(NEVER USED) The Bushel Of Plans | Mark 1:14-20

The Bushel Of Plans | Mark 1:14-20

Opening Remarks:

Lights and Bushels

Opening Remarks: Tonight I want to use it to give you a principle to live by. You see, at every crossroad, at every point of decision, there are two conflicting elements at work that you will have to consider: Your Plans or God’s Promises.

How brightly your light shines will be largely dependent on which one you follow: Your plans or God’s promises.

Introduction:

Every young person has an idea of what their life is going to look like someday. You envision yourself working a certain job. You imagine yourself having a nice house and a good car. I’m sure there are guys in this room that even imagine themselves playing professional sports on some level. I’m not trying to discourage you, and I know you led your Christian school basketball team in blocked shots, but there aren’t a lot of 5’8 power forwards in the NBA.

I acknowledge there are some talented young people in this room tonight. You could do just about anything you put your mind to. Music, engineering, medical field, business, you name it. It’s impressive. And maybe you have some dreams.

My Dreams

I had dreams at your age. I know this sounds silly but here was mine – I wanted to be a businessman and work at the top of the World Trade Center in New York City. For some reason that’s what I envisioned as being successful. I’ve always had a fascination with tall buildings, so I wanted a corner office in the tallest building in the city known for buildings. Those were my preferences. That’s what I would have chosen. We all have our preferences. Those things that, if we could choose anything, we would do. I want to come back to that thought in a little bit, but as we look at Mark 1 you have to think these disciples had life preferences too.

I. The Disciples Lived To Fish

A. The Sea of Galilee was more like a large lake with an abundance of fish.

1. The fishing industry was big business in Israel.

2. The four disciples in this text – Peter, Andrew, James and John – were full-time, successful, fishermen.

3. They lived to fish and fished to live. Vs. 16 even labels them: “for they were fishers.”

4. Illustration: My dad lives to fish. My brother is here tonight and he loves it too. They live to fish, but honestly, I struggle with fishing. When I was a kid we’d go fishing in beautiful mountain streams in Wyoming and I would last a cast or two and end up exploring. As I got older my dad, brother and I would go fishing and they would hook a fish every cast and the fish would just laugh at my worms. I’m not into Reformed Theology, but God elected me as one that does not catch fish.

5. I wouldn’t have lasted long in the business with these men

6. Their preference was fishing. They knew it. They were good at it. It was successful.

B. Vs. 16 – The symbol of their plans was a net.

1. Jesus comes along and they’re casting a net into the sea.

2. They had large circular nets with weights around the perimeter. They would drape it over their arm and cast it in such a way that it would land on the water fully open, and those weights would sink down around the fish and they would pull their catch back to the shore.

3. The NET represents their plans. It represented the success of their business. It was a picture of their life’s work. They lived to fish and a net was the symbol.

II. Jesus Came By With A Promise

A. Vs. 17 – “Now as He walked by the Sea of Galilee”

1. Jesus came by on purpose. He knew they were there fishing and came for a reason.

a. Jesus Christ doesn’t cross our paths by accident. He comes by on purpose because that’s how He works.

b. By the way, Christ knows where you are tonight and He’s walking by for a reason. I hope you’re open to whatever He speaks to you about.

2. God is interested in your life. You may think no one knows or even cares where you are, but He does.

a. I’m the least talented person in our youth group.

b. I’m so shy I can’t even talk to anybody.

c. Listen, if Jesus recruited fishermen for His work I can promise you He can use you too.

B. What is Christ offering?

1. Vs. 17 – “Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men.”

a. He was telling them, “Right now your lives are about fishing. But if you’ll follow me, I’ll give you something to live for that’s more meaningful.”

b. He wasn’t saying, “You’ll never fish again,” because we know they fished again.

c. But he was saying, “Fishing will no longer be your primary purpose in life. Your life will no longer be about a fishing net. It will be about something bigger.”

d. And this wasn’t a simple choice. Their livelihood depended on fishing. Their families depended on their business. James and John were in the boat with their father, so he was dependent on them. Luke 5:10 actually says they were all in business together.

e. Which makes their response all the more remarkable. Vs. 18 – Right away they forsook their nets & followed.

C. The disciples had two options:

1. They could hold on to their nets and keep fishing for fish or they could drop them and follow Jesus and fish for men.

2. Here’s the conflict: Their nets represented their plans. They represented all the things they knew. Fishing. Having a business. Being successful. Their comfort zone.

3. But Jesus came by giving them promises. “If you follow me, I’ll give you a greater purpose. I’ll give meaning to your life you haven’t known to this point.”

4. And in that moment, the disciples had to choose between their plans or God’s promises.

5. In the decision to follow Christ, your choice comes down to the conflict between your plans and God’s promises.

III. Plans Vs. Promises

A. This NET represents our PLANS.

1. For the disciples, the net meant they would catch fish.

2. There’s nothing wrong with fishing. It’s fine to fish. People eat fish. There’s a demand. And it can provide for your family if you do it well.

3. But here’s the thing about fishing – Fishing is limited to what fish can provide.

4. Meaning, all you get from fish is what fish can provide. So if you catch fish on a day and take them down to the market where people buy them and eat them, you’ll have to go back down to the boat the next day and fish again because people will get hungry again.

5. In other words, catching a fish is limited to what fish can provide. It’s not a bad thing, but its impact is short-lived.

6. In the grand scale of things, the impact of fishing is about (hold up fingers) this big.

7. When you live according to your plans, all you get is what your plans can provide.

B. But when you live according to God’s promises, you get all that God’s promises have to offer.

1. Hold on to your nets and you’ll catch fish. (this big)

2. But drop them and you’ll catch men. (Which in the grand scheme of things is THIS big)

3. So the disciples were facing a choice that essentially was this: Follow my plans and make good money, put food on the table, have a successful fishing business, continue the family business, and do what I’m comfortable doing. That’s my plan.

4. OR lay all of that aside and follow Christ’s promises and make a difference in the lives of men and women who will live somewhere for eternity.

5. Plans may provide something good, but it will always be temporary. God’s promises may seem harder now, but the results will be eternal.

6. If I follow my plans, I’ll only get what my plans can provide. But following Christ’s promises will produce all that He can provide.

7. Teenager, tell me, which one is better? You see, every young person must come to a point in their lives that they choose between holding onto their nets to follow their plans or letting them go to prove God’s promises.

C. Teenage Plans vs. Promises:

1. Submission To Parents: Your plan may be to call the shots in your own life, but God’s promises say that submitting to your parents is the most important decision you can make. If you’ll obey as you should, God makes a promise that the quality of length of our life will be affected.

Plans = Do my own thing, Promises = Have God’s blessings on my life. Which one sounds better to you?

2. Being A Witness: I can tell you most people prefer not to put themselves out there too much. Just blend in to the background. But God promises to bless our efforts as we tell others about Christ. He will allow us to be salt and light in a world that desperately needs it.

Plans = Be silent, Promises = Win souls to Christ that exist somewhere for eternity. Which one sounds better?

3. Bible College: Your plans may be to just get started on your education and career. I get that. But Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God…” If you will give God first shot at your life He’ll bless you in the every-day ways. Put Him first in your day and He’ll take care of your needs. Put Him first by giving Him your first year out of Bible college and let Him work in you, grow you, you build a relationship with Him, and say, “God, whatever you want for my life, it’s up to you, I put you first” and you’ll find that His promises are true. He will provide you in ways you never thought He would.

Plans = My way first, Promises = God first, and provision for all my needs. Which sounds better?

4. Future: We like to think that our dreams will be most fulfilling. We have our plans. Our desire for a career. Our dreams of what we could spend our lives doing. And it’s not wrong to have dreams. It’s not wrong to do what you prefer. The disciples did. And yet when it came down to it, they saw what Christ offered as being eternally more significant than what they were doing.

Plans = Affecting a man’s day by feeding him a fish, Promises = They would have a hand in not just affecting a person’s day, but a person’s eternity. You tell me, which one would you rather impact? The temporary needs of a person or the eternal destiny of one?

D. That’s what this truth all comes down to: Do you want to give your life to something that will have a temporary impact or an eternal impact?

1. The money you make will go to someone else when you die. The job you have will someday find your replacement. The house you have will one day burn up. That’s the best your plans can do.

2. But the soul that you win will live in heaven someday. The mission field you give your life to will be full of people who may have never heard the name of Christ. The people whose lives you touch won’t end at death. They will exist somewhere for eternity.

3. And you could submit to your preferences and enjoy some temporary nice things, or you can decide that your nets can’t catch anything worth holding on to, drop them, and make a difference on an eternal level.

4. That’s what the disciples chose. That’s what many of your pastors and youth pastors chose. And that’s a choice I one day also had to make.

IV. My Plans Vs. God’s Promises

A. I told you up front that I was carrying a net of preferences as a teenager.

1. Plans: Financially secure, lofty position, a corner office in the WTC, comfort, security, the pleasures of life (all things that are temporary).

2. Promises: As a kid I had surrendered to God’s call to serve Him with my life. As a teenager I wrestled with that call and secretly hoped God would forget about it. My senior year in high school at summer camp I finally surrendered under the preaching of Dave Brown at Silver State. Once I got to Bible College God re-confirmed His plan for me to give Him my life and preach the Gospel.

3. I came to the point my freshman year in college that I clearly saw the superiority of a life lived according to God’s promises instead of my plans. So I dropped my nets.

4. God led me into the full-time ministry. I’m not saying that’s His plan for everyone. You can live according to God’s promises and give your life to fish for men and never get paid. This isn’t about ministry; it’s about priority.

5. I was able to give over 18 years of my life to the ministry at BBC Stillwater. God has since moved our family where I now pastor in Sioux Falls, SD.

6. Over the years I’ve been able to invest in countless people in those two churches. I’ve been honored to preach to thousands of people all over the country and even around the world. Not because I’m anything special, but because God blessed my decision to let go of my plans and say yes to His promises.

7. Your light can shine if you’ll drop your nets and follow Christ.

8. Visualize difference between people and nets…

2. You see, at one point in my life as a teenager, I had to compare this (NET) with that (PEOPLE).

3. I had to think, “I can hold onto this and keep whatever I catch in it for 70-80 years. (Money, position, notoriety, travel, office, my career choice, etc.)

4. “Or, I can drop it, give my life to Christ and have the opportunity to invest in something that lasts for eternity.”

5. You see, anything I could have caught in my net would either die with me or burn up eventually. But every person standing here will still be alive somewhere in 1,000 years. 1 million years. 1 billion years.

6. So I can either choose to invest my life in that which will last for 80 years, or give my life to invest in people that live forever.

7. And over the years I had to drop my net of pastoring plenty of times and just keep investing in this (worth it!)

8. So tell me, which one sounds better? Which one is truly more significant?

D. One more illustration before I let them sit down.

1. A few years after I dropped my net of having an office at the top of the WTC, guess what happened? 9/11.

2. The WTC towers fell almost 20 years ago.

3. The material that would have been in the office I dreamed of having was either pulverized that day or it was carried off to a landfill somewhere.

4. And yet every person you give your life to reach will live forever somewhere.

5. Those standing here today represent, in the most tangible way I could think of, evidence of the life you get to live if you will determine to drop your nets and follow Christ.

E. Towers fall, but people live forever.

1. Money disappears, but souls never will.

2. Jobs end, the existence of people doesn’t.

3. Businesses close, but people will be around the throne of God or in the flames of hell forever. (Be seated)

V. It’s Time To Let Go Of Your Nets

A. Remember, your preferences will only give you what they have to offer. But God’s promises will provide all that God can offer.

1. So what are you holding on to instead of following Christ?

2. What preferences are you struggling to let go of?

3. What temporary thing are you trying to give yourself to instead of people?

4. Is that net you’re holding onto more important than souls that will exist for eternity?

B. This isn’t about ministry, it’s about priority.

1. Some of the biggest difference makers I know never get paid from a church.

2. But, I also believe God is calling a lot more young people than are surrendering.

3. Instead of waiting for a big YES from God in regards to ministry, why don’t you look for a NO? Assume He wants you to give your life to fish for men unless He makes it absolutely clear He doesn’t.

4. About half the world has never heard the name of Christ, and yet a lot more young people are surrendering to stay rather than go, and yet we’ve all been called to go.

5. The cause is great, but the laborers are few.

C. What’s interesting is on 9/11, there were 19 men that changed the landscape of our world.

1. I would never condone what they did, but they were committed to a cause they believed in.

2. Where are the young people that committed to the one true God?

3. If I had just the HBBC students stand again, there are more of them than there were the original apostles that helped turn the world upside down.

4. If the 1,000 or so people in this room right now would say, “God, I’ll drop my nets to follow your Word. I’ll forsake my preferences and embrace your promises,” we could see the world changed forever.

5. But it’s going to take people willing to set aside what they prefer and embrace the promises of a difference-making God.

6. Will you be one? Will you set aside your plans to follow Christ? To impact souls? To make a difference this big instead of this big?

7. Most don’t, but if you will drop your nets and follow, He only needs a few to change a lot.

Conclusion: One-way missionaries about 200 years ago. Packed coffins. One way tickets. One of those was AW Milne. He went to Vanuatu in the SP and reached an island of head hunters. 35 years, lived among and loved them. When he died, tribe members put this on his tombstone: “When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.” Most would say he died with nothing, but I say he died with nothing left. He gave it all to God to make an eternal difference. He set aside his preferences and embraced God’s promises, and I can promise you this – he has no regrets.