First Reading Isaiah 9:1-4
1But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
Psalm Psalm 27:1-14
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? 2When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, it was they, my foes and my adversaries, who stumbled and fell. 3Though an army should encamp against me, yet my heart shall not be afraid; 4And though war should rise up against me, yet will I put my trust in him. 5One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; 6To behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 7For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling and set me high upon a rock. 8Even now he lifts up my head above my enemies round about me. 9Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; I will sing and make music to the Lord. 10Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. 11You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” Your face, Lord, will I seek. 12Hide not your face from me, nor turn away your servant in displeasure. 13You have been my helper; cast me not away; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation. 14Though my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will sustain me.
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
10I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Gospel Matthew 4:12-25
12When {Jesus} heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — 16the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” 17From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
SEEING GOD
Generally speaking, sports fans are considered some of the most loyal and enthusiastic people. It doesn’t matter if it’s basketball, soccer, NASCAR or football, a good number of folks will do what’s needed to see their team play and succeed. Back in 2012, the Green Bay Packers were supposed to play the New York Giants for the NFC Championship. However, a huge snowstorm came through Green Bay and covered the playing field, and game officials considered postponing the game. Instead, Green Bay officials put out a call asking for help to clear the field. They offered to pay folks $10/hour to shovel snow off Lambeau Field. They needed around 400 people to do the job. To their surprise, 1,250 people showed up with shovels. Needless to say, they had no trouble clearing the field that day.
Almost any leader of an organization would get down on their knees and thank God if they could get just a few loyal, enthusiastic volunteers to work alongside them, much less 1,250 of them. This is especially true of the church. As I have often reminded you, the real church isn’t the building. The body of Christ is the people, the faithful followers of Jesus. And as a one of your congregational leaders, we depend on you, our loyal and enthusiastic volunteers to accomplish everything that we’re called to do in Christ’s name. We all know, one person cannot possibly accomplish everything that needs done in God’s kingdom. The church, the gathering of God’s saints, needs faithful people to accomplish its mission. Jesus understood this better than anyone.
After John the Baptist’s was arrested, Jesus left His home in Nazareth and moved to Capernaum. Scripture tells us He did this to fulfill the prophecy made through Isaiah, or a promise made by God, centuries before. Jesus also moved so that He could begin His ministry; to pick up when John the Baptist had left off. His message? It was the same message as John the Baptist’s, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17). To accomplish His ministry, Jesus knew the necessity of first going and gathering some volunteers.
Jesus needed a few good team members, a few good disciples, a small group of people to begin with, followers who would share His vision and commit themselves to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God. So, what does He do? He heads to the synagogue to find the most learned scholars in Capernaum . . . No, that isn’t what our gospel lesson for this morning tells us. Jesus instead takes a walk around the Sea of Galilee and sees a couple of fishermen, brothers named Simon Peter and Andrew. He calls out to these brothers and says, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” Now I need you to take careful note here of the response Jesus gets to this call: Matthew tells us, Peter and Andrew at once, or, “Immediately, they left their nets and followed him” (vs. 20).
Then Jesus, with Peter and Andrew in tow, walks on a little farther and sees two more brothers, James and John, mending their nets with their father, Zebedee. And when Jesus called to them, they too, straight away as the British like to say, leave their nets, their boat and their father, and followed Jesus. That’s the kind of response and enthusiasm any leader loves to see; no hesitation, no excuses, no “first let me go and bury my father” nonsense (Matt. 8:21). Jesus’ call goes out and immediately, those hearing the call, leave everything behind to follow Him.
Author Alan Cross said in an interview, “I hear people justify almost any action they take by saying, ‘I have to first think about what’s best for me and my family.’ That is often a discussion stopper,” Cross continues, “But, are we not called to think first about what God wants and how He might use us for His glory . . . ?” Yes, family is important, but God’s call must come before all else. This is something we need to come to terms with at the beginning of this new year.
The challenge we face, the challenge that comes with seeing God more clearly is, once we see God and God’s calling, we must make a decision—will we go back to our old lives, or will we give ourselves in complete obedience to God’s work? To consider this challenge, we might want to consider some of the things today’s passage teaches us about seeing God more clearly. First, if we want to see God more clearly, we’ve got to get up and go where God calls us.
Let me be blunt if I may: inaction, when it comes to God’s call, equals idolatry. Inaction on our part to God’s calls is proof that we place a higher value on something else. There’s something else in our life that we worship more, that we prioritize our own comfort or status, or safety more than we value serving the God who created us for His purpose and His glory. Throughout the Bible, God used the people who got up and went where He lead them. Abraham, Moses, Esther, Rahab, Jonah, the disciples, Paul—all of them had to head out into unknown territory, confronting unknown challenges in order to do God’s work. The first disciples weren’t sitting around watching paint dry when Jesus found them. They were busy.
The first disciples Jesus called had jobs, businesses to run, families to feed and plans for their weekend. They weren’t looking for new opportunities or for Jesus. Jesus went looking for them. The difference is, they saw something in Him, in His message and character and vision that led them to say “Yes” immediately and left to follow Him. Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John got up and followed Jesus because they saw God in Him, and they wanted to know how God could use them for His glory.
Napoleon Kaufman was a running back with the Oakland Raiders from 1995 through 2000. He had just signed a two-year, $6 million dollar contract. He had success, respect, money. But he felt dissatisfied and empty. But then something special happened in his life. He was at training camp, horsing around with his friends, cursing, acting like one of the guys, when a teammate came up to him and said, “Hey, Napoleon, you don’t really look like the type of guy that would be out here acting like this. Man, don’t you know that God can use your life?” Can you imagine someone, out of the blue, saying that to an NFL running back? “Don’t you know that God can use your life?”
Stop and think about that for a moment. Imagine Jesus walking into your place of business tomorrow—into your kitchen—wherever it is you start your day, and call you by name saying, “what are you doing? Don’t you know that God can use your life?” What excuses would come to mind? What objections? What fears? Those excuses, objections and fears are all idols; they are the things that we value more than we value knowing and serving God. What could God do with our lives if we followed Him without reservation and despite our fears?
When Napoleon Kaufman got back to his hotel room, he got down on his knees and prayed to God for forgiveness, and asked God to change his life. He began studying his Bible and trying to see God and God’s will for him more clearly. And he realized that God was calling him to get up and go, to leave his successful football career to become a pastor. As Napoleon says, “. . . I walked away from the game to serve God and to serve people—without any regrets.” That’s remarkable. Napoleon Kaufman answered God’s call and later he returned to the team in 2012 as their chaplain. This brings us to a second lesson we can learn: If you want to see God more clearly, you’ve got to get up and go where God calls you.
If we want to see God more clearly, we’ve got to focus more on the opportunities presented to serve God now, than on the life we leave behind.It isn’t easy marking out a new direction for our life. It isn’t easy leaving certain opportunities or comforts or relationships behind in order to do God’s work and live in God’s will, but sometimes, that’s what God is asking us to do. Moreover, don’t expect that the people around you will cheer you on.
More often than not, friends and family will question your decision and commitment; they might even reject you. Pastor and author Francis Chan writes, “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” Think hard about that for a minute. “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” The world’s vision for us isn’t God’s vision for us. Remember what Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The values that are important to this world are not the values of the kingdom of God. If our life makes sense to unbelievers, then we really do need to question if our life is aligned with God’s will and God’s values.
Read through the Bible, or through any biography of a great leader of God, and you’ll see that they viewed every moment of their lives as a God-opportunity. Every blessing was an opportunity to serve and glorify God, but so, then, was every heartache. Freedom provided an opportunity to serve and glorify God, but so did imprisonment. Good health and wealth provided opportunities to serve God, but so did weakness and sickness and beatings and starvation and poverty. Take Maria Agnesi as an example.
Maria was born in Milan, Italy in 1718. Her family discovered quickly that she was a genius. By age 11, she was fluent in Italian, French, Latin, German, Greek, Hebrew, and Spanish. By age 14, she was doing advanced mathematics. And she accomplished all this in spite of helping to raise and educate her nineteen brothers and sisters after her mother’s death.
In 1748, Maria “became the first woman to write a mathematics textbook with two volumes, titled the Basic Principles of Analysis.” It was one of the first textbooks to teach calculus. While most math books of her day were written in Latin, Maria wrote hers in Italian so that it would be more accessible to the common people. Her book was praised by the French Academy for its brilliance and clarity, and major universities used her mathematics textbooks in their classes.
Pope Benedict XIV appointed Maria Agnesi as the first woman to teach mathematics at a major university, but she turned down the honor so that she could focus on her true calling which was advocating for women’s education and serving the poor. She founded a hospital in Milan. Maria Agnesi could have been one of the most esteemed women of her time, but she chose instead to live out the rest of her life in service to the needy. She once wrote, “Man always acts to achieve goals; the goal of the Christian is the glory of God. I hope my studies have brought glory to God, as they were useful to others, and derived from obedience, because that was my Father’s will. Now I have found better ways and means to serve God, and to be useful to others.”
Maria Agnesi left behind success and honors and a comfortable life to glorify God and serve others. Did she find joy in her decision? According to her, yes. Indescribable joy, because she focused more on the opportunity to serve God and those who needed her, than on the life that she left behind. But we have one more lesson to learn from our reading, if you want to see God more clearly, you’ll find Him in serving others.
Look at what Jesus was offering His new disciples. He didn’t say, “Come, follow me, and I will make you more successful, or happier, or wealthier.” He didn’t say, “Come, follow me, and we will challenge the power of Rome, or restore the nation of Israel.” He didn’t say, “Come, follow me, and you will do miracles and receive supernatural power and attract huge crowds.” No, Jesus said none of these things, instead, He said, “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” From the very beginning, Jesus’ call was to serve others and draw them into the kingdom of God.
At 28 years old, Scott Harrison looked like he had it all. He was a successful nightclub promoter who got paid big money to organize parties that attracted wealthy young people and celebrities to New York City nightclubs. He spent his nights partying, drinking and gambling, and his days sleeping. One day, while partying on vacation in Uruguay, Scott suddenly realized that the money and parties and social status weren’t making him happy. He had recently begun reading the Bible and studying theology books. He said, “I was trying to find a way back. I’d grown up with a Christian faith that I’d completely walked away from.” Scott made a promise that night that he would change his life.
When he got back from vacation, Scott Harrison quit his job and began applying to work with humanitarian organizations like Oxfam and the Peace Corps. But they all turned him down because they couldn’t figure out how his skills as a nightclub promoter and party organizer could be used to help people. Finally, Scott got accepted to work with an organization called Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships is a non-profit organization that sets up hospitals on old cruise ships and sends them to the poorest parts of the world. Scott was put on a ship to Liberia and was given the job of photographing the work of the Mercy Ships doctors.
He took before-and-after pictures of patients with tumors, leprosy, cleft palates. Scott was so inspired by the work of these doctors that he wanted to share it with someone. He kept his old email list of clients from his nightclub promoting days, and on a whim, he emailed pictures of the Mercy Ships’ mission to his old clients. Soon afterwards, Mercy Ships began receiving donations from some of the most unlikely people on earth—the wealthy nightclub partiers who used to be Scott’s best clients. And suddenly, Scott knew exactly how God could use a former nightclub promoter to do His work.
He returned to New York and organized a huge party. He got his old clients to donate the venue and the refreshments, and he charged $20 per ticket to attend. He raised thousands of dollars that night, and gave every penny to Mercy Ships. But then God gave Scott Harrison an even larger vision for building the kingdom. While in Liberia, Scott learned that 2.1 billion people around the world don’t have access to clean drinking water. So, he created “Charity: Water,” a non-profit that has funded 30,000 water projects in 26 countries and provided clean drinking water to over 8 million people. One hundred percent of the public donations made to Charity: Water go to fund water projects around the world. “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” That’s what Jesus promised His new disciples, and they left everything and followed Him.
“Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” That’s what Jesus promises us as well. So, what’s standing between us and saying “Yes!” to God? What’s standing between where we are right now and where God wants us to be? Is there something we could be doing for God in this church or in this community? It doesn’t have to be as spectacular as Scott Harrison’s ministries. God uses small gifts just as surely as He does large ones. The best way for us to see God more clearly in this new year, is to ask God to give each of us a new vision for a way we can serve.
Amen
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