Follow Me - 2 Simple Words that Changed Millions by Rev. Scot Ocke (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

2 Simple Words - 2 simple words changed their lives.  Four fisher types are working their nets on the Sea of Galilee.  Everyone knows fishermen are not the brightest bunch, it was not a prestigious profession, not all that trustworthy or reputable.  You know fishermen - the fish is this... big!  But Jesus calls them – ‘Follow Me.’ Somehow, some way, Peter and Andrew do.  They drop their nets, get out of their boat, leave it all and follow Him, because of these two simple words.  Then Jesus encounters 2 more fisher types, they are mending their nets with their dad.   Fishing was family business, passed down through the generations.  They have probably been doing this a long time.  Besides, these two guys have a reputation – screamers, bar room brawlers, ‘Sons of Thunder’ they were called.  Like father like sons.   But Jesus calls them – ‘Follow Me.’ Somehow, some way, James and John do.  They drop their nets, say adios to their dad, get out of the boat, leave it all and follow Him.  

I wonder how this works.  A counselor would say you really have to be high on the ADD scale to just forget what you are doing and suddenly have a major brain shift to something totally different.  Huge doses of medication needed, they would say.  Ever have your kids come up to you and say, ‘I want this, I need that…’ and you say, ‘I can’t just drop everything and do that!’  Who just drops everything because someone walks by and says 2 simple words?  Why did these four fishermen do it?

Maybe a better question is, ‘Would I do it?  Would we do it?’  If Jesus came by and said 2 simple words, ‘Follow Me’, would we just stop everything and follow Him?  I have a feeling we would at least have to think about it.   I confess it took me two years after hearing my call to ministry, to follow it.  We would ponder the consequences, think about our families, wonder about our reputation for such a knee jerk action.  Would we lose the house, would our relatives think we were crazy, how would we live without our job?  What about my stuff?  Would we follow?  Would I follow?  I’m not sure about this.   But I’m pretty sure it’s -

1.  Not About Me   There was this guy Ptolemy, he was an Egyptian-born Roman scientist who lived in the 2^nd century.  Ptolemy concluded Earth was the center of the world.  All the planets, all the stars rotated Earth at its command.  The Sun rotated earth.   So we became the center of the universe.   Do you know some people who think the world revolves around them?  We call them egocentric, selfish, full of themselves, narcissistic.  (Turn to your neighbor and say, ‘I know who he’s talking about.’)  So if it’s all about me, my hang-ups, my questions, my fears, my stuff, I’ll never follow Him.

Thank God for a 16^th century astronomer named Copernicus.  Copernicus discovered Earth is not the center of the world; the Sun is the center - of at least our universe.  Earth and the other 8 planets revolve around the Sun.   Remember how you name the planets?  My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.  

So guess what?  I’m not the center either.  Someone bigger than me created me.   Someone smarter than me knows all about me.  Someone more lovable than me loves me.  This is hard because I still want to be the center, for it to all be about me.  Copernicus convinced the world it’s not about us.  The Sun does not rotate earth, earth rotates Sun.  So whose it about?  It’s all –

2.  About Jesus.   It is about the Son – the Son of God.   The Son is the center, it’s all about Him.  What was it about Jesus that caused these 4 fisher dudes to follow?  If it’s not about them, with their hang-ups, their reputations - our stuff, our questions and consequences, it must be about Him.  What is it about Him that would make me want to leave what I am doing and follow Him? 

Was it His charisma?   But that scares us.   Would we maybe sell the farm and give Him everything?  Would we eventually drink the blue Kool Aid?  What is it that makes people follow?  Could it be His passion for life?  His piercing brown eyes that can see through to my heart?  His drive to make the world right?  His ability to do what no one can do?  Could it be His unconditional love?  Could it be His ability to fulfill what we, what I could never  hope to fulfill in myself?

The video, ‘In Remebrance’ is shown the starting night of the Walk to Emmaus.  Tens of thousands of modern day pilgrims worldwide have been part of this great ministry to build Christian leaders.  The Walk to Emmaus is held in this area out in Bryan, OH and also in Toledo several times a year.  If you have not experienced the Walk to Emmaus I highly recommend it to you.  These 3 days with the Lord may be the best you ever experience. 

A part of the video portrays the Apostle Philip discussing his decision to follow Jesus with the beautiful young girl he loves, Rebecca.  She says, ‘I was afraid you would go back, but didn’t think it would be so soon.’  Philip says, ‘I love everything about this place.  I miss it so much when I am gone.  But I think Jesus needs me, I know I need Him.’  She says, ‘If your happiness is here, if our happiness is here, is that not more important than traveling around Galilee with some itinerate rabbi?'  Philip says, ‘I thought so.  Some nights I have been so lonely I thought I would die.  Everywhere I look I see this house, and think about you and all the good times we have had and our happiness.’  Rebecca says, ‘I wake up in the morning and say the world is good, but then I think Philip is gone, the world isn’t good and Capernaum is so far away…’   It’s about –Phi

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3.  Life Change   Jesus said 2 simple words, Follow Me, but these words changed millions.   Jesus’ purpose in calling us is making us His disciples. A disciple is one under the discipline of a Master.   The purpose is for the disciple to become exactly like the master.  So if we are His disciples, we are to become like Him in every way possible.

This is where many of us get really nervous.  We feel like those fishermen; not too bright, reputable or trustworthy; we have reputations.   This is why Jesus is all about changing our lives.  Discipleship is our job, life change is His job.   Imagine Jesus getting this memo 2000 years ago:

           

            To: Jesus of Nazareth

            From: Jordan River Management Consultants

           

            Dear Sir:

            Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial        positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we         have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for            each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. The profiles of all           tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

           

            As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor         will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes      without any additional fee.  It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in    background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.       They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for          persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

            Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no     qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, tend to     undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by             the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus            definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive                    scale.  One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and       resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He         is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller             and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.  We wish you every success in         your new venture.                                 Sincerely, Jordan River Management Consultants

We look at that and say, ‘That’s me, that’s us!  Jesus would be foolish to use me.’   But this is the point – the disciples are us!  They are, were the same as us.  They followed Him and He changed their lives for the better.  He turned them into great preachers, writers, leaders, miracle workers that changed the lives of hundreds, thousands of people around them.  So dare not think that because we don’t exhibit the greatest strengths or offer the greatest examples of Godly living that Jesus can’t or won’t use us.  We are exactly the kind of folks Jesus is looking for. 

The Bible says, Did you think that because he's such a nice God, he'd let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change (Romans 2:4).

‘Follow Me I will make you fishers of men.’ These men changed their lives, their lifestyles, their occupations and even their names.  From Simon to Peter, from Saul to Paul, and many others.   Peter and Andrew, James and John leaving their nets, their father, their little towns where they grew up, following Jesus, were all symbols of life change.

The purpose of this Bible story is to show us this is what is to happen to us.  We hear the call of Jesus.  Something inside urges us to follow Him.  Maybe it is disillusionment with the world, un-fulfillment in the job setting, a need for love, a discontented lifestyle.   Somehow we trust this man named Jesus.  So we take a risk and follow Him.

 

I have done some fishing at Rice Lake, near Toronto, Canada, most recently with a couple friends named Sam and Dave.  We are all Christ followers so it’s great to be together and encourage, help and support one another and pray together.  If we didn’t catch much we still enjoyed being together.  When one would catch a whopper the others of us cheered.

I remember going to Rice Lake with another friend.   I will call him Dan, though that is not his real name.  Dan’s family came to church each week, but Dan never did.  He said the church only wanted his money.  He had never read the Bible, never learned what the church was really about, and had several bad experiences in his church history.  But his wife kept inviting him. 

The first time he came was in mid November - when we were asking people how they would financially support our ministries!  I heard him cynically whisper to his wife when they were leaving, ‘I told you they only want my money.’  But somehow his wife kept encouraging him to come and for some reason he listened.  He came again and started coming every week. 

We developed a friendship. He got into a Sunday school class, attended a Walk to Emmaus, started teaching Disciple Bible study and helped with our youth ministry.  Despite some obstacles and setbacks, Dan was on the way to making Christ the center of his life.

For most of us, myself included, change happens gradually, it happens slowly, but it happens.  Look at this graphic of stages of our faith life.  We begin by exploring Christ – wondering if what is said about Him is really true.  We test those who already follow to see if they are authentic or crazy. Then something happens – for the disciples it was 2 simple words.  For us it might be a dream, a sickness, a need no human can fulfill, we go to a concert or someone speaks and we hear the words of Jesus and feel His presence.  There are all kinds of catalysts.  We throw it all down and follow Him. 

But this is only the beginning.  We then grow in our relationship with Christ; our spiritual life is enhanced and embodied.  It is a lifelong pursuit, but we grow closer to Him and keep growing to become more like the Master, Jesus, until He is the very center of all we think, say, and do.    We move from the Simon in us to the Peter we can be; from the Saul in us to the Paul we can be, from Scot in us to who Scot was really created and called to be.  Put your name here.   It’s –

4. About Unity   Seems everyone wants unity today.  Get the arguing, politicking, fighting, and division over with and bring us unity!  So - congressmen, movie stars, music legends, coaches, entrepreneurs, business gurus, preachers say, ‘Follow me!’  We will bring the company, the church, the team, the nation, the economy, the world together.  No. It never works, it never happens.   How does it happen? 

Jesus calls us, ‘Follow Me.’ When we follow He bring us into unity with Himself and then sends us out to bring others into unity with Him.  He sends us into the world, ‘Go into all the world and make disciples…  (Matthew 28). 

Karl Barth, Swiss theologian who publically stood against Hitler said, ‘The Word became flesh--and then through theologians it became words again.’  What did he mean?  I think he meant that the world changes not by words but by our actions, by our following Jesus. He wanted Christ followers to act on their beliefs and not just talk.

The Bible says, I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.  Even the church has unity problems.  The Apostle Paul knew he could not unify them.  So what does he do?  I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…  (1 Corinthians 1:10)

Think about all the places Jesus chooses to minister:  (14) that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:  (15) "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- (16) the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."  These are remote, out there places and out there people.  Places with people who have not heard or do not want to hear about God.  But Jesus takes His followers there.

Jesus could have spent His ministry around Jerusalem and all the long time Jews.  But He chose to be out in the country, out with other nations of people, people in the dark about God.   Why? Jesus wanted to bring people and nations together.  He wanted to bring the unity no one else could ever bring.  He still wants us to do it today.

I certainly don’t have all the answers about this, but I am convinced that 2 Simple Words are the beginning of life change and world unity.  He has already changed millions of lives.   I know He is calling us.  Where will He take us, who will we meet, with whom can we be in ministry?  Who will be brought into unity with us and Christ because we become His disciples?   I am not sure how the world will be changed for people we come into contact with in places we would not otherwise go.   I am not sure of all those specifics.  But I do know Jesus is calling us, I know He is still changing lives.  I know Jesus is powerful and is with us.  So will we stop at words or will we do something that changes us and the world around us?