SPECIAL DAYS: Third Sunday of Advent

December 16, 2001 - LESSON: Matthew 4.18-22

SERMON TITLE: Hook, Line and Sinker

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INTRODUCTION:

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots)

Oh! You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He's making a list,
Checking it twice,
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town!

He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!

Oh! You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town!

  1. Sounds like God!
    1. The elves must be having a ball getting all the toys and presents ready for Santa to deliver.
      1. The elves are Santa's disciples
        1. They are disciplined.
        2. They are directed.
        3. They work with utmost devotion and determination.
      2. Their desire is to bring joy and happiness to all the "good" little girls and boys.
    2. Santa has his adherents.
      1. People who substitute for him as the occasion arises.
      2. People who promote his existence and the myth of his powers.
    3. The Christmas tree is up and decorated to receive the gifts that Santa will bring.
    4. Sounds like a religion to me.
  2. Is there something peculiar about this setting of the Christmas story?
    1. Will there be joy and happiness?
    2. Might there be some sadness and unhappiness because not everyone will get what they need or what they desire.
    3. We are not Santa's helpers, but God's disciples
    4. Perhaps here is the difference that we ought to explore and understand.

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MAIN BODY

  1. Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John to be his disciples.
    1. Jesus used an illustration that they could appreciate and understand.
      1. Follow me and I will make you fish for people.
      2. They didn't just leave their nets and follow.
      3. They were already acquainted with Jesus.
      4. You can read about it in John 1.35-42
  2. Before these men could become full-fledged disciples they had to learn.
    1. They needed an education in the Word of God.
    2. There were some qualities of personality and character that needed to be improved.
    3. There were some skills that they needed to learn.
    4. The concept of disciples is not limited to the apostles.
  3. Follow me and I will provide you with spiritual direction
    1. Sandra Lommasson, Director of the Bread of Life Center, describes what it means to discover spiritual direction with the help of a director. (1)

At the Bread of Life Center, we're challenging one another to "be left behind," to dig down deep and let ourselves be found by the One who is bigger than we've ever dared to imagine. It's hard, important, slippery work, requiring a real shedding of the socially constructed notions of who we think we are. A question has begun to surface among us: "Are we being asked to come together in an intentional community where we commit to God and to one another our willing desire to be formed in the countercultural stance of the Gospel for Love's purposes in the world?" We don't know the answer yet, but there is a resonant stirring deep within many of us that wrestling with this question in some form is essential as we vision possible futures for the Center. We encourage our extended community - YOU - to ask such questions of yourselves and with us, too. Are you willing to be "left behind" so that there's space enough to hear and respond to what God invites? Let's dream boldly with God and one another, listening together for the whisperings of the Spirit in a culture where the insistent clang of "muchness" and "manyness" makes it impossible for any one of us alone to hear clearly.

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    1. Spiritual direction is vital.
    2. We can let Jesus be our spiritual director.
      1. In Matthew 10: 24-25a Jesus said: 24"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25ait is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master.
      2. The disciple is to be like the teacher.
      3. In John 8:31-32, again Jesus said 31to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
      4. The teacher will teach the truth.
      5. The teacher can be trusted.
  1. Jesus says, Follow me and I will teach you devotion and determination
    1. Nothing is going to separate them from God.
    2. Nothing is going to inhibit their purpose of witnessing and proclaiming the good news.
    3. This is as it should be.
    4. Jesus emphasized the need to keep paramount the relationship with him by using illustrations.
      1. Luke 14:26 26"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.
        1. I have answered a lot a questions about this passage.
        2. To hate is not to hate.
        3. To hate is love Jesus more than anyone or anything.
      2. Luke 14:33 (NRSVA) 33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
        1. Jesus does not asked us to become paupers.
        2. We have to give up on possessions for we can give in to Jesus.
      3. Luke 14.27 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
        1. We are not to carry Christ's cross or one another's cross.
        2. We are to carry our own cross.

Martin Marty writes that from Luther come some words of encouragement (2):

If you listen to the Law,
it will tell you:
In the midst of life
we are surrounded by death,
as we have sung for ages.
But the Gospel and our faith
have changed this song
and now we sing:
In the midst of death
we are surrounded by life!
Media morte in vita sumus.

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  1. Jesus says, Follow me and I will teach you discipline.
    1. This is why Jesus said in John 13:34-35 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
    2. We are to learn the discipline of love.
      1. Before the crucifixion Peter denied Jesus.
      2. After the resurrection Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him.
      3. You can read of this experience in John 21:15 through John 21:17

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

    1. An anonymous source has provided some clear insight into love as a Spiritual Discipline:

Fast from criticism, and feast on praise.
Fast from self-pity, and feast on joy.
Fast from ill-temper, and feast on peace.
Fast from resentment, and feast on contentment.
Fast from jealousy, and feast on love.
Fast from pride, and feast on humility.
Fast from selfishness, and feast on service.
Fast from fear, and feast on faith.

      1. You can only do this in and with love.
      2. It is not easy but it can be done, or at least done much better.
  1. Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.
    1. They live within a system.
    2. They do not always agree on the details.
    3. They do agree on the big picture"

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CONCLUSION

An American tourist on a safari in the Sahara Desert takes a wrong turn and becomes hopelessly lost. After a long morning in the hot sun, he spots a man riding toward him on a donkey. (3)

Please help me, cries the tourist. I'm dying of thirst!

I'm sorry, says the stranger. All I have are neckties.

Neckties? cries the tourist. I need WATER.

I like you, says the peddler, and here's what I'm going to do. I normally get $15 each for these ties. But seeing as you're suffering, I'll let you have two of them for 25 bucks.

Whereupon the tourist turns away in disgust and walks off.

Three hours later, he sees an oasis. By now he's on his knees, and as he crawls toward it, he looks up to see a man in a tuxedo standing under a palm tree.

Please, he asks, do you have any water?

Oh, sure! PLENTY of water.

Great, great. Where do I go?

This way, sir. The restaurant is right inside. Unfortunately, I can't let you in without a tie.

  1. Jesus says, Follow me and I will not only make you fishers of people, I will give you the water and the word to help you accomplish my purpose for you.

    1. Bread of Life Center, 412 C St., Davis, CA

    2. From Martin E. Marty, Surrounded by life, Christian Century, May 23-30, 2001, 47.

    3. The Big Book of New American Humor (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1990), 276.

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