Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)

Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God's Love

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Follow Me

Pastor: 
Pr. John Gerike

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Sermon:  Follow Me

Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-8

February 6 and 7, 2010

 

 

At the 11:00 service today/tomorrow/this service,

            20 young people will be receiving their 1st Communion.

  Over the last month,

            they’ve been getting together on Wednesday nights here at church,

                        along with their parents—

                                    --learning about this special gift

                                    --getting ready for this special day.

 

And it’s been fun to watch them.

            Jill Farmer has been teaching the sessions,

                        and I’ve been in and out—in the midst of other things.

            And you just get a sense, as you watch and listen, that they are excited.

                        That they have a sense of how special this is.

                                    And the parents do, too.

           

They are excited to learn,

            and share in the gift of Holy Communion.

  They are excited to follow.

            Follow where Jesus leads.

 

 

 

The first two words of our mission statement are:

            Following Christ.

 

That’s what we’re talking about today.

            Following Christ.

 

As I’ve thought about our mission statement

            I’ve often had a concern about it.

  And, you know what,

            I don’t think I had anything to worry about.

 

The concern about our mission statement

            is that it was focused on what we do.

  Following Christ,

            Growing in Faith,

                        Sharing God’s Love.

 

 

 

Of course,

            it makes sense that a mission statement

                        says what we do in mission.

 

But, we always need to remember that our mission begins,

            not with what we do—

                        --but with what God has already done for us.

            Our focus is first on God,

                        not on us.

 

Well,

            I think that is right there in our mission statement.

  Following Christ—

            --certainly leads us to do certain things—

                        like—

                                    --caring for one another

                                    --worshiping together

                                    --praying

                                    --studying the Bible

                                    --serving others.

 

But the key to following Christ

            is—somehow this shouldn’t be a surprise—

                        --following Christ.

 

 

It’s rooted in a relationship—

            ---not just what we do.

   Although we do a lot of good things as we follow,

            following is rooted not in our actions,

                        but in relationship.

 

Everything we do is rooted in Christ.

            Everything we do is in response to God’s love.

                        Everything we do, we do because of the one we follow.

 

 

It’s based on a relationship—

            --our relationship with the one who loves us

            --who leads us

            --who guides us.

  We are following Christ.

                        And that starts with who Jesus is.

                                    Our lives are a response.

 

 

It begins is when we see God.

            Take a look at Isaiah.

 

It was in the year that King Uzziah died—

            --which might have been 759 BC,

                        or 742 BC

                        or 740 BC—

            --somewhere around there.

  And Isaiah had a vision.

            God sitting on a throne.

                       

 

And the hem of his robe filled the temple.

            The temple was probably the largest building Isaiah knew of.

  And just the hem of God’s robe filled the whole building.

            And there were angels flying around—

                        --saying “Holy, holy, holy”.

            And things were shaking.

                        And filled with smoke.

 

            And Isaiah had a sense of how big,

                        how amazing,

                                    how wonderful,

                                                how powerful God is.

 

 

And what was Isaiah’s response.

            He said: 

                        “I’m in trouble,

                                    because I’m sinful,

                                                we’re all sinful—

                                                            --and God knows it.”

 

The way he said it was:

            “Woe is me!

                        I am lost,

                                    for I am a man of unclean lips,

                                                and I live among a people of unclean lips;

            yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

 

 

But it means the same thing:

            “I’m in trouble…”,

                        he thinks.

 

 

And then something happens.

            And I cringe when I imagine this.

  One of the seraphs,

            the angels,

                        takes a live coal from the fire with a pair of tongs,

            and touches Isaiah’s mouth with it,

                        and said:

                                    “Now that this has touched your lips,

                                                your guilt has departed

                                                            and your sin is blotted out.”

 

 

So now,

            Isaiah has not only seen God’s power,

                        he has also seen God’s grace.

            God, all-powerful God,

                        chooses to forgive.

 

Isaiah has seen the power

            and the loving grace of God.

 

 

So, when Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying,

            Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

  How does Isaiah respond?

            “Here am I; send me!”

 

 

 

As for as we know,

            Isaiah didn’t even know where he was being sent—

                        --but he volunteered.

            Why?

                        Because he knew the one who was calling out to him.

                                    And he was ready to follow.

 

 

 

I pray that we might see God clearly.

            God’s power.

            God’s grace.

                        And I pray that when we do,

                                    we are moved, like Isaiah,

                                                to say:

            “Here am I; send me!”

 

 

Sounds a lot like today’s story about Peter.

            They’d been fishing all night long—

                        --hadn’t caught a thing.

            Jesus borrows one of their boats,

                        teaches the crowd while sitting in the boat,

                                    and then says to Peter:

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

 

Peter’s not so sure about this.

            After all, Jesus is a carpenter.

                        He’s the fisherman.

            But he says,

                        “We’ve fished all night long and haven’t caught anything,

                                    but if you say so,

                                                I will let down the nets.”

 

 

And they caught so many fish

            that their nets were breaking.

  And they needed help to pull them in.

 

 

And what is Peter’s response?

 

Did he say—

            --“Thanks, that was good for business,

                        I’ll make a lot of money with those fish.”?

           

Did he say—

            --‘Thanks for the idea.

                        I’ll have to remember that deepwater fishing in the morning

                                    after not catching anything all night.”?

 

No.

            What does he say? 

    He falls down at Jesus’ knees,

            and says:

                        “Go away from me, Lord,

                                    for I am a sinful man.”

 

What happened?

            He saw Jesus.

                        He saw God.

            And when he saw Jesus clearly,

                        he saw how sinful he was.

 

Peter says:

            “Go away from me, Lord.”

  But Jesus won’t go away.

 

Our sinfulness won’t push Jesus away.

            Our weakness won’t push Jesus away.

                        Our fear won’t push Jesus away.

 

 

Jesus won’t go away.

            Jesus follows us all the days of our lives.

  Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                       

 

And Jesus says to Simon:

            “Don’t be afraid;

                        from now on you’ll be catching people.”

            And when they got to shore,

                        they left everything and followed him.

 

 

 

Following Christ.

            It’s a relationship.

                        Again and again,

                                    we are changed when we see who Jesus truly is,

                                                when we see his power and his love.

 

 

When they got to shore,

            they left everything and followed him.

  What is it you need to leave behind?

            What is it I need to leave behind?

 

 

 

It seems to me,

            for almost all of us,

                        we are going to follow right in the middle of our daily lives—

            --with our family

            --in our job

            --with our friends

            --at school

            --at home.

 

That’s where God is calling us to serve.

            So, if we don’t need to leave behind our family

                        or job

                        or home,

            what might God be calling us to leave behind?

 

 

 

Our older son, Brent,

            is getting ready to leave for Minnesota later this week

                        to start a year-long Americorps position.

            So, before he’s gone,

                        he and I have been playing a lot of ping pong.

                                    We have a table in the basement,

                                                just like I did when I was growing up.

                                    And we play quite a bit.

                                                Ruth is still amazed that we can work up a sweat

                                                            playing ping pong.

 

Now, I’m sure this is true with other sports—

            --like football  (there’s a game later, isn’t there?),

                        but I’ve never been at that level in football

            --but ping-pong…..

 

To get better,

            you need to practice and practice and practice,

  but at some point—

            --you also need to let go.

 

As long as you try to control your shots,

            to aim,

                        keep things under control,

                                    you never really get going.

 

At some point,

            you need to trust,

                        and hit out,

                                    and let go of control.

 

 

And then, sometimes, it gets really fun.

            Not always.

                        Sometimes it’s just hard and frustrating.

            But sometimes,

                        when you let go of control,

                                    that’s when your game gets going.

 

 

I wonder if, for lots of us anyway,

            that’s what we need to leave behind when we follow Jesus.

  Being in control.

 

 

You know,

            we’re probably not that different from Peter.

  We have a tendency to think of Peter as being poor,

                        but he was probably a successful businessman.

            He had his own boat—maybe more than one.

                        He had nets

                                    He had equipment to stretch and dry nets.

                                                He probably had docks.

                        Carts to take his fish to market.

                                    Maybe a donkey to pull the cart.

            We’re not sure about all this,

                        but the odds are pretty good,

                                    that in the economy of that time,

                                                Peter and his family and friends

                                                            were successful

                                                                        and relatively rich.

 

 

They probably thought they had things all figured out.

            They knew where their life was going.

   They were building up the business.

                        They didn’t have 401K’s in those days,

                                    but they probably thought about slowing down

                                                and having the kids do more of the work one of these days.

 

 

And then Jesus came along.

            Then Jesus came alojng.

                        And all the plans…

                                    All the dreams that seemed so important.

                                                Maybe not so important anymore.

            And when they caught a glimpse

                        of who Jesus really was—

                                    --the power, the love, the grace—

                                    --they left everything and followed him.

 

 

 

 

They left everything.

            Maybe especially their control.

                        Their plans.

                                    Their idea of what was really important.

                                                And they trusted Jesus.

                        And followed.

 

 

Following Christ.

            I pray that, again and again,

                        you and I might catch a glimpse of Jesus—

                                    --the power, the love, the grace.

            And when we do,

                        I pray that the Holy Spirit gives us the strength

                                    to let go of everything we hold so tightly—

                                                --our possessions

                                                --our plans

                                                --our control.

           

May we leave everything and follow Christ.

 

 

You know what,

            when we do,

                        things may not be easy,

                        they may be a struggle,

                        they may be difficult.

            But I believe we will have true life

                        as we follow where Jesus leads the way.

 

 

In Jesus’ name,

            Amen