4.1.40 8.31.2025 (Grayville Days Sermon) The Call Matthew 4.18-22

Start:

Entice: Many of us worshipping here today have been in Church our entire lives. Even through periods of difficulty we never doubted the faithfulness of Christ or our own response. There are many reasons for this assurance.  Primarily  what Jesus has done to redeem us. 

Engage: Yet,  we all know that there is a little more, don’t we?

We have all had people who embodied the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

People who encouraged us when we had doubts.

People who reprimanded us when we were wrong.

People who loved us when we were broken.

We are called by Jesus to be a part of His community.

His Church.

His elect.

His chosen.

His Body.

And it began at the beginning. 

Matthew 4:18–22 ESV

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Expand: They were called by name, and there were at least four right at the beginning. We Christians were never intended to live our faith all alone. It was never designed to be solitary. There was always a group, an embryonic Church. The four that day expanded to the 12 disciples we know. By the book of Acts The Twelve as a group were both a real body of believers and a symbol for the complete people of God, called together by their testimony to the risen Christ. Most of the summer I’ve been doing detailed study of the Pastoral Epistles in preparing to preach from 1 Timothy. It is noteworthy that one of the issues Paul has in 2nd Timothy in particular, is being separated from his extended team. 

Even Paul needed people!

Letter writer,

Apostle,

preacher,

missionary.

Paul of the big personality.

Paul knew he needed to be embedded in the Church to flourish! Paul recognized that the call to Christ is extended to the Church as a whole.

So here we are.

The Church in Grayville. though we normally gather in separate places for worship today we gather as one to be reminded of our mutual need for one another. 

Excite: We all have the same life’s mission, the same purpose. To honor and bring glory to Christ by making disciples. Which in this text is described as “fishing for men.” The call is the commission,

the commission is your purpose,

that purpose is God’s plan for your life. 

Explore:

Jesus calls us all to fish

Expand: Regardless of denomination or even personal history the steps are the same, and the purpose clear. 

Body of Sermon:  First,

1. Jesus’ call is always Individual.

“Follow Me”

1.1 Invitation? Command? Promise? Threat. What exactly is it? 

1.2 However we understand it  we must respond. Before we do anything else…we must follow Him.

1.3 God’s will for your life and mine begins with the same basic answer. We must respond to Jesus by saying I will follow you”, then comes the act of actually following. 

This next step is far too easily forgotten or minimized. 

2 Jesus’ call is always Institutional.

2.1 He calls each of us…but not only us.

That day Jesus called at least four men to form the nucleus of His embryonic Church.

Think of it this way,

2.2 Not only did Jesus promise to never himself leave us alone, He literally did not leave us alone!

He embedded us in community by calling, creating, and commissioning His Church.

2.3 We do not “go to heaven alone”, nor can we fully worship Him alone. The Church was not an afterthought that morning on the beach. It began there that very morning as Jesus bid those fellows to follow.

2.4 The work of the Church continues as He includes us in a body of believers who surround us, challenge us, and comfort us. 

Finally, 

3 Jesus’  call is always Intentional.

3.1 His approach.

3.1.1 Direct.

3.1.2 Clear. 

3.2 His Goal.

3.2.1 Clearly articulated plan.

I will make you…

3.2.2 Clearly articulated outcome.

to be fishers for  men

And that is it.

The plan can be described in many other ways but that is it in a nutshell. Jesus calls us and equips us to attract others with His message of saving love, and a clear description of His acts of redemptive grace.

Shut Down:

I am glad that the whole community of Christians, the city-wide Church gathers this one time a year. It is a reminder that community is essential to the Gospel. Our relationship to each other is, if even faintly, a  reflection of the relationship shared between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Community is central to our faith.

Some of you may be here only because it is a community activity on GVD. I would love it if you came to our Church next week. If not ours, hopefully one of the other congregations represented here today, A Church where Jesus is exalted in Word and Ordinance. Where His Gospel is proclaimed. His love extended. His people active.

Jesus works through people. He has chosen His Church to be the means by which His eternal Gospel is proclaimed in our world. You are either fishing for men, or being fished for. Which is it?