(Text and Audio)
Title: The Calling
I’m so glad in the way that God has allowed Betsy to come and talk to us today about missions in the midst of us arriving at this point in Matthew when Jesus calls the 4 to become apostles. It’s neat the way that Betsy’s testimony coincides with what I’d like to share with you this morning.
Let’s begin, shall we?
(read/pray)
v.18 “casting their nets into the sea; for they were fishermen” Peter and Andrew were simply being who they were. It was in their nature to cast nets into the sea, that is the life that they had known, and I’d be willing to bet that they did not so much choose to become fishermen as much as they inherited the trade of being a fishermen from their fathers, just as countless generations had done before them. 2000 years ago in the Middle East, if your father was a fishermen, there was about a 98% chance that’s what you were going to do. And there was also about a 97% chance that’s what your sons would also do. Options were limited, and entrepreneurs were everywhere.
Last week we talked about the main industries of Capernaum being fishing and trade and so it should not be a surprise that Peter and Andrew, brothers, found themselves as fishermen. I would argue it was a natural vocation for them.
Last weekend a friend invited me out coffee with some of his friends who were in town from Pennsylvania and as we introduced ourselves to each other they naturally asked me what I did for a living. I explained that I pastored a church and taught at the local Christian School and it didn’t evoke much of a response, which was fine with me. Sometimes there is this immensely awkward revelation that goes on when someone mentally realizes, “Okay, I”m going to be spending the evening with a Pastor…” And you see this checklist of things in their head: can’t say this, don’t bring up that, don’t joke about that, probably can’t drink that…”
So I was actually relieved when there was no real response to speak of. I figured either they were not interested and therefore had no intention to alter their behavior, which was my preference to begin with. But about 20 minutes later one of them asked me: do you like being a pastor?
What and odd question, I thought. Do I like being a pastor? It was a fair question. If I knew a stock broker, a race car driver, a rock star, I’m sure I’d ask that same thing somehow, but I’d never had that question turned on me: Do I like being a pastor?
I actually had to think about the answer to that question. Why do you think that is? (take answers)
- No one had really asked me before, including myself.
- It’s not often a question that comes up when someone is called into something. I’ve never felt like I “chose” to become a pastor, I felt like I was called by God to do it. It wasn’t really a choice of vocation, as much as it was a choice of obedience.
So how did I answer? I said, “Yes, I love it.” And they pressed on: “Why do you love it?” And I was dumbfounded a second time. These were not difficult questions, but somehow, through 10 years of ordained ministry, nobody had ever asked me this. It simply wasn’t relevant. And here I was, in Chipotle, dumbfounded, by a guy I had literally met less than an hour before.
But I gathered myself and said cautiously, “I love it because it is simultaneously the most rewarding thing in the world, and it is the most natural thing in the world for me to do. I’m a preacher, so I preach. I don’t really know anything else, and I suspect I would be deeply unsatisfied if I found myself in a situation where I could not, or did not preach. It isn’t just what I do. It is who I am. It is what God made me be.”
Yet Jesus, in his calling says what, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What an invitation! There are so many levels to break down in this one sentence that I feel like we could spend four weeks here. Let me just highlight a few things I see, and you tell me if they resonate with you:
1. Jesus recognizes what they currently are, and offers an upgrade.
To catch fish is to continue in the life and lifestyle that Peter and Andrew have inherited; to catch men to begin something completely new, and it took faith. Do you think Peter realized that by following Jesus he was signing on with Jesus he would successfully argue down the Sanhedrin and the High Priest? Do you think he had any idea how important his story would become? Or that his life would end in Martyrdom? Or that his letters, his words would become scripture, used by followers of this same Jesus 2000 years after he wrote them? That his words would be of the same validity as the Law, the Prophets, the Writings? No. Of course not. He simply received and invitation, and IMMEDIATELY left his net and followed Jesus.
- Jesus recognizes that they already have skills, and he offers a more rewarding road.
Peter and Andrew could make money in fishing, they could make a nice living for their families, they could pass on a legacy to their children. But Jesus offers them an adaptation to their skill, and something more precious than money. Remember, it is Peter, years after this event here, who looks at the crippled beggar at the Gate Beautiful in Acts and says to the man, “Silver or Gold have I none, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus, rise and walk.”
Wow.
Think about this. Think about this: If Peter says no here to following Jesus, and years pass in a parallel universe and he sees this man begging at the Gate called Beautiful, all Peter could give the man would be a handful of coins. Even if Peter had gone on to become the Tuna King of Galilee, rich beyond his wildest dreams, and his heart was moved by this begging man, he would never have been able to give him any amount of money that equals being healed. No job will ever give you enough money to be what you can be in obedience to Christ!
Following Jesus is a more rewarding road for you, and for anyone you come across in need.
(Read 21-22)
As we wrap up this morning, I want to make one subtle note about the calling of the brothers that would become known as the “Sons of Thunder” James and John. Turn quickly in your Bibles to Mark 1:20, someone read that for me.
We see an understanding that James and John worked for their father, Zebedee, again, inferring that they inherited this trade from their earthly father, and they were about to now inherit a trade (fishing for me) from their heavenly father, but that’s the note that I find interesting.
Can anyone guess where I’m going with this? What does Mark note that Matthew does not?
Hired Servants.
I don’t want to dwell on this, but I do want to note it: Jesus doesn’t pull these men, particularly James and John, out of a life of blue collar poverty to a life of splendor and riches. It was actually the opposite.
You had to have money to have hired servants. You had to have a pretty established and successful operation to hire people on from outside of your family. Usually, your labor force, was your family: Your brothers, your sons, your nephews. It was a family business that kept food on the table, yet Zebedee was doing well enough to hire servants.
My point: Jesus calls them from a promising, safe, guaranteed, respected career to a life of hardship, a life of danger, a life of mocking, a life of sacrifice, and, in many cases, a life of financial poverty.
When Betsy was called to Kyrgyzstan, I know what she left behind. I know her parents, I know her brother. Her parents make a good living, they have a very nice home, on a beautiful piece of property. They sent both Betsy and her older brother to Ashland University, which is not cheap, amen?
Had Betsy taken a more conventional approach, had she not been called, or had she denied this calling. She would be where you and I are now. In part, making money to send others to foreign soil so that disciples would be made in all nations. She would not be here, explaining what she does, hoping that some of us can help support her financially so that she can continue the work that God has called her into.
If Betsy had stayed, she’d be rich. Where she lives now, and what she does not, she is not.
I struggle to be patient with preachers, pastors, teachers, who continue to tell us about the financial blessings that God wants to give us. Why? Because financial blessings are so small compared to the spiritual blessings and power we can receive from a life of faithful obedience. And, therefore, these pastors cheat you when they focus on monetary blessings. They limit your fulfillment, they limit your power, they limit your joy.
If you don’t believe me, ask the man at the gate beautiful: who would you rather see pass by? Peter the rich man, or Peter the obedient man?