"Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19). With these simple words, Jesus launched the single greatest movement this world has ever seen. Peter & Andrew, James & John, mere fishermen, all said "YES." A few others, twelve in total, said "YES." And the course of history was forever changed. . .
Does God really need people? Does he need me? Does he need someone like you? Does Jesus still call people to be "world changers?" Maybe "world changers" sounds too grand. Does God still call people to be family-changers? school-changers? workplace changers? neighborhood changers? Life changers?
And what if we say no? What if we have other priorities? What it we're too busy with life? Does Jesus just keep walking right down the shore until he finds someone else? Can we assume others will be more willing than us? And, what's at stake if we say no? Does Jesus' mission matter? Did it "ever" matter? Does our world desperately need Jesus, or is he obsolete?
In John 15:8 Jesus says, "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
I spent last week teaching a ministry course at Lincoln Christian University. This is the first time I taught the course with all lead pastors. It was a great week. But they're wrestling with the same questions. What about the mission of Jesus matters today? There can be so much apathy out there.
Then on Friday night, breaking news came over the airwaves about events unfolding in Paris, France. Ordinary people... some attending a soccer match, a concert, sitting down for dinner, celebrating with friends, driving across town, innocently walking along the sidewalk... in an instant hundreds of lives permanently devastated.
What do we believe about the power of our gospel? How about the necessity of our gospel? Paul says in Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes..." What kind of power is needed to break the evil that is spreading around our world? Maybe we don't understand the nature of evil? Let me share four characteristics of evil...
:: The Nature of Evil ::
First, evil is utterly void, evil is a void, it's like a black hole, sucking away the life of everything in its orbit. Evil is vacuous. It's an absence of anything good, anything life-giving. It's an absence of life and light. An absent of hope, of love. Evil is depraved and utterly dark. Evil is that space in human nature that is void of God himself. And no matter what gets thrown into that evil abyss, nothing fills the void. In Matthew 6:23 Jesus observes, "... If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Evil holds absolutely nothing sacred. Not life. Not Morality. Nor sexuality, freedom, the rule of life... Genesis 6:5, "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time."
Second, evil legitimizes itself while delegitimizing everything else. One of the ways evil legitimizes itself is with tolerance. Maybe you haven't noticed, but everything these days is an offense, or micro-aggression against some person, or something. To be against any "thing" is to be against a person, and to be against a person... to call anything evil, to imply it, to label it such... is the cardinal sin of our age. So with tolerance, we must always accept evil, try to understand evil, accommodate evil, make what is evil a moral equivalency to what is good.
Once evil legitimizes it's own existence through tolerance, it quickly (even violently) moves to suppress whatever is true, holy, good. Romans 1:18 describes how the godless and wicked "suppress the truth by their wickedness." The loudest voices shouting for tolerance today, in the end, become utterly intolerant. "You can't talk about God here, pray here, bring your Bible here, talk about holy things here. Get your piety out of here!" Have you noticed that once legitimized, evil becomes utterly intolerant, utterly totalitarian, it wipes out any dissenting voice, anything that competes in the marketplace of reason, thought?
Third, evil corrupts absolutely. Evil grows. It increases. It's like rust. First it gains a foothold, then it advances. Evil begins with a thought or desire. But then it quickly progresses to words, to roleplaying, to tiny acts, then greater acts, to tendencies and impulses, to a temperament, to a lifestyle, to an obsession. Evil can progress to a point of crazed madness, murderous madness, even suicidal madness.
In John 8:44 Jesus speaks about the true origin of evil, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
Fourth, evil is universally entangling. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the "Parable of the Weeds." "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "‘An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?'"
But the master answered, "‘No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest...'"
You can't surgically remove, nor surgically annihilate evil, with a drone. You cannot bomb it out of humanity. You can't drive out darkness with even more darkness. You can't just grab evil by its roots and yank it out of the ground--not without doing a lot of collateral damage. Evil and good is too intertwined.
But the problem is actually much more complex than that... because what's evil occupies some space in us all. In Romans 7:18-19, 21-24 Apostle Paul laments, "I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing... sin is living in me... I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"
Evil isn't just a Middle East problem. It isn't just a Paris problem. It isn't just an Islamic problem. It is every man, every woman's battle. But before it's anyone's battle, its God's battle, and it's the reason for which Jesus was sent, and it's the reason Jesus invites us all, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men..." "Go, bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples..."
:: The Power of Gospel ::
If evil is a void, God sends his Son Jesus Christ to fill the void. John 1:9 says, "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world." John 1:5 says of Jesus, "The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father full of grace and truth." Ephesians 4:10 says Jesus descended "in order to fill the whole universe"!
When Jesus invites us, "come, follow me" he is inviting us to step into the godless void to be salt and light, to reflect his glory, to be the city on a hill, to not cover our light with a bowl but to let our light shine, and put it on its lampstand to give light to everyone in the house. Our dark world desperately needs to see God's light.
If evil delegitimizes what's holy, righteous, and good... and brazenly lies... then it's incumbent upon us to demonstrate the truth of gospel by following in Jesus' footsteps. Let's show the beauty and richness of this life, by our righteousness.
If evil corrupts absolutely, let's show the power of God to give us a new birth, to give us a new heart and new mind, to forgive us, and set us free, and sanctify us. You see even though evil corrupts, the Spirit of God is powerful to renew. 2 Peter 1:3-7 says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
"For this reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love..."
If evil cannot be uprooted by convention means, without collateral damage, let us consider Christ's call to become "fishers of men." Jesus commands us to first be disciples--because we need grace. But second he commands that "as we go" were also to "make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, teaching people to obey everything Christ commanded" remembering that Christ is with us always "to the very end of the age."
How grotesque, how gruesome, how great the personal cost must evil become before we accept Jesus' invitation, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?"
We're calling next Sunday, our "ALL-IN CELEBRATION." We're encouraging everyone to express their support for Jesus' mission in a number of important ways.
Jesus says, "Come." Maybe all these years you have been far from God, resisting Jesus' invitation to repent and believe, and receive eternal life. Next week you can join the growing number of people these last few weeks who have been, or who will be baptized next week. Baptism is a tangible, and visible way to declare your allegiance to God!
Jesus says, "Follow." Maybe you are ready to lay down your nets and begin following Jesus. Maybe you see what is at stake in his mission, and understand that you can no longer sit on the sidelines, hoping God will call someone else. Maybe you're ready to become a functioning, contributing, serving, active part of this church? Maybe you're ready to help Lakeside be the kind of church that shines light upon everyone in the greater Chatham/Springfield area? Why not get in the game, take those steps to become a member, and invest deeply in Christ's mission through Lakeside?
Jesus says, "I'll make you fishers of men." Where, or to whom, is God calling you to go and make disciples of? Are you willing to be world-changer, family-changer? school-changer? workplace changer? neighborhood changer? Life changer? A fisher of men?
God is also increasing our ministry. We need more parking. Decimating debt opens the door for add children, youth, sanctuary space. Let's plan to give generously to work God is doing among us, to enlarge his harvest.