Mark 1:16-20- 'Sovereign Call, Sufficient Grace, Saving Purpose'

We are going to read from Mark’s Gospel and from Luke’s Gospel the same story. As we read these texts ask yourself, “Which of these two texts is more memorable and conveys the most biblical insight?”

Let’s read Mark 1:16-20, “Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.”

Now let’s read Luke 5:1-11, “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

Question: Which of these two texts is more interesting and memorable?

Question: Which of these two texts conveys the most biblical meaning and insight?

By the numbers:

• Mark tells this story in four verses with 96 words. Luke uses eleven verses in 257 words.

• Mark’s story uses five sentences; Luke has eleven sentences.

• Mark’s account contains 17 verbs; Luke’s account contains 36 verbs.

• Luke’s story contains large crowds, acts of faith by Peter to Jesus’ words, a miracle, a profound confession, the calling of four disciples who all had a connection to one another. Mark’s gospel contains so little of these details.

Conclusion: I bet most of us would say that Luke’s account is more dramatic, more memorable, more complete and full of biblical insight. This is surprising because Mark was trained by Peter and he would have been more familiar with these details than Luke would have been. Because of this, if Mark were here I’d ask him, “Why would you not share these details that pertained to this story?”

I will argue, however, that despite our initial feelings about Mark’s account, that Mark’s account of these things is as dramatic, memorable, and just as full of biblical insights as Luke’s account. The things that Mark wants to stress could easily be overlooked if he had included all the details that Luke did. In fact, I wonder if Mark, who knew Peter so well, understood that if Peter told this story he would do it like it was recorded in Mark 1:16-20. Perhaps Mark knew that Peter would want to emphasize other important realities and biblical truths?¹ You may ask, “What are these biblical truths?” Well there are five important truths regarding Jesus’ call of these disciples: Jesus’ sovereignty, His sufficiency to secure their response, His power, Jesus’ worth, and two purposes of Jesus.

#1 We see Jesus’ sovereignty. For example, despite the large crowds it is Jesus who sees these men (Luke 5:3) and He calls them to follow Him. (v.16,19;John 6:70) The focus of Mark’s text is not that these four men saw Jesus and followed Him from their own volition. No, this text emphasizes that it is Jesus who is walking by them, He sees them, He calls them, He commits to train them.

These men were busy at work when Jesus drew near and began to preach to the crowd. According to Luke’s account, it was Jesus who engaged these men through a series of events that would lead up to them receiving an invitation which made them leave everything behind to ‘follow Him’. Amazingly, when Jesus gives this invitation there is no hesitation, no long list of questions, no excuses, and no stipulations made before they will follow Jesus. These men recognize the authority of Jesus to make this request and they immediately respond.

Application: Jesus has the authority to command this type of response from us. We ought to be greatly encouraged in knowing that when Jesus does this He is exercising His sovereign power which underlies our response. Jesus begins this work in us and He will complete it. (Philippians 1:6) If we stumble in our call He will restore us. (John 21) He promises to be present and active to empower us at all times. (Mt. 28:19-20)

#2 Jesus has the power to secure the appropriate response from these men. When Jesus calls these men to ‘follow Him’ they respond immediately without any hesitation. (18&20) It is not normal to see men like this leave their vocation, their partnerships, their acquaintances, the tools of their trade, and even their family members to do something like this. If this was done out of mere emotionalism it would not last, but it does. Jesus has the power to secure their response.

Interestingly, in verse 17 the adverb ‘come after me’ or ‘follow me’ is imperative. Jesus commands Peter and Andrew to follow Him; but in verse 19 Mark uses a different word which isn’t an imperative. Jesus commanded them when He ‘called’ them. He also ‘invited’ them to ‘follow Him’. Jesus knows us all so well and He gives us all personal invitations in just the right way for us.

In both cases, whether Jesus ‘commanded’ or ‘called’ them the result was the same. Jesus can use many means to secure the right response from us. (John 6:65,70) No matter what means He chooses to use we should respond in a faithful way to it. The Baptist Confession speaks of this in 14.2 regarding how true saving faith responds to all these different means through which Jesus speaks to us, “Those who have true saving faith respond differently according to the content of each particular passage- obeying the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and the one to come. But the principle acts of saving faith focus directly on Christ- accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification and eternal life, by the virtue of the covenant of grace.” Mark’s story shows that these men had a faith that ‘focused upon Christ’ and obeyed Him.

#3 We see the sufficiency of Christ when He chooses ordinary people to be His disciples (apostles, evangelists, missionaries, pastors and teachers, and every saint who does the work of the ministry [Eph.4:11-12]). Jesus could have chosen to train, instruct, equip anyone to lead the church but He chose unlikely and ordinary men: fisherman, zealot’s, and tax collector’s. He chose the lowly, the weak, the foolish. (1 Cor.1:26-31) Jesus can choose these unlikely men because He will provide them with every gracious gift that they need to fulfill the call that they have being given. He did not choose those that were naturally gifted, talented, educated, charismatic, etc.

Why does the LORD do it this way?

• God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. Christ’s servants must be dependent upon Him and rely solely upon Him. (2 Cor.1)

• The sufficiency for ministry does not exist in us, but in the grace of God. (1Cor.15:10) God’s power is perfected in our weakness. (2Cor.12:9) Jesus uses common people to do uncommon things and when we realize this the most important thing for us will be to abide in Christ and to stay close to Him.

• The worlds concept of these things is warped and perverted by sin. The world looks for power and worldly wisdom; but God calls common men to preach Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 1)

• God does this so that He alone will receive the glory for what is accomplished.

#4 These men recognized the worth of Christ and were willing to leave everything to follow after Him. Jesus had more value to them then their jobs, their income, their family, their friends, their homes, and their comfortable life. In Psalm 119:14 the psalmist says, “In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.” These disciples knew that Jesus and His words were of greater value than anything else they could desire.

This is not the case with everyone is it? There were many in Israel who saw Jesus, heard the sermons, and saw the miracles but did not see Jesus’ worth. In Matthew 11:20-24 we read, “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.’” (also Mt.12:39-42)

Another example is in Mark 10 with the ‘Rich Young Ruler’. He did not value Jesus more than his wealth and inheritance. He did not obey Jesus like these four men do in our text. This man talked to Jesus about eternal life and then he walked away from the call that Jesus gave him, “God and sell all you have and follow me.”. After this Jesus said to His disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!...Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God...With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (23-25)

After Jesus says these things Peter says, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” (28) Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (29-30)

Oh that we’d see the worth of Jesus as compared to all other things! The value of His calling as compared to any other calling.

#5 In Mark’s text we see that Jesus reveals two wonderful purposes in choosing these disciples. First, Jesus is going to change these men and the purpose of their life. Second, Jesus’ purpose is to extend to many others as He saves them from the wrath of God and rescues them from the kingdom of Satan.

In verse 16 the phrase ‘they were fisherman’ is an imperfect indicative verb. The indicative states a fact. The imperfect means that this is something that they continually did. All of these men were fisherman. This is the only way of life they had ever known. They did this, their fathers had done this, and they planned on their children following in their footsteps. They never expected that something could ever happen that would change this. But on this particular day they had this encounter with Jesus that changed everything. No ordinary call could do this. This call had to issue forth from Jesus’ sovereignty, power, sufficiency, and the result of God’s grace which allowed them to see Jesus’ worth.

When Jesus called them He gave a command, and an invitation, but He also gave them a promise. He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (17) There are two verbs in the words, ‘I will make you become’. These verbs provide a double emphasis. The words, “I will make” and “you become” are both in the active voice. This means that Jesus will do this. They will become ‘fishers of men’ because Jesus had determined to be actively involved in this bringing this about at every level. He initiates it, He will teach them, He will ensure their success in this mission; therefore, they will become fishers of men! Jesus will not neglect to do this, He will not fail to complete this call, He will ensure that it is fruitful.

My friends, is it any different for you and I? Consider the call that we have been given in Matthew 28:19-20, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

One of the things we have learned recently is that a church can so easily begin to simply be a place where people attend, connect, and serve. These things are good and necessary, but we must also be a church where each of us is being called by God, trained, and sent out with the gospel into our own mission field.

Isn’t it comforting to know that when God calls each of us to do something that He will make us into fishers of men. He will call us with a sovereign call, a sufficient call, and a powerful call, a call that reveals Christ’s worth, He will reveal His purpose for us as individuals and as a church at this time in this community. My friends, if you are engaged in your mission with Christ you will see Christ do miracles as He actively enables you to fulfill that calling.

It is fun to read Luke’s account of this story and marvel at what he describes. It is like reading a action packed novel and enjoying someone else’s adventures. In Mark’s story, however, Jesus is commanding, inviting, and promising to put us in the middle of a real life adventure. Will you be willing to do this and give up whatever you should to do this? Let us pray that happens to us.

1For example, consider a poor lad who wants to marry a girl but everyone thinks he only wants to do this because of her father’s money. In a similar way, it might be easy for us to read Luke’s account and conclude that Peter, James, John, and Andrew follow Jesus out of pure emotion and excitement that surrounded these events. Mark’s retelling of this story shows us what is going on beneath the surface that our senses cannot perceive.