Sermon Title: Trust Changes Everything
Sermon Text: Matthew 9:35-10:1-10
Sermon Date: First Sunday of Lent,
Matthew 10: 5These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions:
"Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6Go rather to the lost sheep of
11"Whatever
town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his
house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it
your greeting. 13If the home is
deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace
return to you. 14If anyone will not welcome you or
listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or
town.
A little boy was playing on top of a cliff, a very high cliff. The sea was lapping the side of the cliff many feet below. Nearby were three men who were professional bird egg collectors. The professional bird egg collectors were a little bit middle-aged, rather like myself, and were not too nimble of foot. There was a particular nest of rare birds’ eggs just over the edge of the cliff where these middle-aged men couldn’t get. They asked the little boy if he would be willing to be lowered on a rope just over the edge of the cliff to get two of the these rare birds. He looked into these faces, then at the cliff and at the sea way below. Then he replied, “Okay, as long as daddy holds the rope.” That is trust.
Webster defines trust as “firm belief in another’s honesty and reliability.” How do you define trust? What does it mean when you say “I’d trust this person with my life?” Do you mean it or it just a phrase that flows off the tongue? Is it enough to say you believe in someone’s honesty and reliability? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
And who is the person you trust the most? Why? What does it take for you to trust? And as you think about these tough questions, let me ask you this. Would you have walked away from your life to follow Jesus?
Basically the disciples did just that. Andrew and Simon Peter walked away from their fishing business. James and John, sons of Zebeedee, left the family business to follow. Matthew left his lucrative tax business to follow. Then they had to followed the rules: don’t take any money or even extra clothes with you; raise the dead, touch a leper. Yuck!!!
But one by one, average everyday men left what they knew to follow the unknown. We don’t know how much they actually knew about this man named Jesus. He probably had a reputation and they had heard of him before that moment when he walked up to them. But would you have done that?
Now let me ask a harder question: would you do that today? Knowing what you know about Jesus today, what would you do if Jesus walked up to you today and said, “drop everything and follow me? Now, today.” Leave out the whole conversation “how would you know it was really Jesus?” Assume you know absolutely, with no doubts. Would you do it? Could you do it? What does it even mean to give up everything and follow him?
Tony Campolo, well-known American Baptist preacher and
sociologist tells the story of one of his students at
Why? Because trust changes everything.
Just as the disciples did, this
young man laid down his net and followed.
And it was based on trust. It had
to be. Outside of the negative reasons
people follow – force, coercion and manipulation – the reason we could give up
our lives and follow Jesus is ultimately because we trust him. Trust is at the core of every healthy
relationship. Marriage must be grounded
in trust. Relationships between parents
and children need trust. Even
friendships must be based on trust.
Without trust, we don’t open up; we don’t fully live. Without trust we really do live lives of
quiet desperation.
But for some reason, these men trusted.
Peter, the big fisherman by trade, and his kid
brother Andrew. Peter would turn out to be the
one on whose shoulders Jesus left the church, but he also cracked under the
pressure and denied Jesus when the going got tough.
James? John? Yes, the two sons of thunder. They had thunderous tempers. They would have qualified for anger management class. Hot headed. Hot tempered. And Ambitious. They wanted to sit at the head table at the future banquet. Not the meek and mild persons we often would expect to be disciples of Jesus.
Judas? Yes, the greedy one. He sacrificed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. In the history of religion, there are always those who love gold more than God. Real basic.
Thomas? Yes, the doubter. He wanted proof that Jesus was raised from the dead. He was a natural born skeptic and even at the end at the Ascension, some of those disciples were still doubting.
Matthew? Yes, the tax
collector. Half crook. Half businessman. Tax collectors will take financial advantage
of you if they can. I feel the same way
when I buy an appliance that is supposed to work well and the salesperson wants
to sell me a warranty for when it breaks.
Simon? Yes, Simon the Zealot. He was a political fanatic, liberal or conservative we don’t know, but he was a fanatic and probably wanted Jesus to be a political revolutionary. In the history of Christianity, people are always interested in using Jesus to further develop their own political agenda.
Bartholomew? Thaddeus? Don’t know anything about them.
What we have here are twelve average, ordinary men. No heroes of the faith. No priest, rabbi or religious leader among
them. Just twelve
common and ordinary, imperfect people. ("The Harvest Is Ripe," Sermons
from
Have you ever wondered
why Jesus chose them? A cynical soul
might wonder if Jesus asked a lot but only these followed. But maybe he chose them because Jesus saw in
them pure hearts and trusting souls. It
boils down to the very fact that they trusted Jesus with their lives.
Let’s remember
this. They don’t know everything about
him either. He hasn’t fully disclosed
what is happening. He didn’t say, “Come
and follow me, the Messiah.” No, all he
said was “come and follow me and together we will find ordinary folks like
yourself and tell them about the good life in store for them if they too will
follow me.. So, my friend,
come, and follow me.”
I don’t know about you but I’m amazed that they went. I don’t know if I would have had the courage, let alone the trust. But something about him made them at the very least WANT to trust him.
And trust changes everything. Trust is why the disciples followed Jesus. But when was the last time you actually followed Jesus like that? What would you give up to follow Jesus?
On National Public Radio this past Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, a Jesuit priest told being in college with Jews who were quite curious about the concept of giving up something for Lent. They told him it didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice to choose what you would give up. After all, giving up broccoli when you hate broccoli and haven’t eaten it in five years, well, what kind of sacrifice is that? So his young Jewish friends decided that they would choose what he would give up. They chose orange soda that he drank by the case load. Yeah, he says, it was hard.
Now every
Ash Wednesday for the past 20 years, Rob, one of those friends, calls him to
tell him what he will give up. Rob has
gotten creative over the years. One year
it was oregano, which didn’t faze the priest much until he realized that eliminated
pizza. This year he has to give up
meatballs. (NPR,
I want to challenge you in these days of Lent. Not to give up meatballs or broccoli unless you feel led by the Holy Spirit to do so. But I want to challenge you to begin to discover just how much you really and truly trust Jesus.
A good place to start is to spend time in the Gospel of Mark, to spend this time studying read the Gospel of Mark, which in my opinion, is as much about the spiritual growth of the disciples as it is about Jesus’ ministry on earth. This gospel begins with the adult John the Baptist shouting, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” In the first chapter, Jesus is baptized and he goes into the wilderness for forty days, however to go Matthew and Luke to read more about his experience there. In Mark we read about the roller coaster ride the disciples were on and we read about their doubts and wonder, “what was it about this man that made them trust him and leave their lives?”
What is it about this man Jesus that calls us to do the same? A few weeks ago we talked about surrender. The men called by Jesus had to surrender a lot. They had to surrender the way they lived. They may have had to surrender how they lived with the family and how they earned a living. They may have surrendered what people thought of them. But surrender they did, and they were blessed because of it. They were able to spend time with Jesus. To learn from him and even to be forgiven by him for betraying and denying him. Human beings, just like you and me.
So I hope you will read the Gospel of Mark and as you read, pray that God will help you answer this question. Do I trust Jesus enough to allow him to change me?
Because trust really does change everything.
Benediction
The Disciples by Ann Weems
Hurting, they came to him.
Healed, they followed him.
Grateful, they gave to him
What they had and what they were.
Blessed, they became a blessing
And went out to all the world in his name.
Those who are hurt and healed; grateful and blessed
Still move among us in his name.
(from “Kneeling in