The Calling - Mark 1: 16-20

0:55So what does this word calling mean? We use it quite regularly. You might hear somebody ask, What is your calling? Or if you're especially good at something, they might compliment you by saying, You have a calling. Or you might even hear something calls to me. Thinking of a popular movie, it calls me. And you hear these kind of things all the time. If you know what that is, you've probably got kids or are one. Anyhow, it's all the time, all the time. We know this word, we use this word, but do we stop to think what it really means?

1:37In our text, verse 20 is where we see it. Call, in some translations, you might see summons. He called them. In our context, this refers back to and is closely associated with verse 17. If we want to know what it means when he says he called, look at 17. He said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Now, there's an interesting grammatical thing. My young adults will know that I'm a fan of grammar, even though I'm not good at it. I'm still a fan.

2:17There's a word there that some translations give and some don't. Some translations here would say, Come, follow me. There is, in fact, a word there. It is an interjection that I think, while it is not necessarily intended in the text, it serves as an illustration for us tonight. An interjection, if you're not familiar with the grammar term there, is when a thought is stopped and there is a word or a thought given in the middle and before the thought continues. So he's walking along, nobody's expecting it. Out of the blue, come, follow me.

3:00It just interrupts everything unexpectedly and interjects. And that's exactly what happens. They're in the middle of mending nets and doing fishermen business, and suddenly everything stops. Come and follow him. And this is part of what it means to come, to receive the call, rather. When we receive the call, we are told to stop doing one thing and go do another. We are called to somebody, we are called to do something. The call takes us from one position or situation into another position or situation. This is part of the definition of a calling or a call. This is what he is doing here for these men in this story. There's another idea that we might could use to represent this idea, and it's called repentance.

4:00To turn. You're going one direction, you stop, and you go the other direction. And I think it is very clear in this text that this is part of the idea of what's going on. If you look in verses 14 and 15, immediately preceding our text, you'll see the purpose for Jesus' coming. You'll see that he came, verse 15, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. And as I Have hammered over and over and over when I've been going over this with young adults. This is the point of the book of Mark. Every time Jesus goes somewhere, he is calling people to repent and to believe. And when he comes to these disciples, he is telling them, Stop what you are doing, come follow me.

4:53If there is perhaps any doubt in what I am suggesting to you, I would point you to Luke chapter 5, verse 8, where there is a slightly more detailed elaboration on this exact same story. And Peter says to Jesus, he says, I am a sinful man. Go away. Like, I don't deserve to be with you. And what does Jesus respond with? He says, do not fear. I will make you a fisher of men. See, this is what we have going on here. He says, turn away from your previous life. Turn away from your previous behavior. Turn away from everything you knew and everyone you knew. Come follow me.

5:38Praise God that despite the fact that we are all sinners, he is the one who can tell us, do not be afraid. Follow him. It is a call to repent. And let us not be confused here. It is going to change everything. There is. A price. It is not just something you just do, and you know, I'm living my life, and oh, and I've followed God too, but my life is the same, and I do the same things, and I'm going from day to day to day, the same routine, and nothing looks different, and I don't do anything different, and I am not different. But I have the name Jesus written on my monographed Bible that I got when I was in VBS. So it's all good. No, it is an entire change. In Luke, I believe it's chapter 14, it says that you will hate your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters to follow him. You will leave your family behind.

6:47Now, in our story, if you look further forward, Peter, one of the two called, is going to be back in his house with his mother-in-law. We have family right here in this church. Am I suggesting that your entire life means changing means that we cannot have family? No, not at all. But Jesus is your all. You follow him. You're not following after your family. You're not following after your other relationships. He is the defining aspect of your life. And he has called them to make himself Jesus, the defining aspect Of their life. Now, whether they do or not remains to be seen. This is an early part of the gospel. You'll notice that they're not the only ones following Jesus. He has quite a large crowd. There's a lot of people following Jesus. Does this mean that they're all saved? No, that doesn't follow either. They have received the call. Later on, there's going to be a parable of the soils. Some of the soils, when the seed is planted, you'll note that it comes up almost immediately. But then what happens later? When the sun beats down on it, it's going to wither. He has called them. He has called them away from their other worldly desires and other worldly cares. He has called them to, as I said, in a word, repent.

8:26He has called them to believe in him more than anything else, to make him their identity. And then we will follow their story. And in fact, at the end of Mark, in chapter 16, verse 8, we're left with a question. They're running away in fear. And the entire book of Mark is looking. Are they going to follow Jesus? Are they actually making him their Lord? But this is the call. But that's Not all. You'll notice that when he calls in verse 17, he doesn't just say, follow me. What else does he say? I will make you become fishers of men. I'll make you become fishers of men. So a note here: this has a number of different ways you could take this. In chapter 3, verse 13, just a little bit later, the 12 are specifically called out, of which these are four.

9:33And these twelve are going to serve as apostles, as sources of scripture, and hold an office which no longer exists today, but can be summed up as a ministry, a vocational ministry. That ministry still exists. We still speak of the call to ministry. And let me take just a moment to say to you that church ministry as a vocational calling does come from God. Our own statement of faith states that church leadership are all appointed through his sovereignty as found in the scriptures. God calls to ministry, and you respond. And this is where in my notes I should have put convincing statistics here, but I can give you some anecdotes that I know of. There are Some churches right here in this town that have been trying to find ministers of the gospel, and they are struggling to do so. The seminary I just recently graduated from, a growing minority, nearly the majority, are from places outside of the United States attending.

10:54We have a growing shortage. The average age of the pastors in the United States has been on the increase for nearly a decade. It has been going up and up and up. Which, on the one hand, from a wisdom perspective, is great. On the other hand, we need more pastors. Now, I would point out to you that if God is calling you to the ministry, you are to obey it. And I am convinced that where there is a shortage, there will be a provision. Look at Titus. There was a sudden need in Crete, and Titus was sent to appoint elders. Was that just because they were just going to come up with some unqualified folks? Or was that because God was going to raise the qualified needed leaders? So he calls leaders to his church. Right here, he is calling the men that would eventually become the apostles and only Two chapters later would be officially named such, who have no education, very little understanding of who Jesus is. They follow him only a little while before they become his official twelve, and yet he has set them aside for this and called them to that. But it is more than just a call to the ministry, it is also a call generally to evangelism. Fishers of men, turn with me, if you will, and I debated whether I'd do it or not, but I will turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 16. It's simply too good. I really want to look at it. Jeremiah chapter 16, starting in verse 15, I'm actually going to read a little bit. But as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where he had banished them, for I will restore them to their own land which I gave their fathers. Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen, declares the Lord, and they will fish for them. And afterwards, I will send many hunters, and they will hunt for them. And every mountain and every hill, from the clefts of the rock. For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. I will first doubly repay their iniquity. Their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with carcasses and of their detestable idols and with their abominations. O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, futility, and things of no profit. Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods? Therefore, behold, I am going to make them know. It is time I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know my name is the Lord. This idea of the fishers of men undoubtedly would have been known, this text in Jeremiah, beautiful text.

14:31And it's this idea, he's going to fish for them wherever they are, in the hard places. And if you know, if that wasn't enough, he's going to send hunters to get them. Now, in Jeremiah, the context there is the exiles to Babylon and those that have been kicked out of the land being brought back. And very likely, and I would say there's a future sense, even from our perspective. And yet, There is this concept, not just the land, not just the actual nation of Israel. But notice that the nations are referenced. The nations are going to find salvation through this bringing back of Israel. What happened through the story of the New Testament? Well, first, you have an acts, you have an explosion of the church, a harvest, if you will. There's this bringing in. The Israelites accept Jesus in large numbers, and then they get kicked out. And they disperse. You see, some of them go to Antioch and to some other places. And then what begins to happen? That word that begins with Israel through the gospel brought to us and completed in Christ goes out to all the nations. And someday will be brought to its complete finality. The fishers of men. It's the evangelistic purpose to which we have all been called to bring people back, to bring people face to face with the truth of the gospel. And folks, this is for everybody.

16:24There is no minister, pastor, elder. Staff member of the church that can evangelize and do the job of the church. We as a people are called to go out and be fishers of men. Look in the Great Commission as an example of this. We see this calling, and we see that it is a calling that tells us to come from one state, from one place to another, to repent of the old man. The old man is dead and left behind, and there is a new life, a new creation through salvation. And then, as part of that, we will then become fishers of men, through which Christ is bringing the kingdom of God.

17:27So we see this, but then there's a question. We talk a lot about this call. But how do we know the call? How do we receive it? Well, this one is, I don't believe, a trick question. How does Jesus give it in this example here to these disciples? He gives it through his words to their ears. Through his words to their ears. It's through their senses communicating. To them. And how do we have it here today?

18:04We have it through Scripture. The call is right here, black and white, for all of us to read, for all of us to know. The call is communicated in a way that cannot be misunderstood, cannot be misattributed. It is on the authority of Christ to us. It was given to them in person, and it is given to us through the testimony that they each in turn wrote down for us. It is communicated. Now, I do, in fact, believe that the Holy Spirit speaks. I think that the Holy Spirit speaks regularly. If he did not, then there would be no conviction, which we'll speak of in just a moment, of sins. He is communicating conviction of sins. He communicates by illuminating the Scripture to us. He communicates regularly. But far be it from any of us to stand up and declare, thus saith the Lord, and it's something not in Scripture. Because Scripture is the authority on which we have our calling. Yes, the Holy Spirit may speak, but he speaks as a testimony to Jesus Christ, the word. He speaks in clarification of it. So he. He speaks through our senses and he speaks with spiritual consequence. Conviction, I mentioned it. Peter was convicted. I already mentioned just a moment ago that Peter, when he was first confronted with Jesus in this interaction here, his immediate reaction was conviction. This is part of the call. This is how it is received. It is received by a constant reminder of how we should act and who we should be.

20:08And finally, it is received through the church. So here I have a fun test for all of us. I want everybody to raise up a hand, doesn't matter which hand, point a finger to the sky and put your finger on the back of your neck, on the base of your neck. Okay. You've all successfully, from my vantage point, done so. That's good. Thank you. So who can see the back of your neck? Your own back of your neck.

20:36Nobody. And when your finger is behind your head, who can see your finger? Nobody. So how was everybody just now able to connect finger with back of neck? And I dare say everybody immediately, you didn't like try to find... Oh, there it is. You went straight to it. How are you able to do that? It's called proprioception. I just like the word. It's an awareness of your body. I, generally speaking, have a fairly good idea of where my limbs are.

21:14This is why I can walk without looking down at my feet all the time. I have an awareness of my body. Now, so here's how I can make sense of this for you. If Jesus is the head, the central nervous system, and we are all different body parts in the church with different functions, we all still have a pretty good idea of where we each are, and we can find each other, and we have a good sense of where we each should be. We have a pretty good understanding through the Holy Spirit, and because we are all connected to Christ, of what right is.

22:05Does that mean that there is never an apostate church or even a right-standing church that gets things wrong? No. But it does mean that, generally speaking, one lone person is less likely to be correct than the church as a whole. We are here to edify each other. I mentioned the calling to ministry. How do we know this calling? How is this calling connected? Communicated. Well, we have this thing called ordination. During my ordination, I got asked a question, which I at least have been told usually gets asked: What would you do if we said no?

22:47And there's a couple theories on how you should answer that. But my response, and I stand by it, was: gentlemen, the Holy Spirit, I believe, speaks to me, and I believe I have a calling to ministry. But I also trust that you, as the community of elders, have a good understanding of the Lord's intent as well. And I will take whatever He speaks through you as my answer. This is part of why we submit to the leadership of the church. This is also part of why we as a church support each other. We can understand the calling to repentance. Every member of this church first must be saved before they are allowed into the membership roles. And we, as a church, we do not do the call. We do not make the call to salvation. God calls them. God saves them. We recognize that. We confirm that. We encourage that.

23:57The same with the ministry, the same with the ministry. With the call in general. And as far as that call goes, is this calling to who does it go? 14 and 15. Again, the context for where we are at. He goes to the disciples, but as he is going, what is he doing? He is declaring his gospel to everybody, preaching it, declaring it. His words are going out to everybody. The call is general. But then, but then, if it's to a people, a people are made of people.

24:44See, he calls everybody, but then he walks up and he says, I want you, and I want you, and you. And he calls each individual personally. The very act in John chapter 3, the very act of regeneration is a very personal act, the Holy Spirit rebirthing an individual person. Yes, there is a communal call. Yes, there is a communal aspect to salvation, but it can only be accomplished in the community through the individuals who are interacted with and called individually. You are called by name by God Himself. You are called to salvation. You are called to Evangelism, you are called to follow. You are called to be a disciple, just as these disciples were called.

25:41So, we have my proposition to you. In verses 16 through 20, we have an example of Jesus calling for men, a small sliver of an ongoing story throughout the gospel from which we understand and begin to see what the call of Jesus in the lives of men and women mean, looks like, and is. So, my question: I've said you're called. Have you responded to the call? If you're not a Christian, if you have not started to follow the Lord, tonight's your opportunity.

26:30Speak to me, you can speak to any one of the folks, the leaders in this church, and you can learn more. We can talk some about what this means, what it's going to look like to follow Christ. If you have accepted Jesus Christ, have you been following Him with your life? Have you been actually following Him, neglecting everything and anything? That would stand between you and him. That is the next step. You cannot really say you are following him unless you have made that step. Is he the Lord of your life?

27:15Are you fishing? And this is my last question for you. Are you fishing? Because if you are following Christ, then he says with no uncertainty, you will be a fisherman. You will be telling others this good news about Jesus, who they too should follow. We should be a people that are fishing. We should be a people that are reaching others. Let us pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for your call. I thank you for giving us your word, your gospel, for giving us the grace, for working in our lives to change us fundamentally. I thank you that while we've left our old life, we have so much more in you. I thank you for your love.

28:18And all of this, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.