The Call

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon
Sunday, February 12, 2012

So when’s the last time you’ve bought something, no questions asked? In fact, when’s the last time you did anything, no questions asked? Can you imagine making a major life change, quitting your job, leaving behind your family with no idea where you’re going to go or what you’re going to do? And yet, that’s what Mark records for us of the first disciples that Jesus calls. They leave everything behind and they follow Jesus, no questions asked.

It’s no questions asked because they’re responding to the news that Jesus is spreading at that time. Mark is very deliberate in how he lays out his gospel, so the very first words that he records of Jesus are these, “Jesus said, ‘The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’” Right on the heels of that then are the calling of the first disciples. They’re responding to the news that Jesus is preaching to the people. They’re responding to what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world, because every other religion is about advice and Christianity is about good news. Every other religion wants to tell you the things you need to do to earn your way into the presence of God or the steps that you need to take so you can connect to God, the things you need to accomplish so that, at some point in time, you might be in heaven or nirvana or some other greater place than what we have here. But Christianity, what Jesus brings is not advice; He brings news, special news, good news.

If you were with us last week, we found out that Greek word, “euaggelion,” good news, had a very specific meaning. This kind of news, this kind of good news was something that happened in history, something from which you benefit, something that will forever change your status. Jesus talks about something that happened in history, of God taking on flesh and blood and coming into our world, of something that has been done for you, that Jesus would live the life that you couldn’t live, then He would die in your place, so your status with your Father in heaven would forever be changed. That’s the good news that Jesus came to preach. And it is in response to that news that the disciples follow Jesus, no questions asked.

But the whole thing is really topsy-turvy because it’s no questions asked Jesus calls. I say it’s topsy-turvy because that’s not the way the disciples and their teachers or rabbis normally got connected. The rabbi, the teacher didn’t choose the disciples. The students, the disciples, would choose their rabbi.

Let’s go back, 1st Century A.D., the Jewish education system at that time. Somewhere around age 4 or 5, the Scriptures, that is what we know as the Old Testament, were started to be taught to the children in the home. A little while later, the boys would go off to what was called Hebrew school and so they’d learn the Torah, that is, the first five books of the bible, spending a lot of time on the Ten Commandments and a lot of time on the customs and the sacrifices of the whole Jewish system.

And then somewhere around age 13 or 14, the boys would start to go to learn the trade of the their fathers, so it would be passed down to them. And then a critical juncture happened at 18. At 18, the brightest and the best in Hebrew school would be encouraged to go off and find a rabbi, find a teacher they could follow. But most of them, those who weren’t the brightest and the best, would go off and follow along the trade of their father.

That means the brightest and the best would go off to try to find a rabbi who they agreed with. In other words, they’d try to find a teacher where the personalities matched. They’d find out what exactly was the requirements of this rabbi, how long would they have to be under his tutelage, where would they go, what exactly were the stipulations, what was his teaching style, what was his philosophy. And then if everything matched up, then they would approach the rabbi and ask if they could be his student. But lots of questions would be asked. That’s normally how it worked at that time.

If you scenario it, we see remnants of that yet today but it’s not discovering a rabbi; it’s discovering a religion. More and more people today want to choose their own religion. Less and less children are simply accepting the faith or the religion of their parents. Instead, they’re going off and they’re doing research and they’re asking lots of questions because you see, they’re looking for a religion. That is, they’re looking for what is the best advice out there. “What’s the best advice that makes the most sense to me? What are the things that are required of me so that I can connect with God?”

There are all kinds of advice out there in the world religions so for one of them, maybe it’s a strict prayer regimen that has to happen each day. Well, maybe that’s something that sort of resonates with you. Or maybe it’s mind over matter, so we’ll reject all medicine. Maybe it’s more than we just need to get connected with our inner self and how we’re connected with all of nature and so there is an emphasis on meditation. Or what’s the most popular today? It’s mix and match.

If you look out at society, if you read any of the periodicals, the news that’s out there, what’s happening today is people are mixing and matching because they’re looking for the advice they agree with, they can resonate with. Well, no one religion has the thing that really makes sense to all of them, so they’ll pick and choose a piece of advice here and a piece of advice there and they’ll bring it all together and ah, that will be their religion because that’s what makes sense to them, the steps they need to take to connect with God.

But Jesus isn’t pedaling another religion. He’s not offering advice. He’s delivering news, good news, news of what He has come to do. So Jesus turns the whole thing upside down. It isn’t the disciples seeking after Jesus, but it’s Jesus calling the disciples. And He calls them no questions asked. Did you notice that?

He doesn’t ask for the qualifications of the four men who He invites to follow Him. He doesn’t size them up as far as what they have to offer Him. In fact, case in point, they are following in their father’s trade, which means they’ve already passed that critical juncture at 18. They were not part of the brightest and the best who would be encouraged to go off and find a rabbi and to be under tutelage of some teacher. They, like most of them, have gone into the trade of their father.

But Jesus isn’t looking for qualifications. In fact, if you go through all of Scripture, you’ll find out that God has a history of calling the uniquely unqualified people. Moses stuttered. David was the runt of the litter. In the New Testament, Paul? Paul persecuted the church and yet, he’s the one who Jesus chose to be the missionary of the church. You see, it’s never been about what we can do. It’s never been about what we can offer. It’s always been about what God has done and what God can accomplish through us.

So Jesus calls the disciples, no questions asked. And Jesus has called you, no questions asked. Jesus doesn’t ask you what your qualifications are. He doesn’t come to you and say, “So what are the things that you have done to prove to me that you can be a good follower of mine?” He doesn’t ask about your past, about things that might have disqualified you because it’s not about you and what you can do or what you haven’t done. It’s all about Jesus and what He has done for us.

And yet, throughout time, confessing Christians have always worried, “Have I done enough? Have I tried hard enough?” My friends, it has never been about us. It’s always been about what Jesus does. And Jesus calls you, no questions asked, because it’s about what Jesus will accomplish and what He has to offer to you. And what He offers you is to bridge the gap between you and your Father in heaven, a gap interestingly enough that began with a question.

Let’s go back to Genesis, the beginning of time. Adam and Eve are in the garden. They’re having a good time. They’re eating from all kinds of fruit in the garden and then one day, Chapter 3, this happens: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat from the tree in the garden?’” There’s the question. “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” What Satan is doing here is he’s wanting to turn the perfect relationship between Adam and Eve into nothing more than a religious duty, into advice that’s been given.

So he says to the woman, “Let me make sure I have this straight. What are the rules and regs that God has put down? Now has He said you can’t eat from any of the trees in the garden? Is that how you stay in His good graces? Is that how you make sure you’re still connected to God, to make sure you’re following that good advice?” Well, it must have worked because the very next thing it says is this: “The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it or you will die.’”

Well, that’s kind of interesting. If you read Genesis 2, God didn’t say anything about not touching it. He just said don’t eat it. But I suppose if you think about it, it’s pretty good advice, don’t you think? Something as dangerous as a piece a fruit that if you eat it, you’ll die, it seems like reasonable advice, well then you probably shouldn’t touch it either because that would get you one step closer to eating it. In fact, maybe what we should do is we should have a 20-foot perimeter around the tree. Don’t breach the perimeter so you won’t be tempted to touch the fruit so you won’t be tempted to eat the fruit. Do you see what’s happened? This perfect relationship with God has turned into nothing more than advice to be followed, rules and regulations that must be adhered to.

Is it any wonder the next thing that happens is disobedience? Disobedience that ushered in sin into our world, sin that has infected every aspect of creation and sin that has infected you and infected me. Disobedience that we can spot in the world around us, disobedience that we see in our own lives. This sin, this disobedience formed a gap between us and our Father in heaven. Jesus came to bridge the gap. He would do what we were unable to do. He would live the perfect relationship with the Father and then, unjustly, He would take the punishment for our disobedience. Through Jesus, we are restored to our Father in heaven. This is the good news that Jesus came to preach. This is the good news to which the disciples responded. This is the news to which we respond. Jesus calls us into a relationship, but He does so no questions asked because it’s not about us. It’s about Him.

And then we follow, no questions asked. Now that seems radical, doesn’t it? So we’re going to follow Jesus no questions asked? Isn’t that really what He’s asking the four disciples to do? He just simply walks by, calls them to drop everything and follow Him. James and John leave their father sitting in a boat with the net and two hired guys and they just walk off and follow Jesus. Now maybe that doesn’t sound too dramatic to us today because it’s almost expected in our society today that children will leave their parents. It’s no big deal if there’s an opportunity across the country, if you’re chasing after a dream, it’s not a big deal to pack up and to move and take hold of that opportunity or to chase after that dream. But for 1st Century A.D., not so. Their entire identity was wrapped up in their family and so it’s pretty radical when Jesus says, “Leave behind everything. Leave behind your family and follow me.”

What would that be for you today? What would seem like a radical request in your life, that would almost verge on being fanatical for you to respond to what Jesus is asking you to leave behind? Would it be your career right when it hits a pinnacle, everything is going well, walk in tomorrow and quit? Would it be giving away major portions of your wealth to support some missionary someplace? What would it mean in your life for you to do something and, on the outside, it would look like a fanatical move on your part?

Once again, I’m going to circle back to this. If Jesus is offering advice, then it’s fanatical. If Jesus is simply offering a way of life, rules and regulations to be followed, then it would seem fanatical to drop everything and to join His little cult as He moves along. That’s turning the gospel into advice.

We’ve seen that. You all have met fanatical Christians, fanatical Christians who have taken the gospel and turned it into nothing more than advice. You can spot them because they’re very self righteous. They’re very judgmental. They’re very mean spirited. They’re very law oriented because, after all, the advice has to be followed to the letter of the law. But it’s advice that we can never, ever fully follow.

Don’t we fall into that? Aren’t we tempted at times to take the gospel and turn it into advice? When things don’t quite work out the way we thought, when we lose our job, when someone unexpectedly dies, when our health goes downhill, when one of our children does something really, really stupid, don’t we look up into heaven and say, “So what did I do to deserve this?” What are we really saying with that? What we’re saying is, “I followed the advice. I did all the things I was supposed to do, so why did this happen?”

My friends, Christianity isn’t about advice. It’s about what God has done for us. And following Jesus is not fanatical. We follow in response to the news. When we follow in response to the news of what God has done for us, when we follow the fact that Jesus sacrificed Himself, that He bridged the gap between us and our Father in heaven, when we follow the news that Jesus has reclaimed us and reunited us with our Father in heaven, when we respond to the love that God has shown to us, then following Him, no questions asked, is not fanatical at all. It’s a natural response.

And following Jesus, no questions, and responding to His authority makes sense. Now let me explain that. When I say authority, I’m not talking about authority in the way of power. I’m talking about authority in the way of expertise. If you look at the root English word “authority,” what it has at its root is “author,” right? Who’s the author? The author is the one who wrote the book. The one who wrote the book is the expert on the subject.

If you want to know about something, if you want to have first-hand knowledge, then you talk to the author and you can follow the author. Isn’t that really what’s happening? As Mark continues his gospel, so He chooses His four disciples and it goes on. “So He went into Capernaum and He starts teaching at the synagogue.” Listen to how the people respond. “The people were amazed at His teachings because He taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.” They immediately saw a difference between Jesus’ teaching and the teachers of the law. The teachers of the law had to interpret God’s Word for the people. Jesus wasn’t interpreting the Word because He wrote the Word. It isn’t an authority that has been given to Jesus. It’s an inherent authority that He has. He is the expert. He doesn’t have to interpret what God means because He is God, which means if we have the author, if we’re following the author, then we can trust the author and we can follow, if you will, no questions asked.

One more time, let’s go back to the beginning of time. Let’s go back to Adam. We have Genesis 2. So God is talking to Adam and He says this, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.” And it ends right there. What’s missing? No questions. Don’t you find that odd? Adam doesn’t ask any questions. I’ve yet to teach a bible class on Genesis where we’re not filled with questions. “Well, why did He put the tree there to begin with? That doesn’t make sense. And then why did He point it out to Adam?” We’re filled with all kinds of questions of why. Adam doesn’t ask any questions why. Because he’s talking to the author. He’s talking to the Creator and he has this perfect relationship with God. It doesn’t cross his mind. “If God put the tree there, He must have a good reason. I don’t need to know why.” He simply trusted and believed the author.

How many things in life don’t make sense to you? How many things have happened over the years that you scratch your head and you say, “Why did that happen? Why would God allow that to enter into my life? And why didn’t it work out this way? Why didn’t it go that way?” Now don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ask the questions. Until we get to heaven, we don’t have that perfect relationship with the Father. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ask questions. What I’m saying is we can trust the author. It’s not dependent upon whether you understand or not.

What’s most important is that we’re following the author. We’re following the one who has a plan. We’re following the one who we can trust and wherever He leads, we know it’s the best. What seems like a dead end to us is simply another door that He wants to lead us through. In that sense, we follow Jesus, no questions asked. We ask the questions, but it’s not dependent upon the answer because we have a God we can trust and we can follow.

That’s really what the gospel writer, Mark, is inviting us to do. He takes us into his story, he brings us to the news, the gospel, the euaggelion, the news of something that’s happened in history, something that’s been done for you that’s forever changed your status.

And then we have Jesus inviting us into a relationship, an unconditional, no questions asked relationship, a relationship in which Jesus will love you. He will serve you. He will die for you, no questions asked. And by God’s grace, we will love Him, we will serve Him and we will follow Him, no questions asked. Amen.