Making Christ Known (Matthew 4)
Introduction
Hello, welcome to the Will Preach for Food podcast. I’m Doug, a pastor here at Faith Lutheran Church, based out of Shelton, Washington, a congregation of the ELCA. You can learn more about Faith at our website, www.faithshelton.org. Today’s podcast is for the third Sunday in Epiphany, January 22, 2023. Faith also has it’s annual meeting of the congregation over the weekend. Church stuff, you know.
Making Christ Known is today’s podcast title, and it is part of this congregation’s mission statement. Faith exists to reveal Jesus to the world. To make him known. What we say about Jesus, and how we live as a result of Jesus. Our talk AND our walk. One of my favorite verses talks about this: Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works, and glorify the Father in heaven.
Today we are looking at two passages from the Bible. The first one gives us some intel about who Jesus is and what he does—a teacher, preacher, and healer. He also has this line about fishers of people, and I’m reading that in a new way this week. The other reading today looks at the problem of factions among the followers of Jesus, how lesser loyalties hinder our ability to what we are here to do: which is making Christ known.
Big stuff, and we’re going to try to get through it in about twenty minutes. Grab your Bible and open to the gospel of Matthew chapter 4. Matthew is the first book in the New Testament. We will start reading at verse 17.
Matthew 4:17-25 (NRSV)
17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
18 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 sea—for they were fishers. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 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. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, people possessed by demons or having epilepsy or afflicted with paralysis, and he cured them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Teacher, Preacher, Healer
So, if we’re supposed to make Christ known, we might start with some of the basics of what Jesus did 2000 years ago out there in the Middle East. He is a teacher, for starters. He teaches everything you need to know about God and everything you need to know about being human. Some of it is in the form of ethical instruction, like the sermon on the mount. Sometimes he tells stories, parables, that help us see God and life in a new light. But mostly he lives it. He shows the world what God is like. From healing the crowds to dying on the cross—that’s everything you need to know about God—and everything you need to know about how humans are supposed to live. This is what he calls “the kingdom of God.”
Jesus also preaches. Preaching is persuasive speech. He not only shows people how to live, he challenges them to do it. Repent! He says. Get your priorities straight. Know who and whose you are. Take a fearless moral inventory of your life. Hit the reset button, and realign your life, your words, your actions to conform to that of Jesus. And to do that, you need to FOLLOW Jesus. Being with Jesus, going where Jesus goes, following in his footsteps, growing closer to (and more like) Jesus. This is discipleship. And again, this is a daily practice of saying yes to Jesus and seeking to follow him, follow his commands, and his example.
The other thing Jesus does is heal people. The original Greek doesn’t distinguish between physical healing and spiritual healing. It’s all healing, wholeness, salvation. And according to this story, all across the country, people are bringing their hurting and suffering friends to Jesus. And he heals their diseases. Soothes their pain. Exorcises demons. Seizures are quieted. Bodies are blessed and restored. Families are reconciled. The kingdom of God is at hand. We still bring our friends and family to Jesus for healing, don’t we? The power of prayer, the promise that Jesus has the power and desire to heal you. To save you.
Some of you have experienced this amazing grace. You researched and became convinced of the truth of scripture. You experienced miraculous healing, recovery from injury or addiction. You have been going to church since Adam, and have experienced the love of God in the people you call your church family.
Maybe you are searching. Maybe you have grown cynical. Maybe you are grieving. Maybe you are angry with God. Jesus embodies the healing and wholesome reign of God—the way things are supposed to be. Jesus also knows your brokenness, your woundedness, what can paralyze you or possess you. Jesus comes again today to bring you healing, to begin the work of becoming whole again. He calls you and me to align our lives with his, to walk in step with him, and to repent—rid ourselves of sinful, ungodly patterns of living and relating toward God and each other. The kingdom of God is at hand, after all.
Fishers of Men
One other thing: The whole “fishers of people” image was ingrained in me through the old Sunday School song. I’ve always related this to evangelism—that each one of us is sent out to go fishing for people—hook ‘em and reel them in for Jesus! But this week I noticed the only people Jesus promises to make into fishers for people are people who are already fishers.
Maybe this is not a universal mandate for everyone to adopt the fishing model of evangelism. Maybe this is Jesus affirming the unique giftedness, ability, and circumstances of every child of God, a concept known as “vocation.” Maybe we can read this to understand that when Jesus calls us, he transforms our work. That when you follow Jesus, your daily tasks, your unique skills and personalities, are infused with divinity and deeper purpose, whether you are a fisher or farmer or financial planner; teacher, technician, or truck driver; pastor, parent, or party planner. Be who you is. You were made that way for a purpose, on purpose.
1 Corinthians 1:10-17 (The Message)
So, that’s the plan. What could possibly go wrong? Turns out—plenty—at least this side of heaven. Sin is sort of a blanket term for our human tendency to get off track, and sin still has a pretty strong hold on us humans, even in churches. Especially in churches. In the very communities in which we gather to grow closer to and more like Jesus, we lose sight of the main thing. We form cliques and factions. We start canceling each other (we used to call it excommunication). Pastors have been begging their congregations to just, for the love of God, get along with each other—for 2000 years!
Here is a reading from 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, from a newer translation called “the Message:”
10 I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.
11-12 I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”
13-16 I ask you, “Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul’s name?” I was not involved with any of your baptisms—except for Crispus and Gaius—and on getting this report, I’m sure glad I wasn’t. At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name. (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas’s family, but as far as I can recall, that’s it.)
17 God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.
Lesser Loyalties
For the love of God, get along with each other! We’re a family, after all!
The Bible calls for unity, not conformity. The word for unity here has to do with being knit together into one piece of fabric, or patches of cloth being sewn together to form a single quilt. The church is a patchwork quilt, sewn, bound together by the Holy Spirit on purpose, for a purpose. Just as each person is uniquely gifted called, so every congregation has its own vocation, purpose, and calling.
We’re not all the same, and we’re not supposed to be. But we are called to be on the same page, as it were, aligned with Christ, in step with Christ, in synch with the Spirit. This means we: Ask good questions; Hold each other accountable; Respect differences of opinion, culture, and experiences; and Encourage healthy conflict, good boundaries.
Our unity in Christ does not mean that we all agree. We are each unique and beautiful and broken and compelled to wrestle with matters of conscience and doctrine and policy. That means we have different perspectives and points of view about everything from when life begins to how life should end. We sin when we settle for these lesser loyalties. Factions and cliques. Litmus tests. Cancel cultures. These are sinful behaviors that are out of alignment with God’s kingdom, out of step with Jesus, and contribute to the brokenness of this world—not its healing. Repent, Jesus says, for the kingdom of God is at hand. For the love of God, let’s get along. Let us be considerate and humble. Let us cultivate a life in common. This is how we make Christ known--they will know we are Christians by our love!
Takeaways
Which is all to say that my urging for this congregation, and for our annual meeting today is that it is healthy and good to have differences of opinion and to talk about stuff that matters. Hold me and the staff and the Council and one another accountable—to the mission of God, to the message of Christ, to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The same ethic applies to politics, too, I think. We should be slow to judge or circle the wagons. We should let people be who they is. Don’t believe everything you hear. Resist factions and cliques. Foster healthy debate. Stay curious and humble.
The second takeaway is the offer and promise of healing—for you, and for those you love. Bring your hurts and heartbreaks to God in prayer. Bring your loved ones to God in prayer. And we—your pastors, the people of Faith—offer to pray alongside you. We will help you bring your cares to Jesus by joining our prayers to yours. You aren’t alone. The burden you bear, you don’t have to carry it alone. Jesus came to save you, heal you, and draw you into his abundant love and life.
Third, know that you are created on purpose, for a purpose. Follow Jesus, align your life with his, your will with his, and you will begin to recognize a greater purpose for your life. Follow him, and use your gifts and abilities to the glory of God and for healing of the nations.
And fourth, may this congregation faithfully make Christ known: in what WE say and teach. In what we DO, and how we treat others. May each one of us answer the call to follow and to repent. May we be foster healing, salvation, reconciliation, and cooperation. They’ll know we are Christians by our love, Amen?
Conclusion and Doxology
Thanks for listening, everyone. To learn more about Faith, go to our website, www.faithshelton.org. While you are there, like us, subscribe, donate, or sign-up for our newsletter. You can subscribe to this podcast on most podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple, and Google. Chas and Nadia—you’re the best. Thanks for your production work on this podcast every week.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, all creatures here below. Praise God, above, ye heavenly host! Praise [to the] Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
