Answer the Call
Mark 1:16-20
Message #3
Jesus began his ministry around the Sea of Galilee (which you really need to come and see with us next February). Last week we ended with Jesus coming into the area of the Sea of Galilee proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was at hand (referring to himself) and calling for repentance and faith in response.
Today we pick up Mark’s fast-paced Gospel with Jesus calling the first disciples. And my prayer today is that you would see the power of one of the most famous acts of Christ-following in history.
We start today with Mark 1:16-18, and I’m going to use the ESV for these verses because there is one critical phrase here that I want us to see clearly.
Mark 1:16–18 (ESV)
16 Passing (walking) alongside the Sea of Galilee, he (Jesus) saw Simon (Peter) and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (that’s the critical phrase)
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Believe me, when you walk on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, it is not hard (at all) to envision Jesus walking there or envision this event happening. Certainly, Jesus was walking along the Northern Shore, near Capernaum which is where we experience this event when we go.
Jesus is walking where he knew fishermen would be fishing, and he was looking for four specific men who he knew would be in this area. In verse 16, when it says Jesus saw them, it doesn’t mean “a random choice of a random person.” It means Jesus saw the men he was looking for.
And when Jesus did see them, he issued a clear and direct call for them to follow him, which meant leaving behind their old life and beginning an entirely new life with him. It was a call – followed by a promise.
The call is Follow me. The promise is I will make you BECOME fishers of men (verse 17) Or – it could be - I will make you INTO fishers of men.
A lot of the scholars take this “fishers of men” thing and say we’re all called to be fishers of men. And certainly, on some level, we are. This is the ultimate goal – to bring souls into the Kingdom of God. But, when you read this in the context of 1 Corinthians 12, you say, wait a minute. The body is full of different parts and every part has a function. So, don’t mistake this to think that everybody has to be “Greg Laurie.” There are just not enough stadiums for that to happen. But we are all part of this phenomenal, miraculous Kingdom of God work of bringing souls into the Kingdom.
And here’s what I want you to hear, the very first disciples that Jesus issued a call to, he said if you will answer the call, I will make you what I made you to be.
And so, in his very first calling of a disciple, Jesus says If you will FOLLOW ME, I will MAKE YOU INTO what I created you to be. That is the promise of the Lord of Heaven – that he will complete the work that he has begun in us if we will commit to follow him and never stop following him.
Psalm 139 says he began that work when he created you. He formed you, and he fashioned you in your mother’s womb. And every day was written of your life before one existed. And Jesus is saying to these disciples (and to us) if you will answer my call, I’ll do that work. I will make you into what I created you to be if you will continue to follow me.
Honestly, guys, I get worn out watching Christians only follow Jesus until he commands them to do something they don’t want to do, and then they so easily turn from him and follow after their own desires. Please don’t be like that. The call is eternal – the race goes until you are face to face with Christ.
Commit to follow Jesus – no matter what, and you will receive the promise of the Lord of Heaven that he will complete the good work that he has begun in you and he will enable you to do what he created you to do.
And listen to this, please. When Jesus called these first two disciples, he was actually calling them to take the next step after they had already put their faith in him. Because this was not the first time Jesus had met these two fishermen.
John Chapter 1 explains that Andrew (who we see here with Peter) and John (who we are about to see) were disciples of John the Baptist, and together they left John the Baptist and began following Jesus in John 1:37.
But, initially, they did not leave their business and their livelihood behind because initially, they did not know the full extent of what Jesus was calling them to. And isn’t it most often the same with us? Almost always, our initial commitment to follow Jesus is us putting our faith in him as our Savior and repenting from the sin in our life. But then, Jesus always calls us to a deeper following.
For most of us, Jesus does not call us to forsake everything in our current life. Most often, Jesus calls us to a deeper and deeper following of him within our current life.
But for some, Jesus makes the most radical call and requires the most radical obedience. But no matter how radical the personal call of Jesus is, becoming a true Christ-follower means wherever Jesus leads me, I will follow. And so, Mark 1:18 says,
Mark 1:18 (ESV)
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
That is radical obedience –
Continuing in Mark 1:19-20.
Mark 1:19-20 (ESV)
19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
This time the word “immediately” is used of Jesus calling these next two brothers, implying no chit-chat, no small talk. Just the call without even the promise of making them into fishers of men, although we assume, they’d hear about that soon enough.
But this was also not the first commitment to Jesus for at least one of these brothers. This John is the Apostle John, who was with Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist and who also left John the Baptist to follow Jesus in John Chapter 1. But John became a follower of Jesus and also went back to the family business just as Andrew and Peter did until he answered the full force of the call.
What is incredible is – there is another text – in Luke Chapter 5, where these same four disciples were fishing together again. Possibly in the early days of them answering the call to follow Jesus and there, Jesus gives them a miraculous catch of fish maybe to give them confidence that he could and would do what he promised to do in their lives.
But we have to remember these are real people, in real life whose faith is growing over time, just like us. But eventually answering the call of Jesus took these disciples to greater depths than they could have ever imagined. We can’t know how deep or how far answering the call of Jesus is going to take us, personally. But the willingness in answering the call is exactly the same for every one of us.
Later, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus spells out the all-in willingness that is required to answer the call to truly follow him. In Mark 8:34-35 Jesus says,
Mark 8:34–35 (NLT)
34 . . . “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
No matter what Jesus calls us to personally, we are all called to surrender our full lives to him to allow him to lead us and guide us for his name’s sake.
Next, notice that these first disciples were fishermen. In fact, seven of the original twelve disciples were fishermen. Now, I hold fishermen in very high regard and professional fishermen even more so. But it is probably not the trade that you and I would look to in order to begin an eternal, worldwide spiritual revolution!
But, with a handful of fishermen, Jesus began his world-changing movement that has covered the globe and is still transforming lives 2,000 years later. There is no religious movement in history that can make the claims that Christianity can make after 2,000 years and the fact that Jesus started it with a few fishermen is just one of one hundred proofs that this is the work of God alone. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27,
1 Corinthians 1:26–27 (NLT)
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.
27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
That is actually what is happening when Jesus calls you to follow him and serve him, you answer the call and continue to follow him, and he brings the power to change the world around you.
And finally, let me reiterate to close. Answering the call to truly follow Jesus is often a process, which we’ve seen here in the multiple times the first disciples answered the call to follow Jesus.
Now, we’re very careful not to imply that there is a process to salvation itself. Salvation is immediate, and it is by faith alone with no works added. That means there is nothing you need to do and there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. When you put your full faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord – you are saved right then and there.
However, if true salvation has come into your life, the Bible says there will begin a process of you answering the call to follow Jesus. The theological term for this process is sanctification. Sanctification is the process of us being transformed by the life of Jesus Christ in us. The word sanctified also means “to be set apart for God’s use.”
This is what is happening in our text today to the first disciples. Their salvation occurred in John Chapter 1, then here, the process of their sanctification begins. These four fishermen have just been “set apart for God’s use,” and when they answer the call to follow Jesus fully, Jesus promises them he will complete the work that he has begun in them. Their role will be to follow him – in obedience. His role will be to complete the plan and purpose that he has for each of their lives – individually.
And it is exactly the same with us today when you put your full faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. You are saved, and that salvation begins a process of you answering the call to truly follow Jesus and then Jesus makes you into the person he created you to be as you are following him. He may call you to leave everything and go make disciples in the Amazon Jungle. And that could be the actual Amazon Jungle in Brazil or that could be in the Amazon Jungle of the world’s largest retailer or that call could be just as well in your own home as a husband and father or wife and mother. Ephesians 2:8-10 explains this perfectly.
Ephesians 2:8–10 (NLT)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
This is what we see happening here in the first disciples. They are becoming God’s masterpiece so they can do what God planned for them to do long ago. And that is exactly what will happen to you and I if we will answer the call to truly follow Jesus all in – all ways – until the end.
It doesn’t matter if you were one of the first four disciples or if you answer the call of Jesus today – either way – the process is the same. When you put your full faith in Jesus Christ – you are saved. And then – there is always repentance involved – a turning away from sin (and self-lordship) and turning to Jesus. And then comes answering the call to always follow him.
First - You put your FAITH in Jesus – as your Savior
Then - You TURN - from sin - to him – as your Lord
Then - You FOLLOW him – Always - as a Disciple
This is the way it has always been since the calling of the first disciples on the Sea of Galilee.
So, allow me to ask you where are you in this process today? If you need to put your faith in Jesus as your Savior – do that today. If you need to turn from your sin and turn to him as Lord – do that today. If you need to commit to follow him always as a disciple – do that today.
And he will make you into what he created you to be. You will be his masterpiece created anew in Christ Jesus so that you can do the good things he has had planned for you all along.
Answer the call. The Lord of Heaven is calling you – personally!
Today we pick up Mark’s fast-paced Gospel with Jesus calling the first disciples. And my prayer today is that you would see the power of one of the most famous acts of Christ-following in history.
- Jesus began his ministry with a radical message
- Then he issued a radical call to follow him
- Today – we see the first four disciples respond in radical obedience
We start today with Mark 1:16-18, and I’m going to use the ESV for these verses because there is one critical phrase here that I want us to see clearly.
Mark 1:16–18 (ESV)
16 Passing (walking) alongside the Sea of Galilee, he (Jesus) saw Simon (Peter) and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (that’s the critical phrase)
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Believe me, when you walk on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, it is not hard (at all) to envision Jesus walking there or envision this event happening. Certainly, Jesus was walking along the Northern Shore, near Capernaum which is where we experience this event when we go.
Jesus is walking where he knew fishermen would be fishing, and he was looking for four specific men who he knew would be in this area. In verse 16, when it says Jesus saw them, it doesn’t mean “a random choice of a random person.” It means Jesus saw the men he was looking for.
And when Jesus did see them, he issued a clear and direct call for them to follow him, which meant leaving behind their old life and beginning an entirely new life with him. It was a call – followed by a promise.
The call is Follow me. The promise is I will make you BECOME fishers of men (verse 17) Or – it could be - I will make you INTO fishers of men.
A lot of the scholars take this “fishers of men” thing and say we’re all called to be fishers of men. And certainly, on some level, we are. This is the ultimate goal – to bring souls into the Kingdom of God. But, when you read this in the context of 1 Corinthians 12, you say, wait a minute. The body is full of different parts and every part has a function. So, don’t mistake this to think that everybody has to be “Greg Laurie.” There are just not enough stadiums for that to happen. But we are all part of this phenomenal, miraculous Kingdom of God work of bringing souls into the Kingdom.
And here’s what I want you to hear, the very first disciples that Jesus issued a call to, he said if you will answer the call, I will make you what I made you to be.
And so, in his very first calling of a disciple, Jesus says If you will FOLLOW ME, I will MAKE YOU INTO what I created you to be. That is the promise of the Lord of Heaven – that he will complete the work that he has begun in us if we will commit to follow him and never stop following him.
Psalm 139 says he began that work when he created you. He formed you, and he fashioned you in your mother’s womb. And every day was written of your life before one existed. And Jesus is saying to these disciples (and to us) if you will answer my call, I’ll do that work. I will make you into what I created you to be if you will continue to follow me.
Honestly, guys, I get worn out watching Christians only follow Jesus until he commands them to do something they don’t want to do, and then they so easily turn from him and follow after their own desires. Please don’t be like that. The call is eternal – the race goes until you are face to face with Christ.
Commit to follow Jesus – no matter what, and you will receive the promise of the Lord of Heaven that he will complete the good work that he has begun in you and he will enable you to do what he created you to do.
And listen to this, please. When Jesus called these first two disciples, he was actually calling them to take the next step after they had already put their faith in him. Because this was not the first time Jesus had met these two fishermen.
John Chapter 1 explains that Andrew (who we see here with Peter) and John (who we are about to see) were disciples of John the Baptist, and together they left John the Baptist and began following Jesus in John 1:37.
But, initially, they did not leave their business and their livelihood behind because initially, they did not know the full extent of what Jesus was calling them to. And isn’t it most often the same with us? Almost always, our initial commitment to follow Jesus is us putting our faith in him as our Savior and repenting from the sin in our life. But then, Jesus always calls us to a deeper following.
For most of us, Jesus does not call us to forsake everything in our current life. Most often, Jesus calls us to a deeper and deeper following of him within our current life.
But for some, Jesus makes the most radical call and requires the most radical obedience. But no matter how radical the personal call of Jesus is, becoming a true Christ-follower means wherever Jesus leads me, I will follow. And so, Mark 1:18 says,
Mark 1:18 (ESV)
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
That is radical obedience –
- Not knowing where Jesus would take them
- Not knowing what following Jesus would really mean
- Not thinking twice about what they were required to leave behind
Continuing in Mark 1:19-20.
Mark 1:19-20 (ESV)
19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.
20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
This time the word “immediately” is used of Jesus calling these next two brothers, implying no chit-chat, no small talk. Just the call without even the promise of making them into fishers of men, although we assume, they’d hear about that soon enough.
But this was also not the first commitment to Jesus for at least one of these brothers. This John is the Apostle John, who was with Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist and who also left John the Baptist to follow Jesus in John Chapter 1. But John became a follower of Jesus and also went back to the family business just as Andrew and Peter did until he answered the full force of the call.
What is incredible is – there is another text – in Luke Chapter 5, where these same four disciples were fishing together again. Possibly in the early days of them answering the call to follow Jesus and there, Jesus gives them a miraculous catch of fish maybe to give them confidence that he could and would do what he promised to do in their lives.
But we have to remember these are real people, in real life whose faith is growing over time, just like us. But eventually answering the call of Jesus took these disciples to greater depths than they could have ever imagined. We can’t know how deep or how far answering the call of Jesus is going to take us, personally. But the willingness in answering the call is exactly the same for every one of us.
Later, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus spells out the all-in willingness that is required to answer the call to truly follow him. In Mark 8:34-35 Jesus says,
Mark 8:34–35 (NLT)
34 . . . “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.
35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
No matter what Jesus calls us to personally, we are all called to surrender our full lives to him to allow him to lead us and guide us for his name’s sake.
Next, notice that these first disciples were fishermen. In fact, seven of the original twelve disciples were fishermen. Now, I hold fishermen in very high regard and professional fishermen even more so. But it is probably not the trade that you and I would look to in order to begin an eternal, worldwide spiritual revolution!
But, with a handful of fishermen, Jesus began his world-changing movement that has covered the globe and is still transforming lives 2,000 years later. There is no religious movement in history that can make the claims that Christianity can make after 2,000 years and the fact that Jesus started it with a few fishermen is just one of one hundred proofs that this is the work of God alone. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27,
1 Corinthians 1:26–27 (NLT)
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.
27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
That is actually what is happening when Jesus calls you to follow him and serve him, you answer the call and continue to follow him, and he brings the power to change the world around you.
And finally, let me reiterate to close. Answering the call to truly follow Jesus is often a process, which we’ve seen here in the multiple times the first disciples answered the call to follow Jesus.
Now, we’re very careful not to imply that there is a process to salvation itself. Salvation is immediate, and it is by faith alone with no works added. That means there is nothing you need to do and there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. When you put your full faith and trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord – you are saved right then and there.
However, if true salvation has come into your life, the Bible says there will begin a process of you answering the call to follow Jesus. The theological term for this process is sanctification. Sanctification is the process of us being transformed by the life of Jesus Christ in us. The word sanctified also means “to be set apart for God’s use.”
This is what is happening in our text today to the first disciples. Their salvation occurred in John Chapter 1, then here, the process of their sanctification begins. These four fishermen have just been “set apart for God’s use,” and when they answer the call to follow Jesus fully, Jesus promises them he will complete the work that he has begun in them. Their role will be to follow him – in obedience. His role will be to complete the plan and purpose that he has for each of their lives – individually.
And it is exactly the same with us today when you put your full faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. You are saved, and that salvation begins a process of you answering the call to truly follow Jesus and then Jesus makes you into the person he created you to be as you are following him. He may call you to leave everything and go make disciples in the Amazon Jungle. And that could be the actual Amazon Jungle in Brazil or that could be in the Amazon Jungle of the world’s largest retailer or that call could be just as well in your own home as a husband and father or wife and mother. Ephesians 2:8-10 explains this perfectly.
Ephesians 2:8–10 (NLT)
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
This is what we see happening here in the first disciples. They are becoming God’s masterpiece so they can do what God planned for them to do long ago. And that is exactly what will happen to you and I if we will answer the call to truly follow Jesus all in – all ways – until the end.
It doesn’t matter if you were one of the first four disciples or if you answer the call of Jesus today – either way – the process is the same. When you put your full faith in Jesus Christ – you are saved. And then – there is always repentance involved – a turning away from sin (and self-lordship) and turning to Jesus. And then comes answering the call to always follow him.
First - You put your FAITH in Jesus – as your Savior
Then - You TURN - from sin - to him – as your Lord
Then - You FOLLOW him – Always - as a Disciple
This is the way it has always been since the calling of the first disciples on the Sea of Galilee.
So, allow me to ask you where are you in this process today? If you need to put your faith in Jesus as your Savior – do that today. If you need to turn from your sin and turn to him as Lord – do that today. If you need to commit to follow him always as a disciple – do that today.
And he will make you into what he created you to be. You will be his masterpiece created anew in Christ Jesus so that you can do the good things he has had planned for you all along.
Answer the call. The Lord of Heaven is calling you – personally!