SERMON
[edited for readability]
Welcome. A lot of guests and visitors that I’ve gotten to meet [today]. [I’m] really glad you’re here. My name is Dave. I’m the lead pastor and I get the privilege every week of just opening up the scriptures and looking at Jesus through all the scriptures. And that’s what Hillside is all about. If you’re new here, we love, I love, we love to make much of Jesus Christ. We believe the Father is really pleased with the Son. The Scriptures are all about the Son. The Spirit lives and loves to glorify and testify to the Son of God. And so we love to get together, open the Bible and learn about Jesus Christ and His life in us. And we’ve been doing that in and through the Book of Mark.
And so if you’d open up your Bibles [to] Mark chapter one. I’m going to read from verse 14 down through verse 20. Last week Mark showed us the King. He showed us that the King is like us, human, fully human like us. (Talking to the sound guy: Am I going in and out? I’ll keep going.) Showed us that the King was totally like us, that He’s totally unlike us, that He’s the son of God, but He’s with us and for us in this suffering and in this struggle with this world and sin. So now he’s going to show us the King’s kingdom. What is His kingdom going to be like? Let me read it to you. Then I’ll give you a kind of a broad outline of where we’re going to go this morning.
In Mark Chapter 1, verse 14, God says Mark writes:
“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” And as he was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting the net in the sea; for they were fishermen and Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I’ll make you become Fishers of Men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little farther, He saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and they went away to follow him.”
So a pretty simple passage. Let me take this in and cast it in a kind of a broad theological context so you can understand where Mark is taking us. Mark’s very intentional each step and I want us to understand where Mark wants us to go in this. So if you read straight through the Bible, what you would walk away with is that Jesus is a King. He was King of Israel, King of the Jews, King of heaven, King eternal, King of Kings. Jesus is a King, and as a King he has a kingdom. And in that kingdom, there’s a kingdom-ethic, a kingdom-culture, a kingdom-kind of characteristic. You can read about that kingdom in the book of Galatians, Chapter 5. And we all know it [this] kingdom of God. It’s all about love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, hope, help, healing in life. It’s all good, right? It’s pretty amazing. Now also if you read through the scriptures, you’d realize that Jesus’ kingdom was usurped by an enemy [who] is a liar, a murderer, a deceiver. He was a murderer from the beginning. And so there’s this kingdom of darkness. In fact the Bible calls this world this kingdom of darkness. And in that kingdom there is also an ethic – a culture, a custom that is idolatry, immorality, sensuality. You can read through it in Galatians chapter 5 verse 19. None of it’s good. It’s all bad. But you know when you’re dealing with somebody who knows and loves and serves Jesus, because it’s love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness. You know when you’re dealing with somebody who’s in the world, because there [are] dissensions, disputes, chaos, conflict, confusion. The good news that the Gospel holds forth (and this is what we’re going to see today) the King of Kings entered behind enemy lines – like He totally went behind enemy lines – to purchase for himself people with his own blood, to redeem, to rescue, to ransom. He’s pretty fired up about it. Right? When you get to the end of the story, He’s treading the winepress of the fierce wrath of Almighty God. Like somebody stole his children. So He totally goes and gets them. It’s “Taken” one, two and three. He enters in and gets them back because he’s a good King and He loves us.
What Mark wants to do in this section [is] he’s going to [show that] in Jesus’s kingdom there’s a kingdom-message that’s totally different from this world. And I’ll show you that there’s a message that’s different. And in the kingdom of God there is a method that’s totally different than the kingdom of this world. So as Mark looks at the kingdom, he’s already looked at the King. Now he’s going to say, “I want you to see the kingdom message and the kingdom method so you’ll be very clear on what Jesus is calling you to.” So watch this. We’ll jump right into it. This gets heavy right off the bat. I’m just going to warn you up front this first part is not enjoyable for me. The kingdom message:
“Now after John had been taken into custody…” (Mark 1:14)
So there’s been a year since the last verse, and Mark will deal with this more so we’ll jump into this more later. John had preached against the powers that be, and he was put in prison soon to be beheaded. So after John had been taken in custody (watch this):
“Jesus came into Galilee…”
That’s the region.
“Preaching the gospel of God.”
So here’s the big point here: in the kingdom of God – in Jesus’s kingdom – there’s always good news. Now that actually is an “Amen” point.
(No, it really is… it’s okay. I’m used to you guys, bunch of upper middle class whatever, we do church like this. {Shows a stance that’s perfectly still.} It’s like even when you hit a great point it’s like “Amen” {whispered}. Nobody can hear it. That’s all right. No, I’m totally with you.) Let me tell you why there isn’t a whole bunch of just really robust dancing and just amazement at the statement that Jesus came and preached the good news. In the kingdom of darkness that you’re currently living in, do you know that it’s constantly, perpetually bad news? Do you know that you’ve got a steady diet – day in and day out – of bad news? That any time I turn on the news, my soul is literally crushed, ground up, and thrown out. How do I go home and describe to a 9 year old, a 7 year old, a 4 year old, and a 2 year old, why people go into schools and murder people with guns? See, we don’t know how to enter into that conversation. So we just disconnect and disassociate. Or we numb ourselves. And we drink or we use or we look at porn or we find some kind of other pleasure to just disconnect from the world, because that’s normal stuff. I hadn’t even gotten over Sutherland Springs church shooting. Now there’s another one. This is the constant diet in the kingdom of darkness, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even gone through my Rolodex yet: abuse, abandonment, abortion, addiction, abduction. Do you understand that we live in a region – I’m talking about us, Texas right here – we have the unwanted distinction of being number one in the nation for children who die in the hands of their caretakers. That’s in our region. Kids that trust Mom and Dad to care for them end up dying at the hands of Mom and Dad who were trusted to care for them. You understand in our area between Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, there are 80,000 girls that have been abducted and used in the sex slave trade? 80,000 – that we sold eight times this week – and used. Slavery is bigger now than it ever has been. You understand that this year in America we’ll kill a million babies, because they’re inconvenient to us. And these things are just…this is why we just disconnect and disassociate, overeat, take pills, because we [want to] numb it. We’re surrounded by death. We’re surrounded by chaos. You see if the bad news in the kingdom of darkness isn’t actually bad news to you, the good news will never be good news. If you aren’t actually connected with what’s going on in the kingdom of darkness, that’s run by a murderer, a liar, a thief, then the good news of Jesus Christ will never really be good news to you. It just won’t.
But Jesus shows up and he begins preaching the Gospel of God. Let me give you the really really really good news today. God is not happy with the way things are and they won’t always be that way! He sent his Son Jesus Christ who entered this world, lived a life without sin, so He could die on a cross in my place – in your place – for our sin. He was buried. He entered the grave, defeated death, rose again, and said,
“Come follow Me. It won’t always be this way. There won’t always be abortion. There won’t always be addiction. There won’t always be abduction. There won’t always be this utter darkness. You see, I’m changing everything. I’m making everything new, and I want to do it through My body, the church.”
This is what Roman 16: 20 is all about. He’s soon going to crush the head of the serpent under your feet, Church, as we enter into this world and say,
“It’s not okay! It’s not okay! We’re not against you; we don’t hate you. We want you to come find help, find healing, find life.”
You see, someday the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord Christ, and Jesus will reign for ever and ever. One day there will be no longer any mourning, nor crying, nor pain, nor death. King Jesus is going to come and put an end to the kingdom of darkness. That’s the good news. That’s the good news. And I’ll clap for Jesus. I’ll get excited.
You see, my soul gets ripped apart every single week. Many of us don’t live in that world where we see it day in and day out. You see the kingdom of darkness, and your heart cries out: “Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20.
This is why we long to be about the mission that Jesus put us on, because there are a lot of people out there that need to hear about the hope that Jesus Christ gives. The kingdom messages couldn’t be more different. They just couldn’t. And listen, 50 percent of us are hopped up on anxiety, panic, fear, stress and worry. My team calls it the “Tooker Five”, because I’m always harping on it: anxiety, panic, fear, stress, and worry. It’s just we don’t even know how to relax, because we’re we’re imbibing this constant diet of anxiety, panic, fear, stress, and worry. We don’t understand the good news that Jesus is going to crush the head of the enemy. He’s going to. And so we have good news. We can have a smile. It’s not a fake smile, it’s not a chemical smile, it’s a real smile. Our King is coming back and he’s going to set all things right. He’s going to undo all of the sad, all of the sorrow. And we’ll live in utter joy for all eternity. Now watch he doesn’t end there.
Verse 15 – more good news. Now you may not interpret this as good news but it is. Mark was the first one to come up with the hashtag. Millennial’s, I’m sorry you didn’t. You don’t get that distinction. [In] verse 15, Mark sums up all of Jesus’ preachings, teachings and sermons. This is Mark’s sum up. This is what I love about Mark. He’s like, “OK, I don’t have a whole bunch of time. I’m going to hashtag this junk.”
Here’s what Jesus said: Hashtag: “The time is fulfilled.”
Here’s what he means by that. Every time that’s used in scripture, God has a perfect plan. He’s sovereign over all of history, and He’s carrying that plan out in perfect timing. Another way to say – “No delayed flights.” Everything’s perfect time. You go into the “Jesus airport” – everything’s on time and leaving on time. It’s wonderful. “The time is fulfilled.” This is Mark saying,
“God told us that the King was coming. And now the time has come for the King to come. The King is here.”
Hashtag number two:
“And the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Mark says you want to know what God is like? You want to know what the kingdom of God is like? You want to know what heaven is going to be like? Watch Jesus. Jesus is the live stream of God. He is the second Adam who is perfectly functioning under the authority of God. It’s why Jesus is a hero of mine. I just love him. He walked through this kingdom of darkness, [and] never sinned, never slipped up, always loved, always gave, everything was always perfect for Jesus. So you look at Jesus [if] you want to know what heaven is going to be like. Look at Jesus – He does away with all darkness, all sadness, all sin, all suffering. And He loves perfectly. People were drawn to Jesus. He was that place of joy. See most Christians don’t know this.
Let me prove it to you. How many of you – all honesty, [this is a] judgment-free zone, safe-place – how many of you have worried at some point or another that God was going to strike you down with lightning? Like even as a kid? We laugh because there’s a bit of truth in that. It’s like, “Oh yeah, I remember what it was like!” Many of us grew up with a lot of fear. [We think] today is that day. I just stepped a little bit too far, and BOOM, God’s going to put me down. He did it in the Old Testament, right? That’s why I like the New Testament, because outside of Acts, it seems like he’s done striking people. No…He struck his Son down. Now you can be in Christ, because He poured out all of his judgment, all of his wrath, on Jesus. So now we live by grace because He struck his Son down for us. He’s still holy. He’s still righteous, and you can see that perfection.
“The kingdom of God is at hand.”
The kingdom is where the King is, wherever Jesus is. And here’s a true statement: You see, Christ Jesus has come to live in me, and hopefully by grace through faith, and you too, if you’ve come to him, confess your sin, put your faith in him. So it’s true. If you want to see the kingdom of God, as Christians, I should be able to say,
“Come over to my house. Watch me love my wife. Watch Brooke, sweet girl, love me. Watch us together love our kids. Watch us love our neighbors. Watch. The kingdom of God is at hand. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Mark says at this time you’re going to see the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
More good news in this message:
“Repent and believe in the gospel.”
Good news. Amen?
OK, I’ve got about 17 percent of y’all, so much better than the first service. [Then] I had zero percent.
“Repent and believe in the gospel.”
See, about 17 percent of you believe that’s good news. The rest have probably been twisted up by culture. That’s like,
“Wait a minute. Repent and believe? That’s not good news! That’s kind of offensive. See, if you’re telling me to repent, you’re telling me I’m wrong. And I don’t like you telling me I’m wrong. That hurts my feelings. It doesn’t make me feel like I’m in a safe space. You’re offending me. See, I orbit around me, and I love me, and I love me some me, and I want you to orbit around me and love me some me, as much as I love me some me. And if you’re telling me to repent, that means you’re telling me I’m wrong. And that really hurts my feelings. I don’t feel safe anymore with you.”
And that’s kind of our culture.
”Don’t tell me to repent. That means I’m wrong. Don’t tell me to believe, because that means there’s dogmatic truth. Like there’s something real out there and this is all offensive. How is that good news, Dave? It seems like very very bad news.”
Let me tell you this: sin is slavery. I’m going to walk you through this very slowly. Sin enslaves; sin is slavery. It starts out and says,
“Just come and enjoy me.”
So you come enjoy. And it automatically begins to enslave you, and sin, as it enslaves you, it’ll take you further than you want to go. [It’ll] keep you longer than you want to stay there, and seek to kill you slowly, painfully, and not just you. No, no, no! It will kill your marriage. It will kill your kids. It’ll kill your family. It will kill your community. Sin loves to murder and to kill and to destroy. That’s what it does, and it won’t let you repent or turn. Sin is like a road with no U turns on it. Anybody ever been frustrated on a road with no U turns? “I need to turn around.” You can’t. It’s open for a U turn, but there’s a sign. What does the sign say? No U turn, and I have to obey it or else I get a ticket. No U Turn. So you have to go further. That’s what sin does. No U Turn. It’s like driving in Dallas. You’ve been there apparently! Just for the record, everyone here is laughing because this is a true story.
I was up there with my girl, Brooke, [and] our kids. Brooke loves Yelp [so she’s] looking up food. She found a pizza joint.
“It’s very close. It’s in Dallas.”
And it was on the map. It’s like,
“Oh, that’s around the corner, Sweetie. This is gonna be simple. I’ve got Ways. I’ve got Google Maps. My British lady will take me right there. This is going to be simple.”
I get in the car. True story – I get in the car, and I’m following (I’m listening) as she tells me to get on a road. I get on a road. And she starts,
{GPS talking} “Take a U turn.”
“Sweetie, you put me on a road and there’s no U turn. I’m in a tunnel. I’ve got concrete barriers.”
And all of a sudden I see it’s a toll road. Now I’m paying to drive somewhere I don’t want to go. I can’t turn around.
{GPS) “Turn around.”
“I want to!”
I end up in two or three different cities. I didn’t even know I could do that. Brooke calls,
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. I thought I was in Dallas. I went through Richardson. I’m in I don’t know what city. I’m in a city that got swallowed up by Dallas. I don’t even know where I am.”
Technically, I’m in the bowels of Dallas. Cause I’m in somewhere that got swallowed up in Dallas’ colon. I’m stuck. No U turn. No U turn. I can’t turn around. Took me a long time to go get that pizza.
No U turn. That’s what sin does, every time. It will imprison you. It will ensnare you, and it will not let you turn around. I can’t tell you how many times I was at the liquor store weeping. The lady would say can I help you. I was like I wish you could. I don’t want to buy this. I don’t want to drink this. I want to be done with it. And I’m enslaved. I can’t quit. And that’s where many of you are at today with sin, and you’ve just given up, you’ve just quit. Here’s the good news.
God loves U turns! Write it down! God loves U turns. He puts them up all over the place. Today is one of those U turns. You can repent right now! Right here! You can say,
“Lord I’m done. Please. I just want to repent. I want to turn from my sin and I want to believe that Jesus Christ can set me free from this. Now I want to get help, and I want to know there’s hope. And I want to know there’s healing. Lord, would you meet me in that?”
He says,
“Yes! I’ve put U turns everywhere. I’m nothing like Dallas. I love U turns. Come back to me.”
Isn’t that amazing?
That’s why it’s good news to an addict like me. That God is not against you. He’s for you and He puts up a lot of U turns. The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news. How He longs to set you free. And Mark says,
“I want you to know what the kingdom of God is like. Man, it’s beautiful. He’s put U turns everywhere.”
You see friends, He’s not slow about his promises as some count slowness. (2 Peter 3:9). He’s actually very patient towards me and you, longing for all to repent, and none to perish. [I’m] so glad He didn’t come back in 1992 or 1993. I’m so glad He was patient and He put up another U turn and another U turn and another U turn until 1996, and I took that U turn. Isn’t that amazing? Friends, today He’s put that U turn in your path to come back to Him.
So there’s the good news. Now that’s the good message that the kingdom of God gives us. It’s a beautiful message. It’s about hope. It’s about Jesus Christ, the one who changes everything. But now there’s a kingdom method that’s different than everything in this kingdom of darkness. Watch. I’m going to take you from [verses] 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. Before I do that, I want to ask you a quick question, just to set the stage so you know where I’m going with this. How do you set up and build a multinational, multicultural, multigenerational organization, operation, organism that changes the world for a thousand years to come? How do you set up that organization and operation?
Wal-mart? They’ve read Forbes Fortune 500. Wal-Mart. Okay….take Wal-Mart. It’s been number one on the Forbes Fortune 500 list for 11 out of the last 12 years. I think gross revenue last year brought in for 478 billion [dollars]. Right now currently they’re in 26 countries. How do you build that Wal-Mart? Isn’t that amazing? We look at Wal-Mart and we’re like,
“Wow! Save money, live better, falling prices. Awesome! I love Wal-Mart!”
Do you know Jesus has kicked the tail of every industry for all the ages? Everybody’s jealous of Jesus. They really are. Out of 195 countries, Walmart’s nailed 26. Jesus is in almost all of them. Wal-Mart brought in 478 billion last year. Awesome. Jesus brought in trillions upon trillions upon trillions and gave it out for free. He didn’t even have to give away stuff at low prices. Right? How do you build that? How do you build that operation, organization? I’m about to show you and it’s going to blow your mind and give you a lot of hope. Jesus did it the wrong way. He picked the wrong people. He put them in the wrong process, and charged the wrong price. And yet it’s changed everything. Watch how he does this:
“As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon…”
who’s going to be called Peter. He doesn’t do a whole bunch of stuff right, amen? Okay, some of us have read ahead in the story.
“He saw Simon, and Andrew the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea.”
Watch what Mark wants you to know first:
“for they were fisherman.”
Jesus totally picked the wrong people. Listen, in the kingdom of darkness you pick people that are pretty, popular, powerful or prominent. You want them on your team, right? Oh you guys haven’t watched many commercials? That’s right. You’re probably on Netflix. That’s all right, I forgot. We’re streaming time now.
You watch commercials and you’ll get the pretty people, the popular people. They wear Crest strips and are like,
“Come buy Crest strips and be as pretty, popular and prominent as me.”
Listen y’all, Crest strips aren’t going to help you. Your grill is jacked up. The Crest strips aren’t going to help. You can use them, enjoy them, they’ll take off some coffee stains. This world picks the prominent, pretty, popular, powerful people. Jesus shows up and says,
“Yeah, I’m not going to go to the universities and I’m not going to go to the temple. I’ll go walk along the Sea of Galilee, and I’m going to pick Napoleon Dynamite and Uncle Rico.”
Now that’s true. Listen. You go home and you do your background study. There’s a reason they were fishermen from fishing families. Right? (Listen, if you’re old, and you’ve never watched Napoleon Dynamite, go watch it. You’ll do yourself a favor.) For the older folks… [Jesus] didn’t get Bo and Luke Duke. He got Roscoe and Boss Hog. He picks the wrong people. Why does He do that? Why? Why does Jesus perpetually pick the wrong people? Well, because He’s the hero. Nobody else is. This is why. Write it down: 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 26, 27, 28, 29. He has intentionally picked the weak things, the base things, the foolish things, the things that this world says won’t amount to anything. Jesus says,
“Really? Watch how good I am. Watch how I can live in someone – empower them and live through them and change the world.”
So He does. He picks Napoleon Dynamites and Uncle Ricos that are just kind of goofy, Amen? Like that’s us! You get that right? And He loves to use weak people who will humble themselves and just say, “You know what, Jesus, you’re so amazing. I just want to humble myself, and even though I was never picked for dodgeball and I’m not the popular kid, the pretty kid, the prominent kid, I believe that You can change everything through weaklings who just submit themselves to You.”
You see, I’m afraid one of the biggest issues in modern Christianity is that we think that Jesus uses really prominent, popular, powerful, celebrity Christians. Celebrity Christians. You know what an oxymoron that is? Do you know how bizarre that is? I read through and the whole point is becoming nothing so that Christ Jesus might become everything. And yet we work our way up to become prominent celebrity Christians instead of being content. I must decrease so that Christ Jesus might increase. (John 3:30) He picked me not because of anything I had to offer the team. In fact, I might have messed the team up a lot, but He still uses me because He’s that good. So number 1, [Jesus used the] wrong method to show how strong and good He is.
Watch number 2, totally the wrong method.
“And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17
This is an ongoing process. This is a lifelong, ongoing process that Jesus says,
“Come, follow Me and continue to follow Me and I’ll make you to become…” (Read it in your text) “Fishers of Men. This is going to take a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort, a lot of resources. You’re going to have to spend a lot of time with Me. I’m going to be telling you “Peter, stop cutting off ears. It doesn’t help the kingdom, right?”
And that’s the process He puts us in. How amazing is this? Utterly amazing. You see, in the kingdom of darkness it’s all about hurry.
“Get it done now. How do I make disciples, like right now? I just want them to be immediately spiritually mature, and just go [away] so I don’t have to deal with them.”
Amen? It’s like this whole ‘dealing with people’ process is messy. This is what’s wrong with parenting now.
“I can’t wait till my kid gets off of the bottle.”
“I can’t wait till the kid gets out of diapers.”
“I can’t wait till she can walk. Then she can take care of herself.”
“I can’t wait until she can open the gate and the door on her own.”
“I can’t wait until she can dress herself. I can’t wait until she can bathe herself. I can’t wait until she can feed herself.”
“I can’t wait until she’s driving. I can’t wait until she’s in college. I can’t wait until she’s gone.”
“Sweetie, why don’t you come back for Christmas?”
I just can’t figure it out. We spend our lives pushing people away, saying,
“Man, you make my life so inconvenient.”
And then [we] turn around and long for them to be with us. Jesus’ method is all wrong, according to the King of darkness. He says, “Come be with me.” That’s His call to you today too.
“But Jesus there’s a lot to do. We got a lot to get done.”
“I know. That’s why I want you to abide with Me. I want you to rest in Me. I want you to come be with Me.”
See, He wants to change me from the inside out before I go try and change somebody else. He’s got to grow me and teach me what it means to walk in compassion, mercy, love, truth and grace. So He calls you today:
“Come be with Me and I’ll make you to become a fisher of men.”
See in this world, it’s all wrong. This world loves stuff – stuff and things. Anybody else love stuff and things? Oh, two. Thank you. Is that Giles? Me and Giles really love stuff and things. It’s one of the biggest idols in my heart. I don’t even know why. I just like stuff, and things. I like things that smell like plastic. I don’t know why. That might be the addict in me, but it’s got to be new stuff and new things. When I go to Target –
“What are you going to get at Target?”
“Stuff. Stuff and things.”
I’ll find myself wandering around Home Depot. I don’t even know why I’m there. There’s just so much stuff and things here. It’s wonderful.
“What are you gonna buy?”
“Stuff.”
“Well, what are you going to do with it? What’s your project?”
“I don’t know. I’m just going to do stuff and things, with my stuff and things that I buy because I love to do stuff with things.”
You love it. You don’t believe me? That’s why we fill up our house with stuff, and things, and then our house isn’t big enough. I mean it’s only thirty five hundred square feet. You know I don’t have enough room for my stuff and things. I’m going to get a canister so I can store more stuff and things in my canister.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I don’t know, but I might need those things someday.”
And so we put our focus on stuff and things. Jesus puts his focus on people. He says people matter. I’m going to use stuff and things to love people, to encourage people, to serve people, care for people, draw people into the kingdom. But, people matter. Stuff and things are all going to pass. Watch what he ends with in verses 18, 19, and 20. This is where I’ll end up.
“Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”
So, one set left their career; literally laid their career down, because for most of us dudes career is where we get our identity. Jesus says,
“I want you to follow Me.”
It’s like,
“Cool! I’ll do that as long as I can keep my career because that’s my identity. If I don’t have that I don’t know what I am.”
Jesus is like,
“Are you calling Me to come into the boat and be with you? Because I’m calling you to l leave that and come follow Me. Let your heart be loose of that because it’s not a big enough identity for you.”
Watch verse 19:
“Going a little further, He saw James, the son of a Zebedee, and John his brother who were also in the boat mending their nets.”
Watch verse 20.
“Immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.”
See, some people find their identity with family, with connection, with prominence. They hold on to family: “I’ll follow Jesus, but I just want to have my family, too.” Other people hold on to a career. “I’ll follow Jesus. I just want to have my career and find my identity in what I have, in my things, my stuff, my position, my security, my significance, my value, my meaning, my purpose.”
Jesus puts the wrong price tag on this y’all. He says,
“No, if you’re going to follow Me, it’s going to cost you everything. Everything you have. Everything you are. Every single day.”
“Well, that’s a pretty high price tag, Jesus. I don’t know. You see I love my stuff. Is there anyway I can follow You and take my stuff with me? I mean, not a whole bunch. I just love some of my stuff, right? I just it’s my stuff.”
And Jesus says,
“No, actually if you follow Me, you’ve got to let go of everything.”
“Everything? That’s the wrong price, Jesus! Talk about the antithesis of falling prices, save money, live better. You’re like the anti Wal-Mart. This is never going to work. This is a bad business plan. You expect this business plan to change the world? Leave everything? Everything? Family? Career? To unhinge and untie my heart from all of this earth’s possessions? You’re expecting me to leave everything and follow Jesus Christ? That’s foolishness!”
That’s exactly what Jesus called us to. Exactly what Jesus called us to. You see, if you won’t [leave everything], I guarantee you that the things you think you possess, actually possess you. Because sin enslaves. You can’t let go of it. That means it possesses you. You don’t possess it. And we’re an odd group of people because we get together, having left everything to follow Jesus Christ, and we find that we’ve lost nothing. In fact, in leaving everything to follow Jesus Christ, not only did we lose nothing, we actually gained the One who created everything. You see, He holds, maintains and sustains all things together. You’re a fool not to leave everything to follow the One who created everything.
What is your heart attached to? What is keeping you from following Jesus Christ? Because your life and Christianity is going to be very frustrating, very frustrating. Here’s how it’s going to go.
“Jesus, I’ve told you to get in my boat and follow me. Come make me a better fisherman. Make me more money. Make my life happier.”
And Jesus says,
“There’s a lot of U turns, and I want you to follow Me. I want you to follow Me and get out of the boat, because that controls you and owns you, and I want you to be free from that.”
You say,
“I don’t know if I can leave everything.”
Here’s the beauty of it – when you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, when first things take first place, guess what? Everything else is added on to us. (Matthew 6:36) The One who created everything loves to give good gifts, but not when they control our souls.
Have you invited Jesus to get into your boat? Have you invited him to orbit around you? Have you actually ever taken that step? Have you humbled yourself and said, “Jesus, I surrender all of these things to you. If you need to take them away, they’re yours. I want to give them to you.” That’s where freedom is found. That’s where life is found. Let’s pray.
Father God, thank You so much that You haven’t left me dead in my trespasses and sins, although I deserved that judgment; I deserved wrath. The fact that You sent your son to love me still overwhelms me, and Father, I want to be one who lays all of these things down before Jesus my King, and says thank You for these gifts because I would rather have the gift giver. So Jesus, anything You need to pry out of my life, out of my hands, I want to lay it before You, giving You freedom to renovate and change and adjust my life. And I pray Hillside Fellowship that we would be a body that lays everything before You, getting out of that boat and following You. Because we believe that You created, maintained and sustained all things. Jesus, our heart’s desire is that You’d come quickly. But until then, would You free our hearts to reach more people, and draw them into your kingdom for your glory? In Jesus’ name, Amen.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
14 Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
16 As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”18 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 19 Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.
OUTLINE
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QUESTIONS FOR NEXT WEEK
Mark 1:21-28
- What does Mark show us about King Jesus and His Kingdom in these verses?
- Does Jesus have authority over your life? Do you believe Jesus has authority over your sin and “stuck points”?
- What areas is He asking you to submit to today?