July 16, 2006

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Do You Trust Me?

My husband, Josh, and I were born and raised in Indiana .  Personally, I lived in the same house all of my life until I moved away to college, merely an hour away.  We traveled a lot around the country, but all of my family was located in Indiana , not very far away.  Needless to say, moving to Ohio has been quite an adventure for us.  Apart from taking an hour to find Wal-Mart the first night, Mount Vernon has been fairly easy to navigate. 

The second day we were here, we went to meet some friends near the Columbus area.  We were first pleasantly surprised when we accidentally found Polaris Parkway , but then found something more interesting on the way home.  A sign neither of us had seen before.  Now, it may not be something native to Ohio , in fact, I doubt that it is, but I had never seen a sign that made me squirm so much.  Josh was driving and we came to this sign that said, “Be prepared to stop when flashing.”  Have you seen those signs?  They come a few hundred feet in front of a light so that when you’re coming up to a light at 65 mph, you can have time to stop when the light turns red.  In essence, when you see this light flashing, even though you see a green light in front of you, you’re supposed to begin to slow down to stop.  Let me tell you, that’s something that can really mess with your brain.   You see the sign, you see the green light, and you try to tell yourself that the flashing light is correct.  I’m trying to tell Josh that he needs to slow down, and he’s telling me it’s hard because he sees the green light and slow down isn’t a normal reaction, and all I can do is agree.  I would do the same thing in his shoes.  It is not instinctual to us to slow down on a green light.  Every fiber of your being says, keep going!  The flashing light is lying!  It doesn’t know what is really going to happen!

Yet, don’t we do the same with God?  He opens a door for us, He beckons to us, He leads us in some way, and yet all we can do is follow what we think is right, or hesitate to follow quickly.  Sometimes, I think it’s the thinking part that gets us into trouble.  What is it that is so hard about following God as He calls us?  What is it that we fear about trusting the divine Creator? 

            Listen, this morning, to the Scripture from Matthew 4:18-22: “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee , He saw two brothers, Simon who was 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.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  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.  Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

            These disciples left everything they knew for the sake of the call.  They dropped their nets, left their boats and their father, and followed Jesus because He called to them.  They didn’t follow for any financial gain or because they knew it would help them out with their career.  Rather, they followed because it was Jesus.  Because His authority and calling on their lives was all they needed.

            So often, we consider ourselves, rather than forgetting that it’s all about Jesus, that He should be the focal point of our lives and our everyday actions.  It is not enough to merely claim Christianity as a hobby or as a particular political party.  It is not enough to pray before meals and bow before Him each morning and night.  Rather, it involves taking His name and using His authority to speak into the dark places of our lives where we try to shove Him out.  It involves walking with God at every single moment of our lives, not picking and choosing when it is most convenient and reputation building for us.  It involves putting ourselves aside and constantly and consistently seeking His will and His guidance.  It is not just asking what He wants, it is following through with immediacy.  Thomas a Kempis, a medieval Roman Catholic monk, once said, “Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience.  Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience, withdraws from Grace.”  You see, within God’s will, within obedience, we are cradled in the shelter of God’s grace.  By following His directives immediately, we are allowing ourselves to be protected by God. 

Ultimately, we should have no thought unto ourselves upon the calling of Christ.  Did you catch that?  We should have no thought unto ourselves upon the calling of Christ.  Notice the stark contrast placed in Scripture.  Let’s look back to the passage from Matthew.  Notice how the word “immediately” is used.  There are no questions asked, Simon and Andrew do not ask to pack a few bags for some overnight stays, James and John don’t ask if pillows and bedding will be provided.  Rather, they drop everything immediately.  They don’t have to pack up all the things they have built for themselves and their families throughout their lives.  Jesus is not asking them to bring their resumes, their accomplishments, or the tents they have so skillfully built.  He is also not asking them to bring their family disputes, their broken relationships, and their bad habits.  Rather, He says, “Follow Me, join Me in a new life, forget what is behind and look toward what is ahead.”  They are preparing for a lifetime of ministry following Jesus and His teachings.  They do not need those things that used to seem so important to them. 

Another thing to note: they left their nets and their boats.  Their nets and their boats were their trade, their job, in essence.  They invested themselves so thoroughly into that aspect of their lives.  Fishing was what paid the bills, fishing was where they formed their social circles, and fishing was where Jesus called them.  These things, their nets, their boats, and their father, were all things they knew well.  These were things they felt they could probably predict or at least know what to expect generally.  As well, these were things they had known since birth, things that were innate to them.  They basically left all that they knew for a guy named Jesus who came to them and said, “Come, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  There was something about that man that beckoned them to follow after Him.  It was not so much important as to whether or not these men knew Jesus before this moment.  Instead, the importance lay with the fact that when He called, they dropped everything and immediately followed.  These men went with Jesus with no thought as to themselves and what might become of them. 

Now, turn with me to Luke 9:57-62.  “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”  And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  And He said to another, “Follow Me.”  But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”  But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God .”  Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home.”  But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God .”  Quite a contrast to the initial calling of the disciples, right?

Let’s look first at verse 57.  The first man says to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.”  Jesus, knowing the heart of this man, can see that he is trying to make this his personal decision, almost as a career goal, another rung up on his ladder of success.  True, he may not have thought about how he will be provided for, but it is probably something he will think about later.  This is not a quality Jesus is looking for in His disciples.

Then to verse 59, Jesus says to the second man, “Follow Me,” to which the man replies, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”  This man, though dedicated to the cause which Jesus is trying to present, is still a slave to the law.  Jesus is about to present Himself in many cases where He is going against the Jewish law in the name of and under the authority of God.  He knows this man is not yet willing to be fully devoted to Christ.  Rather, he is still in bondage to something else.  He cannot devote his attention fully to the cause of Christ.  However, Jesus does send him off to proclaim the kingdom of God .

Then finally, in verse 61, we meet the third man, who says, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home.”  He, like the first man, is trying to make this his own personal decision, but will only do so on his own terms.  He wants to call the shots in his life.  Jesus is seeking for those who will serve under Him, upholding Him as the Ruler of their lives.  Not because He likes the power or because He wants to control and manipulate us, but rather because He knows what is best for us, and He knows, like that flashing light, when we need to slow down and pay attention to Him.  With each of the three men in this passage, it was all about them.  With the first group, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, it was hardly even an issue of trusting Jesus.  It is almost instinctual to them.  They seem to take no time for the psychological process of “what if?” and “will he?”  They just follow.

 So where does that leave us?  We must learn to trust God.  We must learn to be obedient in all things.  We cannot make claims to Christianity if we are not willing to live in Christ’s discipleship.  That’s the difference between knowing God and knowing about God.  By knowing God and sharing with Him in a close relationship, you are allowing Him into your life, allowing Him to make changes, to guide you in His direction.  You are, in essence, allowing Him to stake His claim on your life.  You have to learn to trust God, to know that He has your best interests in mind.  He knows what is coming ahead and how to help you avoid trouble.  But He can’t help you if you won’t allow yourself to trust in Him.  To come to the point where you can obey instinctually to His calling on your life in whatever area.  If Jesus called to you today and said, “Come, follow Me” would you just drop everything and go or would you want to stay and ask questions?  Allow yourself to trust God.  He gives us no reason not to.  His promises and their fulfillments are written all over Scripture.  He brought a son to Abraham and Sarah.  He brought the Israelites out of captivity.  He saved Daniel form the Lion’s Den.  He raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  He promises rest for the weary, comfort for the grieving, provision in our times of anxiety.  God cares about you and He cares about the details.  He wants you to be willing to drop everything and run to Him with reckless abandon merely for the sake of His call.

Allison Yankey

Allison@mulberryumc.org