The Gospel of Mark (8) - The Fallacy

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a  boat, preparing their nets.

Without delay he called them, and they let their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
                           -- Mark 1:16-20

His First Disciples

After Christ started preaching this "Kingdom message" He began gathering His disciples.

In the third chapter of Mark's gospel he tells us
why Christ chose the twelve: "He appointed twelve -- designating them apostles -- that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach."

Here we see His first recruits: Peter and Andrew and James and John.

He chose them "to be with Him" and to "send them out to preach."

This was not His first encounter with these men.


John's gospel tells us about His initial contact with John and Andrew when they were out on the desert with John the Baptist.

When Jesus appeared, John the Baptist pointed Jesus out, "Look, the Lamb of God."

They followed Jesus that day, spent the day with Him and then Andrew quickly went to find his brother Peter and announced, "We have found the Messiah!"

(Does that make Andrew the first believer?)

A few months later we read about Jesus, in this passage from Mark's gospel,  calling the four men, while they were fishing, to become His disciples.

(Zebedee apparently had a fairly successful business since we read of his hired servants.)

In the calling of these four men, Mark's uses the words "at once" and "without delay."

The message of Christ requires response

Christ was either who He said He was, or He was not.

Sometimes we hear people say "Oh, I believe Christ was a good man. I just don't believe he was God."

C. S. Lewis, well-known author of Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity and numerous other books, and Oxford faculty member, changed from being an agnostic bordering on atheism to an ardent believer in Jesus at the age of thirty after studying the life of Christ.

He points out the fallacy of the "Christ was a good man" theory.

     I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying
     the really foolish thing that people often say
     about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a
     great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim
     to be God."

     This is the thing we must not say.

     A man who was merely a man and said the sort
     of things Jesus said would not be a great moral
     teacher.

     He would be a lunatic -- on a level with the man
     who says he is a poached egg -- or else he
     would be the Devil of Hell.

     You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit
     at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall
     at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

     But let us not come with any patronizing
     nonsense about His being a great teacher.

     He has not left that open to us.

     He did not intend to.


Many people are fascinated with the life of Christ.

But fascination does not save us.

Either Christ was who He said He was or He wasn't.

Andrew, Peter and James and John made their decision. They followed Him because they believed
in His claims.

Andrew's words, "We have found the Messiah!" still
echo in hearts around the world today. 

He didn't say, "Maybe the Messiah has come," or "We have found a great teacher."

We have found the Messiah, he said.

Have you made your decision about Christ and His claims?

Either Christ was who He said He was, or He was a liar or a madman.

Well, which is it?