I have always been a fan of history.  I was never the kid in the social studies or history class who thought all these dates and battles and people were boring.  It was fascinating to me to see how the world had changed over time and to find out about events that had happened long ago in far away places.  This fascination remains to this day.  The History Channel on cable is one of my most favorite channels.  So when I read stories in the bible, I always think about other times in history when similar things have happened. 

          Our story today depicts the gathering together of Peter, Andrew, John, and James to be the first disciples.  Their ministry changed peoples lives. These fishermen changed the world.  This story brought to my mind the founding of our own country and the way in which a small group of men changed the course of history.  These “sons of liberty” who saw it as an offense against God and freedom to have a monarch ruling over us.  Outraged that we were being taxed without representation.  Outraged that we were not free.  These passionate men set out to do something about it.  Men like Paul Revere, Thomas Young, Joseph Warren, Alexander McDougall, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Isaac Sears, John Lamb, James Otis, Marinus Willett, John Adams, and his cousin, Samuel Adams gathered in meeting houses and pubs across the colonies to garner support for their cause.  They even bribed people with food and beer to get them to show up.  Fellowship meals, like our annual congregational meeting, work that way too.  Small groups, small groups of men, doing extraordinary things.  When war with England finally did break out, these “sons of liberty” scattered widely across the colonies were ready to fight.  And they did and after a bloody revolution they succeeded in winning their freedom.  It is moments in history like these when I reminded of the old saying, “How do we know that a small group of passionate individuals can change the world?  Because they are the only thing that ever has.”

          Jesus was gathering together a group of passionate individuals as he walked alongside the Sea of Galilee.  He called out to them, “Follow me and I will make you fisher of men.”  And they followed.  I stand in awe of that moment.  The faith of Peter and Andrew and John and James to leave everything behind and follow Jesus Christ.  To drop their nets and simply follow.  As a preacher, I am envious.  I am envious of Jesus’ pull with these guys.  “Follow me.”  Okay.  No moment of hesitation.  No looking back.  No conferring with one another to see if this is what we should do.  They simply followed.  That is great leadership. 

          I, personally, identify with Jesus in this passage. Not in some high and mighty way because I am just an ordinary guy, but because this scene is the beginning of his ministry and that is something I can identify with.  I also identify with Jesus’ method for doing ministry.   As the Son of God, who is high and mighty, Jesus could have conceivably tackled this whole ministry thing on his own.  I am even sure he would have done well at it.  But he chooses not to.  He chooses to partner in ministry with those he calls.  Here he is, the light of world, calling fisherman to partner in ministry with him.  This an unlikely pairing, but it is a pairing that changes the world.  Fisherman, ordinary people, called to spread the good news of salvation and changed life.

          Ordinary people versus lets say priests.  Priests and scribes were the primary agents of Jewish faith at this time.  They performed the sacrifices.  They said the prayers.  They were professional religious people.  But because of purity laws and such, there was an all too visible invisible line that separated the agents of God from the people of God.  The story of the Good Samaritan is the classical illustration of this point.  The passing priest cannot stop to tend to the fallen traveler for fear of becoming ritually unclean.  This invisible dividing line between us and them was all too clear to the people of “Galilee of the Gentiles” as Matthew calls them.  It was all too clear to them because during the Maccabean period a hundred years before this region was forcibly converted to Judaism. They had already had a run in with “church” and “religion” and they were suspicious.  And in the midst of that Jesus comes offering another way.  Another vision of what church and religion could be.  Not a top down faith where we are told what to believe, but partnership where we are invited into something that is life changing and meaningful.  As Jesus walks alongside the Sea of Galilee, what he truly says to those four earliest disciples is not just follow me, but come and be changed and change the world.  And they do. 

          To buy into that kind of change, there has to be a connection with something deep inside or it will be nothing different than the forced conversions of a century prior.  What these new disciples connected with is the message Jesus preaches in verse 17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  The same words that John the Baptist spoke only a few chapters earlier.  Because of our context, we often read this verse as another “turn or burn” warning, trying to save us from the fires of hell.  I do not think that is what is going on here.  The message is much more positive.  God has come near and every barrier that you or any one else has set up between yourself and God is about to come crashing down. You are a sinner, all of us are.  And we know that.  And we need to confess that and be forgiven.  But Jesus will overcome sin for us.  Jesus will overcome the poverty and disease of this world.  The brokenness will be gone.  And that is the invitation not only to participate in it, but to bring it to others.  Jesus Christ is light, but this light is taken to world by fisherman, ordinary people, by people like you and me.

          The next step for Greystone Presbyterian Church is that step.  To boldly take the gospel to our community.  To be the light for others.  To be ordinary people called to fishermen/women for God.  That is a big step for us.  Presbyterians, generally, are a little skittish about evangelism and outreach.  We did not get that nickname the frozen chosen for no reason.  We are so introverted about our faith that we are often silent.  That reminds me: What do you get when you cross a Presbyterian with a Jehovah’s Witness?  Somebody who will knock on your door and have nothing to say.  I am tired of having nothing to say.  I am tired of looking out into a community that is mostly unchurched or at least underchurched and not doing anything about it.  I am tired of us sitting in a diverse community full of so many types and varieties of brokenness and not doing anything about it.  I am tired of reading the history of this church and monumental impact that it had in this community and not thinking we could make an even greater impact today. We will and we can.

          All this begins with prayer.  We have been praying for a long time here.  And you know what, many of those prayers have been answered.  And I have faith that many more will be in the not to distance future.  Prayer is key though.  We have to continue to pray that God is working in our community.  That God is calling and using us just like he did with Peter, Andrew, John, and James.  We have to pray that the Holy Spirit is moving in this church and in the community and that avenues of outreach will open up before us as they already have started too.  We have to pray as individuals and as the church gathered here for a zealous vision for the future of us and this community.  And then we have to put it into action.  We have already begun this, but as we form committees and teams to work together for this vision we need to continue in prayer.

          A second and crucial step, is to take that vision to the community. To go out and tell them about the change and new life and better life that you have because of Jesus Christ.  To tell them about relationships built here.  About the friendliness of this church.  About feeling spiritual fulfilled.  About living for Sunday mornings to be revived by the Holy Spirit.  About feeling God here moving in this place and being changed by it week after week.  That is evangelism and outreach.  Not forced conversion on a door step, but an invitation into a new life, a changed life, a partnered life, a life that we can only have in Jesus Christ.