"Living Beyond"

(from the book “Dangerous Wonder,” by Mike Yaconelli)

Matthew 4:18-22

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Introduction: The discovery of electronic gadgets (like computers, cell phones, blackberry’s, and on and on) have helped us in many ways. But in some ways, they have hindered us as well. If you look at kids today, they have computer games, television, and video games, but they get bored more easily than ever. I think this is because they are not challenged to use their imaginations.

I remember back when I was a kid. My cousin and I would get together quite often, and we would have great fun with our imaginations. At one point, we imagined that one day we would build a submarine. We even drew up plans for it. We also loved playing a game called “Stratego.” But even more than the thought of building the submarine, or playing the game, it was the hours of planning and dreaming that we enjoyed so much! This morning, I want us to think about “wild abandon;” about abandoning ourselves to the adventure God has for us.

I. Beyond Carefulness- (Matthew 4:18-22, 10:39;

John 6:35, 66-68, 9:5, 10:11)

a. Follow Me- In the beginning of His ministry, Jesus sought out

those who He would have follow Him. In this passage, we see that Jesus was walking by the lakeside; and as he walked he called Peter and Andrew, James and John. Theologian William Barclay says of this encounter: “It is not to be thought that this was the first time that he had seen them, or they him. As John tells the story, at least some of them were already disciples of John the Baptist (Jn.1:35). No doubt they had already talked with Jesus and had already listened to him, but in this moment there came to them the challenge once and for all to throw in their lot with him.”

Jesus gave a call to these fisherman to follow Him. Now as we read this passage, we know it so well that it doesn’t make the impact that it should. Here we have 4 fisherman, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These men are not educated, or influential, or wealthy, they are fishermen, and all they know is fishing. But Jesus is asking them to go beyond what they know.

Astonishingly, they abandon their careers, their families, and their futures to follow Jesus. Why? All because Jesus said, “Follow Me.” But why would these men give up all that they knew to follow Jesus into what they didn’t know? Because somehow these men knew that life with Jesus is the life they needed. Somehow they knew that they were unsuccessful in achieving what God had created for them. Somehow they knew that they had a greater purpose for their life and for God.

In Matthew 10:39, Jesus would later say: “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” In other words, for us to really live the life God has for us, we have to abandon ourselves to Jesus so that He can lead us to the place we need to go. As long as we are trying to control our destiny, we will fail to find it. These fisherman realized this, and immediately left what they knew to a life of wild abandon. They were abandoning themselves to the One who would never abandon them.

The truth is, most of us have lost touch with the childlike experience of abandon. We believe in Jesus, we love the idea of what Jesus wants to do in the world, but we are not willing to abandon what we know and what we are doing to really follow Jesus. It is too impractical to abandon our life in this way. We want security; we need security; we cling to security. This life of abandon is not secure.

Abandon is definitely unpredictable. As we seek to follow the rules of this life, how can we give ourselves over to abandon? How does Jesus’ call fit into these rules of security? They don’t, and so that makes us very nervous and unsettled.

b. Okay to make mistakes- If you analyze Jesus’ ministry, you will

see that Jesus led people to go against the stream of the normal, and even go against some of the rules of the day. [Jesus healed on the Sabbath; Jesus touched lepers; Jesus talked to women; Jesus included foreigners.]

Don’t get me wrong, rules are important. Jesus thought rules were important too. He affirmed for the people that they needed to pay their taxes. But there were many religious rules that Jesus broke Himself, and encouraged others to break. In living a life of “wild abandon,” Jesus wants us to understand that there are times when it is good to go against the norm, and break the rules that would keep us from accomplishing the call of God on our lives. [Christianity is more concerned with following Jesus, than with following rules.]

Remember back when you first said “yes” to Jesus. You didn’t know the rules; all you knew was Jesus. But maybe the longer you have been a Christian, you have felt like there were many rules that you were being taught. The church as a whole is concerned with people following the rules. But this is why church has become a religion, and we have forgotten that it is a relationship. First and foremost, being a Christian is about believing in Jesus, and following the call of Jesus.

In many ways, the rules are placed there to help keep people from making mistakes. But mistakes are a sign of growth. Often times we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. When we follow Jesus, and live a life of wild abandon, we will make some mistakes. If there is ever a place that welcomes mistakes, it should be the church.

Going back to Jesus and the disciples, we see that every time that the disciples started to establish rules—no children near Jesus; nobody could touch Jesus; Jesus shouldn’t talk to the Samaritan woman; don’t waste expensive perfume—Jesus rebuked them for this. In essence, Jesus was saying: “Don’t you get it, we aren’t substituting religious rules for your rules; we are substituting religious rules with Me!” Jesus is saying that we need to follow His rules.

c. The rule maker- The religious leaders accused Jesus of breaking

the rules over and over again. And it was true, Jesus did break the rules. They wanted Him to know that He shouldn’t be healing on the Sabbath, touching lepers, or forgiving adulterers. But Jesus COULD break the rules, because Jesus is the RULE MAKER. He alone decides what rules are true and what rules are nonsense. That is why we should follow Jesus with abandon to wherever He takes us, because He lets us know what is right and what is wrong. Whatever rules we do have should come from understanding who Jesus is and what Jesus wants us to do.

In many ways, this sounds alarming; doesn’t it? It might even sound hazardous. But if you understand “faith,” then you know that it is reckless to follow Jesus wherever He goes. But it is about following where Jesus goes, not where we want to go. It is very wrong to seek a destination, make some rules, and then try to get Jesus to follow us. Following Jesus with “wild abandon” is an adventure, and so you need to fasten your seat belt for the ride. When you are walking in faith, you should feel your pulse start to quicken. There is intrigue, and nervousness, and thrills.

This must have been very difficult for the people, because they knew Jesus as a child; they had played with Jesus. And they knew Jesus’ parents. And then Jesus one day says to them: “I am the bread of life…” In fact, Jesus made many “I am” statements. (I am the light of the world, I am the good shepherd, I am the way, the truth and the life.) And this was significant, because the people knew that this phrase “I am” was the name God gave to Moses; to them Jesus was a blasphemer.

In John 6:66 we are told: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” The rule maker became a rule breaker. No wonder so many started to leave Him; to follow Jesus became a dangerous adventure. Why didn’t everyone leave Him? In John 6:67-68, we have this discourse: “‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’” / Even though it was dangerous, Jesus had the words of life.

Peter knew he had to abandon the safe life to follow Jesus, the One who could give him real life. But others couldn’t: the rich young ruler couldn’t abandon his riches; the Pharisees couldn’t abandon their religion (except for Nicodemus); Pilate couldn’t abandon his power…. What is it that you have trouble abandoning for Jesus? Your schedule? Your money? Your fear of making a mistake? Your theology? The expectations of others?

II. A Life of Abandon- (Mark 5:25-34; Luke 21:1-4)

a. Jump first, fear later- The truth is, most people are afraid to

follow Jesus with wild abandon. To do this, we need to become more like a child. Sound familiar? Jesus said this, didn’t He? We need to become more like children. Children have no fear. That is why you have to watch children so closely. They will follow a ball out into the street, run towards a pool, or do a number of other potentially dangerous acts without thinking. Most kids have this rule of life: “Jump first, fear later.”

In many ways, when it comes to following Jesus, we need to have that rule as well: “Jump first, fear later.” That is what Jesus calls us to when He says “Follow Me.” Jesus doesn’t want us to be afraid. He understood that in this world, no one is safe. We have to take risks to accomplish so many things. Jesus knew that to follow Him meant that nothing in your life would really be safe. But also knew that He would be with us all the way.

We get so excited when somebody finds Jesus; as we should. But the Christian life needs to be about more than just finding Jesus; it is also about following Jesus. The Christian life isn’t just a one-time decision that is made, but an every day adventure that is lived. But as we live with fearlessness, we will find ourselves in a place of peace, joy, and abandon.

EX. As I was writing this sermon, I started to wonder where I have followed Jesus with wild abandon. And as I thought about it, I recalled how I answered my first call. It started in December, 1995. I had sent my Personal Information Form out to several churches seeking a call. I got an invitation from a church in Pueblo West, Colorado to come for an interview. So Tami and I went out to spend a few days with them. The first night we had a dinner with some key people in the church. The next night we had an interview with the committee. Here is the part of wild abandon. The committee asked us to step out of the room for a few minutes. I could sense that they were going to offer me the job. If they did, and we took it, it would mean moving out of state, away from all of our family. When we came back into the room, sure enough the committee offered me the job, AND WE TOOK IT. The next day we went house shopping, AND BOUGHT A HOUSE. In the period of 2 days, I had a call to a church, a new state to live in, a new house to live in!! WILD ABANDON.

b. Examples from the Bible- When we follow Jesus with wild

abandon, we feel the thrill of living out the calling God gives to us. Even more, we discover the peace of doing what God wants done. We see this in the Bible with story after story: In Mark 5:25-34 we see the story of a woman who had a lifelong blood disease. This woman had heard about Jesus, and the many people He had healed. She believed that He had great love and power, and believed that if she could just touch Him, she would be healed. So with wild abandon she pushed through the crowd, oblivious to the ridicule and anger of the crowd, and she touched Jesus, and was healed.

OR Luke 21:1-4, where we see a widow who came to the temple every day to give her small offering. Let’s read what happened: “As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ²He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ³’I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” Jesus saw what this woman was doing, and how others were judging her for the little she gave, and wanted them to understand that it took great courage and abandon for her to give in this way.

Storyteller Bill Harley tells the story of a children's T-ball game he witnessed a few years ago. On one of the T-ball teams was a young girl named Tracy, who ran with a limp and couldn't hit the ball to save her life! Every game she would swing and swing, but couldn’t hit the ball. Sometimes she would hit the tee, the ball would fall off, and everyone would yell “Run.” But she always got put out at first. On the occasion of her team's last game, Tracy did the unthinkable, or maybe the law of averages caught up to her. She hit the ball! The ball went up the middle, past all of the fielders (of course in T-ball, after the first few minutes of the game, all the outfielders start to encroach on the infield, so there really aren’t any outfielders). Tracy's coach began hollering for her to run the bases, and she landed on first base, only to be told to keep on running. She rounded second base, and the fans stood to their feet and cheered, urging Tracy to head home! As she neared third base, however, Tracy noticed an old dog that had loped onto the field and was sitting near the baseline between third plate and home. Moments away from her first home run, Tracy stopped. Her coach was yelling encouragement to her to run home. There she stood with a dilemma; run home, or give the dog some love? To everyone’s surprise, she knelt in the dirt and hugged the dog. She never made it to home plate, but the fans cheered for her anyway. To Tracy, love was more important than winning. ("All Things Considered," National Public Radio, 7/11/95)

We see in this story a girl who cared more about love than about the rules and expectations of others. Tracy lived out the stories we read in the Bible; people who were willing to go against the rules and expectations of others.

Conclusion: Every day we are challenged in this way: live our lives according to the rules and expectations of others, or live with the wild abandon to which Jesus calls us. In ministry we are called to do this as well. If the church continues to live according to the ongoing expectations of how things have always been done, then we will never experience the work Jesus wants us to do. We have to be willing to hear the CALL of Jesus on our lives, and in our church, so that we can experience the thrill of ministry to which we are called.

It is always risky to follow Jesus. That is because Jesus usually takes us out of our comfort zone. But when we are in our comfort zone, we get lazy and unimaginative. When we are in our comfort zone, we fail to listen to the voice of God. When we are in our comfort zone, we get stuck into following the rules and expectations of others, and forget to live and love as Jesus did. Let us go after the One we love, Jesus, who bids us to come with wild abandon. Amen.