A “NEW BEGINNING”
Well, here we are—it’s New Year’s Day! In the words of John Lennon’s old song, many may sing: “So this is Christmas / And what have you done? / Another year over / And a new one just begun!”[1] We get our new calendars. I like the ones that have December 2022 on them as the first page, so we can tear off the December and viola—a brand new year: January 2023! Newspapers sometimes have cartoons on the front pages that show an old “Father Time” creeping out of view, presenting the old year. And then, the cartoon shows a baby wearing a top hat, crawling into view, representing the New Year. All of this is to express the idea that everything is new—a new beginning for everyone! It’s a wonderful thought but, in reality, time is linear and just continues to march on. The same difficulties and trials that we faced on December 31 follow us on into January 1. So, is there really such a thing as a “new beginning”?
Wouldn’t it be something if we could go back in time and ask Jesus’ disciples that question? Walk right up to them and ask: “Hey Peter, Andrew, James and John—can you really have a ‘new beginning’”? I wonder what answers we would get. Well, I feel certain that they would tell you, “Yes! Of course, you can have a new beginning—a fresh start in life—with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!” They might even refer you to Mark’s Gospel where it tells of their own new beginning. In Mark, chapter 1, it states: 16 “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. 17 ‘Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ 18 At once they left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He had gone a little farther, He saw James, son of Zebedee, and his brother, John, in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay He called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men and followed Him.” Mark 1:16-20 (NIV) Before citing this passage from Mark, I bet that these four disciples would have given you a little bit of their personal backgrounds.
Before being called by Jesus, these two sets of brothers were a lot like so many people today. They were tied up in making a dollar—or in their case, a denarius, which was the Roman coin for a typical daily wage. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—after all, everybody needs to make a living to support themselves and their families. But life is about what we set up as our priorities. Before meeting Jesus, they must have made their business as professional fishermen their top priority. Otherwise, they would not have been so successful. And how do we know that these men were successful commercial fishermen? Well, the Scriptures give us some solid clues. First of all, they were not a “one-horse” operation. It says that they had two fishing boats for their modest, but efficient fleet. And, they acted in concert under a partnership arrangement. In this regard, Luke 5:10 specifically states that John and James were business partners of Peter and Andrew.[2] Furthermore, their partnership must have been quite profitable. How do we know this? Well, most small-time fishing businesses could not afford to hire any employees. But Mark 1:20 clues us in on the fact that the fishing firm of “Peter, Andrew, James & John” did, in fact, hire two or more employees to help with their apparently bountiful business. Only the top-of-the-line fishing outfits could afford to hire such helpers. The fact that these brothers could afford to do this is a good indicator that they were raking in the money in their fishing enterprise. So, as you might imagine, making that business thrive must have been their top priority.
So, how was it that their priorities in life changed? What made a difference for these successful businessmen that caused them to walk away from catching fish and start catching converts for Christ? You see, Jesus didn’t just happen by and call them out of the blue to be disciples and they just dropped everything and followed. The Gospel of Luke Gospel explains what happened with a bit more information than Mark’s Gospel. Luke tells us what happened immediately before Jesus extended His invitation for them to be His disciples. In Luke 5, it states: 1 “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. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon [a/k/a Peter], its owner, to push it out into the water. So He sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.” Luke 5:1-3 (NLT2)
As Jesus preached, Peter listened. And it’s a good bet that if Peter was listening then Andrew, James and John were likely there as well absorbing every word Jesus uttered. As they listened, these four fishermen began to understand that Jesus was different from anyone they’d ever heard before. When Jesus finished preaching, He told Peter to take his boat out farther into the deep water and drop his nets to fish. Now, Peter had been fishing all the previous night and had no luck at all. But, Peter decided to follow Jesus’ instructions and headed out into the sea and started fishing. Suddenly, his net became so filled with fish that Peter had to call James’ and John’s boat over to help him haul them all in. They were absolutely amazed at all the fish that were in the net! Once they were back on shore, that’s when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Him. And that’s when all four of them embarked on that “new beginning” I mentioned earlier. They did that because their priorities changed and their entire perspective on life changed. Why? It was because they realized that they had met the One who was truly, “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”[3] When they started to understand this, they became His disciples and followed Jesus as He became their top priority.
Maybe you are like those “fishers of fish” before they became “fishers of men.” There may be something in your life that dominates your priorities. It could be something that, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. It could be your job. It could be a hobby. It could be your spouse or family. It could be any number of things. But whatever it may be, it can never fully satisfy your innermost needs. Jobs come to an end. Hobbies lose their appeal. And with the passage of time, even the people we love may depart through natural causes. But for those who accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and make Him their top priority, they’ll find lasting peace and joy. That doesn’t mean their careers or even their hobbies must be abandoned. And it certainly doesn’t require that you neglect your spouse, family or friends. In fact, for those who put Jesus first in their lives, their relationships with all of these things can be enhanced once Jesus takes the driver’s seat and these other priorities fall in behind Him. Today, if you don’t have your priorities straight, then it’s time for you to make a “new beginning” with Jesus Christ.
Now some people are afraid to do that. And they are afraid because they think that their past life was so bad that it somehow disqualifies them from having a relationship with Christ. And so, they tell themselves that it is impossible for them to make a “new beginning.” Well, if that happens to be the case with you, then you may want to consider two other disciples who decided to follow Jesus’ call. The strange thing is that these two disciples could not have been anymore different from each other. One of them was Matthew and the other was Simon the Zealot.
Jesus’ call to Matthew is described in Matthew’s own Gospel as follows—he says: 9 “As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at His tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow Me and be My disciple,’ Jesus said to Him. So Matthew got up and followed Him. 10 Later, Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to His home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with such scum?’ 12 When Jesus heard this, He said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’” Matthew 9:9-12 (NLT2) It is interesting that Matthew remembered to quote Jesus in saying that it is the sick who need a doctor. You see, Matthew knew that he was very sick. It wasn’t any disease of the physical variety, but rather a malady of the heart—for Matthew had been spiritually sick for a long time. The description of Matthew as a tax collector helps us to understand the nature of his sickness. For whatever reasons, he had decided to abandon his Jewish people and take up with the Roman government as an employee of King Herod Antipas. His job was to collect “toll” or “transport” taxes from the local Jewish merchants and farmers who were taking their goods to markets as they passed through Galilee. Matthew’s tax collecting establishment was situated along the main route running from Damascus through the Jordan valley on to Capernaum. What made this route particularly desirable for a tax collector is that it was one of the main routes that connected the coastal road along the Mediterranean to the vast markets in Egypt.
To take on such a job, Matthew had to be a well-educated man. He must have been fluent in Aramaic, Greek and perhaps even a bit of the Egyptian language. He had to keep himself abreast of the market values of such things as wool, linen, pottery, silver, gold, barley, wheat, figs and olives—as well as the exchange rates for local and foreign currencies in which he dealt. A lot of commerce passed by Matthew’s tax office which, in turn, filled his pockets with great sums of money—a portion of which he could keep as his collector’s fee. The more aggressively he collected, the more money he made. Because Matthew was extracting money from his fellow-Jews that was used to support the occupying Roman soldiers, he was fiercely hated by his countrymen.[4]
Quite often, we tend to think of Matthew’s spiritual sickness as being greed or dishonesty. While that is certainly possible, it was not necessarily the source of his spiritual sickness. It may have been that Matthew was honest in his tax-collecting duties. But because the locals accused him of wrongdoing and betrayal, he bitterly resented them. They wouldn’t forgive him, and he wasn’t about to forgive them for misjudging him. And that bitterness, resentment and unforgiving attitude was burning a hole in his soul. He was in dire need of a cure—some physician who could diagnose his problem and offer the proper cure. Matthew could have given up. He could have said: “It’s no use in trying to begin anew—through my own bitterness, I have burned too many bridges.” But when he looked into the eyes of that carpenter from Nazareth, Matthew realized that Jesus is the Master when it comes to rebuilding and restoring broken relationships. Jesus can both help you restore your relationship with Him, as well as your relationship with others—for “new beginnings” are His specialty.
Now, as I said, that other disciple who might be considered as Matthew’s counterpart was a man named “Simon.” But, as we have seen, there was already a “Simon” who had enlisted as part of Jesus’ disciples, and His name was “Simon Peter.” So to avoid any confusion, this second “Simon” acquired a nickname that apparently was based on his former occupation. They called him “Simon the Zealot.” Today, we think of a “zealot” as someone who is overly fanatical about something. In Jesus’ time, a zealot was a member of a rogue political party that was dedicated to hating the Romans. They were a murderous group who would plot to kill Roman soldiers, Roman leaders, and any Jews whom they deemed to be supporting the Romans. And because of his affiliation with this vicious group of assassins, Simon the Zealot was truly in need of a “new beginning.” Just as Jesus had made Peter, Andrew, James and John “fishers of men,” so too did He make Simon the Zealot zealous in the service of God. Once he came to Christ, Simon’s hate and violent tendencies gave way to a “new beginning” dominated by love and peace for his fellowman. It didn’t matter whether they were Jews or Roman, black or white, Republican or Democrat, Hokie or Wahoo—Simon the Zealot offered love to whomever he met!
And what a “new beginning” it was! You see, before coming to Christ, if Simon the Zealot had encountered Matthew, he would have certainly labeled him a Roman sympathizer and would have tried his best to bring about Matthew’s murder. Matthew, on the other hand, would have reserved his most intense bitterness and hatred for people like Simon the Zealot. So why would Jesus invite two such polar opposites to become members of His Twelve Disciples? Well, the answer, in a word, is LOVE. The LOVE OF CHRIST was the only thing that could transform these former enemies into the common cause of serving God’s Kingdom. As the disciples began to grasp the essence of His love, Jesus sent them out two-by-two on missions to spread the Good News of His coming Kingdom.[5] It would not surprise me if Jesus paired Simon the Zealot and Matthew together to test the love that Jesus was developing in them. And when they came back from their mission work, they apparently had passed the test because there weren’t any reports of disciples missing. And so, we can safely conclude that the love of Jesus clearly healed both men. Christ’s love is the only thing that can give any of us a “new beginning”, just as it gave Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot “new beginnings.” And because of that singular truth, the LOVE OF CHRIST is the only hope that we have for this world as the universe itself is approaching a “new beginning” when Jesus comes again. When He arrives, the world will hear Him say, “Behold, I am making all things new!” Revelation 21:5 (NASB)
Like I said before, it’s all a matter of getting your priorities straight. If you truly want a fresh start, then put Jesus first and all the other fragments of your life will fall into place. With Jesus Christ, every day can be a “new beginning” with each one on a higher plane than the day before! And when Jesus calls people to a “new beginning,” He knows the often weary and broken condition of those He is calling. For Jesus pleads, 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB) For those who accept Him for the first time, it is truly a process akin to New Year’s Day. It is the picture of that “Old Man” fading away and the “New Man” coming forward like a New Year Babe with a top hat on—for Jesus calls you to be “BORN AGAIN.” For those who have already been “born again,” but could use a restored commitment of faith, Jesus bids them to come as well. And yet, He does not want those who have been “born again” to remain in that “baby stage”—sitting there in spiritual diapers with an infant faith. The writer of the Book of Hebrews made an interesting statement along these lines. He said: 13 “When a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life, and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong. He is still a baby Christian! 14 You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God’s Word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right.” Hebrews 5:13-14 (TLB) Jesus would tell you the same thing today. He wants you to progress from eating mere spiritual baby food and start chewing on the porterhouse steaks of God’s Word. He wants your diet to be comprised of adult spiritual food that will allow you to grow strong and mature in your faith.
When you change to that kind of diet, every day can be a “new beginning” in Christ. It’s not one where you start over at the same place day after day—like a little baby stuck in his crib. Rather, with each “new beginning,” it is a step forward in coming to truly know God. And as you grow in His knowledge and truth, your tune will completely change. No longer will you be reduced to selfishly singing, “So this is Christmas / And WHAT HAVE I DONE?” You will be empowered to toss aside Lennon’s lyrics and sing out with joy: “Lord, I know what YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME this past year!” And because of that, you can face the New Year, and each new day, with the strength and confidence that comes only through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!
Let us pray.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
January 1, 2023
©2023 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] “Happy X-Mas the War is Over” a/k/a “So this is Christmas?,” written and performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, produced by Phil Spector, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in U.S. in December 1971, Apple records, Record Plant East, New York City.
[2] Luke 5:9-10 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." (NIV)
[3] John 14:6 “Jesus told him [Thomas], ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.’” (NLT2)
[4] Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
[5] Mark 6:7 “And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.” (NLT2)
