It's Worth It

 This is the message given on Sunday morning, August 16, 2020 in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 4:18-22.

            The Bible is an amazing book in a lot of ways.  But to really understand it, you have to pay attention while you’re reading it.  Because one of the things that happens so often in the Bible is that it will describe an incredible thing in a very matter-of-fact way.

            Take our Bible reading today.  It says, “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew...“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.  Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John... Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

            Think about that.  Here we have four people, two sets of brothers.  They’re all fishermen.  They’re going about their business, getting ready to go out on the water to fish.  And all at once, Jesus walks by.

            The Bible gives us no indication that any of them knew who Jesus was.  It gives us no indication that they’d met him or even heard about him.  And yet, when Jesus says “follow me”, they immediately drop everything and follow him.  They leave their boats and all their equipment on their boats.  They leave their families.  They leave their homes.  They leave their way of life.  They leave everything--literally--to follow Jesus.

            And they leave it for--what?  I mean, yes, to follow Jesus, but did they have any idea what that was going to mean?  If they did, the Bible gives no indication of it.  There is nothing in the Bible that shows that any of them--Peter, Andrew, James, John--had even the slightest clue what they were getting into.  

            And yet, the way this is written, they did not hesitate.  They did not even really think about it.  Jesus said follow me, and they followed.  No fear.  No worry.  Not even any real decision-making process.  They just followed.  Again, they left literally everything to follow Jesus.

            The Bible writes this so matter-of-factly, as if it was no big deal, really.  And yet, when you think about it, it’s one of the most amazing things I can imagine.  I mean, try to put yourself in their position.  You’re at your work, or you’re at your home.  You’re doing whatever it is you do on a normal day.  All of a sudden, some guy you’ve never seen before and never heard of says “follow me”.  Would you just drop everything and follow him?  I cannot even imagine doing that.

            Now, of course, this was Jesus.  And Jesus was the divine Son of God, whether any of these four knew it at the time or not.  There may well have been something about Jesus, some sign of that divinity, that made people want to follow him even when they did not know who he was.  But still, giving up everything you have to follow him.  It’s pretty incredible.

            It says something about the people Jesus chose.  Jesus chose people who had courage.  He chose people who were willing to take chances.  He chose people who were decisive.  He chose people who were willing to make a commitment and stick with it, even if it meant giving up everything.

            I wonder sometimes.  You know we’re told about the people Jesus called who came and followed him.  Were there any people he called who said no?  Now let me be clear that that’s pure speculation on my part.  The Bible does not say anything about Jesus calling someone to be one of the twelve disciples and having them refuse.  But of course, it does not specifically say that did not happen, either.  Could it be that Jesus called someone, and that someone did not have the courage to follow?  They just were not willing to take that chance, to make that commitment?  They were could not decide, they hesitated, and so Jesus just moved on?  You could probably write a pretty good story based on that.  In fact, maybe someone already has, I don’t know.

            For Peter and Andrew, James and John--at this time, they did not know who Jesus was.  Even if there was something about him that made people want to follow, that something was not enough for them to really understand.  And yet, again, they were willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus.  That’s a pretty awesome faith.

            You and I, of course, know who Jesus is.  At least, we say we do.  We know that Jesus is the divine Son of God.  We know he is the Savior, the one who died to take the punishment for our sins.  And then he rose from the dead, conquering death not just for himself but for all of us, so we know we can have salvation and eternal life through our faith and God’s grace.

            We know all that.  Or, again, at least we say we do.  So could we do what Peter, Andrew, James, and John did?  Could we leave everything behind to follow Jesus?  Could we leave behind a business, our possessions, our home, even our family, to follow Jesus?

            As I thought about this, I thought about how Wanda and I made the decision that I’d become a pastor.  Now, I want to make clear that I’m not putting myself forward here as the role model for everyone to follow.  And I certainly am not putting myself up on a level with Peter, Andrew, James, or John.  That’s not the point.

            I did not give up everything to become a pastor.  Far from it.  We kept what possessions we had and what money we had.  I did give up a business, but I also knew I was going to get a salary as a pastor.  And I did not give up my family--I would not have done this if Wanda had not been completely behind it all the way.

            We did give up some things, though.  We gave up a community we loved.  We were leaving friends behind.  We gave up a life style we were comfortable with.  And while we knew where we were going, it was to a community we knew nothing about.  And we really had no idea what we were really getting into in this new life we were starting.

            We did it for two reasons.  One--the main one--is that we were convinced this was what God wanted us to do.  We truly believed--and still believe--that God was calling us to leave our old life in Wessington Springs and enter a new life in ministry.  There were various things that confirmed that, things I won’t get into now, but we had no doubt that God was calling us to what we called our new adventure, an adventure in ministry.

            But the second reason we were able to do this, to leave behind the things we did, is that we were convinced that what we were going toward was better than what we were leaving behind.  We did not know exactly what it would be.  But we believed that if we followed God’s call, God would lead us to where we needed to go, and would lead us to a better life than we had before.

            And maybe that’s the point.  When we have the courage to follow Jesus, to go where the Lord wants us to go, we can be confident that what we are going toward is better than what we are leaving behind.  

Now, I don’t want that to sound glib.  I don’t want to say it lightly.  The things we leave behind are real things.  We may not be called to leave everything behind, the way the first disciples were, but we will be called to leave some things behind.  They’ll be different things for each of us, because God’s call is different for each of us.  But when Jesus calls, following that call is going to force us to leave something behind.  And it’s not going to be easy.  

But it is going to be worth it.  When we have the courage to follow God’s call, God will lead us to something better than what we leave behind.  That’s not to say it will always be easy.  But it will be worth it.

In the years that Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the others followed Jesus, do you think they ever had any regrets?  Do you think they ever wished they’d said no to Jesus and kept being fishermen?  

I think it’s possible.   After all, they went through some hard times with Jesus.  Certainly, after Jesus was killed and before they knew he had risen from the dead, they might have had second thoughts.  After all, they thought Jesus was dead and that they would be next.  We could certainly understand if they had thought, “Man, I should’ve just stayed on the boat and caught fish all my life.  It was a good life.  I was doing okay.  It was safe.”

But ultimately, if they had those second thoughts, they did not act on them.  Because Jesus appeared to them.  Jesus was alive.  And they knew it had all been worth it.  They knew that what they had gained by following Jesus was much better than what they’d left behind.  Because what they had gained was salvation and eternal life.  And they were determined to do whatever they could to spread the word to others, so they, too, could have salvation and eternal life.

            God is making a call on each of our lives.  God is making a call on your life.  I don’t know what it is--that’s between you and God.  But I know God is calling you.  And I know that, if you want to follow God, you’re going to have to give something up.  You may have to give a lot of things up.  But what you’re going to gain by following God is going to be a lot better than what you have to leave behind.

            So think about it.  Pray about it.  Ask God’s Holy Spirit to show you where God is calling you to go and what God is calling you to do.  And then pray for the courage to follow.  You may not know what you’re getting into.  But I promise you it will be worth it.