The Invitation To Follow - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Pastor Gebhardt now realizes no one could have done what he did. No man could do what he just did. No man talked the way he talked.

No man has the resume that this man has. Remember, Jews only worship God. They don't worship Him. Peter worships Him.

Peter says, I think I know who you are. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Turn the page with me to Matthew 11 for a moment. Matthew 11. In verse 28, famous verses.

But watch how similar the idea is. And again, there's a calling here. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden. Everybody who's sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Everybody who thinks life stinks and it doesn't seem to get any better. He says, You come to me, everybody, come to me, all you are weary and heavy laden. And then he says something interesting. I'll give you rest. I'll let you rest.

You just come to me. He said, you take my yoke upon you and you learn from me. And we've talked about that in the past.

The large ox and the small ox. But he says, you take my yoke and I just want you right here beside me. That's all I'm asking. And he says, when you walk around that grinding mill with me, he says, you will learn from me. He said, but I want to tell you something about me. I am gentle and humble in heart. He said, you'll find rest for your souls.

He said, you have to understand something. My yoke is easy. My burden is light.

Wow, that's Christianity. Just follow me. Just hook your yoke up. Get in my yoke with me. Just walk with me.

I'll do the grinding. Now, remember, he uses other metaphors. I'm the vine. You're the branches. You know, and if you abide in me, you'll bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing. He said, all you have to do is abide.

All you have to do is stay in the same yoke. All you have to do is follow me. Jesus says, that's all it will take. This isn't the first time in Matthew that this happens. Turn with me to Matthew 4 now. Let's go back to Matthew 4.

In verse 18. Now, as Jesus was 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. And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and they followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat of Zebedee, their father, mending the nets.

And he called them and immediately left their boat and their father and they followed him. Did you ever wonder about that when you read it? Like, what does that mean?

How did that happen? It almost seemed, it always reminds me of like a 1950s B movie about like zombies. You know, the whole idea is that Jesus just walks by and says, follow me. And they're fishing. They're just thinking about it. They're just following, just blindly following. They can't resist it.

They're just following. That's not what happened at all. That's not the way it worked out. You see, Matthew gives you an accurate account, but it's just a summation.

It's not really the whole story at all. Turn with me now to Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five.

And now we're going to see the whole story. Verse one, and now it happened while the crowd was pressing around him. Jesus is at the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum again, and he's teaching. And the crowd is enormous. I imagine everyone from that region is there.

I would guess there were thousands of people. And Jesus is teaching. Notice it says, it happened while the crowd was pressing around him, listening to the word of God. He was standing by the Lake of Gnesserik, Sea of Galilee. He's standing there by the lake in his huge crowd, and Jesus is teaching the word of God.

Could you imagine anything richer than that? That's the greatest teaching of all time. There is no one before or since ever taught like this.

This is God incarnate. This is Jesus Christ, the son of God. He's teaching. What is he teaching? I am sure he's teaching about who he is.

Who they are. What the Old Testament points toward. You see, I'm sure he's teaching all of that. He's teaching about the essence of God, the idea of the sinfulness of men.

He's just teaching and everybody wants to hear it. And he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake. But the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. You see, after you fish all night, you have to clean your nets.

And apparently they had a bad night. And now they're cleaning and mending their nets. It's a labor intensive deal. It has to be done every single night.

And also, it's extremely time consuming. Very necessary. Now, while they're cleaning their nets and I, by the way, rest of the story, we know who they are. That's Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.

And that's James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Now, Jesus is speaking to a huge crowd, which means he's putting his voice out there. And so they're cleaning their nets. And what are they doing? They're listening. They're listening to everything Jesus is saying.

Who he is, who they are, what he brings, what they need. And it says in verse three, and he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's. And he asked Simon to put out a little way in from the land. And he sat down and began teaching the people in the boat. He looks to Simon and he says, could you help me? Could I use your boat?

About 20 to 30 feet normal commercial fishing boat Sea of Galilee. Can I get in? Sure. Simon gets in. Simon's thinking, wow, I thought I was going to get home in normal time.

But I'm not. Got to get in the boat. I'll push him out. So because that Jesus sits down in the boat and is teaching. Now, what's interesting about that is. It says, and when he had finished speaking. He said to Simon something, the last thing Simon expected, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. What?

Yeah, put out in the deep. Now, think about it from Simon's point of view. This is the best rabbi I've ever heard speak. He might be a prophet.

You see, I've never heard anyone speak this way. And people tell me he was a pretty good carpenter. He's a Nazareth. I'm a fisherman. Oh, by the way, I'm not just a fisherman. My dad's a fisherman. My grandpa fisherman.

Probably my great grandpa. I'm like I'm my fourth, fifth generation fisherman. And guess where I fish? All the different places I fish right here. Every day I fish here. You see, that's who that's what I am. I'm a fisherman. Just imagine a rabbi who was a carpenter by trade tells him, put out into the deep.

Now, first of all, you have to understand. The reason that they fish at night is the fish from the deep come up near the surface. Their nets can reach the fish. Once daylight comes, the fish dive deep. And by the way, Sea of Galilee is not like Lake Pontchartrain. The Sea of Galilee is one hundred and forty feet deep. So the whole point is that, look, we know where the fish go. They go deep in the day.

Our nets don't reach there. Wow. What's this going to take on his part? Simon answered and said, Master. Real interesting term.

Epistatus. It just means one who is appointed over. It's a term you use casually for a teacher. It's not master, like I dream of Jeannie Master. It's not that. He's just saying he's respecting him.

He's saying, teacher. He says, we worked hard all night, caught nothing. Now watch.

But I will do as you say and let the nets. What did that take? Faith.

Mustard seed. Faith. There's something about you. Listen, I have heard what you have done.

Things are inexplicable. And I've heard your words. If that's what you're saying. You see. He already showing this little ingredient about being a follower.

He already shows and demonstrates. His faith. And it says, and when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break. And so they signaled to their partners, the sons of Zebedee, James and John and the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and they filled up boat boats.

And so they began to sink. Now, do you know how many fishing outings Peter ever had like that? None. His dad, none.

His grandfather, none. How do you explain this? I mean, how many fish would that be? See, I imagine at first it's like, this is going to be great. We're going to catch a lot of fish. Then it's like, wow, we're going to catch a really a lot of fish. Wait a minute.

We have too many fish. Now we get now we're going to sink in the boat. The whole idea of it is it's an overwhelming thing that's happening to them.

Interesting how this works. The immediate results of trusting Jesus. Verse eight, when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus feet. Literally, it doesn't say feet.

It says his knees. He fell down to Jesus knees. He said, go away from me, Lord.

Kurios. You see, not epistatus, not teacher, Lord. He said, you go away from me, Lord.

I am a sinful man. Matthew didn't need to be told that. But Peter now realizes no one could have done what he did.

No one. No man could do what he just did. No man talked the way he talked.

No man has the resume that this man has. Remember, Jews only worship God. They don't worship man. Peter worships him. Peter says, I think I know who you are.

And as soon as you do, by the way, guess what? You know who you are. Peter says, you have to leave me. I'm a sinful man. In the presence of God, I am a sinful man.

You see, Peter just doesn't understand. You know, humility is the elevator to spiritual greatness. And he humbles himself before the Lord.

When you're a follower of Jesus, the sinner becomes this instrument of God. He says, for amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. What a scene this must have been. Jesus then says, and notice James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon, and Jesus said to them, do not fear. From now on, you'll be catching men. Just imagine it from Simon Peter's point of view. What just happened?

I had a bad fishing night. I heard some guy speaking. And all of a sudden, I'm compelled by him. And this man is saying things and now doing things that I can't explain at all. Jesus doesn't give him too much information.

Notice what Jesus could have said to him. Look, Simon, I'm going to change your name. I'm going to call you Peter.

It just means pebble. I've got big plans for you. You're going to be one of the twelve. You're going to be an apostle.

Peter would say, what's an apostle? Yeah, it's going to be big. He said, in fact, it'll probably get too big and men will venerate you like they never should.

They'll want to make you something special way beyond what you are. What? Yeah, yeah, in a city far away, in Rome, by the way. Rome, yeah, in Rome. Guess what they're going to do? They're going to build a basilica for your bones. It'll take them 107 years to build it.

Just for you. Now, Jesus would never say that. But my point is this. Peter had no idea what was going to happen. And neither do you. And neither do I. When you follow Jesus Christ, you have no idea how that may turn out.

None. He's not asking you to have an idea. He knows the end from the beginning. He just says to them, do not fear for now.

He says, from now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything. And what did they do? They followed him.

That's astounding. That's it in a nutshell. Follow me.

That's all I'm asking. Follow me. We've turned it into something so much greater than that. And by the way, it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop after you follow Christ the first time. I believe that every single day of my life, whether I'm aware of it or not, what my Lord says to me when I wake up in the morning is, Bill, follow me. My yoke's easy.

It's light. Just follow me. To show you how important that is, I want you to turn with me to John 21. John 21.

Right at the end of the Gospel of John. Remember, Peter has denied the Lord. Thought he had forfeited everything.

Thought it was over for him. Decides the best thing I can do is go back to my family business. I'm going to be a fisherman again in the Sea of Galilee.

I've been such a disappointment to God. Well, you know that story. Verse 5, they were out there fishing, and Jesus said to them, Children, you don't have any fish, do you? By the way, he asked it that way because he already knows. And they answered, No. And he said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat.

You will find a catch. And they cast, and they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. Does this seem like déjà vu all over again for Peter? Wait a minute.

Now, you know how that story plays itself out. But I want to look at just two verses. Verse 19. Now this he said, signifying by what kind of death that he would glorify God. That's Peter. And when he had spoken this, this is what Jesus said to Peter. He said what? Follow me.

That's it. Well, Peter, what kind of penance do you want me to do for the denials? How am I going to organize it? Follow me. Same thing he said before. Verse 22, Jesus said to him, If I want him to remain, referring to John, until I come, what is that to you? I have one priority for you, Peter. Follow me. You follow me. That's our faith people. That's how simple Christianity is. Jesus says follow and you follow.

In fact, that little episode that I read in Luke 5 seems to have all the elements of what it means to be a follower of Christ. The first step would be this. Sit down and listen. Listen to the words of Christ. Read about his claims.

See if it passes the valid test of truth. You see, that's discipleship. That word disciple, mathetes, in the New Testament simply means a learner. Learn. Listen to Christ. Let him speak. Just read the gospels.

Start with John. Just read it. Secondly, loan him your boat. What do I mean by that? That's called stewardship.

That is do something that's inconvenient for you. It certainly was for Peter. He didn't want to go back and take his boat out there. He didn't want Jesus sitting in his boat. He didn't know how long this guy was going to talk. How long could this go on? I want to go home.

I just went fishing all night. He doesn't think that way. Stewardship, something inconvenient for you, your time, your finances, your gifts. Thirdly, take something he said and actually do it. That's called ministry. Help the weak.

Strengthen the fainthearted. Jesus says, do something. If you're a follower, do something.

Well, then actually do it. And then the last thing, the final step was a follower. Leave your net. That's what they did.

They left the net. What's that mean? All in. You see, I'm all in. Jesus said that in a variety of ways. If you want to be a follower of mine, you need to deny yourself, take up your cross daily. And what? Follow me.

The same idea. You see, it's all so simple to Jesus. A person doesn't become a Christian by going to a ceremony. They certainly don't check off a bunch of dos and don'ts and consider themselves Christians.

They don't have to become a member in good standing of some religious organization. It's just so simple for Jesus. Follow me. That, in essence, is what our faith is all about.

Let's pray. Father, if there's anyone here who has never really followed Christ, not really at all, I just pray that they follow these steps. Listen to what Christ has taught. Examine his life.

Be honest about it. And see if his claims are valid. And Father, no matter what their past is, no matter how many failures or how deep their sin, the invitation comes to all of us to follow Christ.

It's that simple. For those of us who are believers, Father, I pray that we understand that just as with Peter, our Lord continually asks us to follow him. Each and every day, I deny myself so that I can follow him because it's the essence of my relationship with my Savior and my Lord. Father, sometimes we make things so complicated that we miss it, even if standing right in front of us. Father, I pray that every person here just ask themselves that one question.

Am I following Jesus Christ? We pray this in his name, for your glory and for our good. Amen. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.