Saying Yes—Sermon Part 2 on 2/22/09

Saying YES

¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Nancy Reagan got it half right anyway. For those of you who were not alive or who were not paying attention for that time in history, Nancy Reagan was our first lady. She is a fine woman. Ms. Reagan is also a compassionate woman. So she wanted to invest herself in drug prevention. So she came up with a program called the "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign. One of her key campaign spokespersons was a young girl named Drew Barrymore. Drew was the star of several movies by that point, the most well known was a movie called E.T., a movie about an alien from outer space that comes to earth and makes friends with a family that included a young girl, played by Drew.

As it turned out, young Drew illustrated the fault of the "Just Say No" program. Because, as the same time she was a spokesman for the anti-drug campaign in late grade school and junior high, she was also an alcoholic, a smoker, and a cocaine addict.

The "Just Say NO" program wasn't a bad idea. It just wasn't the entire answer to a problem like drug and alcohol addiction. Because it is not enough to just say no. You have to be able to say YES to some things that are more valuable to you than what you must say NO to. Or your NO does not mean anything.

What is true with the just say no campaign is about life with Jesus. Learning to say NO is an important step. But saying NO is important so that you can YES to the right things, the most important things, the most valuable things.

The Bible says Jesus approached these men, as we went around teaching about repentance and the nearness of the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says he went to these men, looked them in the eyes, and asked them to follow him. He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men". And the Bible says that they did choose to follow Him. Those of you who come to Wednesday Night will notice that they "immediately left" their fishing business.

At a moment's notice, these men knew what to say YES to. At a moment's notice, these men who to say YES to. And they gave up everything they had known, and left who they had known to be apprentices of Jesus. That is a big step. Can you imagine giving up EVERYTHING familiar and comfortable to follow a relative stranger. Just goes to show the disciples knew what to say YES to.

As Christians, we must learn to say NO to anything that gets in the way of our relationship with Jesus, but we need to known by what and by whom we say YES to.

The early church was known by who and what they said YES to. The historic church was known for three behaviors in the Ancient Roman World. There may have been more, but three things are indisputable. First, the early church was known for their love and care of needy children. In ancient times, safe medical abortions were not an option for women. So, often, what people did was "expose" their children. What this means is that if an infant was deformed, retarded, or otherwise unhealthy, or if the situation of the pregnancy was not ideal, the infant would be put out under a bush or in the woods to die of malnutrition or exposure. Christians were known for picking up these babies, adopting them, and raising them as their own. Many Christian homes were full of adopted children, and scandalized a little for it.

Christians were known for being pacifists. The early Christian church, until the time of Constantine, was against military service. They did not believe that they could say YES to God and to being in the Roman Military at the same time. This made many citizens of the Roman Empire quite angry with them.

Finally, Christians were known for the way that they cared for and loved one another. When one was in need, the others came to help. So, in the world they lived in, the early church said YES to reaching out into their communities and loving children in need, YES to worshipping God alone as king, and YES for committing to care for one another. Why have I gone through this history lesson. This is why—BECAUSE THE CHURCH THRIVES WHEN IT KNOWS WHAT IT STANDS FOR. THE CHURCH THRIVES WHEN IT KNOWS WHAT ITS PASSION IS AND WHAT ITS MISSION IS. AND IT THRIVES WHEN IT DEVOTES ALL ITS RESOURCES TO FULFILLING THAT MISSION.

Friends, we as a church need to be known for what we say YES to in Jesus name. And by that YES, I mean standing on the truths of what we believe, YES, but I believe we need to be known for more than that. We need to be known for the actions that we take as a church. We need to be known by how we LOVE those in our community, and how we strive to serve them and reach them in Jesus name.

There are plenty of churches that are known by who they are against, who have defined themselves by what they are not, instead of being known as churches that say YES to God's will and God's way. There may even be a few right here in our own small town. Let them do their thing. Let us be a congregation that continually says YES when Jesus comes calling.

And in our personal lives, let us be the same way.

As we come up on this season of Lent, I want to ask you to take time to not only think about what you can give up to know God better. You may choose instead, if you want to practice the spiritual exercise of Lent, to say YES to something that maybe you have not before. Maybe you have not been doing daily Bible Study. Commit to reading the Bible daily. If you start today, and you read 6 chapters of the Bible a day, you can read through the entire New Testament by Easter. Or try something else. Try giving away one possession a day until Easter. Either give it to someone or take your gift to the goodwill. You might be surprised how attached you have gotten to junk, and stuff you do not need. Or choose to serve someone else in a way that it out of your normal work/family routine each day until Easter. Perform a random act of kindness in Jesus Name each day. Ask Jesus to open your eyes to who you are going to serve. You will be surprised what you discover about yourself and your relationship with Jesus. And you will learn to admire those first disciples, who left everything to immediately follow Jesus.

Whether you choose to give up something to know Jesus more, or say yes to Jesus in a new way during Lent, or you do not do either of these things, say YES to God and his will. Above all the saying YES to an time-tested exercise to help you grow spiritually, say YES to Jesus. Commit to trusting him more. To listening to him speak to your heart. To following him where he tells you to go.

You cannot make everyone happy. You cannot be everything to every one. But you can, today, set apart Jesus as Lord, and say YES to him, wherever he may lead you. Amen.