Sunday Jan 27, 2008

Delivered by Reverend Ellen Brantley

SERMON: How Urgent is Your Faith?

TEXT: Matthew 4:12-23

I hesitate to admit this because I view it as a personality flaw,

but. I dated my high school sweetheart for eleven years.

That's right, eleven years. We never got engaged, and we never got

married. How dumb was I, you ask?

Well, I was so blindly in love (I thought) that I was willing to wait

through all his excuses. First he had to finish college. Okay, that

was reasonable and sensible enough - we should both finish college.

But then he had to find the right job and make some money so he could

buy me a nice ring. Okay, that made good sense to me, too. Then he

had to concentrate on studying for an advanced degree.

Then he had to find the right moment to surprise me.

Well, he was thinking, he was planning, that was a good sign.

Finally he used the classic apologetic line, "It's not you, it's me.

I guess I'm just not the marrying kind," he claimed. But, get this,

he wanted to continue dating! Finally, I figured out how to say, "I

don't think so!"

Well, of course, he's married now. And I will be eternally grateful

to God for hardening his heart and keeping me from making that

mistake!

Not to let him off the hook, but haven't we all been guilty of making

excuses from time to time?

Some people have made the excuse that they couldn't spend more time

with their children or spouse because they were busy trying to make a

living and be a good provider. Some people never arrive anywhere on

time because they couldn't get their kids moving, or because their

alarm didn't go off, or because the traffic was bad. Some people use

this one for a variety of occasions: "I can't afford it." In the

church we say, "I've taken my turn," or "We've never done it that way

before."

And everywhere you go people say, "I'm too busy."

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

I find it very interesting that in Matthew's version of the calling

of the disciples, the fishermen don't offer any excuses to Jesus.

Upon his command, they simply follow him, without hesitation. Let's

hear that part of the story

again: "Jesus said to them 'Follow me, and I will make you fish for

people.' Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he

went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and

his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their

nets, and he called them.

Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him."

Wow. Usually I talk about how much we are like those disciples of

old, but not this time. I don't know anyone who makes a life-changing

decision that quickly, nor would I advise anyone toward such behavior.

Immediately they left their work, their families - even the investment

that they'd made in their nets and their boats - and went to follow

this man, Jesus.

Mind you, Matthew makes no mention of the fishermen ever having

met Jesus, or seen his miracles, or heard his teachings. One biblical

scholar adds to this idea, calling it a miracle:

"No explanation has been given [the fishermen].

They are not told why they should follow Jesus, what following him

will mean, or where the path will lead them. We are met here with

Jesus' first miracle, the miracle of his powerful word that creates

following, that makes disciples." This same scholar goes on to say,

"The fishermen are already at work, already doing something useful and

important, thus they are not looking for a new life. Jesus' call does

not fill an obvious vacuum or meet an obvious need in their lives,

but, like the call of prophets in the Hebrew Bible, it is intrusive

and disruptive,

calling them away from work and family."

I can already hear the excuses I'm forming in my own mind. "Well,

there you go. Like the fishermen, we're already at work, already

doing something useful and important. We're not necessarily looking

for a new life. So it's reasonable that we think this over carefully.

Is Jesus really calling us to leave everything behind to follow him?"

I knew a woman from my home church who felt called to ministry. So

she went back to school to get her college degree and then go on to

seminary.

Eventually she divorced her husband and left her two children in the

process of answering the call. This never felt right to me - it

seemed like she was taking the command of Jesus a bit too literally.

I have trouble believing that Jesus would ask us to hurt others in

answer to his call. But who knows?

Maybe this couple was headed for divorce anyway.

Maybe her husband was the one who asked for a divorce. Maybe her kids

chose to stay with their dad. Obviously, I don't know the whole

story, and it's not for me to judge. But no, I don't think Jesus

would ask us to do this.

At the same time, though, I also think that the immediacy

demonstrated in this story shows us that our faith is not something

that can be put on the back burner until later. We must not put off

until tomorrow the call that comes to us today. We must not say to

ourselves that we'll become more committed to Christ when our kids get

older, when we become financially secure, when we find the right job,

when our health improves, when we retire, when life settles down, when

we have more time.

Jesus doesn't ask for volunteers. Jesus doesn't wait for us to raise

our hands. Jesus calls on us, calls us by name, in fact. Jesus

commands us - you and me, right here and right now - "Follow me." As

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "Discipleship is not an offer man makes to

Christ. It is only the call which creates the situation."

Let's also remember that Jesus called fishermen and commanded them to

"fish for people." Someone suggested that "When Jesus confronted

farmers, perhaps he challenged them to plant the seed of the gospel.

Fellow carpenters may have been invited to build the community of

faith." So, for some, while the call of God may command a radical

life change, for others the call may simply ask that we use the gifts

God has given us to honor God, that we tweak what we're already doing

for the purpose of pointing

others toward God. For example, I see a

chiropractor here in Springfield who is very soft-spoken and doesn't

talk much. But when I indicate that I'm feeling better and the

treatment seems to be working, he suggests very quietly that he and I

both give God the glory.

We are honoring several women today who have spent their lives in

many and various ways answering God's call in this church and others.

These women answered and followed and served - when their children

were young and after their children were grown, while they were

working and after they retired, while their husbands were alive and

after their husbands were gone. They provide an example of faith and

commitment that is worthy of honoring and that we would do well to

emulate.

We are all called to "immediately" follow Jesus, starting today,

starting right now, in everything we say and everything we do, with

all that we have and all that we are. No excuses. No

procrastination.

No pretending that the call is for someone else.

Jesus calls us, "Follow me." HOW URGENT IS YOUR

FAITH?