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 (gk: euthys) 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 (gk: euthys) he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him
Mark 1:16-20
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
At once, they left their nets to follow Jesus.
When we follow Jesus, there must be the greatest sense of urgency.
The world needs the Gospel of Jesus.
This is our critical mission – anything less is fallacy.
And we share this Gospel with the world when we follow Jesus solely, wholly, and with the utmost sense of urgency.
This is the only way to execute this critical mission – anything less reveals serious issues of commitment and conviction for the work of Christ in, and through, your life.
C.S. Lewis tells us, “Putting on ‘Christ'...is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all.”
Simon, Andrew, James and John may have been unsophisticated fishermen, but they were, by no means, foolish, nor gullible men.
And yet, they left nets and family to follow Christ immediately; when they heard His Call.
In their minds and hearts, there was something about this Jesus that compelled them to cast aside everything and follow Him immediately.
#1 The Supreme Glory of Christ’s Call
Christ’s Call trumps every plan, every dream and every fantasy we may ever have for our lives.
Is there anyone in your life whom you are so captivated by that you would go to the ends of the earth to honor, or find favor with?
To His earliest disciples, Jesus Christ was that person.
To the disciples, Christ’s call over their lives is the most glorious thing that could ever happen to them. Following Jesus promised the most fulfilling and glorious destiny they could ever hope to achieve in their lives.
It was as if they got a chance to declare to the world as Joshua did to Israel in Joshua 24:15,
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served
beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
God presented this divine chance for the fishermen to choose, and they did.
They followed Jesus.
The Lord Jesus Christ calls you today as He did His earliest disciples.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelations 3:20)
How do you choose?
Do you choose to recognize the supreme glory of Christ’s Call over your life?
Do you choose to understand the divine honor that God has bestowed upon you when He knocks on the door of your life?
Do you choose to open your life to Jesus and follow Him, immediately?
#2 The appropriate response is an immediate response
As parents, Amy and I constantly remind our children, ‘delayed obedience is disobedience.’
In the same way, a delayed response to Christ’s call is an outright rejection of the Call.
But this gets more serious.
A rejection of Christ’s Call for your life exposes a deep wickedness - your outright rejection of God.
The Lord Jesus reveals to us in Luke 9:26, ‘For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Never be found to be ashamed of Christ.
Where Christ has so evidently issued His Call for you to follow Him, there is simply no room for apathy, nor delay.
Respond to His Call appropriately – respond to Christ’s call immediately.
#3 Christ’s Call - Come, Follow Me, and I will send you out …
The three components of Christ’s Call over our lives are:
1. Come – which means, ‘Leave your nets’;
2. Follow me - which means, ‘Walk with me’;
3. I will send you out to fish for people – which means, ‘I will send you out to do as I have done, but I will still be with you’
1. Come – ‘Leave your nets’
Based on the collective lives of the fishermen turned Christ-followers/fishers-of-people, we may abstract three key aspects of our lives which we must leave behind in order to obey Christ’s call to ‘Come’.
• Livelihood
When the disciples left their nets behind, they left behind their livelihoods.
They left behind their means to make a living for themselves and for those who are dependent on them.
When Christ appeared before them and called them, suddenly, their jobs lost all appeal and significance when compared to heeding His call to follow Him.
Has your livelihood become an impediment for you in heeding Christ’s call to follow Him?
Have you left your net behind to follow Jesus? Or are you still carrying your net, and trying to keep up with Jesus with a burden that Christ has already instructed you to leave behind?
That may be precisely why you are struggling to keep up with Jesus in the first place.
Don't misunderstand. It is not only about quitting your job, but about quitting the worldview that your livelihood is the single-most important endeavor that you have, or will ever undertake – something that would surely have overtaken your worship and reverence of a living God.
The immediate responses of Christ’s first disciples reveal to us more about the paradigm of following Christ rather than the method of following Christ.
I have good reason to suspect that these fishermen would have put their fishing skills to good use in the course of their three years following Jesus.
What has changed decisively for the disciples is the reality that fishing is no longer their life – Christ is now their life.
When we follow Christ, we would come to realize that our lives, and our work would be profoundly and radically changed. We will cease to live for our work, having chosen to live instead, in trusting our lives and livelihood to God, and following Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-33, ‘So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’
• Relationships
When Simon and Andrew left their nets, they left behind not only their livelihoods, but the relationships that came with it.
And so it was with James and John, who left their father behind with the hired hands when they left their jobs and followed Jesus.
Christ had this to say about leaving behind relationships to follow Him.
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:59-62)
Again, do not misunderstand.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not telling us to abandon our family and friends.
What He is telling us is that when we follow Him first and foremost – when we choose to place our relationship with God far above all of our other relationships - our radically transformed lives (having been transformed into His likeness – 2 Corinthians 3:18) will in turn, radically impact the way we relate to our family and friends, and actually make us better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends etc.
If you want to be the best version of yourself, follow Jesus; go and proclaim the kingdom of God, and don't look back.
• Identity
In many ways, we can relate to the disciples here. Even today, our identities are based deeply on the relationships we keep and the jobs we have.
And again, Christ is not saying that we discard our identities in order to follow Him. What He is saying is for us to acknowledge the original identity on which we build all others.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)
What is our original identity?
We are created by a wonderful God, and to those who follow Jesus – who receive and believe in His Name - we have been given the right to become children of God.
That is our original identity.
We are the beloved children of the Most High God!
How’s that for an identity to build on?
2. Follow me - Walk with me; you will know the Way, Truth and Life.
Christ’s Call to follow Him comes with great cost, as well as great joy.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Christ’s Call to follow Him is an invitation for us to participate in His work of inbreaking the Kingdom of God. What a privilege!
Following Jesus truly, means that we will never walk in darkness.
Following Jesus truly, means that we have the light of life.
Following Jesus truly, means we may come to the Father… …
3. I will send you to fish for people – ‘I will send you out to do as I have done, and I will still be with you’
Consider now the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Christ reveals the divine mystery connecting His presence in our lives, and our participation with the Holy Spirit in His work of inbreaking the Kingdom of God.
When we follow Christ and give our lives for His gospel, His promise is that He will be with us ‘always, to the very end of the age.’
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we will never be alone.
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we become part of a mission far greater than our collective destinies.
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we may truly declare
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, why would we ever desire to live for ourselves, when eternal life through Christ is God’s gift to us?
On this Good Friday’s Eve, as we bear in mind Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross at Calvary – where He died in our place and took the punishment of our sins upon Himself –may you spend meaningful and prayerful time contemplating your response to Christ’s call over your life.
Do you recognize the supreme glory of Christ’s Call?
Have you responded appropriately to Christ’s Call?
Have you laid down your net?
Have you heeded Christ’s Call to ‘Come, follow Me and be sent?
I leave you with this song that most of us would have learnt in our early years of following Jesus.
May the Holy Spirit inspire you to re-consider your life’s purpose in light of the highest call that any human being could ever receive – the call from God Himself.
I have decided to follow Jesus; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
On this Good Friday’s Eve, I am deeply and profoundly grateful for Your love for me – in that while I am still a sinner, Christ, You died on the Cross for me.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your finished work on the Cross where You suffered and died as Atoning Sacrifice in my place for the forgiveness of my sins.
God, I acknowledge that I have sinned against You wholly and solely.
I come before You with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
Please forgive my transgressions and iniquities.
Thank You for Your forgiveness through Christ Jesus, my Lord.
Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that Your Call over my life is the best thing that could ever happen to me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and empower me to embrace this Call with all that I am.
Holy Spirit, teach me to live absolutely and fully as Christ’s follower. Teach me to deny myself, take up my cross daily, and follow Christ. (Ref: John 9:23)
Grant me the courage, commitment and conviction to lay down my net to follow Christ.
Thank you for Your assurance that Your presence and power is upon me as I live my life as Your witness – sent by Him, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, today, I choose to follow You all the days of my life.
Today, I choose to recognize the supremacy of Your Call in my life.
Today, I choose to come to You, as You have called - follow You, and be sent by You.
Today, I choose to be radically transformed by Your Holy Spirit into Your likeness more and more.
May the world clearly see, that I have decided to follow You, Lord!
We thank you and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
18 At once (gk: euthys) 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 (gk: euthys) he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him
Mark 1:16-20
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
At once, they left their nets to follow Jesus.
When we follow Jesus, there must be the greatest sense of urgency.
The world needs the Gospel of Jesus.
This is our critical mission – anything less is fallacy.
And we share this Gospel with the world when we follow Jesus solely, wholly, and with the utmost sense of urgency.
This is the only way to execute this critical mission – anything less reveals serious issues of commitment and conviction for the work of Christ in, and through, your life.
C.S. Lewis tells us, “Putting on ‘Christ'...is not one among many jobs a Christian has to do; and it is not a sort of special exercise for the top class. It is the whole of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all.”
Simon, Andrew, James and John may have been unsophisticated fishermen, but they were, by no means, foolish, nor gullible men.
And yet, they left nets and family to follow Christ immediately; when they heard His Call.
In their minds and hearts, there was something about this Jesus that compelled them to cast aside everything and follow Him immediately.
#1 The Supreme Glory of Christ’s Call
Christ’s Call trumps every plan, every dream and every fantasy we may ever have for our lives.
Is there anyone in your life whom you are so captivated by that you would go to the ends of the earth to honor, or find favor with?
To His earliest disciples, Jesus Christ was that person.
To the disciples, Christ’s call over their lives is the most glorious thing that could ever happen to them. Following Jesus promised the most fulfilling and glorious destiny they could ever hope to achieve in their lives.
It was as if they got a chance to declare to the world as Joshua did to Israel in Joshua 24:15,
“But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served
beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
God presented this divine chance for the fishermen to choose, and they did.
They followed Jesus.
The Lord Jesus Christ calls you today as He did His earliest disciples.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. (Revelations 3:20)
How do you choose?
Do you choose to recognize the supreme glory of Christ’s Call over your life?
Do you choose to understand the divine honor that God has bestowed upon you when He knocks on the door of your life?
Do you choose to open your life to Jesus and follow Him, immediately?
#2 The appropriate response is an immediate response
As parents, Amy and I constantly remind our children, ‘delayed obedience is disobedience.’
In the same way, a delayed response to Christ’s call is an outright rejection of the Call.
But this gets more serious.
A rejection of Christ’s Call for your life exposes a deep wickedness - your outright rejection of God.
The Lord Jesus reveals to us in Luke 9:26, ‘For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Never be found to be ashamed of Christ.
Where Christ has so evidently issued His Call for you to follow Him, there is simply no room for apathy, nor delay.
Respond to His Call appropriately – respond to Christ’s call immediately.
#3 Christ’s Call - Come, Follow Me, and I will send you out …
The three components of Christ’s Call over our lives are:
1. Come – which means, ‘Leave your nets’;
2. Follow me - which means, ‘Walk with me’;
3. I will send you out to fish for people – which means, ‘I will send you out to do as I have done, but I will still be with you’
1. Come – ‘Leave your nets’
Based on the collective lives of the fishermen turned Christ-followers/fishers-of-people, we may abstract three key aspects of our lives which we must leave behind in order to obey Christ’s call to ‘Come’.
• Livelihood
When the disciples left their nets behind, they left behind their livelihoods.
They left behind their means to make a living for themselves and for those who are dependent on them.
When Christ appeared before them and called them, suddenly, their jobs lost all appeal and significance when compared to heeding His call to follow Him.
Has your livelihood become an impediment for you in heeding Christ’s call to follow Him?
Have you left your net behind to follow Jesus? Or are you still carrying your net, and trying to keep up with Jesus with a burden that Christ has already instructed you to leave behind?
That may be precisely why you are struggling to keep up with Jesus in the first place.
Don't misunderstand. It is not only about quitting your job, but about quitting the worldview that your livelihood is the single-most important endeavor that you have, or will ever undertake – something that would surely have overtaken your worship and reverence of a living God.
The immediate responses of Christ’s first disciples reveal to us more about the paradigm of following Christ rather than the method of following Christ.
I have good reason to suspect that these fishermen would have put their fishing skills to good use in the course of their three years following Jesus.
What has changed decisively for the disciples is the reality that fishing is no longer their life – Christ is now their life.
When we follow Christ, we would come to realize that our lives, and our work would be profoundly and radically changed. We will cease to live for our work, having chosen to live instead, in trusting our lives and livelihood to God, and following Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-33, ‘So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’
• Relationships
When Simon and Andrew left their nets, they left behind not only their livelihoods, but the relationships that came with it.
And so it was with James and John, who left their father behind with the hired hands when they left their jobs and followed Jesus.
Christ had this to say about leaving behind relationships to follow Him.
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:59-62)
Again, do not misunderstand.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not telling us to abandon our family and friends.
What He is telling us is that when we follow Him first and foremost – when we choose to place our relationship with God far above all of our other relationships - our radically transformed lives (having been transformed into His likeness – 2 Corinthians 3:18) will in turn, radically impact the way we relate to our family and friends, and actually make us better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends etc.
If you want to be the best version of yourself, follow Jesus; go and proclaim the kingdom of God, and don't look back.
• Identity
In many ways, we can relate to the disciples here. Even today, our identities are based deeply on the relationships we keep and the jobs we have.
And again, Christ is not saying that we discard our identities in order to follow Him. What He is saying is for us to acknowledge the original identity on which we build all others.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13-14)
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)
What is our original identity?
We are created by a wonderful God, and to those who follow Jesus – who receive and believe in His Name - we have been given the right to become children of God.
That is our original identity.
We are the beloved children of the Most High God!
How’s that for an identity to build on?
2. Follow me - Walk with me; you will know the Way, Truth and Life.
Christ’s Call to follow Him comes with great cost, as well as great joy.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Christ’s Call to follow Him is an invitation for us to participate in His work of inbreaking the Kingdom of God. What a privilege!
Following Jesus truly, means that we will never walk in darkness.
Following Jesus truly, means that we have the light of life.
Following Jesus truly, means we may come to the Father… …
3. I will send you to fish for people – ‘I will send you out to do as I have done, and I will still be with you’
Consider now the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:26)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Christ reveals the divine mystery connecting His presence in our lives, and our participation with the Holy Spirit in His work of inbreaking the Kingdom of God.
When we follow Christ and give our lives for His gospel, His promise is that He will be with us ‘always, to the very end of the age.’
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we will never be alone.
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we become part of a mission far greater than our collective destinies.
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, we may truly declare
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)
With Christ as our constant and eternal companion, why would we ever desire to live for ourselves, when eternal life through Christ is God’s gift to us?
On this Good Friday’s Eve, as we bear in mind Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross at Calvary – where He died in our place and took the punishment of our sins upon Himself –may you spend meaningful and prayerful time contemplating your response to Christ’s call over your life.
Do you recognize the supreme glory of Christ’s Call?
Have you responded appropriately to Christ’s Call?
Have you laid down your net?
Have you heeded Christ’s Call to ‘Come, follow Me and be sent?
I leave you with this song that most of us would have learnt in our early years of following Jesus.
May the Holy Spirit inspire you to re-consider your life’s purpose in light of the highest call that any human being could ever receive – the call from God Himself.
I have decided to follow Jesus; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus; (X3)
No turning back, no turning back.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
On this Good Friday’s Eve, I am deeply and profoundly grateful for Your love for me – in that while I am still a sinner, Christ, You died on the Cross for me.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your finished work on the Cross where You suffered and died as Atoning Sacrifice in my place for the forgiveness of my sins.
God, I acknowledge that I have sinned against You wholly and solely.
I come before You with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
Please forgive my transgressions and iniquities.
Thank You for Your forgiveness through Christ Jesus, my Lord.
Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that Your Call over my life is the best thing that could ever happen to me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and empower me to embrace this Call with all that I am.
Holy Spirit, teach me to live absolutely and fully as Christ’s follower. Teach me to deny myself, take up my cross daily, and follow Christ. (Ref: John 9:23)
Grant me the courage, commitment and conviction to lay down my net to follow Christ.
Thank you for Your assurance that Your presence and power is upon me as I live my life as Your witness – sent by Him, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, today, I choose to follow You all the days of my life.
Today, I choose to recognize the supremacy of Your Call in my life.
Today, I choose to come to You, as You have called - follow You, and be sent by You.
Today, I choose to be radically transformed by Your Holy Spirit into Your likeness more and more.
May the world clearly see, that I have decided to follow You, Lord!
We thank you and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.