Why Did The Disciples Follow Jesus?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew 4, and we’re going to pick up with verse 19: “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”

Dave:

We’ve got a quick lesson here [with] what we were talking about earlier, that is absolute surrender, Lord whatever you want.  We sing the song, “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to thee, you know, take my hands and my feet…”  This is the second time that Christ calls Peter.  The first time is in John’s gospel chapter 1.  Well, here we have the first time that Simon Peter was called.  In other words here in Matthew, he was not unacquainted with Jesus, although he’s out fishing.  It says, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith Behold the Lamb of God!” verse 36.  “And the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.” and so forth.  It says, “One of the two,' that’s verse 40, “which heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.”  So, the Billy Graham Crusade people used to call this Operation Andrew, you remember?  Go get your brother and bring him.  “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.  And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona:  thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.” So, obviously, this is the first time Jesus called Peter.  He has never heard of Jesus before, it’s his brother who brings him.  Now, in Matthew they are casting their nets, we just read it, they are casting their nets into the sea, so that’s not this occasion, it has to be a subsequent one.  But the lesson we learn is—well, we won’t turn to Luke, but in Luke they are washing their nets, and their partners are mending their nets.  So that’s a different time.  What is the distinction that the scripture makes? Well, it said they dropped their nets in Matthew and they followed Jesus.  But in Luke it says, they then—well, this is a different occasion because they are fishing all night and they caught nothing, and Jesus said, Cast your net on the right, and so forth.  And wow, they can’t contain, the nets are breaking with so many fish.  And that’s when Peter falls down and says:  “Depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.”  And then of Peter, it says:  “Then Peter forsook all, and followed him.”  So it took a little bit of time to bring Peter to this point where  he saw that he was worthless, he’s not worthy of following the Lord, he’s a sinner and he’s been trying to do it in his own strength.  And of course you know later in John’s gospel chapter 13, and then he’s going to try and do it again.  “O, Lord, though all forsake you, yet will not I,” and then Peter does forsake him, and denies him.  So, we have three occasions when Peter was called.  The first one, Andrew, his brother, calls him.  The second one, they are throwing their nets into the sea, and Jesus walks and says hey guys, how about following me, I’ll make you fishers of men!  Ooo, that sounds good.  So Peter decides to follow Jesus again.  And the third time he forsakes everything.

Tom:

Dave, how would you add to the end of the gospel of John when they are back to fishing?  And then Jesus is on the shore, this is after the resurrection, Jesus is preparing a meal for them, but he does have them catch some fish, right?

Dave:

Well, Tom, I know you like to fish, so we won’t put that down.  It doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be legitimate for them, but that’s not your calling Peter.  But it was Peter in John 20, “Peter says:  I go a fishing.”  The others said, “We also go with thee.”

Tom:

And they didn’t catch anything until the Lord showed up.

Dave:

Right.  Well, some people would say, wait a minute, this is a contradiction in the Bible.  Look, one time they are throwing their nets into the sea, and the other time they are in the boat, another time, Andrew calls Peter.  No, three different times, and it’s just a lesson to us.  Sometimes it takes people a while—well, they start off and the determination or the enthusiasm doesn’t last.  And don’t be discouraged, come back to the Lord.  The Lord will keep after you, that’s another good lesson out of this.  He pursued them and he finally got them.

Tom:

Right.  Verse 21:  “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.”

Dave:

Yeah, so they left the ship and their father, but they didn’t leave everything, they had not surrendered all.  It’s a beautiful story how Christ seeks the lost, and he gives them something to do.  I believe the Lord has given us—one of the tasks that he has given us in our life is to have this radio broadcast.  But it’s his grace and mercy, and he sought you, and you weren’t too willing to come to begin with.

Tom:

A stubborn, thick-headed Irishman, Catholic and I thought, nope, that’s as far as I go, in religion and spirituality.

Dave:

Yes, well, I had the privilege of being raised in a family where my father had family devotions, he called it, reading and prayer, reading and praying, twice a day.  So, I really knew the Bible as a child.  But you don’t understand the Bible; I’m still struggling to understand the depths of the scriptures after 70 some years.  I mean, I’m in my 80’s now, but that’s how long I have been following the Lord.

Tom:

Dave, I’ve got a comment on that.  You’ve been my friend for a long time.  And I never ceased to be amazed at how excited you get about the Word of God, and you get me excited! 

Dave:

Well, it’s the Word of God!

Tom:

Of course, and Dave, day after day we are getting to know him better; we’re getting to understand what he desires.  O yeah, there’s a struggle in doing, you know, wanting his will more than my will, and so on.  But still, it’s the most exciting thing I can think of.  And yet today, as we mentioned last week, people are turning to entertainment, or somehow trying to pump up the scriptures to make it more acceptable.  That’s insanity!

Dave:

Whatever political party you are, if you had the opportunity: Well, we’re having President Bush over for dinner tomorrow night, would you like to come and join us?  Oh yeah, you may hate the guy, but still that’s the position that he holds.  Well, supposing I would say, hey, we’re having the Creator of the universe over for dinner.  

Tom:

O, we’re going to have a prayer meeting and we’re going to communicate with Him, see how many people show up.

Dave:

Right, yes.

Tom:

That’s sad, Dave, it really is.  So verse 23:  “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.”  Now, we’ve got about a minute left, Dave.

Dave:

Well, I can’t solve the problem of the kingdom in a minute, but it bears coming back to, but the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, we talked a little bit about that last week, I think.

Tom:

“And healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”  Why doesn’t that happen today? We could talk about that.

Dave:

Okay, well, we’ve got something to look forward to next week.