disciples to make a contribution to your discipleship. Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men in a call to not only being a disciple but a call to be used of the Lord Jesus to make disciples.

Living this way is to live with a Kingdom priority. Selfish ambitions often get in the way but self denial is the hallmark of Christian discipleship and life in the Kingdom.

Unbeliever this is what Christ calls us to. Believe the gospel and come to Him in faith alone trusting in His work as the Messiah of God.

Christian, I find that almost every-time I make strides in discipleship the evil one combats it with the temptation of selfish ambition. When this happens we either continue to grow in our discipleship or we make the emphasis something else and it is usually something related to this fallen world that is passing away.

When the Lord convicts us of this He is not doing it to spoil our sense of happiness and joy but to hold out for us ultimate happiness and joy in Christ.

Confess and receive His grace trade the dirt of your sin for the diamonds of eternal joy. Rest in Christ! Lets Pray!