Matthew 4:12-23: “As Jesus walked by the waters of Galilee He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen, and were casting a net into the lake. Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed Jesus. Moving on from there, He saw two other brothers in their boat with Zebedee their father. They were mending their nets. He called the brothers, and without hesitation they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.”
Thus, a little later, that first group became the crew of a fishing boat sailing the waters of Lake Galilee. They were the new servant people of God, and a new ministry began, the ministry of Christ Jesus.
One of the most often given excuses by people for not becoming a Christian goes something like this: “Me become a Christian? I don’t think so. After all, I will have to give up too much. I won’t be able to have any fun anymore. I’ll have to change the way I wear my hair. I’ll have to change my style of dress. I’ll have to look like everyone else. I am not going to be one of your clones!”
Was that what Jesus expected of those first Apostles and disciples, to be clones of one another? Is that what Jesus expects of us, to be “cookie- cutter” Christians? Let’s see if we can find some answers in today’s gospel reading.
“Now when Jesus heard that John (the Baptizer) had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee… From that time Jesus began to preach, saying: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” (Matthew 4:12,17)
It is significant to note that Jesus does not begin His ministry in the heartland of faith, Jerusalem. Rather, Jesus starts out in a very irreligious region of the land, Galilee. Heavily influenced by Greek culture, Galilee was disdained by the “righteous” people of Israel. It had a mixed population, was multicultural, and was equivalent to Gentile territory by the conservative Jews of that time. In its past history, the region of Galilee had suffered much. It was the first area to feel the might of the Assyrian army in 734 BC. It was to the people of that region that Isaiah gave a message of hope, “The people of darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined.” Jesus begins His ministry here, not in the comfortable Bible belt, but in the place where faith is a struggle, and the general population is irreligious. It is at this point that we have to look at three characteristics regarding the nature of discipleship.
First. At the outset, Discipleship is not our idea. It is Jesus who takes the initiative. By God’s Word and His Holy Spirit, He confronts us, and makes discipleship a possibility. We can accept or refuse His call. That is our choice. If we refuse the initial call, Jesus may continue to call to us until the day we die. If we have not accepted His call by then, it is too late.
Second. God doesn’t give His reason for His call. We do not know why these fishermen were called and not others. We do not need to know why we are called; we just need to answer the call. Our calling to be a Jesus disciple does not mean we are more intelligent than others. Nor does it mean we are more pious, kind, thoughtful, bold or braver than others. Not even we who are called to be pastors are any more deserving of the call than anyone else.
I can tell you that there are times when I sit and think, “Lord, why did you pick me for this? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” But God’s reasons are hidden in His wisdom. It is a mystery. Let’s leave it at that, a mystery embedded in and with the grace of God.
Third. Our Lord Jesus Christ does not tolerate any conditions from those who choose to answer His call. When we give our lives to Jesus there can be no proviso. It must be all or nothing. We must be ready to give up everything if our Lord so desires. We cannot place ourselves at the disposal of Jesus Christ and at the same time dictate our terms to Him. He is the Lord. We are not.
We look around at the Church of God today and we see people of every race, ethnic background, size, shape, age and occupation. We see people who are very healthy and people who have every type of illness and what some consider handicaps. We are indeed a motley crew for this “ship of state”. For you see, no matter who we are when we come to Christ and join His crew, we are all sinners saved by His grace and His grace alone. The apostle Paul tells us, “For you are saved by faith alone and that not of yourselves, but given by the grace of God.”
Yes, we are a motley crew. But that is okay. Jesus was not, and is not, looking for robot-like, “cookie-cutter” Christians. If that were the case, Jesus would only call people who fit that particular mold, whatever that mold would look like. Instead, Jesus will take us wherever we are, however we are, and begin to change our heart and soul to ultimately become “Christ-like” in spirit.
We humans tend to look at the outside, but Jesus looks at our inside. We Christians may not all dress alike, wear our hair alike, sing the same hymns, or conduct our worship services in the same manner, but I do not think Jesus “sweats the small stuff”.
We may get down on one another about the little, petty, insignificant things, like should the pulpit be in the center of the altar or to one side, or should we sprinkle, pour or immerse for baptism, or should we allow guitars and drums in our worship services, or many other areas of contention that serve simply to divide the Church of Christ rather than bring us together. But Jesus is more interested in whether or not we have accepted Him, placed our lives totally in His hands, and love Him enough to follow His teachings and commands.
Instead of clones, walking, talking, dressing alike, Jesus allows us to be who we are. Even though we are far from perfect, Jesus can use us to spread His Gospel to everyone who needs to hear it, and that group includes everyone.
The fact that we are a motley crew is not a new phenomenon. If there is any one here today that believes the early church was a quiet, serene fellowship of like-minded people who walked in lockstep, without controversies and contentions, you can forget it! Those first disciples were not even close to being a group of clones. No indeed! They had their share of differences, and they often found themselves embroiled in arguments and divisions, just as we are in these times. Listen to Paul admonish the Church at Corinth in His letter: “Cloe’s friends have reported to me that you quarrel a lot. It seems that some of you boast ‘I follow Paul,’ and some, ‘I follow Peter,’ and others say, ‘I follow Apollos.’ There are even some who claim, ‘I am Christ’s.’ What’s gotten into you? Can Christ’s body be divided up into little bits? Was it Paul who was crucified for you, or were you baptized in my name?”
So you see, divisions had already emerged in the young church at Corinth. Paul was deeply hurt by those divisions that appeared so quickly in the church at Corinth. A severe split in the fellowship was very close to happening there, so Paul spoke sharply to them to try to make them see that when differences of opinion, dissention and contention led to schism and division, something had gone terribly wrong. Paul knew, and we Christians today must understand, that differences of opinion might be expected, but splits are untenable for those who share Christ’s name.
Even Paul had arguments and differences of opinion with others. He and Peter differed strongly about certain things, but they could argue within the peace of Jesus Christ. A little later, Paul and one of his best friends and fellow missionary, Barnabas, who had shared much suffering and joy for the Gospel together, finally split. They had argued about whether Mark was worthy to be a fellow apostle or not. They were not able to agree, so they went their separate ways, but still recognized one another as valid servants of Christ and His Gospel.
Paul was not immune to disagreements and arguments. Nor were the disciples who were with Jesus during His travels upon this Earth. Even though they walked with Jesus each day, sharing in His awesome, wonderful, bodily presence, there were still friction and fractures. There were hassles between the brothers James and John and the others. From time to time Peter would speak without thinking and put his foot in his mouth. Judas had a resentment eating away at his spirit as he began to understand that Jesus was not the warrior-king type of Messiah that Judas had been looking for. Even as Jesus arrived for the Last Supper, He found the disciples arguing over who would be the greatest in God’s Kingdom.
Friends, if the physical presence of Jesus could not establish a fellowship of like minds, perfect harmony and total agreement, then how do we expect to do it. Indeed, should we expect to do it? I believe that we should not expect, and in fact, not even try to force each other to totally agree on everything. There are a couple of things standing in our way to perfect unity. They are our sinful nature and our ignorance.
Our sinful nature, our selfishness stretches out in every direction. When we come to Christ, our ego does not simply slink away. No, it hides away until an opportune moment comes and then it jumps out to create havoc for a while. Then it goes back into hiding waiting for the next chance to emerge.
Complicating matters is our woeful ignorance. Anytime I hear a preacher, or a denomination, claiming that they have all the answers, I cringe. Folks, no one preacher, pastor, priest or rabbi has all of the answers to every question that may arise. Nor is there any one denomination that knows it all. That which we do know is most precious, and we only know that much by the grace of God. But our ignorance, our lack of knowledge and understanding of God and His ways always outweighs that which we do in fact know and understand. Thus, our sinful nature and our ignorance remain intact. They are co-conspirators in our minds. They cause us to oft times believe we are wiser than our brothers and sisters in the faith. We believe we know better. We believe that only we Baptists, or we Presbyterians, or we Catholics, or we Episcopalians, or yes, we Methodists have the truth of the matter, while the others are fumbling around in half-truths. We are “right”. They are in error.
The history of the Christian Church is fraught with charges and counter- charges of heresy. The Church has been fragmented and torn asunder almost continually by those who believe they have a purer Gospel than others. When they have been unable to force the others to toe their line of reasoning, whether it is in line with the Gospel teachings or not, they split and form their own sects and denominations. When tensions arise, what then shall we do? Are we to shrug our shoulders, throw up our hands and let the schisms and divisions continue? No! We must repent the divisions and seek deeper unity with Jesus Christ.
Jesus has called us, just as He called those first fishermen by the Sea of Galilee. He has called us to be His disciples, but we are no more clones than were those first disciples. The ship of Christ is still manned by a motley crew indeed. You and I are not exceptions to the rule. But we have the best captain in the entire universe and we need to hang in there in His glory, for His service to the world we live in. It is better to live in tension with the motley crew of other Christians, than to form religious cliques. It is far better to feel as if you are all alone on some minor, insignificant issue like those I mentioned earlier than to sell out to Satan himself and cause and encourage division within the body of Christ.
We may be a motley crew, but we have been called into a new future in the company of Jesus Christ. In the company of Jesus we are called to prayer, meditation, reflecting on the Bible, forgiving one another, nurturing each other and serving the lowliest and least. The journey we have before us will oft times put us at odds with the world we live in and may at times seem uncomfortable and even a little scary. But our captain, who chooses His own crew, has brought us on board, His very own motley crew, and has promised to walk with us, hold our hand, and even when necessary, carry us on His shoulders, until the journey is complete and the Father calls us home. That, for me, is the greatest promise of all, and Jesus can count me in! How about you? Amen!