Blind Mind

GIVE UP EVERYTHING

The call to “give up everything” and follow Jesus seems to be a little extreme.  If you’ve been around church any length of time, you might have heard this preached before.  We should be ready to “give up everything” at any moment to follow Jesus!  But how?  What does that even mean?  Should I sell my house and live homeless?  Should I break my Xbox?  Should I drop out of college?  Does God really advocate this type of lifestyle?

The answer is no.  Jesus never asked His followers to make hasty, rash, foolish decisions.  Jesus never advocated blind faith. 

In Matthew 4:18-20, we read the call of Peter and Andrew.  It’s literally 3 verses.  Jesus sees them, calls them, and they drop everything.  It’s quite simple.  And at face value, it seems like that’s what it should be.  Perhaps this is why we preach it in this manner.

Sea of Galilee, where this story takes place

(I have no idea who that person is)

MAYBE THERE’S MORE

However, the SAME story is recorded in Luke 5:1-11.  Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, and so he purposely left out details because of the presupposed knowledge the Jews had about the Messiah.  Luke, thankfully, gives us much more detail:

5 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. ² He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³ Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵ “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” ⁶ And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! ⁷ A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

⁸ When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” ⁹ For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. ¹⁰ His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” ¹¹ And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

A CLOSER LOOK

Now looking at this story, we see a few things.  First of all, Jesus was preaching.  He didn’t just walk by and call two random guys whom He had never met.  Jesus was teaching, and people were listening up.  Great crowds were pressing in on Him.

Because of this, Jesus asked to borrow Peter’s boat to continue His teaching.  Peter and Andrew were washing their nets, as fishermen would fish at night (the water was cooler and so the fish would come up to the surface).  This was a bit of an inconvenience, but Peter was ok with it.

After Jesus had finished speaking, He told Peter to let down his nets.  Peter had been able to listen to Jesus before making any decision.  Even still, Jesus didn’t ask Him to “give up everything,” but merely to do something a little unusual.  Peter definitely thought it was a strange idea, but decided to do it because Jesus asked Him to, NOT because it made any sense (v. 5).

Once they let down their nets, it was so full they began to tear!  They signaled their partners and the sheer amount of fish began to sink their boats!  Simon realized what happened, and wanted to be away from Jesus because he was a sinner.  Jesus answered, “Do not be afraid!  From now on, you’ll be fishing for people!”  And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

SO WHAT?

Following Jesus always begins with information.  Jesus never advocated blind faith.  Even when looking at the other disciples, the same is true; they made an informed decision to follow Jesus.  Jesus wants you to know what you believe.

From this story, we see four stages:

1. HEARD | Listening and Learning

2. OBEYED | Taking a small, inconvenient step

3. TRUSTED | Allowing Jesus to do something unusual in one area of your life

4. FOLLOWED | Surrendering all aspects of your life to Him

What stage are you at?  It’s not about how many Bible verse you know, how many times you go to church, or anything like that.  It’s simply about following Jesus.  What is your next step in following Him?

"Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life.  And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it," (1 Peter 3:15)