We continue in our series Dare to be Different and this month our theme is Different Footpath.
In our lives, there are many different types of journey we can choose to take.
We can go on a journey to visit family, to go to work,
to go on holiday, to go shopping, to go to church.
We can journey to different places and different countries.
There are as many kinds of journeys as there are reasons for taking journeys but most journeys have two things in common: they have a purpose and they have a destination.
Tonight I want us to think about Our Journey With God.
Some of the greatest spiritual accomplishments have involved taking a journey with God.
Abraham took a journey with God that lasted a hundred years and it began when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) and continued until his death at the age of 175 (Genesis 25:7).
Moses took a journey with God that lasted for 40 years. Moses journey began when he returned to Egypt to become Israel’s leader when he was 80 years old, and it continued until he died at the age of 120 (Genesis 34:7).
For both Abraham and Moses, from the time God called them, they spent the rest of their lives on a journey with God.
You and I are on a journey with God, our journey began the moment we accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour and it will continue until God calls us home.
Our journey does not have an earthly destination.
As Christians, we will reach our journey’s destination after we die.
If we are in Christ, if we have repented from our sins and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour then our destination is certain and secure, we will spend eternity in Heaven with God.
The journey we make with God as disciples of Jesus has less to do with where we live or where we physically travel.
Our spiritual journey as followers of Christ has everything to do with who He is and who we are in Him.
Our journey involves our body, our mind, our heart, and our obedience and commitment.
As we get older, the condition of our body may change, but the journey of our mind and heart and our devotion to God’s plans and purpose should always continue.
We are to persevere in our journey, even when things in our lives might change, we should always seek to grow closer to God, always seek to develop our relationship with Him.
To illustrate our journey I want us to consider John, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.
John, before he began his journey with Jesus, was a fisherman.
Matthew 4:18-20 tells us that John fished in the Sea of Galilee and sold fish in the surrounding towns and villages.
Luke 5:7 indicates that James and John were in partnership with Peter and Andrew.
Matthew 4:21 tells us that James and John’s father, Zebedee, also worked with them.
Mark 1:19-20 states that James and John also had hired servants who worked for them.
All of this is evidence their fishing business was quite successful because in those days there were not many Jewish families who could afford hired servants.
So John, a successful and prosperous fisherman, left it all behind to follow Jesus.
Luke 5:1-11 gives us the most information about when Jesus called John to follow Him.
One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
After Jesus finished speaking to the crowd, He asked Peter to move the boat out into deeper water and let his fishing net down to catch fish.
Peter had three reasons to refuse the request of Jesus:
He had just finished cleaning his nets.
He had fished all night without netting a single fish.
In clear water and daylight, fish go deep to find shade to protect their eyes--they have no eyelids.
Yet, Peter said, “Tell me when and I will drop the net.”
When Peter dropped the net, it was immediately filled with so many fish that the net began to break.
Peter signaled for James and John to bring the other boat out and help him.
There were so many fish that they filled both boats to the point of sinking.
When they reached the shore, Jesus invited the men to follow him.
Jesus told them that from that moment they would begin a different kind of fishing--they would catch people, not fish.
Immediately the four fishermen walked away from everything to follow Jesus, four fishermen, John, Peter, James, and Andrew began following a carpenter.
Of these four men, three of them occupied a special role in Jesus’ ministry, but of the three, Peter and John seem to be the most prominent disciples.
On their journey with Jesus, Peter, James, and John witnessed:
Jesus raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:37).
The transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1).
Jesus’ agony in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:40).
It was Peter and John who made the arrangements for the Passover meal which they would share with Jesus the last night of his life (Luke 22:8).
And remember, the mother of James and John asked Jesus to give them the two key positions in His new kingdom (Mark 10:35-45 and Matthew 20:20-29).
Luke 9:51-56 records a journey that Jesus took with the twelve disciples through Samaria.
They asked to spend the night in an unnamed Samaritan village; the people refused their request.
The rejection infuriated James and John.
They asked Jesus, “Lord, shall we command that there be fire from heaven to burn this village and all its people to the ground?”
Maybe James and John were trying to live up to the name Jesus gave them in Mark 3:17 “the sons of thunder”.
Or maybe, their personality was just as fiery as Peter their fellow former fisherman.
There was also an occasion when John told Jesus that he had seen a person casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
Mark 9:38 records John saying, “We tried to hinder him because he was not following us”. Notice he said, “Not following us,” rather than “Not following you.” Luke records the same thing but uses this phrase: “He does not follow along with us.”
Can you imagine John? “Stop that! You have no right to do that! You are not one of us. You are not in the official, select group that Jesus himself called. Only we have the right to do what you are doing.”
During the time of Jesus’ life on earth, John never fully understood what Jesus was doing or why he was doing it.
When John and James suggested that fire be brought from heaven to consume the Samaritan village, Jesus rebuked them: “You don’t realize what your hearts are like. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56).
When John tried to hinder the man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, Jesus said “Don’t stop him! No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:39, 40).
John had his faults, John was not perfect in his walk with the Lord, yet God worked in him and through him as he journeyed with God.
In the early days of the church, John was one of the two leading followers of Christ in the early chapters of the book of Acts.
In Acts 3, John and Peter were together when the lame man was healed.
In Acts 4, John and Peter were arrested and appeared before the high court.
In Acts 8, John and Peter traveled to Samaria to bring the power of the Holy Spirit to the new converts there.
If you have read the epistle of 1 John, you will have seen the changes that were produced in John’s heart and mind as he continued his journey with God.
The son of thunder who wanted to call fire down upon a Samaritan village and destroy them later through his journey with God became the apostle of love.
Listen to the incredible emphasis on love that John wrote about in his epistle.
1 John 2:5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
1 John 2:9 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness.
1 John 2:10 Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.
1 John 3:11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1 John 3:14 If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.
1 John 3:16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.
1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
1 John 4:16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
1 John 4:19-21 We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Can you see and hear the difference in John? When you take the journey with God, it changes the kind of person you are.
Can you see a difference in yourself since you started your journey with God?
Can other people see a difference from the person you were before you began to be a follower of Christ?
I will close with this:
Our journey with God is meant to change the way we think; the way we feel; the way we look at everything.
We become Christians to begin the journey.
We continue to be disciples of Christ on the journey.
The journey at times may not be as simple as you would like, but don’t abandon your journey with The Lord.
Every life is filled with ups and downs, times that are easy and times that are hard.
Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14: dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Let me encourage you to dare to be different, continue on the different footpath, continue to press on, continue on your journey with God.
On your journey, there will be times when strength abounds and others when weakness surrounds.
Despite the storms that may rise and fall in our lives, God is our constant companion.
God’s love never fails.
His hope endures.
His hand always leads.
His presence is continuous.
Despite how you may feel or what you see before you on the path ahead, God is with you!
Be like the Apostle John, walk with God, continue your journey and continue to be changed because of your journey with God.
Let’s pray.
