Matthew 4v12 to 23
Barry Unwin. Venues: Hanley Castle, Upton, Welland 22 January 2017
12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went away to Galilee. 13 He did not stay in Nazareth, but went to live in Capernaum, a town by Lake Galilee, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was done to make come true what the prophet Isaiah had said,
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
on the road to the sea, on the other side of the Jordan,
Galilee, land of the Gentiles!
16 The people who live in darkness
will see a great light.
On those who live in the dark land of death
the light will shine.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach his message: “Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!”
18 As Jesus walked along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers who were fishermen, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew, catching fish in the lake with a net. 19 Jesus said to them, “Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people.” 20 At once they left their nets and went with him.
21 He went on and saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat with their father Zebedee, getting their nets ready. Jesus called them, 22 and at once they left the boat and their father, and went with him.
23 Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom, and healing people who had all kinds of disease and sickness.
Pennywell is a massive social housing estate in my home town of Sunderland. 20% unemployment, police no-go areas, and for many years it’s church was on the brink of closure.
A new minister arrived – and she set about getting to know the congregation: including an elderly disabled lady who we’ll call Ethel.
Anyway, one time the minister was challenging them about what they can each do to help grow the Kingdom of God in their area, and Ethel blurts out,
What can I do? I’m so old I’m useless.
So they set about finding something Ethel could do even though she thought she was useless.
And so for the next five years – Ethel opened her home to host a weekly prayer meeting: five or six elderly ladies, all of whom had probably believed the lie that they were too old to do anything useful for God, gathering to pray for their church and community.She thought she was useless, I’m not sure I can think of anything more useful than prayer.
Anyway, our passage today is all about how in God’s hands, all of us are useful.
If you remember last week’s reading (John 1), John the Baptist told some of his disciples to stop following him and to go and follow Jesus instead. They were a guy called Andrew, and another guy called John. They went and told someone called Simon about Jesus too, and they all went to hear Jesus preach.
Some time passed – possibly the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness – and now Jesus comes looking for them: first Simon and Andrew, then John and his brother James. And Jesus says to them,
Come with me, and I will teach you to catch people (v19)
And all four drop what they were doing and follow him.
Sometimes people think that’s a little sudden – but remember – they’d all heard Jesus before. He wasn’t new to them.
What’s new this time is that Jesus is asking them to make a decisive break with the past – leave your old lives behind – come and get a new mission, a new purpose: the kingdom of Heaven.
That was Jesus’ message: Our passage told us,
Jesus began to preach his message: “Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!. (Mat.4:17)
The Kingdom of Heaven is the realm where God’s rule is perfect, and everything is good and healthy and whole and wonderful.
We got a glimpse of what that looks like at the very end of our reading:
Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom, and healing people who had all kinds of disease and sickness. (Mat.4:23)
Now if you know the Bible well you might ask – is the Kingdom of Heaven the same as the Kingdom of God (That Jesus talks about in the other gospels)? Yes it is. Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience and the Jews traditionally avoid using the word God – so he calls it the Kingdom of Heaven instead.
So as Jesus went around curing disease and healing sickness and preaching and teaching the gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven came to earth.
Think of it like the beachhead of an invasion: And as Jesus’ ministry and influence grew, the beachhead is reinforced, grows, it spreads out into the surrounding territory and eventually across the whole world. One day the invasion will be complete – the Kingdom of Heaven will have come fully to Earth but that won’t happen until Jesus returns to judge us and make the world new and make us new.
And in the meantime we’re the ones given the job of advancing the Kingdom of Heaven.
You see Jesus could only be in one place at a time, but through his followers – and with the help of the Holy Spirit –the Kingdom of Heaven advances out of Israel, through the surrounding nations, to Rome, to India, to Africa, to China; all through Europe to the Americas, Australia. The Kingdom of Heaven expands one heart at a time across the whole world. Even to Worcestershire.
Which is of course where we come in. And that’s quite a daunting prospect because if we’re honest about it, the invasion is receiving some pretty stiff opposition in Western Europe at the moment.
There might be 2 billion plus Christians in the world, but here in Worcestershire, it feels like the advance of the Kingdom has ground to a halt. In fact at times it feels like we’re in full-scale retreat. And when an army is in retreat it’s incredibly vulnerable – not least because morale fails.
And when morale fails – people like Ethel go around declaring, “I’m useless.”
When morale fails, people stop believing in the mission, and start believing the enemy’s propaganda instead. You know what I mean by propaganda don’t you? The way the secular atheist universities, the media, and political correctness buffs see the world.
When morale fails, people squabble about who is in charge. And they always want it to be them!
When morale fails, people want to quit the fight; take off their uniform and hide in the crowd. And we can probably all think of people who have done that – they’ve given up and left the fighting few to carry a greater and greater share of the burden.
Some of you, I know are very tired of carrying that burden. It’s exhausting. You feel despair, hopeless, and are longing for rest.
Well take heart.Now is not the time to throw in the towel. Now is the time to renew our confidence in our mission
The Kingdom of God – has not failed.The Kingdom of God will not fail. It is God’s mission, and he will not let it fail.
No, the Kingdom of God has not failed. But what has failed is our tactics for sharing it.
For a long time in this nation we’ve assumed that if we have impressive buildings impressive services, impressive clergymen, People will somehow just find their way into the Kingdom of God.
It doesn’t work. Even in a cathedral.
The truth is, what’s needed to advance the Kingdom of God is exactly what Jesus needed to advance the Kingdom of God. And that’s the people of God. The people of God, sharing the words of God, and depending on the power of God.
So Jesus called followers: Disciples. Copycats. Did you know the word Christian originally meant “Little Christ”? And Jesus sent all these little Christs out to do the things he had been doing. People like Simon and Andrew, James and John, and of course Ethel. And you and I.
So as we start a new year here – the advance of the Kingdom of God lies with us. In our prayers, in our actions, in our willingness, our determination to not quit, but instead do the hard thing and be like Jesus: loving, serving, giving, sacrificing, at home, at work, at school, at play.
Friday saw Donald Trump become president of the USA. No matter what you feel about Americans, one thing they do well is rhetoric – especially when their new presidents take office.
Think of JFK :
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.
Apparently he stole the line from his old headmaster So let me steal the line and reapply to our situation:
Ask not what the Kingdom of God can do for you, but what you can do for the Kingdom of God.
You see a new year brings new opportunities, and new needs. All across our parishes we face the annual challenge to recruit church wardens, PCC members, treasurers, Please pray that God will provide.
And if you feel your service in the Kingdom of God might involve a formal role like that – please have a word with me or one of your existing church wardens – and let’s see how we can put you to work in the battle. Because, none of you are useless.
Jesus specialises in taking people who don’t think much of themselves and doing extraordinary things through them.
- Moses – a man with a stammer becomes a great leader and orator.
- Gideon – a coward hiding in a winepress becomes a mighty and faithful warrior.
- Rahab – a foreign prostitute becomes part of the family line that produces Jesus.
- Rahab’sdescendant David – a teenager with a slingshot and a lot of faith becomes a giant-slayer and mighty king.
- And the 12 disciples? Well someone with too much time on their hands once wrote a letter from a recruitment consultancy to Jesus about them.
Dear Sir:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization.
After interviewing them all, our psychologists are of the opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper.
Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership.
The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty.
Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.
We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your right-hand man.
The point is – you don’t have to be a spiritual giant to serve Jesus. But Jesus will take your service, And turn you into a spiritual giant.
Let’s pray.