Author: Jefferson Vann

HE’S WILLING TO FORGIVE

Psalms 130:1-8 NET

1 From the deep water I cry out to you, O LORD. 2 O Lord, listen to me! Pay attention to my plea for mercy! 3 If you, O LORD, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you? 4 But you are willing to forgive, so that you might be honored. 5 I rely on the LORD, I rely on him with my whole being; I wait for his assuring word. 6 I yearn for the Lord, more than watchmen do for the morning, yes, more than watchmen do for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD, for the LORD exhibits loyal love, and is more than willing to deliver. 8 He will deliver Israel from all the consequences of their sins.

I want to talk about forgiveness for a little while. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught them to ask God for forgiveness. Once he healed a man who was paralyzed, and he told that man that he was forgiven. His point was that he has the same right to release people from sins as he does to release them from physical problems (Mark 2:1-12).

Jesus also explained why God can forgive us. During the first communion celebration — the night before his crucifixion — Jesus took a cup, gave thanks for it, and then said “this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The shed blood of Christ is the basis of God’s forgiveness.

Also, proclaiming the possibility of forgiveness is not just a minor theological tenet of Christianity. We are commanded by our Savior to proclaim it. In Luke’s version of the great commission, we are told that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:17).

But the story of God’s forgiveness does not begin at Calvary or the great commission. No, just like everything else that Jesus taught, if we want to understand it, we have to spend some time reading the Bible that he read — the Old Testament. That’s why we are first going to go to Psalm 130 to understand that our God is willing to forgive.

Verse 4 says it. David says to his Lord, “You are willing to forgive.” We know for sure that David believed that. I am not here today to convince you that David believed that. The purpose of this psalm is to convince others to believe that.

Forgiveness is crucial to the gospel. If someone does not believe in forgiveness, it doesn’t matter how much they know about other things. I want to outline from today’s text some of the supposed obstacles to forgiveness. My point is that they are not obstacles because God is willing to forgive.

Verse 1 begins “From the deep water I cry out to you, O LORD.” So, the first obstacle to forgiveness is the deep water.

The deep water cannot prevent him from forgiving you (1).

Deep water signifies danger in the Bible. The particular danger that David faces at the beginning of this psalm is the danger of unforgiven sin. He is in danger of being destroyed by his guilt.

Murphy says “This Psalm describes the rise of the soul from the deep of self-condemnation to the height of hope in God.” (646). The psalm has three stages. The first stage is verses 1-2, where David is pleading for rescue.

Spurgeon says “Those that are farthest cast down, are not farthest from God, but are nearest unto him” (123). When you are at rock bottom, it is a good thing because the only direction you can look is up.

Jonah was in the deep water literally and metaphorically. He prayed to God, and God sent a fish. There is no water deep enough to obscure us from God’s vision.

In Psalm 139, David said: “Where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn and settle down on the other side of the sea, even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me” (7-10).

God is actively seeking those he can forgive. He is willing to dig deep to find people willing to be forgiven. Even before we ask God to listen to us, he is there listening.

Verse 3 says “If you, O LORD, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you?”

The number of your sins cannot prevent him from forgiving you (3).

I like the way verse 3 begins with an “if.” This is not conditional “if.” It is a hypothetical “if”. David is saying that if God operated in such a way that his sins could become an obstacle to God’s forgiveness, then he would have a problem. David knows he is a sinner. But he also knows that God is a forgiver. The number of David’s sins can never prevent God from intervening in his life and rescuing him from their consequences.

I imagine some people think of their relationship with God as if God is holding a bucket. Every time they sin, God puts that sin in his bucket. When their transgressions reach critical mass, God puts the bucket down and walks away.

That may be the way some people think, but that is not the way David thought. He did not have bucket theology. He knew that God is offended by his sins, but he also knew that God had committed himself to never walk away, to always be available to forgive.

Isaiah wrote “Come, let’s consider your options,” says the LORD. “Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). The sins are real, but so is the potential of complete forgiveness. It doesn’t matter how dark the stain is, God’s got a detergent that can take the stain away.

Verse 4 says that God is willing to forgive, so that he might be honored.

That word “honored” is the word “fear” but we don’t usually associate forgiveness with fear. We tend to think of forgiveness as removing fear. It does remove the fear of judgment, but it replaces it with reverence and worship.

The justice of God cannot prevent him from forgiving you (4).

“God does not forgive in order that man may be in terror of him. That would be nonsense. But God would neither be worth reverence, nor would it be worthwhile to revere him, unless he were forgiving. Not worth reverence,’ because he would not be good; ‘ not worthwhile to revere, ‘ because, as sin is for us inevitable, it would be hopeless to serve him. Who would not run away from and disown an unforgiving Father? (Montefiore, 556-557).

God takes sin seriously. That is why he sent his only Son to atone for our sins. But because Jesus died for our sins, God approaches us with the reality of that atonement. His justice is not an obstacle to his forgiveness. No sin that we could ever commit could ever deplete the purifying power of the blood of Christ on the cross. As long as we keep walking in the light, the blood of Jesus keeps cleansing us from all sin.

Also, The distance between you and God cannot prevent him from forgiving you (5-7).

The text talks about the watchmen waiting for the morning to come.

Burgess explains that “The custom was that one of the Levites who watched in the temple should stand to observe the first rising of the dawn; that the morning sacrifice might be duly prepared.” (Burgess, 246). These Levites watched for the morning light because they thought that during that time before the morning sacrifice there were sins that were not yet atoned for. Without the sacrifice, there was a distance between God and his creation.

We all know how it feels when we know we have done something wrong. We are afraid of praying because we feel that distance. We are self-condemned but are reluctant to go to God because we feel that he would condemn us as well.

But we need to remember the cross. On that old rugged cross, Jesus died as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins once and for all. There is no longer a distance. Our sins are no longer an obstacle. Our God has called us to come boldly to his throne of grace to find mercy in our time of need.

Our God is like the father of the prodigal son, watching and waiting for us to come home to him. He looks out his window to see if we are making our way down the dusty road. He has the robe and ring ready. He has the fattened calf in the stall, ready to process for the celebration feast. The sinful prodigal might feel like there is a distance. He may be ready only to return to his father’s house as one of his hired servants. But the loving Father will have none of that. That is no way to treat this son of mine, who was dead, and is now alive!

Finally, The consequences of your mistakes cannot prevent him from forgiving you (8).

Verse 8 promises that God will deliver Israel from all the consequences of their sins.

The final payoff of all sin is death, but there are other consequences of failing to obey God. The wars and pandemics and unfairnesses of this life speak to us and they tell us that there are so many things that are not the way they should be.

The God who promises us forgiveness is ready to add to that blessing. He is ready to start undoing what our sins have done to us. We deserve prison, but he promises freedom. We deserve death, but he promises a renewal of life. We deserve pain, but he promises pleasure. We deserve sorrow, but he promises joy. We deserve curses, but he promises blessings.

____________________

Burgess, George. The Book of Psalms: Translated into English Verse. New York: F.J. Huntington, 1840.

Montefiore, C. G. The Book of Psalms. 1901.

Murphy, James Gracey. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Andover: W.F. Draper, 1875.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Treasury of David: London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1873.

LET’S GO ELSEWHERE

Mark 1:35-39 NET

35 Then Jesus got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. 36 Simon and his companions searched for him. 37 When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 He replied, “Let us go elsewhere, into the surrounding villages, so that I can preach there too. For that is what I came out here to do.” 39 So he went into all of Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus has moved north from Judea and is now ministering in Galilee — the region he grew up in. He is gathering many disciples around him, including some who are being formally trained for a ministry similar to his own. They are in Capernaum, where Jesus has just finished preaching in a synagogue and has just commanded an unclean spirit to leave a man. The demon left, and everyone was amazed at Jesus’ power.

Next, Jesus goes to Peter’s home in the same city. Peter’s mother-in-law was there — bedridden with a high fever. When they told Jesus about her, he simply came to the bed where she lay, took her hand, and raised her up. The fever was gone, so she immediately began serving Jesus and the disciples.

It did not take long for the inhabitants of that village of Capernaum to get news that a healer was in town. By evening, the whole town had gathered at the door, so Jesus went about his work of healing the sick and delivering the demon-possessed.

Since he had such a busy day, you would expect Jesus to sleep in the next day. Instead, our text tells us that he got up before sunrise, went out into a deserted place, and prayed. When Peter and the others found him, he told them that he planned to go elsewhere. The question I want to address today is why did Jesus tell his disciples “let’s go elsewhere”?

Jesus did not need to go anywhere else to get close to his heavenly Father (35)

Jesus had made his relationship with his heavenly Father his priority. Prayer for him was not a chore that he tacked on to his daily life when he found time for it. No, he made time for prayer even when there was no time to spare. Since he knew that many throughout the city had learned of his presence and his healing and deliverance ministry, he had to get up early for his private devotional time first.

Glover writes “He needed to pray. Only in facing God did He find the sufficient refreshment of His Spirit. His eye grew sick and weary with the sight of sin and woe and only got back its brightness by looking upon God. Only there did He find rest. No one so enjoyed human love as He did. But He wanted a greater heart than man’s to rest on with His sorrows, cares, and toils, and He found it in the heart of God. He, as man, had to seek guidance for each day’s action, and light for each day’s teaching, and power for each day’s work; and only God could give these.”1

Sometimes our Christian lives get so busy that we have to organize retreats where we can go and rest and get back in touch with God. Sometimes in ministry, we need a rest — a sabbatical. Otherwise, our activities tend to crowd out our spiritual lives.

But Jesus did not need to go elsewhere to stay spiritually strong. He had found a way — even in the busy city of Capernaum to stay in touch with his heavenly Father — to keep himself in step with God’s will. His early morning talks with the man upstairs were all that he needed to keep the relationship strong and vital.

So, it was not for Jesus’ personal spiritual needs that he told his disciples that they were going to pack up and go elsewhere.

Also, Jesus did not need to go anywhere else to have a successful ministry (36-37)

The fact that crowds had gathered at the doorstep of Peter’s home was a good thing. It meant that news was getting out that if you have a need, there is somebody there who can fill it. Sick people want to go where they can get help. When the home remedies don’t help and the local doctors can’t help, people will go out of their way to find someone or something that will work. News had gotten out that the preacher was healing people at Peter’s house.

Our modern philosophy tells us that if we have something that is working, don’t try to change it. I can imagine Peter thinking that he was in really good shape here. He could be a part of a successful ministry without having to leave his home and family. Then he finds Jesus, and Jesus tells him that they have to go elsewhere. “Wait a minute,” Peter says. ” The crowds are here, our shelter is here, our boats and nets are nearby in case we need to eat. So, why should we leave?”

I don’t know if Peter said anything like that, but I can imagine he thought it. Logic dictated that if the crowds were still forming in Capernaum, you don’t need to pull up your tent stakes and go to the other towns and villages of Galilee.

But there is another aspect of God’s logic. That is the aspect of what God wants and when he wants it. God wants to save all people everywhere. He wants to demonstrate his love and offer his forgiveness to all people everywhere.

Goodwin writes “Note, again, that the extraordinary popularity which He had attained in Capernaum was no reason with Him why He should remain there. The question was, whether He had done the work of His Father as it required to be done; and if so, He would not remain for the purpose of basking in the sunshine of friendship and kindness.” 2

Human nature wants to build a tower and a city and settle down and make something of ourselves. God’s logic looks down on that and sees human pride. The tower of Babel was an example. God had told the descendants of Noah to scatter throughout the earth. They decided to settle at Shinar.

Later in Genesis, we encounter a man named Abram whom God had decided to bless. But God was not going to bless him unless he decided to go away from his homeland and be a blessing to others. Abram — later renamed Abraham — was successful in his ministry because he was obedient to God’s mission for his life.

And, just like Abraham, Jesus needed to go elsewhere to fulfill his God-given mission (38-39)

Jesus told his disciples that they had to keep moving because he came to Galilee to reach Galilee, not just Capernaum. He came to the world to share God’s love and healing and deliverance with the whole world, not just the easy places to be.

The church of Jesus Christ needs to take hold of that truth again. We have had periods in our history where we have made great strides in fulfilling the great commission. But we have also had periods where we have gotten sidetracked from that calling by other things. There are many good things that we can do by staying and investing in the home front. But our heavenly Father sent his only Son as a manifestation of his love to the whole world. He wants us to reach the whole world.

Remember what our Lord had told those self-righteous religious leaders who objected to his associating with Matthew’s fellow tax collectors and sinners? He said that a doctor’s place is among the sick. When doctors are everywhere, then people can go to them. But when the doctors are scarce, and the sick are scattered, then the doctors need to go to the sick. If those who are the neediest cannot find a doctor, then the doctors need to find them.

Jesus cannot “confine his labors to one town as others need him also.” He had to go throughout the whole region, “not necessarily every acre or every town, but there were hundreds of towns, and this circuit of Galilee — the first of several, apparently – must have involved weeks and months of toilsome journeying and many severe trials to his loving heart.” 3

Jesus had already shown his willingness to go where he needed to go. He had gone out into the desert to be tempted. He had gone to meet a Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar. In this very text, he had gone to the home of Peter — and healed his mother-in-law there. He would later go to a ruler’s house to raise his daughter from the dead. He’d go to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. He was God’s grace in the flesh, and he would go where he needed to go to manifest that grace.

He went where no one else could go. He went to the cross. Others have died on crosses for their sins, but he died on a cross for our sins. He had a mission, and he was willing to go wherever he needed to go to fulfill that mission.

It is for that reason that Jesus refuses to stay among all the friends and admirers in Capernaum who want to keep him for themselves. His hands are healing hands, not just for a few here or there, but all people everywhere. His voice drives out demons — not just in a Capernaum synagogue, but in the region of the Gerasenes, in Tyre where they were possessing the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman, and along the sea where they had made a young boy mute and gave him convulsions.

Johnny Cash sang a song about a man who had been everywhere. Jesus was like that. He traveled. He went from place to place because God has a message, and God wants his people to go into every nation and proclaim that message. Jesus said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Now, the same heavenly Father who sent his Son to proclaim his gospel has also sent his people — his church — to proclaim that same gospel to that same planet. His word to us today is “let’s go elsewhere.” There are still plenty of places where there are plenty of people who need to hear the good news. Nothing should hinder our mission of going with the gospel. Even if we cannot physically travel, we should find ways of getting the gospel to those who need it — and everybody needs it. If we cannot go, we need to send someone. If we send someone, then those who stay back should be praying for and paying for those we send.

___________________

1 Glover, Richard. A Teacher’s Commentary of the Gospel of St. Mark. London: Sunday School Union, 1884. p. 19.

2 Goodwin, Harvey. A Commentary on the Gospel of S. Mark. Cambridge [Eng.]: Deighton, Bell, 1860. p. 25.

3 Broadus, John Albert. Commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1905. p. 18.

FOLLOW EXCLUSIVELY

John 10 1-16 NET

“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. 14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me – 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.This month we have been studying what it means to follow the Lord. We saw in Deuteronomy 13 that it means not allowing ourselves to be tempted to rebel against him, even if that temptation comes from someone famous for being wise or gifted. We should resist the temptation to reject the Lord even if it comes from a close friend or family member. We should resist the temptation even if a whole city combines to influence us against the Lord.

Last week, we saw three examples of people who were called to follow Jesus, and in each case, the call to follow Jesus was a call to sacrifice. The four fishermen were called to sacrifice their nets to learn how to fish for people. Matthew was told to walk away from his job as a tax collector. The Pharisees and experts in the law were challenged to sacrifice their phony self-righteousness, and follow Jesus into true righteousness by faith.

For this week’s text, we turn to the teaching of Jesus himself. John chapter 10 is where Jesus explains why we should follow him exclusively. You see, there will always be people who will look at passages like Deuteronomy 13 and say, “Why not do both – why not follow the LORD and the other gods of the nations?” They suggest that we should be more inclusive. It’s okay to follow the LORD, but why not add other gods and follow them as well.

There will also be those who after hearing God’s call to be fishers of people will reply, okay, I’ll do some evangelism on the side, as long as you don’t require that I give up my position as a professional fisherman, or a professional tax collector, or a professional religious leader. Let me be myself, Jesus, and I will follow you also.

It’s in today’s text that we learn that we cannot follow Jesus also. He demands exclusive loyalty. We have to follow him exclusively, and here is why:

We should follow Jesus exclusively because of who he is:

Jesus is teaching by using a parable here. In some of Jesus’ parables, we can identify particular elements, and part of interpreting the parable is deciding who is being identified by each element. The trouble with today’s text is that Jesus kind of bends the rules. He uses two different elements to refer to himself.

• Jesus is the door (2,7,9,16).

The first element that Jesus uses to refer to himself is the door. It is not the door to a house and it is not the door to a church or temple. It is the door to a sheep pen or a sheepfold.

Here is how Cowles introduces what is going on in this section of the parable:

“A sheep-fold is an enclosure, with walls and a door. The owner is supposed to employ and control the porter, and also, the shepherd; or perhaps, as in the application of the figure here, fill all these offices himself. He is lord of the fold and of the flock, and of course, has command of the door of entrance.”¹

The owner employs someone who keeps watch at the door of the sheepfold. This is the porter or the doorkeeper. The owner has also employed others – shepherds – but they can only have access to the sheepfold if they come in through the door.

Now, the interesting thing about this section of the parable is that you would expect Jesus to say that he is the doorkeeper, but he does not. He’s the door itself. If Jesus were the doorkeeper, then all kinds of shepherds could come to him and Jesus could give a yes or no vote as to whether they were worth following.

The door is the symbol Jesus uses here for access to God and his kingdom. What Jesus is saying by identifying himself with the door is that no one will have access to God and his kingdom without first coming to him.

Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus said the same thing when he said that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). The way and the door are the same thing. They speak of access to God and his kingdom. We are to seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness according to Jesus in Matthew 6:33. Jesus is the only way to do that. Jesus is the only door anyone can take that will lead them to God and make them into people who are righteous like God.

• Jesus is also the good shepherd (2-5, 11,14).

Now, after he has made his point about being the only means of legitimate access to God, Jesus shifts his emphasis and starts identifying as the good shepherd. First, he says that any legitimate leader of God’s people will have to go through him. You cannot even really be a shepherd of the sheep without going through the door.

All the shepherds of the sheep have to follow the good shepherd. As the good shepherd, Jesus claims to know each one of his followers individually. He knows us and we know him. He knows me and I know him. He knows you and you know him. There’s a relationship there.

So, another thing we learn about following Jesus in this text is that it is more than just access to his power. Jesus is more than a door we can walk through. He is the good shepherd. He is here for us to know, and be known by him. He is someone who can change us by the very influence of his presence.

Without the good shepherd, the sheep will be vulnerable to attack, and they will not know where to go to get the right food. They will not be safe lying down. They will be in danger of accidents wherever they go.

As we go deeper into the imagery of Jesus as the good shepherd we also learn that…

We should follow Jesus exclusively because of what he does:

• As the good shepherd, He has laid down his life for the sheep (11,15).

I love what Gaebelein says here: “This statement sums up all the predictions and types of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Him and His work of love. He came to die for the sheep, those who are given to Him by the Father. This statement also answers completely the miserable invention that Christ died to seal in death the Truth He had preached, that He was a martyr on account of His convictions and His doctrine. He did not lay down His life for His doctrines, but for His sheep.”²

To put it another way, Jesus is the Truth, but he is also the Life. He came teaching, but God had sent other teachers. When John the Baptist saw him, he didn’t declare to his followers “here is your teacher.” No, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

His death on the cross was crucial to the work of Christ.

We honor the first responders who put their lives on the line for those who need their help. Jesus is the eternal first responder who in the divine plan of the ages came to die as the sinless sacrifice which reconciled sinners to God.

• As the good shepherd, Jesus also protects the sheep from thieves (1,10)

The thieves are introduced in verse 1, and they are contrasted to Jesus in verse 10. In neither of these are the thieves identified as Satan. The thieves are false shepherds who try to lead God’s people but do not do so by first coming through the door themselves. Sure, it is true that the devil only seeks to steal, kill, and destroy us, but that is not what Jesus is talking about. The thieves in this text are those who want us to follow them, but they refuse to follow Jesus.

• As the good shepherd, Jesus also leads the sheep to abundant life (9-10).

Here again, I’m afraid we have been misled.

Whole movements have theologized to excess about what Jesus could have meant when he promised us abundant life. We should remember that Jesus’ promise here is couched in a parable where believers are depicted as sheep. What would an abundant life mean to a sheep? Do you think those sheep out in that pasture are dreaming about owning a Cadillac? Do you think they care about bank accounts and mansions? Abundant life for a sheep would mean life instead of death. It would mean rescue from the thieves who sought to steal, kill and destroy the sheep.

It cannot be denied that coming to Jesus will most certainly enhance the quality of life that most Christians will live in this life. But for some, coming to Jesus will mean certain – and in some cases, immediate death. In such cases, how can the promise of abundant life in John 10 be true? It can be true if Jesus was promising an abundant life which is both quantitative and qualitative but promising these things for eternity after the resurrection.

In John 10:10, Jesus is not rewiring our theology. He is not adding a separate new promise of abundance on top of his previous promises of permanent life at the resurrection. If he is hinting at anything we might consider new, it is probably that our new permanent lives after the resurrection will far exceed anything we can imagine. But he is not guaranteeing that we will experience that kind of abundance before the resurrection.

Taken together, all these elements of the parable Jesus teaches in John 10 show us that as the door, Jesus gives us access to God’s sheepfold. As the good shepherd, Jesus died for us. He can now protect us from the false shepherds who are thieves and robbers. And Jesus offers us abundant life for eternity – a life only he can give. For all these reasons, it makes sense to devote our lives to following him exclusively.

_________________

1Cowles, Henry. The Gospel and Epistles of John. New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1876. p. 156.

2Gaebelein, Arno Clemens. The Gospel of John, A Complete Analytical Exposition of the Gospel of John. New York, N.Y.: Publication Office “Our Hope “, 1925. pp. 183-184.

FOLLOW SACRIFICIALLY

Mark 1:16-20; 2:13-17 NET

We have seen from Deuteronomy 13 that the LORD expects us to follow him loyally. We are not to allow anyone to tempt us to forsake our allegiance to God no matter what credentials they have, no matter how close we are to them and no matter how many are backing them – even if it is an entire city.

When the New Testament talks about Following God, the emphasis is on following Jesus – the king of God’s coming kingdom. When you join a club, it is usually because the club is doing something you want to be involved with. But when you become part of the kingdom, you are pledging loyalty to a king. From that point on, it is not what you want that matters. From now on, it is what the king wants that matters.

That is why following Jesus always means more than being a fan of him. When he calls us, the call requires that we follow him sacrificially.

The story of Jesus’ call of the four fishermen is an example of this fact.

Jesus challenged the four fishermen to follow him sacrificially (1:16-20).

16 As he went along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). 17 Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.” 18 They left their nets immediately and followed him. 19 Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their boat mending nets. 20 Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

These four men were not just out for a weekend of pleasure fishing. They had their own boats, their own nets, and they even had some hired men along. They were professional fishermen. They did this for a living. Being fishermen was the family business for them. It was the means that God had given them for providing for their own families. We learn from the early chapters of the book of John that at least three of these four men had already met Jesus, and probably accompanied him on his preaching tour in Judea (John 2:2, 12, 17; 3:22; 4:2, 27).

Now, these men were back in Galilee, and they were back at work. That short-term ministry trip was wonderful and all, but they have to get back to work now. So it is here in their normal setting that Jesus comes and visits them. They had already committed themselves to Jesus as the Messiah. Now their king comes to them and tells them that he wants them to do something else.

Let’s just stop there for a moment and ask that all-important question. Could Jesus be calling us to do something else besides what we normally do? He didn’t call Zebedee that day. He didn’t call the other hired men. He zeroed in on these four and specifically challenged them to rejoin his preaching tour. This time, it would be in Galilee. This time it would be in their home region. Except that this time they would have to sacrifice more than just a short time away from family and friends. This time he was challenging them to change their occupation. They would have to train to preach the gospel. They would have to begin at ground zero and relearn how to work at that new job.

Later, Mark describes another disciple who was challenged by Jesus to give up his current job and become a trainee disciple. We know this disciple as Matthew, but Mark called him by his Jewish name – Levi.

Jesus challenged Levi to follow him sacrificially (2:13-15).

13 Jesus went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them. 14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 15 As Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

The last time Mark had Jesus by the sea it was to recruit four new trainees. Now he is back there, and there is a whole crowd with him. He had just healed a paralytic, and so there was a huge crowd following him around, waiting to see what he would do next. What he did next was in a sense even more remarkable than the healing. He approached the tax booth.

Now, it’s one thing to approach a group of fishermen. They might not smell great, but they are generally likable. The only ones who don’t like fishermen are fish. But everybody tried to stay away from people like Levi. They were traitors. They had sold out to the evil Romans. They took money from good Jewish people to give to the hated Romans. Worse than that, they had a reputation for cheating people by taking more than was lawful. Becoming a tax collector was a way to get rich.

But that choice came with a price. Levi was the son of Alphaeus, but Alphaeus probably didn’t acknowledge Levi. Probably one of the reasons Levi changed his name was because he had been appointed tax collector. He had a new family. He had become a tax collector, so now he associated with two groups. One group was other tax collectors. The other group was a general group of outcasts in society – simply called “sinners” here.

The very next thing we see after Jesus calls Levi is Jesus and his disciples in Levi’s home, having a meal with him. Alphaeus is not there. But Levi has invited some of his fellow tax collectors to the party, and a number of those outcast “sinners” as well.

Levi’s initial contribution to Jesus’ ministry is his connection to these outcasts. He has an “in” with these people. There are a lot of people in Capernaum who are spiritually sick and they need a doctor. Levi brings the doctor and the sick people together.

But Jesus calls Levi to change his vocation again. He challenges him to sacrifice all his clout with Rome and all his potential riches and become a trainee like the four fishermen. Before he could become Matthew, the apostle, he had to become Matthew the disciple. Once again, the Lord is calling on his follower to sacrifice for the master.

Jesus even challenged the religious leaders to follow him sacrificially (2:16-17).

16 When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The news got out about the party in Levi’s house. The religious leaders in Capernaum found out about the meal Jesus and his disciples shared with the tax collectors and sinners.

This was a real problem for those religious leaders. They considered such a meal not just a breach of decorum. They taught that if you ate with such people, it would defile you, so you could no longer be around the good folks. There is an “us” and a “them.” If you want to be around us, you have to stay away from them.

Somebody (probably the one who drew the short straw) was delegated to ask the disciples why Jesus chose to associate with the riffraff. Jesus responded himself by saying that it is the sick people who need a doctor, and the doctor is in.

Now, Jesus is not saying that these religious leaders were already righteous, so they didn’t need him. He’s not saying that he chose to concentrate on the tax collectors and sinners because the experts in the law and the Pharisees were strong enough to take care of themselves.

Broadus points out that in verse 17, “The righteous is, literally, ‘ righteous (persons),’ without an article, thus not implying that there was an actual class of persons really righteous, not saying whether there were such persons or not.”¹

The religious leaders considered themselves righteous people already. But Jesus implied that they were only hypothetically righteous. At any rate, it was just that hypothetical righteousness that excluded them from the party. Jesus was in Levi’s house to reach new people for his kingdom. To join Jesus, these religious leaders would have to sacrifice their presumption of innocence. They would have to sacrifice their status as the spiritually elite of Capernaum.

The crowd who met in Levi’s house all had something in common. They came to see Jesus because they knew he had something they didn’t have. They were curious. They wanted to know why Levi was packing his things.

Weidner suggests that this feast was a going-away party. He says “Matthew made this feast in honor of Christ, and probably by way of farewell, invited many of his old associates, ‘for there was a great multitude of publicans and of others that were sitting at meat with them’ (Luke 5: 29)”²

They didn’t consider it beneath their dignity to come to Jesus. They might not have considered themself “sick” of anything, but they would be honest enough with themselves to admit that they could use some improvement. They were there to say goodbye to their friend. But since he was their friend, they were open to listening to him explain why giving up his job and taking up with Jesus was important to him. Because Levi was loyal to Jesus, they were interested in what he had to say.

But the crowd of hypothetically righteous people outside did not want to come in. They were not interested in defiling themselves, even if it meant seeing Jesus. There is always a crowd outside who will refuse to come inside. There is always a group of people who think that they don’t need Jesus. They can take him or leave him. There will also always be enough Levis on the inside to keep the people on the outside from coming inside. What Jesus told the Pharisees that day was that as long as they looked down on the Christians that are they will never become actual Christians themselves. As long as they let their prejudice and self-righteousness determine their loyalty, they will be staying away from his kingdom.

Following Jesus requires change, and change never happens without sacrifice. Sometimes that sacrifice is letting go of the things you expect to happen in your life. You train all your life to be a fisherman, and then you discover that Jesus wants you to be a fisher of men. Sometimes that sacrifice is leaving your stability for a less secure and uncertain future. You just get settled as a tax collector, and Jesus calls you to leave that post and become a trainee disciple. Sometimes that sacrifice means admitting that you are not as healthy as the world thinks you are. You are on the outside, looking at the party, and you realize that the doctor is in there, and you need him.

Wherever you are in your walk with Christ, don’t be afraid to sacrifice for him.

Listen to these words from a former Pharisee who realized that he had been only hypothetically righteous, so he sacrificed all his assets for Christ. They are the words of the apostle Paul:

“If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more: I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ. More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness. My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:4b-11 NET).

1Broadus, John Albert. Commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1905. p. 23.

2 Weidner, Revere Franklin. Commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Allentown, Pa: Brobst, Diehl & Co, 1881. p. 79.