Christian! Leave All. For Jesus!

Here is the second stanza of the hymn before us. We begin by asking God for hearing ears, the ears of the learned. We ask, seeking not only to hear, but to be obedient to all we hear.

As of old apostles heard it,

By the Galilean lake,

Turned from home and toil and kindred,

Leaving all for Jesus’ sake.

There is much here, as we are given examples of the kind of responses we also need to give when Jesus calls us. The picture is that of the apostles of old. Will you refresh your minds with me as we go back to the scriptures, and listen again to what has been told of those whom Jesus called to follow Him? We go first to the time when He called the four fishermen.

We are using the account from Matthew 4: 18 – 20 NKJV. And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

What do we see as the response of Simon and Andrew? Jesus called, they heard and straightway they left their nets and followed Jesus.

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Matthew 4: 21 – 22 NKJV.

What do we see as the response of James and John? Jesus called, they heard and straightway they left the boat and their father, and followed Jesus.

This verse of the hymn specifically deals with the fishermen whom Jesus saw fishing and called them to follow Him. We must not forget however, that Jesus did not only call fishermen to follow Him. He called a tax collector, for example, who left his seat at his tax collector’s booth and followed Jesus. As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, Follow Me. So he rose and followed Him. Matthew 9: 9.

Let’s now delve in greater depth, into the responses of those fishermen whom Jesus called. First, we note that they were called to, follow Jesus. None was called to think about it and bring their answer at a later date and time. What is our teaching here? It is that when Jesus calls us, it is for now, not tomorrow or another time. The second thing we note is that to follow, they had to get up and leave things and people, to follow Jesus. What is our teaching here? It is that when Jesus calls us, we must give up things and people.

The two brothers, Simon, called Peter and Andrew gave up their nets. They immediately left their nets and followed Him. The other brothers, James and John, gave up and left their boat and their father Zebedee. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. The verse of the hymn speaks of those old apostles:-

turning from home
turning from toil
turning from kindred

They had left all for the sake of Jesus. Doesn’t your mind run straight back to Jesus' Words to Peter, who speaking on his own behalf and on the behalf of the other apostles, said this to their Master and Teacher? See we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have? Matthew 19: 27b NKJV. Now listen carefully to Jesus’ response. So Jesus answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s who will not receive a hundredfold in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life. Matthew 19: 29 NKJV

Jesus, wants us, like His disciples of old, to know that in order to follow Him, we must answer His call now and leave all, for Him.