FOLLOW JESUS | Mark 1:16–20 | Pastor John Anderson | 6.7.26

Follow Jesus

Transcript

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Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Girl and Pastor John Anderson. Welcome to the Resurrection Church Podcast. Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin. So whether you're listening to the one if it is folding some laundry or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds me that resurrection isn't just something that happens, it's something God is still doing. Enjoy this week's message.

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Well, welcome. I love when I give Pastor Ryan an idea and he and he does stuff like that, and it's my favorite. Um he originally had done an AI version where my face is on Harrison Ford's face. Uh, and I personally liked it. And uh he uh he didn't want to give that to me, so friends. We are uh someone said nope. We are in a new series back to the basics. I'm John, I'm one of the pastors here. If uh if you uh haven't met me or if you aren't aware that we have a couple pastors here, and we are in a new series. We just finished a series, practicing the way. And Pastor Ryan and I were trying to prayerfully figure out where we should go next. And and first, a big thanks to Mary, who I don't Mary's not here right now, but Mary Mary Howitch, who celebrated her birthday last week. She helps to beautify our space inside and out. And she's got these new banners up. And this table setting here is a reminder if you're if you're new to our community, that for us, the table is the central point of our gathering. While it might seem like a basic thing, it's the most important thing. So, Pastor Ryan and I thought, well, let's go back to the basics, not because faith is simple, and definitely not because life is simple, but because sometimes the most important things are also the most foundational things. So this summer, we're gonna talk about prayer, we're gonna talk about forgiveness and generosity, we're gonna talk about serving and trusting God, we're gonna talk about Sabbath, real rest, and we're gonna talk about community and hope. But before all of that, before any of those things, before prayer, before service and generosity, even before worship, our Savior calls us to follow. Jesus' first offer is a simple invitation, follow me. Before the miracles, before the sermons, follow me. A few years ago, Andrea, my wife and I, we found ourselves in a season where we were really wrestling with a decision. In the middle of heavy discernment, we were at a call, uh, a church in McWanago, and uh, we'd been there for three years, and it was a community that we loved, people that we that we loved. We knew the people, we knew the rhythms, we knew what tomorrow would look like, and then and then God began to stir something in us. Somebody in this room gave me a phone call and said, Would you prayerfully consider coming back to resurrection? And I said, No, and then uh and then we prayed about it. And as we kept praying about it, and we kept praying about it, and by the way, just a quick side note if you're not praying with your spouse, pray with your spouse every day. Every day. But we began to pray about it, and and we realized that this church that we were called to consider was already a part of our story. We were here. If you if you don't know, my family and I were here back in 2019 when my kids were a lot shorter. Um, if you notice, my my twin boys, they they stand, they tend to stand on their tiptoes when they're around me, uh, which is very frustrating. Um, and so we began to pray and we heard this one certainty. We just we kept hearing Jesus say, follow me, follow me. Follow me, follow me. And so we paid attention to Jesus. And eventually Jesus led us back here. But I think we've all been there. I I know we have, wondering if what we're hearing or what we're experiencing, is it our own creation? Do we give in to the voices of fear and uncertainty? Wondering if what we're hearing, we're hearing correctly. What wondering about what's gonna happen next if we make this leap of faith? These were all very important questions for myself, but especially for my wife. There is no five-year plan. Are you gonna be really busy? No, not at all. God didn't show us how things would unfold. There was just this simple, growing sense of follow me, and we did. And not only do we get called back to a community that we see growing and thriving, but I get to work next door to my best friend and the guy that introduced me to Jesus. And that's exactly what we see in today's gospel: a simple invitation to follow, but perhaps something we ignore too often. And as we enter that scripture, let us pray together, church. Let's pray. God, I ask that for these next few moments, as we enter your scriptures, that you would silence all those other voices that are pleading with us for our attention, that you would that you would help us to only hear your still and constant voice, your your voice that offers life, your voice that offers forgiveness and mercy, your voice that offers us the truth. Help us to learn from this early church. Help us to follow you. As always, I pray the meditations of my heart and the words that pass through my lips, your years, oh God. It's in Christ's name I pray. Friends, we're in Mark 1, and it's a story that perhaps you've heard before. Uh Mark, the Gospel of Mark, we think the first gospel written, the shortest gospel, which is always why I say it's Pastor Ryan's favorite. Uh, and that's not true. Uh, but uh but it's in the gospel of Mark, things happen immediately. In fact, we heard it twice in this reading immediately, immediately. And it begins with these ordinary fishermen who are fishing at the Sea of Galilee, ordinary workday, ordinary nets, and then Jesus comes along and says, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people. And here's the craziest part of this story. Immediately they left their nets and they followed. It's so remarkable what they did here. Jesus doesn't explain where they're going. He does He doesn't explain what's coming next. He doesn't pull Peter aside and say, Peter, at Pentecost, you're gonna preach one of the most famous sermons ever preached. He doesn't pull James aside and say, James, you're gonna be the first disciple that gets martyred. He doesn't pull John aside and say, John, you're gonna write everyone's favorite gospel. He doesn't tell them about the cross, he doesn't tell them about resurrection, he doesn't even tell them about the church. He just says, follow me. And somehow in that moment for them, that's enough. And this isn't a new pattern in scripture, by the way. God leads this way. We can go all the way back to Genesis. You remember Abraham? For those that don't know, Abraham is uh someone we consider a patriarch of the faith. Through Abraham and his generations, God said, His purposes will be fulfilled on the earth. And we meet Abraham as Abram. And the first time we meet him, here's how we meet him. God says this to Abram. We all of a sudden he comes out of nowhere in the scripture, and then God says to this man, Abram, Abram, I want you to leave your country, I want you to leave your family, I want you to leave your father's house, and I want you to go to the land that I will show you. And Abram says, Okay. Church, that's wild. If Ryan and I came to your home or to your place of work and said, Stop what you're doing, follow us. By the way, I don't know why you're laughing. We're your called shepherds. So maybe don't laugh so hard at that, but I bet for all of you, I bet would be like, is Ryan making a video? Why are where are we where are we following you to? No, it's crazy, it's reckless even, but they do it. God doesn't provide a map, God doesn't provide a timeline, God doesn't explain how. And so, God, I trust you with this. It's it's less about having all the answers and more about trusting the one who does. And I'll tell you what, thinking you have all the answers is exhausting, I promise. You don't. I do if I'm arguing with my kids or my wife, but otherwise you don't. No, especially then I don't. Here's my first question for you today. What if faith is not having all the answers? What if faith is trusting the one who calls? And that's what discipleship is. And maybe you're like, wow, we've heard all these stories before. Follow me, follow me. Yeah, but are you following Jesus? Discipleship is not knowing everything, it's not understanding everything. It's definitely, it's definitely not controlling everything as much as you want to. Trusting Jesus, trusting Jesus means enough to just take one more step into the promise. And so the text asks us pretty clearly, who are you following? Who are you following? I think there's a lot of us here today in church. I say this in love and as gently as possible. I think there are a number of us, and I shared this at the first service, and if you're listening online, I think there are a number of us who admire Jesus, but we're not following him. We all follow something. Some of us follow success, some of us follow comfort and achievement, some of us follow politics, and as a result of that, some of us follow fear, some of us follow approval, some of us follow whatever voice happens to be the loudest in the room at that moment. But the question isn't whether you're following something, the question is who are you following? What is shaping your life? If someone were to look at your calendar, your spending, your priorities, your conversations, what would they conclude about you and who you're following? And church, I'm not just preaching at you, I'm preaching it myself. I'm tempted each day to follow the loudest voice or to follow the idea of control, things that will never actually satisfy me and leave me in my toughest moments. We're not called to admire Jesus. We're not called just to thank Christ for the cross. We're called to follow. And we gather here for an hour or an hour and 20 if I'm preaching. And we sing the songs and we pray the prayers and we hear the scriptures, and then Monday comes, and instead of following Jesus, we fall back into the same rhythm where we follow fear and we follow anxiety and we follow anger, or we follow whatever numbs us so we don't have to deal with the own junk in our life. We follow comfort and culture, we follow whatever promises us control because God forbid we don't know what's gonna happen. And I don't say any of this with judgment, I say it with sadness because following Jesus, I promise you, is the most life-giving way there is. It is not the easiest. And so if you came here for easy truth and for easy comfort and to be sent off with an easy smile, that's not what Jesus calls you into. I hope there's joy in this room. I don't know how there can't be with Pastor Ryan here. I hope there's joy in this room. But church, we're supposed to leave and do some hard work. Following Jesus won't always be easy. But it's a great reminder that we're never alone. The one who called Abraham, the one who parted seas and fed multitudes, the one who conquered death and calls us into surrender, calls us to follow. I love this story in Mark, but but Mark's gospel is so short, um, which some of you may love. I love the the version in Luke. And by the way, uh the video that Pastor Ryan shared was meant to be funny, but but it was also meant to be a reminder. You can open these. And maybe maybe you have yours on a device like this. That's okay too. But you can open these because you'll find great truths in here and great reminders, by the way, that following Jesus isn't easy. Listen to this in Luke 5. Same story with a little bit more context. Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Genneseret, which by the way is just another name for the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little while, a little away from the shore. Then he sat down and taught in the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master, look, we've worked all night long, but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, yet if you say so, I will let down the nets. And when they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people. And when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. I love this scripture because in the beginning it's a reminder that following Jesus doesn't require as much as you think it does sometimes. Sometimes we think it has to be these deep, powerful moments where we're overwhelmed by the song and we fall to our knees and we shout, Oh God, oh God, save me. And those moments are real, by the way. But that's not what Jesus is calling us to. And I can prove it right here. He begins by Simon, will you put it out a little way? The first instruction to Simon is just to give a little. Simon, who he would call Peter, Petrus, the rock on which I'll build my church. And then he and then he says to Simon, after his sermon is done, he says, Simon, go out there and fish in the deep water. And can you imagine, by the way, if you are a fisherman and this guy's, you know, he's like, nice sermon, dude. Thank you. I'm the fisherman. I appreciate the tip. But then he teaches us how to pray. Because he says, God, I don't think I can do this. Yet if you say so. That's an authentic prayer life. God, I'm not sure of this outcome. God, I'm putting my faith in you, but I'm my own. I'm pretty sure this is gonna fail. Yet if you say so, God. And then Simon does what we all do. He recognizes who God is, and instead of clinging to him and saying, Can I follow you? He says, Go away from me, God, for I'm a sinner. And we do that. We all take the wisdom of today and we beat up our past mistakes with it. It's not what God calls us to. And then look at what he does. He gets up with James and John and they follow. They leave behind everything. And this is Peter. Peter, who, by the way, would get it wrong a few times. Peter who would shout, You are the Christ. Peter who would also say, I don't know who that is. Peter who was called to follow. And we're called to do the same. I I've I've learned a lot in my in my show. I keep I'm I have a birthday this month, and uh I only tell you that just as a heads up for gifts. And the and I I this is not like a bit, I forget my age sometimes. And I have been uh I've been adding I've been adding years to Pastor Ryan's life for since we were in college, because he was a year older, or two or three years older than me. I never remember. And and so I would tell people his age, and I this is a true story, so much in fact, that I've confused him, and he's not entirely sure how old he is any longer. We celebrated his wife's birthday this past week, and she's very young, very young woman. Um, but I'm thinking about age and and just how many years I lived and what I've learned, and and and I tell you what, life, if you're able to live it, it gives you a whole bunch of wisdom, I hope, and perspective. And I thought about those moments in my life when I just chose to follow Jesus and the fruit. Those moments in my life, by the way, when I chose to follow Jesus and God seemed so silent, but I kept pursuing Christ. I'm gonna invite the band to come up. We're gonna sing a song, Oh my soul, in a moment. You know, I've talked a lot about Ryan this sermon. Uh one of the reasons when I talk about Ryan in high school, because because I think some of us, again, I think we think following Jesus is this complicated thing. And I want to go back to to where I challenged you a little while ago. I think that you there are many people in this room who probably love Jesus, but but you you don't really want to follow Jesus. And I'm encouraging you, church, I'm I'm begging with you to follow Christ. I talk about Ryan a lot because in high school he was unique, and not like you like not like the he's unique now, but he was he was unique. And here's what stood out about Ryan in high school everyone knew that he followed Jesus. That's weird, that's not normal, at least for me, that he was unashamed of it, and and and he Ryan's not perfect, and he always says, buddy, you you sell you oversell me a little bit. I don't think I do, but he's not perfect. We can tell you all sorts of stories, and in fact, after worship, I'll be in the meeting room. Um but he followed Jesus and he did it while stumbling sometimes, but he did it, and I noticed it, and other people noticed it, and it was a reason when I was a freshman at the UW Stevens Point, it was easier for me to listen to him because I'd seen him model this his whole life. These weren't just words, and he just chose to do it. Church, we're called to do it, and oh, how much we miss, and not just with our relationship with our savior, but oh how much we miss in the world around us to be Christ to a world that so desperately needs Christ. That's why we're called to follow. These four men would follow Jesus and they would be confused and they would have questions. Even at the cross, they would be sad and and and they would disappear. But when Christ appeared in resurrection, they continued to follow unto their death. In church, we're called to do the same thing, and we have the great gift of knowing the end of the story. Who are you following? Jesus offers his whole self to us, and then his requirement is not to give a bunch of money, perfect attendance at church, loads of community service hours. No, it's just follow me. Forgive the way I forgive as you learn to forgive. Give mercy the way you have experienced mercy. Don't pass judgment as you learn about the great judgment that was taken from you. Following Jesus is a lot simpler than we make it. But oftentimes we complicate it with things that aren't real. And so, church, my my challenge today for all of you, for all of us, is are you following Christ? And if so, when we leave this room today, we're gonna find moments where God's going to amaze us with the way he uses us. I believe that is true, church. Let us pray. Oh, my soul, I pray that you would remind me daily how much I need my Savior. Christ, you promise us new mercies every day that your steadfast love endures. And we and we say thank you, and we acknowledge how good that is, but sometimes that's all we do with it. Instead of following you into the promise, following you into those tough and dark moments, following you into the unknown. God, help me to have that faith. Help this church to have that faith. Help us to follow you in a way that, much like Ryan in high school, God causes us to go, what's so different about them? Help us, oh God. Holy Spirit, be with us in the journey. Help us to get back to the basics because they're the most important things. In our surrender, we come to you, O Christ. Hear us as we sing praises to you. Amen.