Why Should I Follow Jesus?

TRANSCRIPT

Have you ever been invited to something and said, no, and then you regretted it later? What about the flip side of that? You're invited to do something or go somewhere, and it felt like an obligation, but in the end you said, yeah, okay, I'll go. But then you look back at it and think, wow, I could have missed that.

Yep. You know, it's such a great decision. I, I took that anyway and look what's happened. For my life. I can think of a time when I was in my late teens. There was a time I was in my late teens and I was invited to a youth program called Youth for Christ. And I wasn't too fussed about going about a month later, it was on every month.

My brother said, come on, let's go. There's some really nice people there. And so, uh, it's all right. And then about a month later, he finally said, come on, let's do it. So I went. I met this girl there and 48 years later, come on, we've been married and she's outside there looking after the courtyard. I'm just saying you never know what's in the balance when you make a decision, and even if you don't feel like it at first, the invitation, it may be just worth doing.

So today our first, um, uh, part three actually, and it's week two, but part three of the series called Investigating Jesus, how We Know and Why We Follow. So how do we know there's anything to the story of Jesus? Why is he worth listening to? Let's face it, he's just an obscure person from history. From the little village in Palestine, the backwoods of the Roman Empire, why would anything he has to say have any relevance to you and I today, especially in the 21st century?

Come on. Why would we do that? The reason is simple. It's super important though. The question is not whether or not we even believe it. The question is the credibility. Of Christianity and all the church and everything that goes with it. The credibility of Christianity rests solely on one individual Jesus of Nazareth.

So that's why we wanna look at Jesus today. We're investigating, is there enough evidence in him to make it worthwhile following him to know him and then to follow him are the two stages. Which means if you are considering Christianity, maybe you've got your hand on the door coming in, or you are wondering whether you should stay when you're about to leave, you dunno quite how to say, say at the mom and dad, but I've had enough of this.

I'm going somewhere else. Well, whatever point you're at. It's really a good time to stop and look again, wrestle the question. You know this question of does God exist? That's a good question. You could talk about that is the Bible truth. You could talk about that, but the real question is, we wanna look at it this way, is Matthew, mark, Luke, or John, a reliable account of actual events?

I. Now, if you're not sure, it's not a rock and roll band from the sixties, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, they were the other boys from the haircut. These men are the ones that we know about Jesus from. They're the ones that put biographies together so that we could then be shown years and years later, what was actually going on.

We weren't there, so we don't know except from what they're telling us. Is it accurate enough and true enough to base our story on to know that his story is the true story? In fact, without the event, at the end of his story, there is no story worth telling. There's one thing that all of those writers point to and very graphically point to.

We're about to come into what's called holy week, which just means the last week of Jesus' life in our calendar, and we're gonna see if we look carefully, if we're game enough to look at it, we'll squirm because it was vicious. It was horrible. What happened? It ends with a really good ending. If you're not sure what it is, keep reading.

So we're gonna look at one person's account of Jesus' life and that person is a guy named Luke. I. Dr. Luke, they called him. Some people did. I like to call him my guy. He's my, one of my fa favorite authors in the Bible. I've looked at it the other day. If you just had Luke's first book, the Gospel, and his second book, the Book of Acts, you'd have 85% of all of Christianity right there.

But the others wrote well too. So I like Luke. I call him the we guy. Not we down here, but he would write and all of a sudden he'd say, we went here and we did this and, and he included himself in the story because he was really there. He had the authority to speak, but it's named after the author right up front.

Luke lets us know that he's not writing religious literature. He didn't know that there was gonna be the Bible. Just imagine it. You go to church or synagogue or whatever, and what you have is those old Covenant documents you don't have yet. Matthew, mark, Luke, and John. You don't have the book of Acts. You don't have Paul's letters.

That's all about to come, and so what he's starting from is what did you see? What did you hear? Who was he? What did he do for you? Those sort of eye accounts is what forms his work, and I love the way he starts off and we we're reviewing a little bit of what we did last week, but look at it here. He says, many have undertaken.

Many, not just one or two. Lots of people had already had a go at relating the stuff about Jesus and like his friends, uh, mark and Matthew and John, who was a disciple and friend of Jesus, they'd done a great job, but there was confusion because there was so many other texts out there. They weren't wrong, but they were not clear.

His friend named Theophilus said, will you do me a favor and please tell me what really happens and let me know how I can believe. So he says, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, not would bees. And, uh, let's start with once upon a time. Or it might, might have happened, but what has really happened among us, and then he goes on to say it this way, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were the eyewitnesses.

I love this about Luke. Luke may not have even stood in front of Jesus. It's true, but he knew everyone. Anyone important. He'd spoken to them. He said, I've researched it. I've spoken to the eyewitnesses, the servants of the word, and so he says, this is what the code is for. Jesus words, those of the word, those who know what Jesus really says and who he really is.

Let's go on from there. So he says, I too decided to write, uh, an orderly account from the Greek. That means chronological. I love Luke because he gets it right from the first names in the Bible all the way through. He starts with important people and then he gets the, all that detail going, and then he says, uh, this, the orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know.

What, how to answer an exam about the Bible. Imagine if Jesus sat over there and said, I really love the way you remembered my words, but did you know me? Did you actually stop and look behind the words and say, can I know you? Can I serve you? Can I be with you? Will you be with me? See, it was more than just repeating the words carefully and accurately.

It was the certainty of the things you've been taught so that you can walk in them and grow in them. So, you know, this is a major, major part of the story. The awful wanted to know the whole story from the beginning to the end so he could know how and what to believe, and then how to follow Jesus. We know and then we follow.

A few years ago talking about invitations, going way back now. 1980 something. I was invited to a men's fellowship. It's called the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship to give it its full title, and it was a great thing. In fact, the Gold Coast had one of the most active chapters in all of Australia at the time, and they invited a guest one time to come down and he was none other than the astronaut from Apollo 16, Charlie Duke.

Really tall guy. He had the real down home accent and very likable, friendly guy and Charles' there, and I've watched other, um. Sort of the words that Charlie was using when he was on the moon. He was one of the guys that got to ride the buggy. You know, they had the moon buggy and they drove all over the place and that, and he was having so much fun with it and he was just, uh, real like a little kid.

Like a kid in the toy box, he was just so enjoying the moon and oh, he had work to do as well. He decided they were gonna do some Olympics and the first one that was a big high jump and he fell over backwards and had to get his mate to lift him up. So the mission control said no more Olympics. This is the kind of guy, he is a real fellow.

And so he shared with us about two things. One was the experience on the moon, and the second thing was I wasn't a believer back then. In fact, our marriage almost collapsed and we, we had nothing going for us. He made lots of money selling beer after the Apollo program, but he was empty. Then he found out about Jesus started investigating Jesus and what a difference that made.

So anyway, I was at that meeting and I was thinking after a while, I wonder when that was. And I tried Dr. Google, see if I can get the dates of when it came to the Gold Coast. 'cause it was in my mind as a living membrane. See, I knew about these things because I was alive when they took place. I could tell you something about them.

I could even write stories about it. I could give you a gospel according to Apollo. Yeah. But he could do it better. 'cause he was actually there. So after a while I was looking at Google and I couldn't find it. I was frustrated, Dr. Google, what are you doing? So on the 14th of February, just three days after I was asked to do this message, I found an email address for his ministry or whatever.

So I wrote him a little email. Dear brother Charlie Duke and team, I'm wondering if you had the records of when you first came to the Gold Coast in Queensland. It was some, somewhere in the late eighties or early nineties. I know I was there, but I'm not sure what the date was. I appreciate that. This is a strange request along a long shot, but I praise God for the testimony of you and your wife, Dottie.

That's my wife's name too. And they have brought to thousands much appreciated respect and blessings on you. Pastor Lynn Bradley, gold Coast Australia. PS my wife is also Dotie. Maybe that's why he answered, I don't know. But the very same day I was sitting in front of the telly. I got this, we were there shortly after the space shuttle Challeng a disaster in late January, early February, 1986.

It was a great trip, Charlie. I got an email from Charlie Duke, the real Charlie Duke. He was real man. I was so thrilled. But all that to say, if you're really there, you can tell the real story If you've been a participant in all this, I know there's some people say all that rubbish about the moon. You know, it's all the hopes.

But what about this picture here? Apollo 16. This is taken from a lunar orbiting capsule last year. Still there. There's their buggy over there, the lunar rover module, all their instruments and, and um, what do you call experimental stuff Still there. They learned from the first mission not to put the flag too close to the takeoff because it blows over.

So all that stuff is still there and you can see the footprints. The Chinese have taken the same pictures, the Russians have taken the same pictures. It's not a hoax. I believe it. It's true. Back to Luke, the eyewitnesses accounts he has collected. Luke wasn't writing the Bible when he wrote them. He had no idea there would be a compilation we call the Bible.

Luke is not giving us his own personal testimony. Interestingly, your testimony is powerful, but you know what? It doesn't really matter in the end. The real question is did it happen? Is it true? My testimony is great. You'd love it. But the thing is, the real issue is did it really happen? Can I place my faith in Jesus?

And the answer is yes. How do we know the intimate details? I love the fact that Luke is the one that fills in the gaps about Jesus' childhood. You noticed that he starts back at those angels, you know, and they came to the shepherds Who told him about that he wasn't there. Hmm. I wonder who might have been there, who could have spoken to Luke?

Hmm. Any ideas? Was it Mary? Ah-huh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He says, Mary treasured these things in her heart. They were not easily forgotten. Can you remember when a, an important person died in your life? In your lifetime. Yeah. Can you remember when it was a famous person like Day of Kay, or some of you're too old to remember that, but can you remember the birth of a child?

Can you tell us a story about that? There's a lot of skeptics out there that think, oh, people got really forgetful in those days, and they made it all up afterwards, but instead there was dozens of other eyewitnesses who, if you said it wrong, they would say, I'm gonna write that correctly now. You know, many people have had a go, I'm gonna put it down correct so you can check it.

He starts off with John the Baptizer. I haven't got time to go into it, but Josephus, the Jewish historian, he says if there's any other character that you really need to notice in the first century, it was John like. He's a non-Christian talking about important people. This real person, John the Baptist, is showing up in history before we get him in the Bible.

So he talks about, Luke, talks about John introducing Jesus hin Judea, and here's what Luke says in the beginning, in chapter four, he says, Luke four 14, news about him, Jesus spread throughout the whole countryside. When people started to pick up on the news of who Jesus, this, Jesus was the one that we're talking about investigating.

They wanted to investigate too. Everyone was talking about him. So they came everywhere. He went, crowds gathered to listen to him, and then it says after that he was teaching in their synagogues, which is code for Jewish church, and everyone praised him. Imagine a day when everyone praised Jesus. Woo-hoo.

Well, why synagogues? Because they were Jews. This is a Jewish book about Jewish people, and Jesus was Jewish. He just wanted to expand the understanding to what God always said. It will be a light to the Gentiles as well, the non-Jews, so they felt comfortable crowding around and listening to him. He was likable.

If you start talking like Jesus talked, people will feel comfortable and crowd around you too. They'll come close and say, tell me more. In this context, Luke introduces us to one of Jesus' most famous followers. Peter. Oh, Peter. He called Simon originally after hearing Jesus speak at the local synagogue.

Simon Peter invites Jesus over to his house and, um, there, well, while he is waiting for lunch, Pete says, oh, by the way, my mother or in-law is not well. Well, she's a bit sick. She's crook out the bag. Well, he's sitting waiting for lunch. I got nothing better to do. I'll go in and I'll pray over her and she'll get better.

She did just like that. And then the word got out and before dinner was over there was people at the door. I hear that Jesus is here and he can heal people, and the rest of the evening was a write off. There's no rest. He was busy, busy, busy, healing every one of them that says, so in the, in the Luke's four verse 40, all at sunset, the people were bringing to Jesus all who had various sicknesses, all kinds of diseases, and laying his hands on each one of them.

He healed them. Let me just say, if you want to be healed, come to Jesus. All right. Simple one, but we forget. Go to the doctor first. No, go to the doctor after you've prayed about it on the way. Lord, give him some wisdom. Quick aside, why Healing Miracles? Well, the healing miracles in the gospels don't make them more believable, do they?

Luke knew that he was saying, I know it's made it harder to believe now 'cause I told you about these miracles, but it happened. Gotta put it in there. You see, it didn't make them more believable, but this is what we know. The thrust of Jesus ministry is not what he taught or even what he did is who he claimed to be.

That's why the Healing Miracles, just add to that one time, I was able to say, if you don't believe what I say, at least believe for the miracles. That sounds like a good deal. In the first century, disease was associated with sin, and so Jesus would later associate his power over illness with his power to overcome and forgive sin.

He was addressing the core issue of saying, you're not wrong out of place with God because of illness. That's not a sign of that. Your heart needs to be right with God. So they found him. They begged him to stay. He went off daybreak. Can't find Jesus where it's gone. He's disappeared. He was smart. He needed time with God the father, and so they found him.

And then this is what he said. I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns is also because that is why I was sent. You see, Jesus had a purpose and it wasn't gonna be, uh, sidetracked by lovely miracles. He could do that all the time, every day, 24 7, but he knew that wasn't his primary goal.

If the version of Christianity you grew up didn't strike you as good news, then maybe it wasn't the version that Jesus would give would give you. When Jesus told about it, it was good news and people wanted to hear. The Kingdom of God was good news when Jesus talked about it. And so moving along now in Luke chapter five, one day Jesus was standing by the lake of g Nazareth.

You all know that one, don't you? It's also called the Lake of Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee, but he got it right historically, correct. Every time nobody needed to know there was zarin. You know that was a historical nicety. Yes. I'll say the right words, you'll know it's me. And the Sea of Galilee is about 13 Ks across about 22 and a half kilometers long.

It's the epicenter though, of what Jesus did much of his ministry was around the shores of that sea, that lake, you know, when he walked on water, when he, the guys were in the storm, all that stuff happened. Right there when you're about to see what else happens. One day as Jesus was standing at the lake of, by the lake of g Nazareth, the people were crowding around him and listening to the Word of God show there was no Bible.

There was the word of God coming fresh to everyone. It hadn't been written down yet. We have it. Don't get confused. It's not the printed stuff that matters. So the fun fact, our modern Christian world, we hear the word of God and we think the Bible, but it wasn't. It was Luke saying, here's what came out of him, this life giving word.

And so Jesus saw that the water's edge, there was two boats left there by the fishermen who were washing their nets. Well, here's what's going on. We didn't live in those times, so he wanted to explain it to you. Uh, this was mid-morning. The fishermen had been out fishing in the nighttime when all the fisheries come to the top, top of the surface and the water's cool.

And then they'd been out all night and their great fishermen, they'd caught zero. Not one fish. So, but they still had to repair the nets because they had old chopping trolleys and, and all sorts of things in them. You know how it goes when you go fishing. They picked up all the rubbish except fish, so they gotta repair the nets, and that takes most of the morning.

Then they have a bit of a nap and get ready for the next night. So he got into one of the boats, the one belonging to you, Simon. This wasn't the first time he'd met Simon, right? He'd just been to his place for tea and healed his mother-in-law. So Simon Peter had been the one listening to him earlier. He got into one of the boats, the one belonged to Simon, and he asked him to put out a little bit from shore.

Then he sat down and taught the people. So it was like a, a natural amphitheater where he didn't need the microphones. He could just talk to everybody. Hey, you back there. Listen up. He was taught them so well and this, in this picture, Peter stopped washing his nets. He's had to put aside his work and he's sort of a captive audience that got nowhere to go.

The Master's here, so, alright, I'll listen. I. And then when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, that's great. Let's go back home and have lunch. Oh, no. What he said was put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Now it's doable. Peter knows how to do this. He's already done it all night, but it's not a good suggestion.

It's not something that he wants to do. Why would you do that if only Jesus knew how to fish? He says, outta respect, Simon answered, master. We've worked all night and haven't caught anything. That's code for saying we did it the way you're supposed to do it, and we had no success. But if you say so, Hey guys, come on quick.

The master needs us. Drop your nets. Come back out. So they get in the boat and they're off and running, and then it says this, this is really when you stop to think about it. The key for us today, this is what's really important. He says, just because you say so, that was Peter's response. Just because you say so.

In fact, I hate preachers that say, say after me, but do it for me. Just because you say so. Just say, come on, bit droll. Just because you say so. That's how he would've said, you know what? This is a defining moment in your life. My life and your life. Will I ever be able to say, just because you say so. And just submit everything to that request, that invitation to do whatever you say, God, no matter what, whatever it costs me, whatever it's gonna look like, I just wanna do it because you said so.

The statement was, the poten has the potential to change the trajectory of your life. I'm not exaggerating. This is where all the changes for you. Jesus wasn't asking Peter to believe something but to do something. It wasn't belief in belief. You know? It wasn't just, if you get this true statement right, everything will be okay, but it's saying, will you trust me enough to do what I say?

And so maybe you've been in that situation. Perhaps you're not even sure you believe in a person of God. But you have a feeling you know what you're supposed to do. There's something niggly going on there, and maybe you, you have a feeling it's God digging on your conscience and you've got 25 reasons why it's unreasonable and you shouldn't do it.

But it's gonna cost too much. It's going to take too much outta my time, whatever. It's gonna work out. But you know what? There's a time when you just gotta say just because you said so. In fact, if you are in our church, which you are, if you, uh, take any moments to talk to the people in this room now, you'll find the time when they said, just because you said so and how it changed their lives, and they said yes to the heavenly father.

And they wanted, they would say to you, like, I would say to you, oh my goodness. When I think about the fact that I almost missed it, that invitation, I didn't feel like saying yes, but when I did, oh, I can't imagine what would've been like if I hadn't said yes to him. I'm so glad I did see us. So he was asking Peter to do something and Jesus knew if Peter would say yes, because he said so.

His faith would intersect with God's faithfulness and it would change his life forever. So Peter thought, based on what I know and what I've heard and what you've done, I will put down my nets. Peter knew just enough to take the next step. What's the next step for you? What's God saying for you to do next?

What's your, your level of faith there? Do we need this one? It's all right. Okay. So Peter did say yes, and he could have been just a nameless, forgotten fisherman, let's face it. But instead he got this,

uh, admittedly it was built in 1500 or something, but. St. Peter's Basilica. You know, this is the spot where the real Peter was crucified for, for loving Jesus. But centuries later, his name stands out because he said, yes, I will put down my nets. He took the next step. The point is we never know that we know enough to take the next step.

We dunno it all. So let's have a look now. What happens next? Luke summarizes the next couple of embarrassing hours in the boat with this phrase, when they had done so. What happened? This took hours. Hey guys. Reload the nets. I know it's for the master. You know, they rolled their eyes. Okay. It means that we're gonna have to rewash the nets and repair the nets again.

Gonna be midnight before we get back to sleep. But you know what? He did that now when they believed, so not when they believed so, but when they acted. So this is what Luke's wants his audience to understand. Jesus called people to do and live and behave and respond as if. God is active and faithful in our life and circumstances.

So again, it's when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets begin to break. I call this the, the worst day and the best day of fishing they ever had. All in one day. The worst day was relying upon their own talents and abilities, and they'd gone out all night and said, master, we caught nothing.

The best day was when they got so successful, and here's what Peter said to do next. When Simon Peter saw this, he cried out, we're rich. We won't have to work for weeks. And immediately Peter offered Jesus a three year contract with 30% commission. Well, that's the understanding paraphrase. This is what he said, right?

No, this is what he really said. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, go away from me, Lord. Why away? Well, Peter knew that he was standing in front of the living God in flesh. Anyone that could make this natural thing happen was showing the power that he had over nature. And again, it wasn't the miracles that made Jesus who he was.

It was the statement of who he really was that was intersecting with the nature that he made in the beginning. And this is why I had to tell the story. Luke's more or less saying to you, I had to write this down because look what happened. Those of you who will cast out your net because he said so. You won't know what you'll catch, but you will not be disappointed.

You will never be disappointed in what God is about to do for you. It may not look anything like, like Peter would never have thought, we're gonna have so many fish. I'll have to call John and his people over. But that's what they ended up having to do. Not only. Does God not distance himself, but he also invites himself over.

See how he went to Peter's place? I'll just come for dinner. I'll come for lunch another time to Matthew the tax collector. Oh, we're gonna eat at your place tonight. You know Zac here, it's the same thing. He would invite himself into their lives and they would think, I'm not worthy of this. I'm so unrighteous.

You are so righteous, but God always wants to be near his people, near his people. How close near. He's so close. We forget that he's there, and so we go on from there. Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid From now on. Look what I'm doing here. You'll be fishing people. Right? He was so clear on what the purpose was for Simon after that.

So they pulled their boats up on the shore and left everything and followed him. What an invitation. The best invitation they'd ever had in their lives, and they were, according to Luke and Peter, they would tell you. That he did this for them so that they would know how to live the rest of their lives.

Peter would say, you know what? He did a fish trick for me and I followed. Do you not know what he did for you? You should. Peter says, because I told you in my letter. Oh yeah. Pete's got a letter too, and it goes like this. When. He hurled their, when they hurled their insults at him on the cross. He did not retaliate.

When he suffered, he made no threats. I was there, Peter said I was in the back of the crowd. I was a bit of chicken, but I was there and he was so badly insulted, so badly done by instead of threatening them, he entrusted himself to him. Who judges justly. This is the example. Jesus was the same. Then Peter says, as what he was with us, he would tell them outright, truly, I'm with the Father, so I know where I'm going.

And then Peter says, this is the best part of all, not just a fish trick. This is it. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross. You know why we follow Jesus is because we can't get rid of our sin. I dunno about you, but I know my sinfulness. I face God and honestly say, I cannot believe that you did that for me.

And he's done it for all of us. And all he says is just do what I ask you to do. Follow me, trust me, and it will be fine. Peter and Luke would whisper to us. That's why we followed him. That's why Luke wanted us to know that Peter experienced firsthand. We've been invited to follow, and when Peter's simple act of faith intersected with Jesus' faithfulness, something happened in Peter and he would say to us, I want you to accept that invitation when you do.

Something will happen in you as well. I'm gonna invite our band to come now just to prepare to sing over us in a moment. Now, some invitations, we started talking about this, feel more like obligations than opportunities following. Jesus may feel that way, but if Luke is telling us the truth, nothing could be further from the truth.

There's no obligation in saying yes to Jesus. It's all about how he loves us already and wants to complete the promise. Following Jesus will be inconvenient. It'll cost you. It'll cost you so much that if you thought about now, you might say no. Just take that next step. That's all you have to do. Your Heavenly Father invites you to follow him because he's the author of life.

Your greatest regret will have been avoided if you had been following Jesus in that season of your life. Let me say it again. Your greatest regret would've been avoided if you'd have been following Jesus in that season. I. Of your life. Now, I don't know you what those words mean to you. I know that God knows, and you know what it means.

So what's your next step? What's your version of Jesus saying, take me fishing. Where's he leading you? Where's he gonna take you? It's something you can do, but you may be resisting it. I dunno what it is for you, but I hope your response will be. Because you say, so I'll put down my nets. You never know what hangs in the balance.

Luke and Peter would tell you, just trust him and follow. It's the invitation of a lifetime and it's an invitation that if you accept, you'll never regret that decision. Whatever your next step is, take it because you know what hangs in the balance. You don't know. Sorry. What hangs in the balance? And so we'll pick this up again in Luke's account next week as we look at the life of Jesus and investigating Jesus and how we know and why we follow.

Before you go, let's pray together.

Jesus, we marvel at the True Life stories recorded by Luke and others powerful, true events. But what we long for most is for your own story to intersect with ours, we pray. Come, Lord Jesus, help us to respond to your invitation of a lifetime. Change us for good forever. Amen. Faith is built on small steps.

Just take the next step.