A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on January 24, 2021 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Mark 1:14-20. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Mark, the first chapter:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
We hear this fishers of men and I don't know about you, but I'm almost immediately taken back to Sunday school, singing cute little ditties and the idea that they're not fishermen but fishers of men and I don't know, I mean, it seems a little hokey to me, the way that Jesus calls his first apostles. I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Still Jesus says it; he must mean something by it. And I think we would be good to acknowledge first that this is primarily a way that we do see evangelism, that we see the people going out and calling out with the word of God, which is the hook and the bait and people grab on and and we bring them in. Or you could say that the word of God is the giant net cast out into the water of the world, and we cast it out and we look to see who comes in who God brings into that net and into his kingdom. I think it is good that we acknowledge this because it shows us that we should be indeed going out and reaching people with the name of Jesus Christ, but there is still more here.
Certainly, we could spend hours on evangelism in and of itself, but our Focus today is going to be looking at all three of our readings and bringing this in. Let's look at Jonah real quick. He was a man who was not a fisherman but a man who was caught by a fish, running from God, turning away from him because he did not want to bring the good news of God's salvation to the wicked Ninevites. And, finally, he was brought to the shore coming out of that giant fish three days after he was swallowed up, and he brings the message to Nineveh repent. You can almost hear the voice of John coming out of Jonah, Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And what do the Ninevites do? They repented. They turned away from all of their wickedness and all of their idolatry. They covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes, not just themselves, but also their animals. And God saw all this and decided that, in their repentance, not only would they find the forgiveness of sins, but God would take away the disaster that he had given to them. What a wonderful blessing it is that we see Jonah going out with the word of God and preaching to these people to repent. But why?
Well, we find in First Corinthians Paul coming to us and telling us that the things of this world are about to pass away, the time has grown short and he says confusing things like let he who has a wife live as if he has no wife. That's not a free excuse for us to go out and live crazy, but the idea is live as if you have no wife, meaning that the world is coming to an end, and when the world does come to an end, when either we die or we are translated into the next life, the resurrection of the dead, we shall leave our marital bonds behind. This is that we leave them behind in a way we understand it from this life, and it becomes something greater, and we should live like that now. Or if you have dealings with the world, live as if you have no dealings with the world because the world is, in and of itself, coming to an end. Paul gives us a warning. Paul gives us a glimpse of what is to come for us, that there is something greater, that, when Jesus returns this life, all of its hardships and all of its trials and all of its tribulations will cease. Glory be to Jesus for this.
So what is it then that Jesus is bringing into this idea. Why would he call his Apostles and, even then through the apostles, to us, to be fishers of men, to go out bringing the word of God to all people? It is out of the great love of God that he sends his Apostles, his sent ones, into the world to bring other people to himself that they may be spared into that new world. Why did he send Jonah to the Ninevites? That in their repentance they would have life eternal, that they would leave behind all of the wickedness that they had committed and all of the wickedness that they had brought into their society. There had never been a more wicked generation than those Ninevites, and with a simple word of repentance, they left it all behind. They lived as if they had not even done evil, for their sin had been cast away from them as far as the East is from the West.
And it is for Simon and Andrew and John and James here that they leave behind the things of this world, their fathers their mothers, Peter even leaving behind his wife and mother-in-law. They even leave their nets right there in the boats. It could be that they had people working for them that would continue to fish in their name, but I don’t think so. They leave it all behind to follow after Jesus and why is that? It is because in this call, Jesus begins his ministry. Notice he waits until John the baptizer has been arrested, meaning that the last of the Old Testament prophets has gone and now Jesus comes into the scene, beginning his ministry, saying the time is fulfilled. The time is at hand. It's my time. It's my Ministry. It's the time to bring Salvation to the World. The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus shows us that the appointed time has grown very short.
In just three short years, Jesus will go to the cross and die for your sins and the sins of the world that you might be redeemed and brought into the kingdom forever. And if it were not for these men who go out and bring the good news of Salvation to all of the world, we would not be here right now, would we? That is why it is a good Evangelistic text, but we don't do it just because we're interested in numbers. We don't try to even grow our church or our school because we're interested in numbers. We do it because we know that the end is near.
It's a big joke. Isn't it? It has been since the 70s, the man walking down the street with the Sandwich Board saying the time is of the end has come or that the end is near or repent,. the end is near, anything like that. I mean, it's almost just a societal joke now. But it should be for us that we look at this and we say yes, it is true. The end is coming soon and so I must be prepared. Paul tells us that we should be anxious about the things of the Lord, not anxiety-ridden, but anxious, kind of like a horse chomping at the bit, kind of like a kid taken to a toy store and told to get whatever they want. We are anxious about the things of the Lord because we know the time is at hand. We know that our Salvation is at hand and we should want to bring as many people with us as we possibly can. We're not interested in numbers for numbers’ sake; we're interested in winning the world for Jesus Christ. This is truly what Jesus is getting at when he calls them to go out and cast the net of the Word of God out into the world. The time is at hand.
Let's think about just what that means for us for a moment. So many people this week have been upset. They've watched as a new president has come into the office and they're upset at that. They watched as the old president has gone out of the office and they've been upset over that. For the last four years, people are upset and anxious over these things, people are upset over our current president's new appointees into the different offices within the government. They're upset with the different executive orders that he has set himself up to sign and if he hasn't already done, so they're upset over all the things that are supposed to be happening. People are upset over Covid and lockdowns and whether or not to get the vaccine or whether or not to stay home or whether or not to wear a mask or or whether or not to stay socially distant. We get anxious about not seeing our families, not seeing our friends. We haven’t had a hug in who knows how long. We get upset, we get anxious over the things of this world. We look at them and we let them run our lives.
But I tell you the day is coming when none of this will be a concern for us. The day is coming when you will know what it's like to never have to worry about who's the next president. The day is coming when you will know what it is like to never have to worry about a virus again. The day is coming not only when you'll be able to hug your family and your friends again, but you'll be greeting them with a brotherly kiss a kiss of Peace because finally peace has come. The day is coming when you won't have to worry about your money. You won't have to worry about your home. You won't have to worry about getting food on the table. You won't have to worry about getting your job done. You don't have to worry about the dumb person who sits across from you that you just can't stand. The day is coming when you'll know what it's like to let go of all of these burdens and not be anxious about these things, the things of the world, but to be anxious finally, truly for the things of the Lord, asking him, what now can I do, my master? How may I go out and serve you today? How can I go out and tend your new creation? How can I worship you? How can I praise you? How can I give you thanks, how can I show that I love you?
It's a beautiful day, a day that we sing about, a day that we preach about, a day that we read about, and a day that we hope for beyond all hope, a day when we will be reunited with all those we love who have gone to be with the Lord, the church both here on Earth and now in heaven. It is a beautiful day to come.
That is why we leave behind the things of this world. We strive to do it now as much as we're able to do. We strive to do it now because it gives us a foretaste of what is to come.
Let me ask you does it really matter in the grand scheme of History who sits in the office of President of the United States of America? Or does it matter that our Jesus is Lord? Does it matter if we get a virus and get sick and die? Or does it matter that the great physician will heal our bodies? Does it matter that we are anxious about many things even to the point of desperation of depression and despair? Or does it matter that our Lord speaks peace, even as he spoke to the waves many years ago?
We leave behind the anxieties of this world that we may hold on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. It's practice. It's practice for what is to come and I pray then, today, as you hear this call of Jesus to repent and believe in the gospel, to follow him to become fishers of men, that truly you understand what that looks like to follow Jesus with all of your heart and with all of your mind and with all your soul, so that you might be able to see him face-to-face when he comes again in all of his glory, and finally, finally find the rest that you have so desired through this life.
What a beautiful day that day is. That day, which is coming, we look forward to. And for that day, we pray with all the saints who have come before, all the saints who live today, and all the saints who are to come, Come, Lord Jesus. In his name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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