Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Third Sunday After the Epiphany - 01/26/14 Sermon - “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”

Sunday 01/26/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 9:1-4             

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Gospel Lesson: Mathew 4:12-23

                            

          Welcome and good morning once again! Welcome on this the Third Sunday after the Epiphany. The Epiphany, this holiday that we celebrate the three-wise men or magi seeing that bright star in the sky. That “Bethlehem Star,” that led them to the manger of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on that first Christmas so long ago. That place where they gave the Lord of life, Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. That place, were all people said, “Come let us adore Him.”

          This Sunday however, we remain in this season of “post-Epiphany,” until we reach Transfiguration Sunday, on Sunday March 2^nd. Transfiguration Sunday, celebrate that day that Jesus went up on the mountain and was changed and transfigured before some of his disciples, in what was a living miracle. Then only three days after this Transfiguration Sunday, we will begin the Lenten Season on Ash Wednesday. The season where we prepare our hearts, our minds, and our souls for the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

          Between this Sunday and the Transfiguration Sunday on Sunday March 2^nd, we will go through many of the gospel readings of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. We will hear of healings, miracles, and some of the many things that Jesus taught us and continues to teach us all each and every day.

On this Sunday specifically, I want to speak about the calling that Jesus Christ has placed on all of our lives. That all of us who believe in Him, can likely say that we have experienced God, that we have experienced Him. Many of us that believe in Him, can say that we don’t just believe in the God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but we can say that we have experienced our faith. That we have felt the presence of God move in us. Much like a tingling sensation, a warm sensation, or even a loving hug, we have felt the living God from within.

          Yes then, for many of us, we know the living God. For many of us, we don’t just believe this because it is the nice or a good thing to believe, we believe instead because He has shown himself to us. We have seen, we have heard, and we have felt the living God within us.

          For some of us, we can recall praying as a child, and feeling God’s overwhelming grace fill us and blanket us. For some of us, we were in church on a given Sunday, and as we were singing or praying, we felt the Holy Spirit move through us. Perhaps it moved us to tears, as we knew the truth and power of God’s presence in us, and in the whole universe. Maybe we had an experience in our life of great grief and mourning that brought us to throne of grace, where we found Jesus our Lord.

          You see my brothers and sisters, when God call us, when we are called to be followers of Jesus Christ, it isn’t like filling out a form at the DMV to register that car you just brought. Real conversion, is conversion of the heart, the mind, and the soul. It is something that we don’t just believe in, it is something that we know. When people say to me, “Paul, do you believe that there is God,” I say, “No, I know there is a God.”

          Real conversion then is so powerful, that you will do things like I did. You’re willing to shift the entire direction of your life, enter school for 4-years, and even drive about 180-miles each weekend, to serve God’s people. You see for me, as I did all of these things, not to obtain a “good job,” but rather because Jesus said to me, “Paul will you come and fish for people in my name.” I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit move in me so many times in my twenties, yet I fearfully denied my call, and fearfully found reasons to not fully follow Him. About three and half years ago though, I decided to fully and faithfully follow Jesus, and answer his call on my life. As part of this, my wife Melissa and I will soon be putting our house on the market in Moravia, as we are selling all, and following Him.

          So my brothers and sisters, if you have not already done so, Jesus calls to you right here and now and says, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” He says, “Follow me to holiness, follow me to truth, follow me to the great beyond, and follow me to eternal life.” Jesus says, “Will you serve me, will you rebuild this world in my image, and will you build my kingdom in the here and the now?” You see the blessings, the joy, and the grace that Jesus Christ offers us is so much more fulfilling than anything that this world can offer.

          When looking at the scripture reading from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah from this morning, the prophet Isaiah tells us that. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined.” This light, this calling, is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, who says, “Follow me, and I will teach you to fish for people.”

          The prophet Isaiah goes on to say, “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest.” Our joy is found in Jesus Christ, the one who said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

          In the Apostle Paul’s first Epistle or Letter to the Church in Corinth or the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells the church, “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

          The Apostle Paul then says, “it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you my brothers and sisters.” Well luckily, church conflicts and quarrels only occurred 2,000 years ago, and luckily we never have those problems today. The Apostle is worried that the church in Corinth is following him, or Apollos, or Cephas, when it was Jesus Christ only that they should be following. The Apostle Paul then finished this first letter to the Corinthians by saying, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” “Follow me and I will teach to you to fish for people.”

          So like the Apostle Paul told the church in the Corinth almost 2,000 years ago, “who do we serve, and who called us to follow?”

          In the gospel according Mathew reading from this morning, Jesus had just heard that John the Baptist had been arrested by King Herod, as Herod feared John the Baptist’s power. John the Baptist also did not always speak so highly of King Herod, and Herod would ultimately have John the Baptist beheaded.

          Mathew tells us in his gospel account, that when John was arrested, that Jesus “withdrew to Galilee,” and then made his new “home in Capernaum by the sea.” This move that was prophesized by the prophet Isaiah, many years before this. When Jesus was in the town of Capernaum, Mathew then tells us in the gospel narrative about Jesus that, “As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the see—for they were fishermen.”

          Then Jesus looked at them and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” You see Jesus called them by name, and the gospel says that, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Then after this, “As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.” These two the gospel reading then said, “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.”

          So we have four men, Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who have all immediately left everything and followed Jesus. The gospel of Mathew reading from this morning then concluded with, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.”

          Four fishermen, people like us, whom were called to follow Him. Interestingly enough I met four such men in Israel on the Sea of Galilee. The story of meeting these men, is the story I am going close this sermon with this morning. Here is how it goes:

          On one of the days on our pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land, we went to see the now city of Capernaum, which is located on the Sea of Galilee. We saw different holy site and other places their first in the morning. This day then included a mid-day boat ride. After leaving a MacDonald’s with a fellow pilgrim John, at the shores of the Sea of Galilee, we got aboard a boat that was crewed by four men. All four of these men were from Israel and were all raised Jewish. Before the boat left the shore, our dean from the United Theological Seminary read the gospel scripture that I just read about Jesus telling these four different men, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

          Suddenly we then began heading out into the Sea of Galilee, as we did so many people, such as myself were overcome with emotion. Many of us had tears flow down our cheeks as the gospel reading from this morning had come to life for us.

          After cruising on the boat for a little while, the boat stopped, and then the captain of this boat presented our group with a large fishing net, that he said would have likely almost looked identical to one used by Jesus’ disciples that were fishermen. Before casting this net into the water, the dean of our seminary once again read a gospel reading, but this time it was the reading about Jesus telling the disciples to cast their nets over the right side of the boat, and the catch ended up being so massive that they couldn’t hall all the fish in.

          The captain of the boat then cast the net to the left side of the boat, and then the right side of the boat. Sadly, he brought up no fish when casted the net, but Jesus hadn’t commanded to do so either.

          After doing this, the captain then began to speak to us all. He told us how he and his three shipmates met “Yashua” on the Sea of Galilee about 4-5 years ago. In Hebrew “Yashua” means Jesus. You see these men are still very Jewish in many of their beliefs, but like Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they are now followers of Jesus.

          The captain of this boat then proceeded to sing great Christian praise songs that where all partially in English and in Hebrew. Before doing this, the captain said that his boat, was the only Christian boat tour company on the entire Sea of Galilee. As the captain sang beautiful Christian praise songs that were half in English and half in Hebrew, we all had an emotional response to hearing this music on the Sea of Galilee.

          During this emotional response that I and everyone else was having, I came to the realization that 4-men, 4 fishermen and tour boat men, who were all born Jewish, were called to follow Jesus or “Yashua” and become “fishers of people.” As I looked at this large calloused handed ship captain that was signing beautifully, I thought, “This could have been Simon-Peter, Andrew, James, or John. For on the whole of the Sea of Galilee there were only 4-men, 4-fishermen that Jesus had called and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Today, it is interesting that there are still four Christian men, followers of “Yashua” who are on the Sea of Galilee called by Jesus to “fish for people.”

          As the magnitude of this hit me, and moved me to tears, as I realized that no matter how many years away from Jesus actually walking along the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus will always call forth new disciples. That Jesus will always say, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

          Towards the end of this boat ride, the 4-men said that one of the things that they do to raise money to pay their bills, was to sell CD’s of their music, and necklaces made out of smooth stones taken from the Sea of Galilee. I then turned to my friend and fellow pilgrimage Steven, and said, “Stephen are you going to buy anything.” He then said, “I don’t think so Paul, I think I am going to save my money to buy others things.” Then he said, “Are you going to buy anything Paul.” I said, “Of course I am.” Steven then said, “Why is that.” I said to brother Steven, “Jesus has called just 4-fishersmen to fish for people on this entire Sea of Galilee. In addition, they are signing about Jesus loudly, so that people can here it far it away. So don’t you think we should support the 4-fisherman whom the Lord has called.”

          As I bought a necklace from the four fisherman, I looked back as Steven, and saw tears were in his eyes. I then bought the necklace, and as I looked over again, he gave me a look and nod, and then a few second later, he got up and bought something to.

          So my brothers and sisters, if Jesus Christ the living Lord says to you, “Follow me and I make you fish for people,” I urge you take that call very seriously. I bring this message in the name of the one who still calls fishermen on the Sea to Galilee to come and follow and to fish for people, Jesus the living Christ. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Second Sunday After the Epiphany - 01/19/14 Sermon - “Come and See”

Sunday 01/19/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Come and See”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 49:1-7             

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Gospel Lesson: John 1:29-42

                             

          Welcome and good morning once again! It’s great to be back from my trip to the Holy Land, as I missed you all very much while I was away!

          This Sunday, is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany. This Epiphany of course, was the Epiphany of the three Wise Men or the three Magi seeing the Bethlehem Star or the Christmas Star in the sky, and then following this star to visit the baby Jesus.

It was interesting to me, that when the group of seminary students that I was part of was in the Holy Land, just happen to be there when many Eastern Orthodox Christians were there to celebrate Christmas. Specifically, the Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrated Christmas on Monday January 7^th. The reason for this is that most Eastern Orthodox Churches use a different calendar than the churches in the Western World, like us.

          Given this, I found it to be nice that for the Eastern Orthodox Churches, that they celebrate Christmas near the time we celebrate the three Wise Men or the three Magi were coming to see the baby Jesus.

          In fact, when our student group was in the hotel that we stayed in while we were in Bethlehem, there were many Russian folks staying at this same hotel that came to the Holy Land to celebrate the Eastern Orthodox Christmas. I found it sort of funny that in the meal area of the hotel that our group was designated as the “American Group” with signs on our tables, as the “Russian Group” was designated with similar signs on their tables, on the other side of the meal area. I remember saying to one of my professors as I looked across the room at the all of the Eastern Orthodox Russian Christians, “All we need is a concrete wall between us.”

          Needless to say, this comment was not greeted with open arms by my professor. Yet, these Russian folks, like us were excited about Christmas. Since there Christmas was January 7^th this year, our Christmas Day celebration had already ended. Their Christmas though, was upon us. This made me further realize just how big Christianity is. It also made me realize that the Cold War is thankfully over, as a bunch of us loud Americans were eating breakfast and dinner, starring face to face with a bunch of Russians. These Russians were people that were no longer Communists though and were likely people that believe in the statement, “In God we trust.”

          I also found on this trip, that in general, as Christians, as we read the Bible and as we read the gospels, we often imagine the places we read about as being grassy opened aired places. We might think of Bethlehem for example, as wide open pasture land. The reality is though, is that Bethlehem and most of all of the other Holy sites are now modern day places. People run and work at businesses in these places. Taxi cabs buzz by, there are colleges, there is industry, and amidst all of this hustle and bustle, there are Holy sites. In these places, is the convergence of the three “Abrahamic religions,” of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

          Since Israel is made up of about 80% Jewish folks, in some of the areas that we went the population was almost always Jewish. In some places the population was mostly Muslim. In some small places there was a Christian majority, but in general, we as Christians were strongly in the minority. In Jerusalem, as our student group of Christians would leave one of our historic churches or cathedrals, we would sometimes hear the hourly church bells ring, as the Muslim religious leaders would do their 5-times a day call to prayers. These prayers were done from large towers called minarets, and were done over loud speakers. As the church bells were ringing, and as the Muslim pastor or Imam was doing this loudly spoken call to prayer in Jerusalem, we could also see conservative Jews heading to the Jewish holy places, dressed in the traditional full black outfits and top hats, with their white prayer shawls or “tallit’s” on.

Yet, while much of Israel is holy to the Jews, to the Muslims, and to us Christians to, I found that perhaps the diversity of some of the parts of Israel might have been similar today, to when Jesus walked and talked there almost 2,000 years ago. That when we visited King Herod’s summer palace, that it was literally built on a mountain that had been made bigger by thousands of Herod’s workers moving tons and tons of dirt to make the mountain even bigger than it was. I even saw some of the structure that the Romans built there, and then I realized just what Jesus stood up to, and that he was no wimp. That Jesus knew what the stakes were, he knew what he was up against, and that he stood firm, in what must have been massive opposition. The Holy Land that Jesus began to minister to was much like it is today, with his followers being very much in the minority. There were Jews and others faiths as well, yet Jesus offered and still offers us the path of righteousness, the path of heaven.

When you’re in Israel then, you can quite literally feel like that you among a “Whitman’s Sampler” of religious options. Yet the uniqueness, the power, the truth, and the grace of the resurrected Christ are still alive and well in all of these places. In this way, I did still see the diversity and the tension that was very much evident in Jesus’ time, when he called people to repent, to follow him, and to “Come and See” the way to righteousness, the way to purity, the way to heaven. To “Come and See” who he was and who he still is. To “Come and See” why he is the “Prince of Peace,” and why he is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

When looking at the Old Testament reading from the prophet Isaiah from this morning, it says, “Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.” You see when I reflected upon this scripture, I thought of all of the people that I encountered in the Holy Land from all over the world, that were from “far away.” Yet the Lord called us all before we were born. Isaiah goes on to say, “And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,’ Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Isaiah then continued on in saying, “my God has become my strength.”

Therefore, God has chosen us all, and this is hard to see sometimes in the places we live, but when I saw people from all over the world converging on the Holy Land to walk and talk where Jesus did, I saw the massiveness of what the prophet Isaiah was saying here.

When looking at the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle or the Letter to the church in Corinth or the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul told the church in Corinth that we are “called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Every place includes the millions and millions of Christians all over the world, from all different denominations, from all different countries, and draws us to the reality that we are all called to be holy, to be righteous, and to be “saints.” The Apostle Paul goes on to say speaking of God that, “He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Lastly the Apostle Paul says one of those timeless statements to the church in Corinth, that “God is faithful.”

In our Gospel reading from this morning, from the Gospel according to John, it said speaking of John the Baptist, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John the Baptist then spoke of how he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, and as such, that Jesus was coming soon after him. John the Baptist then spoke of how we he baptizes with water, but that the Lord would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist then testified that when he baptized Jesus that, he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

The gospel reading then went on to say that, “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look here is the Lamb of God!” At this point, “The two of John the Baptist’s disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.” These two disciples wanted to know Jesus, and where he was staying. Jesus then said to these two disciples, “Come and see.”

After this, the gospel tells us about the two disciples, that “They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.” One of these two disciples of John the Baptist was “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.” The gospel then says that Andrew found his brother “Simon Peter” and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” When Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus, Jesus looked at Simon Peter and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Following the Lord then my brothers and sisters is like this sermon title says “Come and See.” “Come and See” who Jesus really was and still is today. We must “Come and See” who Jesus the risen savior really is.

I would like to close with a story from my trip to the Holy Land, as believe me I now have many such stories. This story occurred because of being able to see many of my Eastern Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters who were in the Holy Land for their January 7^th Christmas. In seeing many of our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters, from the various Eastern Orthodox Churches, I noticed that it is customary for women to cover their heads before entering the church, to show respect for God.

Of the many churches that we went into, one of the churches that we went into in Jerusalem was called the “Church of the Holy Sepulcher” or the “Church of the Resurrection.” As you enter into one of the side entrances of this church, there is place on this one side that is roped off. In the middle of this roped of place was a long smooth flat slab of rock. What I quickly learned, was that this slab of rock is believed to be the stone slab that Jesus body was laid on when he was put in the burial tomb after his crucifixion. This stone had a beautiful brownish color. This church also commemorates a possible place of Jesus’s burial, as there are two or three possible places of burial in Jerusalem, as well as the place that is believed to be where Jesus was crucified.

As our student group was entering the packed side entrance of this church, I saw several Americans, and I also saw several people from the various Eastern Orthodox Churches pushing eagerly to get into the church. It seemed that many of our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters knew ahead of time what the flat rock slab on the ground was, as most of us Americans did not. As many of these Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters were entering the church, I saw some of them immediately burst into tears. I even saw a woman who was about ten feet from the slab where it is believed that Jesus’ body was laid. This woman immediately fell on the ground where she stood and wept. She then proceeded to crawl to the burial slab of the Lord. She then kissed the slab and wept over the stone.

After this, she put her face on the slab and just laid there for a moment. Then she rubbed her prayer beads all over the slab. I then saw several other Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters do similar things such like this.

You see, many of these folks come from countries that are not that wealthy. While we all as Americans were excited and ecstatic to be in these places, I was amazed at how much faith that our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters had. It was then, that this morning’s gospel reading hit me extra hard. Specifically, that when Jesus the Lord told John the Baptist’s two disciples, that if you really want to know me, then “Come and See.”

This is because, for all of us, Jesus gives us our own opportunity to “Come and See.” These opportunities do not have to be necessarily sought by going half way around the world to the Holy Land though. Sometimes in fact, these opportunities are right down the street. Sometimes, Jesus is telling us, “If you really want to know me, will you be willing to follow me?” So with that said, I challenge us all this week to see where Jesus is calling us. To see where Jesus is saying to all of us “Come and See.” To see where the Lord of life is saying, “Come and See” where I am leading you. Amen.