There is no sense of comfortable stasis in the Kingdom of God.

No sense of “I’ve arrived.”
No sense that we are finally done changing.
If you are waiting to be ready before God comes into your life, you will wait forever.
You will not be ready.

And that is not a flaw — it is the point.

The call of Jesus always comes in the middle of things.

In the middle of work.
In the middle of uncertainty.
In the middle of ordinary life.

And the only question is whether we are willing to leave our nets.

Which raises the question we would often rather avoid:
What are the nets? What role are they playing in this story, and in our lives?

For Peter and Andrew, James and John, the nets were not bad things. They were necessary things. Respectable things.

Nets meant livelihood.
Nets meant identity.
Nets meant security.
They were not sinful.
They were familiar.

And sometimes that is harder to let go of.

We imagine that following Jesus means leaving behind only the obviously wrong things. But more often, it means loosening our grip on good things that have quietly become ultimate things.

The nets are whatever we cling to because they make us feel safe.
The nets are whatever define us so completely that we cannot imagine who we would be without them.
The nets are whatever keep us from moving when God says, “Now.”

And the Gospel tells us that when Jesus calls, the response is not careful calculation, but trust.

“I will make you.”

You will be equipped.
You will be taught.
You will grow into this.
Faith is not knowing how to do the thing.
Faith is being willing to step forward when someone says, “I’ll walk with you.”

In practice, that is what Christian life actually looks like.
We travel in response to call, going to places we’d rather not be, to circumstances we’re rather not experience.

Let those who have ears, hear what the Spirit is saying.

You can view the full sermon at this link.