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Matthew 4:12-25
“Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum,
which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah]
the prophet, saying, Nephthalim, by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee
of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light
is sprung up [Isaiah 9:1-2]. From
that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee
saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And
he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other
two brethren, James the
son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee
their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And
they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed
him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching
in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease
among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria:
and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with
divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed
with devils [demons], and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes
of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis,
and from Jerusalem,
and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.”
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry
“So, next weekend, special time for us as a congregation, hope you’re able to be part of the different things, and either way if you could keep it in prayer. In fact, we got a few things going on during the week, we got a little conference going on here at the church, critical inference stress management for various pastors and leaders. Mikey Stonea is coming to town on Tuesday from San Diego. Then we’ve got our men’s retreat Friday and Saturday, got the Ladies Tea on Saturday, and have got three different Calvary pastors and their wives with us next week, ought to be a blessed time. So, keep it in prayer. And I hope you can be part of it. If you haven’t signed up yet as a man for the Men’s Retreat, there’s a sign-up still, and you may want to let Mike know who you’d like to room with…Last Friday, this last Friday morning I met with Don and Ron, and if you don’t know their two families, Don and his family were with us until the year 2000, they’re part of the church, real beautiful family, they went out and Don pastured, is now pastoring the Calvary Chapel in the western part of the state, went out four years ago, exciting for us. And then last year Ron went out and his family to the southern part of a state northwest of ours to pastor another Calvary Chapel. The three of us decided to get together once a month in a city halfway between all of us, kind of an area inbetween the three ministries, and it’s a blessing for me, the vision of this church has been to also plant other churches. So to be part of their ministries, and to see what God is doing here is a blessing. Well as they’ve gone out, of course, early years of ministry, there’s also been trials and tribulations, as we get together I get the chance to know what’s going on, and know better how to pray for these guys, try to encourage them from maybe my experiences and things. And so we’ve been doing that. And this last Friday we got together, but this time got together in another town, because Don’s church is merging with another church, there’s a little church in this town, and for various reasons the pastor has decided to move on. So God has kind of orchestrated this thing. They’ve met each other, and now the two churches are becoming one, and Don is going to be the pastor of this merged church. So Don’s excited and wanted Ron and I to come down and see the new facility, so I drove down to the village, beautiful little town, pull into this parking lot of the church building, and as I pull in I could just instantly see God’s blessing, you know, what God is doing, really neat. And so spending time, going through the facility and hearing about all the Lord is doing, of course the facility needs some work, we’re used to that. So, no big deal there. In fact, coveted a little bit, building needs a lot of work, but less than we’ve done. But just seeing and hearing, you could just see the classrooms with the kids, and the ministry, just cool. And then being with Ron and hearing about the stories in his state and what God is doing. There’s trials and tribulations, a lot of challenges the first year, but hearing about how members of their families have made commitments to Christ in the last weeks, and other people in the community, and about various outreaches and whatever, just beautiful. And so I leave meeting with these guys, and just am thankful, what a privilege to be part of this, and what God is doing, and to hear what God is doing beyond, people that have left here, and there’s this sense as I was driving home to our town of just the light as God is working here, and of going out to other parts of New England, and other people being ministered to. We’re meeting here, they’re meeting in other places right now. I say, praise God, man, that’s just, what a thrill to be part of that. And there’s no doubt, you know, if God is working in our midst, I mean, that’s what’s going to happen. God is powerful, God touches lives, he changes lives, works in people’s hearts. So when you’ve got God working you’ve got fruitful ministry. And so I was just thanking the Lord as I was driving back. Now as we look and continue our study in Matthew, we’re going to look at the early years of Jesus’ ministry here as we’re starting to get into it. And as Jesus is at work, as he’s at work in anyplace, anytime, there’s spiritual battles and trials that go on, there’s this enemy. But at the same time, when he’s at work, there is indeed power, there is might, in the midst of the battle, man, there’s this effective power that’s touching and transforming lives. And so over time there’s more and more stories and more and more testimonies, more and more trophies of what the Lord has done. And we see that here in Matthew as we just get going. There’s no doubt, the ministry of Christ is very powerful, brings new hope to those in despair, light to those in the midst of darkness, life to those in the shadow of death, healing and restoration to the hurting and broken-hearted, and true purpose and true meaning to anybody’s life that’s willing to open their heart to the Lord. And you know what the Lord was doing 2,000 years ago when he was on the scene, man, it’s amazing, same Jesus today, same yesterday, today and forever, he’s working in similar ways. So we just get to consider the effective ministry of Christ this morning. Let’s say a word of prayer. ‘Father we just thank you that we can look at these Scriptures. And it’s true, our mission here is pretty simple, it’s to know you and let you be known to others, and to tell people about knowing you. It’s pretty simple. And when you’re working, when you’re working in a church, when you’re working in a ministry, man it’s supernatural, it’s powerful. It may seem simple, it may seem just almost ordinary in one way, yet it’s super-ordinary in what you’re doing in hearts, and lives and families. And of course as we gather on a Sunday morning there are people that are here, there are families that are here that need a touch from heaven, they need a work of God in their heart, and I just thank you Lord, that that’s what you do. You work, you bless, and you heal and you restore. So Lord, as a congregation again as we go through your Word, remind us of our mission. And of course Lord, if we’ve gotten off track in any way, loosing the focus, get us back on track this morning. But also just touch and heal as you do, Lord. And I thank you. Holy Spirit be upon all of us, and upon me know as I go through your Word, in Jesus name, amen.’
True Christians share what they
know about Jesus
So verses 12-17 of chapter 4 where we left off last week, “Now when Jesus heard that John had
been put in prison, he departed to Galilee. And
leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by
the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The
land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the
sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
The
people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon
those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” [Isaiah 9:1-2]
From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Now, if you remember, we left off last week, Jesus had the encounter there with the devil. He was fasting for the 40 days in the wilderness. And we talked a lot about that, and of course the devil was there at different periods of time, we learned from the Gospel, coming and just harassing him and tempting him, and testing him. At the conclusion of the 40 days of fasting, the devil especially comes, uses the opportunity to seek to get Jesus to compromise. Of course, he’s not successful in any way. But we left off, the angels were ministering to Jesus, there in verse 11, very beautiful picture. Now verse 12 as we just continue in Matthew, we see now that Jesus hears John has been put in prison, and he departs for Galilee. Reading through Matthew, you think that happens right after. If all we had was Matthew we would think that, that right after Jesus leaves the wilderness he hears word John’s in prison, and so he goes up to the region of Galilee. But when we put the Gospels together we find that actually there’s a year that’s transpired from verse 11 to verse 12. And for whatever reason, we don’t know for sure, Matthew chooses not to give us any details about this year. In Mark and Luke, they’re the synoptic Gospels, they kind of collaborated a bit. If you compare those three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) there’s a lot of similarities. And those three Gospels don’t give us much about the missing year, and they’re basically silent on it. But John, the first few chapters of John gives a lot more details. There are things that happened before Jesus heads to Galilee. There’s a number of things that happen. I’m sure there’s a lot that’s not even recorded, there’s even miracles and ministry and just beautiful works that Jesus does for this year. But for certain reasons, and I believe there’s maybe one reason, Matthew chooses just to skip over and goes right to this point in time. Now, if you remember, at the end of the Gospel of John, John makes the point that if we were to write everything that Jesus did in those three and a half years, all the world couldn’t contain the books. He touched so many lives, I mean, there were huge multitudes around him, and he was ministering tirelessly and healing and impacting lives. There was story upon story upon story. So you’d need just the whole world, I mean, the world just couldn’t contain the books. So there’s a lot of stuff that’s been left out, but I believe for one particular reason, Matthew and the synoptic Gospels chose to skip over that first year. Because during this first year, John the Baptist is ministering, and Jesus is ministering [almost side by side]. Jesus comes on the scene, John continues to minister for a period of time, and we read about that in the Gospel of John. And to me it’s just as if Matthew is showing us here that the focus, the main focus is Jesus. So he just goes from the wilderness, and he goes right to when John is in prison, and just stays with Jesus, he doesn’t give us a lot of the ministry of John the Baptist that you read about in the first three chapters of the Gospel of John. And there’s again some beautiful things that happen there. But the focus, the camera here, the flashlight says Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He’s seeking to demonstrate to his audience that this is the Messiah. So the main focus is Jesus, let’s just keep it there [is Matthew’s intent]. Of course John had his place, we learned a little bit about him, but Matthew just skips a whole year, when the two were ministering together [side by side in two somewhat separate but complimentary ministries]. And I say that because that’s true, to any ministry, I mean, the focus is always Jesus. And there was this time when John the Baptist was still around, and he’s baptizing, and there are some encounters with people, and if you remember, even one time the disciples of John even question, you know, about what’s going on. ‘Hey, this guy Jesus’, he mentions some things about him, ‘Boy he’s getting a lot of people around him, and what do you think of that, John the Baptist? You know, his ministry is really growing and exceeding yours.’ And of course John then comes back with a very interesting response. He says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I mean, he says right there, the focus is Jesus. And I think that was even prophetic, because now, a short time later he’s actually in prison. I mean, talk about a decrease in your ministry. [Do I see a parallel here? The body of Christ is a John the Baptist type ministry, heralding the Gospel of Salvation and Jesus. But when the body of Christ is finally muzzled and shut up by the governments of this world, and a famine of the Word occurs, Jesus’ real ministry to the world, via his 2nd coming, is near at hand. The Bible is full of these type-anti-types.] I mean, you’ve got crowds around you, you’re a popular guy in the wilderness, huge multitudes, people coming from everywhere, all sorts of places. But now you’re preparing the way for the Messiah, he’s here, you know, I need to decrease, he’s going to increase. And God the Father works it out that he’d be put in prison, I mean, that just stops a ministry there, and so it’s somewhat prophetic what John said here. And there’s no doubt, God was working, the purpose of all this is the Messiah, he’s the focus, and that’s the way it needs to be, he’s the focus. It’s all about him. I tell you, at this church, it’s absolutely critical that we keep it that way, today, and tomorrow and the next month, and the next year, regardless of what goes on, that in every way Jesus, Yeshua is the focus, he’s what it’s all about, he’s the main thing. And I pray that your coming to this church, that’s been your experience, I pray that as you’re doing a good job as ministry leaders, that the focus to you is Jesus. It’s not so much the style of the music, it’s not so much maybe you’ve got some cool friends here, you like the building, you just like the way it feels. I hope when you’re coming here, that the sense to you is “I’m coming and I’m learning about Jesus, and getting to know him.” I hope we’re doing the job right, because that is the focus in every way. It’s not the beautification of the property as it goes on, it’s not new ministries and philosophies and ideas, it’s not jazzy music and entertainment of any sort, not man’s ideas, man’s philosophy, but let’s get to know Jesus better. It’s that simple. I want to get to know him better, and I hope I’m helping you to get to know him better, as I’m sharing through the Word of God. This past week or two a few of us went up to Alton Bay, Bob Caldwell, he was here last spring, actually, if you remember. I went to India with him last year, and he’s the pastor of Calvary Chapel Boise, and he was with us on a Wednesday night. Well it worked out, we’ve gotten to know Bob a little bit, and as this conference was being set up for the New England Calvary Chapel’s they needed a speaker this year, so I was able to pass information on about Bob, and Bob ended up coming out and teaching. And it was a beautiful time. In fact, I’ve heard a lot of people say it was probably the best one so far. But he kept it really simple, repeatedly, and I’ll just quote to you some of the notes in my journal. He kept saying, “The purpose, it’s all about you getting to know Jesus Christ.” Here’s some of the notes from my journal. “Amazing, God wants to be known and thus we can know him.” Amazing, there’s a God that wants to be known. Another quote, “Do you know him? And if you know him, thus can you make him known?” You know you can only make people know what you know. Right? And so, do you know him, and are you making him known to others? “Ministry is simply going around and sharing what you’ve discovered about Christ.” Well that’s pretty simple, isn’t it? It isn’t the Degrees, it isn’t the theology, studies, as much and all that. All that can be important, but really sometimes it can even get in the way. Ministry is me getting to know Jesus, and sharing what I know. And that’s the same with you, what you know about Jesus. “It is beholding God, thus being changed as you behold God, and from there preaching Christ.” And so it comes down to this, you can know as much as you want to know, you can pursue him as much as you want to pursue him, and then you can just let people know about it. Bob said “Life is an ongoing school of your knowledge of God, just you learning about God.” And I like this point, this is important for churches today, man, “Stop worrying about church growth, and just get to know God.” And that’s it, man. Our prayer meetings, our home fellowships, our classes, whatever it is, Men’s Retreat, Ladies Tea next Saturday, it’s let’s just get to know Jesus a little bit more, let’s open our hearts. That’s what it’s all about. And that’s what I think Matthew is doing here, just going and following and tracing, keeping the focus and flashlight on Jesus. So I pray we don’t get worried too much about church growth, and we don’t get distracted, that our goal and mission would be ‘Let’s keeping getting to know him, and let’s just share with others what we know.
Jesus, Yeshua is the prophecied
Messiah, makes Capernaum his home-base
“Jesus brings light to those
who live in darkness”
Now wonderfully as you see there in those verses, Isaiah declared that long ago, that he would bring hope to this people in this region. He’d bring hope, incredible hope to the descendants of the people that have lived there. And that is always true, we’ll see it throughout the Gospels, we see it throughout the Bible, the ministry of Christ brings hope, brings hope to the hopeless. Now these folks in this region, from the perspective of the religious leaders in the southern part of the country, in Jerusalem, the people of Jerusalem would look up to the north, and they would see these people as ‘the hicks’, as second class citizens, you know, for various reasons. Of course during the exiles, they intermarried with the Gentile nations. [Actually the Galilee region used to be inhabited with members of the 10 northern tribes of Israel that got taken captive by the Assyrian Empire, and never returned. But it shows in 1 Kings 17 that the Assyrians then deported people from the region of the Caspian Sea and placed them in the northern area of Samaria and Galilee, north of the kingdom of Judah. This mixed multitude of people came to think of themselves as Israelite, the Samaritans, but they weren’t, and the Jews knew it, and despised them immensely.] And so in their eyes, they were a half-breed, they were a mixed breed. They were impure. Of course to the religious zealot in Jerusalem, I mean, the Gentile, if you got anywhere near a Gentile, you’d go home and bathe. It was a big deal. And here are the people in this northern area who are all around the Gentiles, co-mingled with the Gentiles, so they were looked down upon, and they were seen as the low-life. But yet, this is where God sets up his home-base. This is where the Messiah comes, and brings such light. Charles Spurgeon said a century ago, “Our Lord courts not those who glory in their light, but those who pine in their darkness.” I mean, he doesn’t set up camp in Jerusalem, he does minister there a bit, but mainly he’s kind of standing toe-to-toe with the religious elite. But he goes to those who are described as being in darkness, those in the shadow of death he sets up camp with, these people that would be considered in a hopeless state, and he brings hope. And that’s just the ministry of Christ. It’s interesting too, that when he says in verse 16 that “those who sat in darkness”, Isaiah chapter 9 actually says “those who walked in darkness”, and here it says “those who sat in darkness”. When Matthew records the prophecy he takes the word “walk” and he makes it the word “sat”, “those who sat in darkness”, as if to say they’re even in a worse condition. Those who “walked,” now becomes those who “sat”. I mean, they’re in the pit of darkness, that’s kind of the sense. It’s almost as if man would say ‘they’re out of the reach of God.’ They were in a place where they’re just a mess. But as we look through the Gospels, we should always remember that nobody’s out of the reach of God. There’s no place where a person can be where the power of God is not effective and reaching them and transforming their lives, and changing their lives, and giving them hope. It’s just the real deal of the ministry of Jesus. There is a story, I like to read this, and often I’m finding little examples from the martyr’s magazine, Voice of the Martyr’s October 2004, maybe you’ve got the issue, Voice of the Martyr’s, there’s this story of this pastor Sergey Deserab, and he’s on the picture cover of the Magazine, and he planted a church not too long ago in Tajikistan, that former part of the Soviet Union. He planted a church. Well, he’s a martyr, he was killed this year, pastor, pastoring for a year. And they just talk of this beautiful church he planted…but as they share his testimony, he was a man who was in darkness, outer darkness. Yet the Gospel came to him, in a Muslim area. Not only that, he was in prison. Now his church that he planted, is the only church in the community with 126 Muslim mosques. Among 126 Muslim mosques, he plants a church. And one day before January there was a little newspaper article about his church. And the newspaper article actually was saying ‘What are we going to do with this guy?’ So evidently, one Muslim guy, just a few months ago, this isn’t a long time ago, this is a couple months ago, one Muslim guy decided to take it upon himself to do something about this pastor. So he went to his house. This pastor is playing his guitar and worshipping the Lord, and he took his gun and shot him three times and killed him right there in his house. But his story, you know, this guy had experienced suffering, but suffering at his own hands. He was actually a leader, originally in this Tajikistan’s organized crime underworld. He’d gone to prison a total of five times for a total of 18 years. So he was a guy in darkness, in a Muslim nation. But in prison he met a Christian man, fellow prisoner who tried to share with him, began to actually pray for him that this man would come to Christ. And when he heard that this man was praying for him, he originally said “Pray for somebody else, don’t waste your time praying for me, man.” Well anyway, this guy prayed for him, and prayed for him, and eventually led him to the Lord in August 2000, this man Deserab came to Christ and began to get excited about the Lord, was released from prison six months later. And then they go on just to tell his story, that he lived with such a passion for the Lord. In fact, one man said his life for Christ was like a bright star, like an explosion, an explosion. So in January, some guy shows up with a pistol and shoots him three times. But originally, part of the underworld, part of the underworld, a man in a place that you’d say “Potentially out of the reach of the Gospel, of the power of God.” No way, man. In fact, he ended up living very beautifully for the Lord. And so, the ministry. Man, it’s just getting to know Jesus, and telling other people how to get to know Jesus. And that is the power of it all. So the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, so there’s a huge contrast, showing the power of the Gospel and the ministry of Christ. People sitting in darkness, in the shadow of death, and that graphic description of being in sin and paralyzed in that sense, just paralyzed, overcome with darkness. But then comes this life, this light of Christ. And he brings them out of that darkness and he gives them life and hope. So, hope for the hopeless, that’s the ministry of Jesus.
Sharing the Gospel message
Verse 17, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Maybe you’ve heard that message before. If you glance back to chapter 3, very same words of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” And so John was preaching the message, the Gospel message, and now the Messiah comes and is preaching the same message. He [John] was preaching that, and preparing for that…But I look there and it reminds me that, this ministry of Jesus, there’s a message that goes with the ministry, and it’s a ministry I can be part of, and share the same message. John the Baptist was sharing this same message, and it’s powerful to share the message of the Gospel, tell others about Jesus. [And this message is not a message of prophetic gloom and doom, but the distinct message of salvation being offered to people in the here and now, through the acknowledgement and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, of his death, burial and resurrection, and that of asking Jesus to come into a person’s life, filling them with the Holy Spirit. It’s that simple.] You know, Bob Caldwell at this huddle two weeks ago, sharing his testimony. It was fairly humorous, very powerful, his testimony growing up. He didn’t have a very easy life, and for various reasons got heavy into drugs, in the drug culture of the 60s and 70s, was way out there. And one day he’s with a buddy, and they’re hitchhiking, vans’ broken down, got the long hair, they’re totally stoned out and drugged up, walking along and hitching a ride. Well these two clean-cut guys decide to pull over and pick them up. Turns out they were Christians, they decided to pick up these two hitchhikers. One of them even confesses to Bob and his friend, ‘You know, we never pick up people like you, just so you know, we never do that. But God told us to pick you guys up.’ And so they were a little nervous, in fact, Bob told the story that one of the guys started to share about Jesus, and he was very nervous as he did. Bob said he and his friend are stoned, and they’re not getting it, you know, it’s just going over their heads. And so they pull up to a church, and this man actually says to them, “Hey, would you like to come into church, and accept Christ?” And Bob goes, “Well, thanks, but no thanks, that’s OK.” So Bob said that the man then said “Hey listen, can I just pray for you then?” And he said “All right.” So the man bowed his head and said “God would you reveal yourself.” So Bob says he got out of the car, his friend gets out, and they go on their way. And he notices like…[tape switchover some text lost]…and he started to come down [off his high] like the next day, and as they’re coming down, he has this conviction all of a sudden that comes over him, and he says to himself “I will never do drugs again.” This sense came over him, ‘I’m stopping today, I’m done with drugs.’ And he turned to his friend, and he says “I actually began to witness to him, and I didn’t know anything about the Bible.” “You know this guy Jesus, he’s pretty cool, you know, you ought to get to know him.” And from there his life began to change. Now that’s pretty powerful. Comes from a life, he told this story were all his friends got arrested, and just one mess after another, and two people actually just pick him up, and one guy prays for him, and it changes his life. Shares about Jesus, changed his life. He’s pastoring a church of 4,000 people today in Idaho. So, you know, this message, the ministry of Christ includes a message, and it’s a message that you and I can share, we can jump right in and be part of this powerful deal, in just sharing about Jesus. Now Mark, when he quotes this in his Gospel, he adds a few words, he adds the words “The time is fulfilled, and believe in the Gospel”, meaning when Jesus went out, he also said “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel.” Repent and believe, it’s time. The time is at hand, the time has been fulfilled. And if that was Jesus going around saying “the time is at hand” 2,000 years ago, “Here I am, the Messiah is here, it is time to repent and believe”, if he said that then, you can be sure all the more we should be saying that now. And the message is true to us all the more. If you look around today, I hope you’re having that sense, I think I say it a lot, but I look around and I say, ‘Man, the time is at hand, the time is at hand.’ So all the more, the kingdom of God is at hand, we should be looking for the return of our Lord. That time is at hand, he’s gonna be here soon. And so quoting to you a powerful prayer that was written many years ago, “Oh my gracious King and Saviour, I pray thee you accept my repentance as to past rebellions, as a proof of my present loyalty.” As proof of my present loyalty, that is a great prayer.
“Come Follow Me”
Verses 18-22, “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.” Now as you compare this with other Gospels, you see that Matthew isn’t necessarily going in chronological order, in fact it might get a little confusing, if you start putting them together. What’s helpful is to get like in the back of your Bible, some Bibles have a harmony of the Gospels, and you can put all the different passages together. It seems that Luke at this point is more going sequentially than Matthew, Matthew is going topically, he’s seeking to show certain things. So he’s not necessarily following chronologically the sequence of events. Now, as you see there, Jesus is walking along by the sea, he sees Simon, and he sees Andrew, and he calls them. If you were just reading Matthew, and sometimes maybe in the older movies of the life of Christ, you get that sense they’re out there fishing and Jesus just walks up and calls them and they follow him. But when you put the Gospels together you find out there was a lot more going on. Again there’s this whole year that Matthew is being silent about. But during this year before, Jesus has actually met these guys before, he’s been with them, spent time with them. You look at the Gospel of John, you look at Luke, and you can kind of put the whole narrative together. In fact, in the Gospel of John, we learn that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. And so when John the Baptist was ministering, he had these disciples, and Andrew was one and another guy was there, probably John, the apostle John, and when he saw Jesus coming John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” And so they went and spent some time with Jesus, Andrew and this other guy. And then Andrew says, “Cool, this is the Messiah”, he believes. He goes and gets Peter, as you read in the beginning of John. And so he introduces him, and then that’s where, when Peter comes to Jesus, Jesus changes his name, and says ‘You’re going to be called the rock. I’m changing your name from Cephas to Peter.’ And so that’s in John, that’s before this time with Jesus. And so you put it all together, they’ve spent some time with Jesus. And we don’t know the reasons why, but Peter and Andrew have gone back to their fishing business and to their trade. And now at this particular time, Jesus comes to them, and says “Come, follow me. I’ll make you fishers of men.” So they immediately now drop their nets and they follow him, Jesus. And also James and John at this point in time, he goes up to them too, and they’re out there in the boat with their dad, mending their nets, and he says “Come follow me”, so they also drop everything, and they follow Jesus. So, the ministry of Jesus, it’s a powerful deal, but we also see that the ministry of Jesus includes a call to follow him. It’s a call to follow him, and so he says “Follow me, follow me.” And that’s true for any Christian [or Messianic Jewish believer in Jesus]. Doesn’t matter what your vocation is, doesn’t matter what you’re doing. Before you hear the call of the Lord, when Jesus comes to you and you turn your heart to him, and he becomes the Lord of your life, there’s a call to follow him, to follow him. And what does it mean to follow him? Well, these guys followed him [literally], they spent time with him, and they did the things that he did. They were part of the things that he was part of. They followed him. And so the call goes out to every Christian or Messianic believer, this is part of being a believer in Jesus, Yeshua, following Jesus, being a disciple, learning from him and learning more and more to live like him, and to have the heart and life that he does. Now do you follow him? Very simple question, do you follow him? That’s what it is to be a believer in Jesus. It isn’t just to attend church and to enjoy Bible studies or Christian music, it’s to follow Jesus, to follow him in your life. Do you follow him? Now these guys drop their nets. And it’s not always true that when Jesus comes and says “follow me”, that it’s required for somebody to drop their nets, meaning their vocation. This is their jobs. In their particular case, God was calling them also to a type of ministry where they had to drop their nets and move on, leave their vocations. Also as you see, in verse 21, they leave family to follow Jesus. And it’s not always the case with all of us, in some instances Jesus comes, somebody comes to Christ, says “Follow me, but follow me right where you are in your job.” [Other’s have jobs that go against the teachings of Jesus, and must quit and find other employment. I was in that boat, initially, when called.] And now I want you to look at your job differently, in the midst of that company and that workplace, be a light of Christ. But also use your resources and all that to get the Gospel out. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm for some interesting ideas on how to do that.] But stay in your trade.” But in some instances, of course that was my story, my wife’s story, Bill and Sandy were just here recently, a part of this church from early on, leaders in the church, they just recently, you were probably here, most of you on that Sunday morning. We prayed for them as they left their jobs, they left their nets. And it had come to the point in time where they had been Christians for awhile and following the Lord, and then the call came, ‘Drop your nets.’ And sometimes it’s later in our lives that that happens, too for some of us. God will come, he did that to me, I’d been a Christian for awhile, and then he came and said “Drop your net, drop your trade. I’ve got a different plan, come follow me, I’m going to use you in a different way.” And that happened to Bill and Sandy just recently, and maybe God’s saying that to you, maybe he’s been knocking on the door of your heart. I remember one particular brother in the Lord, and he had this despondency in his heart. I remember spending some time with him, he was struggling because years ago he really sensed the call of God on his life. He had sensed that God was saying ‘Drop the nets, I’ve got a plan.’ And for different reasons, he just kept putting it off, ignoring it, putting it off. Now it was years and years later, when I was getting to know him. And years and years later, oh, he struggled with that. This sense that ‘God is tugging on my heart, and I didn’t respond, I just kept putting it off. And I don’t know what to do about it now.’ And oh man, it’s not good when the Lord is calling you to drop your nets, to not do that. You know, we need to drop the nets if that’s what he’s calling us to do, and say “all right Lord, here I go, willing to do whatever, if you want me to go and do whatever.” I’m excited, my little sister right now is in Africa. I tell you, that’s just beautiful. That’s the power of God. You know, watching her grow up, and just her struggles, and challenges, even for awhile really praying ‘Oh Lord, I don’t know if she’s really going to follow you at all, I mean, it just seems like the world is right there.’ Praying and praying for her. Right now she’s in east central Africa, working in an orphanage. I say, Praise the Lord. That’s just the power of God. I love praying for people and watching God work. Now she’s only there for a short-term missions trip, but you know, I’m praying right now “Lord, make her a missionary, Lord. Call her even more, if that be your will. I don’t know.” Be exciting for me. I pray for my kids, every night when I put them to bed. I pray “Lord, I pray my kids would become missionaries. I don’t know if it’s your will, maybe it isn’t.” But I pray that. I think it’s a beautiful thing, too. It’s beautiful, whatever God has for us, as we follow him. But I think it’s personally just neat-o cool when, hey, let’s drop the nets and go too, when those times come. Man, if the Lord is tugging on your heart, boy, why would you hold back? It’s an adventure, it really is, when the Lord has that purpose. Now he calls fishermen here, to drop their nets. Historically we know that, you know he says I will make you fishers of men. You know, you’ve been doing one thing, I’ve made you and prepared you with a certain outlook and temperament, fishermen are hardworking. In some cases they’re real people of faith. In my case it’s that way, I go out at times, and I don’t get anything, you know it’s a thing of faith [fishing], I’ve got the hook out there, and maybe I’ll get one, you know. And once in a while I get lucky. I went out with Steve D. a year ago, got this big old striper, but it was a miracle because that fish was right by the boat. I didn’t even have to reel it in, I just, ‘What’s that on my hook?’ Big old 36 inch striper, just like swam up to the boat, and I didn’t have the fun of reeling it in. It just swam up and we put it in the net, and there we go. But you know they’re hard working, they tend to be guys of faith, they’re persistent, they’re patient, there’s tact to it if you’re good at it. You know, they’ve learned tact, how to present the bait, and try to make it appealing. And so, he says “I’m going to make you now fishers of men.” ‘You’ve learned certain things, you’ve got patience, you’ve got perseverance, you walk by faith, you’re hard-working. That all works, you’ve learned tact, and the deal of trying to present things in a certain way, so that it’s more attractive, and all that, I’m going to use that, and you’re going to become fishers of men.’ Now the word “fishers of men”, for centuries Greek and Roman philosophers had used that term to describe the work of a man who would seek to catch others by teaching and persuasion. So Jesus is actually using a thought [phrase] that was common in the culture, ‘fishers of men.’ Now, when he calls people to evangelism, he uses different pictures based on what they’re doing. At one time he uses the shepherd, the shepherd seeking the lost sheep. So he can say to a shepherd, ‘You know, I want to use you.’ Another time he uses the farmer, the principle of the farmer, working in the harvest field, as in evangelism, going out and into the harvest field and taking in the crop. Different pictures, different trades…I made you a certain way, you’re a farmer, go out there…I’ve given you a certain outlook and principle, now go out and bring in that harvest field. And so the Lord when he calls us to do different things, man, it’s amazing how he’s prepared us, so often with the very abilities and trades we need. You know, working in engineering before, it actually was helpful today. In the last few years being here in New England, coming out with the radio station, God called me to get this old radio station on the air. I wouldn’t have guessed it, but my engineering background was helpful for years as we redesigned that deal and worked it. I didn’t know anything about radio, but I was able to use the principles of engineering thoughts and way of looking at things to get that station on the air and rebuild it. And even being analytical, when I come to the Scriptures I study analytically. And that can be helpful. A lot of theologians had an analytical background, engineering background. You study, you look at the detail, you consider the details. So, ‘Follow me and I’ll make you an engineer, a spiritual engineer.’ God can do anything. It’s amazing. Well they left their nets, and they immediately followed. And that’s always the deal, and may that be true for all of us in this church. For now and forever, when God comes, and if he ever comes to you and says “I’ve got a plan”, knocking on the door of your heart, say “alright, I’m ready Lord. I’m ready, here goes. You want me now, here I go, I’m not going to hesitate, immediately my heart is completely ready, I’m a slave. You tell me what you want me to do, I’ll do it.” Nothing, absolutely nothing should stop us, absolutely nothing. Even family relationships, you have that picture here. It says in verse 21, it says they were with their father mending the nets, he called them, verse 21, “and immediately”, verse 22, “they left the boat and their father, and followed him.” Now we’re not told how Zebedee is, now that two sons are leaving. I mean, they’re important to him, the work of the fishing business, these guys are his sons, they’re important to him. We don’t know anything about his heart and how he responded at this time. And there are stories of parents really struggling with this. [Archaeologists have found a house in Jerusalem they think was deeded to Zebedee, where he sold fish his fishing industry had caught up in Galilee. So it was a real successful business old Zebedee and his sons had going. This archaeological discovery lends some fascinating insight into who was with Jesus in the courtyard of Caiaphus on the night in which he was betrayed in John’s Gospel. It was probably John, who would have been known by the high priest from Zebedee’s fishing industry which owned property in Jerusalem for marketing the fish.] And there are people that have had to leave family, and the family is very upset. But hey, may nothing stop us, absolutely nothing when it comes to following the Lord, whatever it is. [I know a nice Italian man whom the Lord called, and he was a bag-man for the mob. He had to convince them he was really serious in that the Lord had called him to adhere to his religious beliefs more closely. You might say they gave him an “honorable discharge”, and allowed him to pursue his “religious pursuits.” Quite unusual circumstances this guy had to maneuver around.] And just trust God that God is going to work all these things to his glory. Spurgeon again, “In the service of Jesus, we’re not to be restrained by ties of kindred, he has a higher claim than a father or a husband.”
The ministry of Jesus---what is
it?
Verses 23-25, “And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who where demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed him---from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.” So he goes about Galilee. Now this is the first tour, you could say, of Jesus around Galilee. There’s actually three different ones. And this particular tour around Galilee, which is noted here, he has the four guys, the four fishermen. Later on, when he comes through a second time he has 12 at that particular time, twelve disciples. And then the third time, he actually sends the disciples ahead of him, and he joins up with them later, they go by two-by-twos around Galilee, and then he joins them later. And you just see his training and pairing and raising up these guys to continue with this work after he’s gone. So he goes about Galilee, and it says he’s teaching in their synagogues and preaching. We have the two works “teaching” and “preaching”. And there is a difference between teaching and preaching. And it’s interesting, teaching in a synagogue, what would be the house of God, and preaching. And when you see the preaching, there’s this healing, you get the sense of preaching out on the streets. And there’s the two-fold purpose there, and there’s a place for preaching, and there’s a place for teaching. [Comment: Pastor Chuck Smith brings out as a comment in his special addition New King James Version Bible, “PREACHING, TEACHING, HEALING. Notice the three aspects of the ministry of Jesus. He was preaching (which is proclaiming the gospel to the lost), he was teaching (instructing the believers from the Scriptures), and he was healing (meeting the personal needs of the people). These three areas represent a balance of what the Church should be doing today. There are some churches where there is a lot of preaching but no teaching. Other churches are proud of their teaching, but they don’t reach out to the lost. Still other churches emphasize healing and meeting the material and emotional needs of the people [both within and outside the body of Christ], but they neglect to give them the gospel, or to teach them the Word so they can grow. We need to balance these three elements of our ministries. We share the gospel with the lost through preaching and teaching the Word, while at the same time reaching them in practical ways to receive God’s healing in their lives.” That was Pastor Chuck Smith’s comment for these verses. As I have brought out in both the mission statement of this site and the evangelism section of this site, the gospel walks forward on two legs, 1) good works given to the lost in the name of Jesus (i.e. Mission Aviation Fellowship, Samaritan’s Purse), and 2) preaching the gospel of salvation to the lost (i.e. the JESUS Film Project, and all local evangelism a church congregation may do). The third category is mentioned by Jesus, coupled to the preaching of the gospel to the lost, in his famous statement to all believers, telling them what job he was giving them to do, found in Matthew 28:18-20, which basically states that we as believers are to preach the gospel everywhere, around the world (through preaching and proclaiming the Gospel and through doing good works for the lost in the name of Jesus Christ), and then to teach everything he has taught us to those who respond to our preaching of the gospel (i.e. to those who now through our preaching have become believers). So, preaching and teaching. And of course, Jesus as he preached the Gospel of salvation to those around him, also healed all the sick and infirm around him as well. His preaching of the Gospel included both preaching the Gospel message and reaching out to meet the needs of those around him who were in need. So his preaching of the Gospel truly did walk on two legs. Often these “two legs” of evangelism get separated into two separate ministries, one dealing with the actual proclamation of the Gospel, and the other one, doing good works for those in need (in the name of Jesus Christ). Just so those doing the good works are absolutely and positively doing their works in the name of Jesus Christ, they are doing just as important a job of proclaiming the Gospel as those preaching it. Franklin Graham, one way or another, with tact, always makes sure Samaritan’s Purse does their good works “in the name of Jesus Christ.” See http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm.] And as a Calvary Chapel, you know we believe in the church, in the house, you could say, the synagogue, that’s the place for teaching. That’s why I go verse by verse, I go verse by verse, I just simply teach the Word of God, teaching. He went teaching, and he would go into the synagogues and teach. The preaching, that is the heralding of the Gospel message, to “announce as a herald” is what the word “preach” means. And so he was preaching the Gospel message, he would go out and just declare “Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand.” And so that’s not so much for the believer, that’s for the nonbeliever, and that’s the way we approach ministry, teaching to the believer, and I always give an altar call, and I give the gospel message at the end. But we use other means especially to get out the gospel message, and that’s going to the nonbeliever, and sharing the simple gospel message. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/1.htm for a whole section devoted to evangelism.] Now teaching and preaching, but also healing. He had three predominant aspects of his ministry, he taught, he preached, and he healed. Of course the healing would just back up a lot of the Gospel proclamation. But there is this picture of him healing, healing physically, and the teaching and preaching which would heal spiritually. So there was the full, complete restoration that was happening. And in verse 25 great multitudes, the word in the Greek means “multitudes and multitudes, mobs and mobs, crowds and crowds”. Some scholars say that as much as 20,000 people were following him at certain times. I mean, get the picture of a huge mob, not just a couple hundred people, but 20,000 people trying to following him around as he skirted the different areas of the Galilee district. And as they were around him, he would teach, and so they would hear the Word, they would be healed, he would preach and they would receive the gospel and receive new life. [Actually, most didn’t receive “new life” at this point, before that famous Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:1-47, not in the spiritual sense of being born-again with the Holy Spirit.] And then they were bringing multitudes of people, all sorts of demon-possessed, sickness and epilepsy, and people that were just tormented. It says, “various diseases and torments”, people just in such a state, and he would just touch and heal, and he would just keep going. And it was very powerful. And so as the word got out, more and more people just came and came and came, and the crowds just got larger, and he just kept going healing, healing, and healing, teaching, preaching, and people are getting life, and life, and hope and hope, and sufferings being relieved and there’s just this sense of grace being brought into their lives. And that is the ministry of Christ. It is so effective for restoration, physical, spiritual, true restoration. And today, in the ministry, I mean it’s same deal, teaching and preaching, and healing, you know, healing. [Comment: often there are specific ministries that bring healing and assistance in the name of Jesus Christ. One such ministry is Samaritan’s Purse. To learn more about this healing ministry, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/samaritan_purse.htm.] So they brought to him people with diverse, various diseases. The King James says, verse 24, “those who were afflicted with diverse diseases”. An old preacher once stood up to preach, he read in his text Matthew chapter 4, verse 24, “they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases.” And the preacher said, “Now the doctors can scrutinize you, analyze you, and sometimes cure your ills, but when you have diverse diseases, then only the Lord can cure. And brethren, there’s a regular epidemic of diverse diseases among us. Some dive for the door after Sunday School is over, some dive for the TV set after church, some dive into a list of excuses about not working for the Lord. Others dive for the car and take a trip over the weekend, some dive for the nickels and dimes to put in the offering instead of paying their tithe. Some dive for the door as soon as the minister gives the appeal to pray at the altar at the end of the service. Yes, it takes the Lord and his love for the church to cure diverse diseases.” Now they come, they come from Syria, that would be the northern region, north of the Galilee. They come from the Decapolis, which is ten cities that were originally built by the followers of Alexander the Great, and that’s the north-eastern part of Galilee. It’s interesting, you can see a tell of the Decapolis, when we go to Israel there’s a tell, there is a hill that is the ruin of one of the cities of the Decapolis that you can even see today. And they came also from the area that is beyond the Jordan, which is the area of Pirea, east of the Jordan. So they’re coming from all over, because this ministry of Jesus is powerful, and it’s changing and transforming lives. And so, this week I went to be with Don, and Ron, just heard the stories. And as we’re here just getting to know Jesus, man, there’s power in his ministry and his work, and that’s the focus. Let’s stand together and let’s pray…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Matthew 4:18-25, given somewhere in New England.]
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