"That Sunday School Song"
a condensed version of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, January 27, 2008 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.

PODCAST of "That Sunday School Song"

Today’s Bible reading is about the call of the first disciples. Last week’s reading was also about the call of the first disciples. The descriptions of these events are completely different. And there is something we can learn from both last week’s account from John and this week’s account from Matthew.

Simon and Andrew consoled themselves. They were doing good, honest work. They were helping the family. They had nothing to be ashamed of.

But they still felt the pain.

Here they were, men. (Sure, they were just teenage boys by today’s standards – but they were past the age where boys are considered men.) They lived in a small, unknown town and they had dreamed that they would be picked by a local rabbi to be a disciple. Finally, they would have some respect for their family. Others in their town and surrounding towns would look up to them.

But the rabbis had rejected them. The brothers were ready to drop everything. It would have been such an honor to have been chosen.

But not everyone was chosen to learn from the rabbis. And Simon and Andrew were not chosen.

And that was that. They mourned, they picked themselves up and they got on with their lives. Everyone needed to eat and their careers were just beginning.

And they still felt the sting of rejection.

Not far way, two other brothers were feeling that same pain. James and John were on the boat with their father, Zebedee. They also had had a dream. And they consoled themselves and looked forward to an important and fulfilling career on the boat.

Four rejected men – just past 13 years old. No more dreams of the impossible – only the comfort of reality.

And then he arrived. This new rabbi. This new teacher. He was preaching a message that a wilderness preacher had preached. Was this the same person? Was he a pupil too? Was he the person to follow? He invited them to become disciples. Jesus came and invited these rejected pupils – the ones who had given up hope of ever learning from a rabbi. Jesus invited them to drop everything and to follow him.

And they did.

These first four of Jesus’ disciples, the rest of who were also a rag-tag bunch, were part of Jesus’ plan for starting something that changed the world forever.

It’s not exactly accurate to call it this, but let’s still take a look at Jesus Church Growth Model:

How do you think this strategy for church growth would play in today’s consumer-driven congregation?

• Pastor: Adopt someone else’s message, go into hiding at the first sign of trouble and start calling leaders from an obscure town with no reputation for leadership.
• Leaders: Pick some people with no background in church leadership who have likely been rejected by other church leaders and so have had to go into their family business instead.
• Congregation: Consider that they have the brains of fish.
• Growth plan: Fly by the seat of your pants and do what seems to be right at the time you do it.

Consider this from this week's Bible reading from Matthew 4:12-23:

• Jesus waited until his cousin/rival was in prison before starting a public ministry. But he did it by saying almost exactly what John said and doing it in a place that had a history of trouble rather than respect. There was little if any chance that anyone would notice anything Jesus was doing.
• The first disciples that Jesus called followed him immediately. We often put our own ideas into this situation – thinking that it would be difficult or unheard of to drop everything to respond to a teacher’s invitation. But more likely is that these fishermen – just past thirteen, had been rejected as students by the local rabbis. Instead they had to go into the family business. When they received an invitation – they took it immediately.
• Catching people like fish? I don’t think the fish like getting caught – and I’m sure they don’t like getting dead. (OK – Jesus didn’t expect anyone to think of catching people like that, but I’m sure today’s church growth leaders could pick apart any similar ideas.)
• Jesus didn’t have a 6-month or 1-year or 5-year plan for growth with established goals and milestones. He did what he did and then did what he did some more. (Some would argue that Jesus had a 1 or 3-year plan for getting in trouble and then getting crucified. I think his plans were to do what he did as long as he could until it was time to stop.)

I don’t think Jesus could get hired as a church planter today.

It’s not really fair to even call Jesus a church planter – that was really Paul. Jesus was and is the initiator – the founder – the reason for there even being the church. But I also think it’s fun to look at some of our assumptions about church and to get some "Jesus perspective."

And here’s what I want to focus on today.

Jesus called the rejected to be the leaders. Jesus called the unlikely to be the ones he taught. Jesus called the ones who had given up hope to proclaim hope to the world.

And listen to something Jesus said to those first disciples. "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

• I will make you. I call you and you will be able to do what I call you to do
• I am the one who makes it possible for you to do this
• I do it.

How much pressure was there on Simon and Andrew and James and John?

It wasn’t, "Work hard, study well, get ready and someday you can do what I want you to do."

It wasn’t, "You might be able to do this. Just keep trying."

I will make you.

Just as Jesus called the unlikely ones to be his disciples, Jesus also calls us.

• We may not think it is possible.
• We may not think it is probable.
• We may not be expecting it.
• We may not be hoping for it.
• We may not think we’re qualified
• We may not think we’re the right people
• We may think Jesus simply has the wrong person.

But Jesus calls us.

And Jesus doesn’t leave us to do it on our own.

• I will make you. I call you and you will be able to do what I call you to do
• I am the one who makes it possible for you to do this
• I do it.

Ready or not, right?

Jesus is ready. Let’s trust that as we sing – with a new perspective – that Sunday School Song.

Close with prayer

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