New Template - Part 2 corrected
- 1. 13 Part Two: The Call Jesus has just started His public ministry . . . Matthew writes in Chapter 4, Christ had left Nazareth and went to Capernaum. He was preaching, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is near.” Matthew tells us that Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee one day and He met up with four men that He would call to help Him change the world. This was a “divine appointment” which the Father ordained before time began. As Jesus is walking by the sea, He sees Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the water. (As you know these guys were trained fishermen.) Jesus stops and speaks to these two men. He says, “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Later in verse 21, the Messiah also calls James and John, who were also fishermen. That brings us to call of Jesus, which is to follow Him. These guys have no clue what was about to happen to them. Jesus was getting ready to ask them to give up everything and follow Him. In order to follow Jesus, they are about to have to give up their jobs, their families, their hobbies, their friends, and their comforts of living. That’s exactly what Luke wrote, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). He also wrote in Luke 14:33, “Unless you are willing to give up everything, you cannot be My disciple.” Wait a second! Are you saying that I have to give up everything? Yes! That is why I stated in the introduction - that we seemto be confused on what Jesus was saying to all His followers and what He is saying to us now. Jesus told us to call on Him as Lord (Rom. 10:9). That word Lord means “master.” He is to be your Master. Jesus also said in Matt. 6:24, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both man and money. The simplest way that I know to explain this is by saying Jesus does not want a casual relationship with you. He wants to have a love relationship with you and He wants to reach the world through you.
- 2. 14 I have often wondered what would cause those four men that day to drop what they were doing, to leave what they had been trained to do all their lives to follow Jesus. First and foremost I believe He (the Holy Spirit) had prepared their hearts for what was about to happen for the next three years and throughout the rest of their lives. This was not their initial call to faith and salvation but a call to full-time discipleship. They had already met Jesus and been enlisted by Him. The Holy Spirit had been working in their hearts, opening their spiritual eyes, and transforming their lives. There was no way for them to understand this at the time, but something had to happen in their hearts in order for them to leave everything and follow Jesus. I believe that the Holy Spirit is working the same way today. Many people have come to know Jesus but few have been willing to do what these men did. As David Platt said in his book, Follow Me, “When a person meets up with Jesus, everything changes.” Your thoughts, words, desires, and perspective change. Christ’s disciples met up with Jesus and their lives were completely changed. Their hearts received this call, and they began what was to be a long journey with the Master. Jesus said in the seventh chapter of Matthew that you could recognize a tree by the fruit it bears. What kind of fruit are we bearing? This might be a good place to stop and discuss “fruit.” Many hear and read about the fruit in the scripture but don’t seemto understand. To my knowledge, there are only two kinds of fruit, good fruit and bad fruit. To learn about fruit, you can go to Galatians 5 and begin reading in verse 16: So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, ARE YOU SAYING THAT I HAVE TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING? YES! No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both man and money. Matt. 6:24
- 3. 15 goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. So part of the good fruit is living the spirit-filled life, but it also includes being a type of fruit that “reproduces.” This can be easily seen in people. Jesus reproduced Himself in those twelve men so they could go out and do the same. That is what a disciple does - walks in the Spirit and lives in the Spirit and also makes disciples. Why? Because they have on their hearts what Father has on His heart - people. A person whom we call a Christian may be living for themselves, where a true disciple lives for others. If you want to understand what Jesus said about producing fruit, I encourage you to just to take time to look at the “other trees” around you. Think about what type of fruit you see in them. I am not asking you to be judgmental of others. But what I have seen as I have studied God’s Word is the difference in a person who calls on Jesus as Savior and one who has made Him Lord of his or her life. I hope we will go deeper into this later in this material. Now let’s go back to where I left off with the work of the Holy Spirit and the heart. Father expressed throughout His Word His desire for us to love Him with all of our hearts. He knows that once He has your heart, everything else follows.
- 4. 16 I am reminded of what Matthew wrote, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). When Jesus arrived on the shores of Galilee that day, the treasures of these four men changed from fishing for fish to fishing for men. It was not going to be easy. Jesus never promised easy. That is why I think He said, “I will make you fishers of men.” He was going to have to train them and there was going to have to be some type of transformation in their lives. The second thing that I believe must happen by the work of the Holy Spirit is what Paul refers to as “enlightenment.” Dr. Gary Hill explains in the Discovery Bible that enlightenment, “is more than eyes opened, or being undeceived, but rather expressing understanding, comprehension of the revelation whose inexhaustible riches are to be inventoried.” In other words, God wakes us up! He gives us the ability to see with our spiritual eyes. That is why I like to pray the prayer that the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:18, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. Did you catch it? You have to be enlightened in order to know your call. That word enlightened comes from the Greek word “photizo,” which means to bring light to, to illuminate, to make evident. My prayer for myself and for you is for Father, through the Holy Spirit, to enlighten us and open our spiritual eyes and ears. The call that Jesus gave to the four fishermen that day is the same call He is giving to us today. Every true follower of Christ Jesus is a disciple of Jesus and every disciple is to be a disciple-maker. To better understand how this call can be carried out, let’s fast forward in the story to the book of Acts. In Acts 1:4, Jesus says, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus also told his disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” That same power He promised to those disciples is the same power He has promised to us today. We would not be able to carry out this call of discipleship without Him. DISCIPLESHIP IS FOR ALL Every true follower of Christ Jesus is a disciple of Jesus and every disciple is to be a disciple-maker.
- 5. 17 A third thing that must happen to prepare our hearts for God’s work is to understand who the “Me” is in Matthew 4:19. Jesus said in that verse, “Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” When we come to realize who is inviting us to carry out this call, then we are compelled to follow. This was not just some stranger walking up to these fishermen. This was the Christ, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the Anointed Sacrifice, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Great Shepherd, the Door, the Gate, the Light, the Living Water, the Bread of Life. He is the Word! He is, as the writer of Hebrews says, “The radiance of God’s Glory, the exact representation of His being” (Heb. 1:3) That makes it much easier for me to understand their response in verse 20 of Matthew 4, which states, “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” As I stated earlier, these guys met Jesus. I few years ago I read the book, Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. Being a basketball coach, the book caught my eye and I bought it and took it home to read. Pastor Kyle uses the entire book to discuss the difference between people who are fans of Jesus and those who are followers of Jesus. Idleman writes, “I think Jesus has a lot of fans.” Fans are all those who know about Jesus and even believe in Jesus. They don’t have a problem admitting that they have sinned and come short of the glory of God and admitting that Jesus is the answer to their sin problem. But the difference comes when a person has to decide for whom they are going to live. One of my favorite quotes from his book helps make this point a little clearer. Pastor Kyle writes, “If Jesus has not interfered with your life, you are probably not following Him.” How can you come face to face with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and your life not change?
- 6. 18 Pastor Kyle goes on to say in his book, “The biggest threat to the Church today are fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ.” After we understand who the “Me” is in verse 19, we can now look at the other part of the call, where Jesus said, “Follow.” The word Christ used for “follow” comes from the Greek word “deute,” which means come hither or come away. Jesus called those men that day to come away, to leave their old lives behind, to follow Him at all cost. As I stated before, it was not going to be easy. As a matter of fact, He told them on several occasions that it would be very difficult. It would even involve persecution. But He did promise that He would always be with them. So what is the big deal with this cost of following Jesus? Doctor Luke writes in Luke 9:57-62 of three men who wanted to follow Jesus but were not able to do so. The first man in verse 57 says to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever you go.” Jesus explains to him, “You do not know what you are talking about, you do not understand the cost.” Jesus spoke to the second man by saying, “Follow Me,” but the second man tried the delay tactic. It did not work with Jesus then and it is still not working with Jesus today. The third man said, “I will follow You Lord, but . . .” How often do we all use that term when it comes to the serving the Lord? “I will or I would but . . .” Again we all have good intentions, but the Lord is not interested in good intentions. So how are you doing with this call by Jesus, “Come, follow Me?” After Jesus said, “Follow Me”, He went on to say, “I will make you fishers of men.” That word “make” comes from the Greek word “poieo,” which means to construct, form, to make out of something, to prepare, or to manufacture. This is not just a call to evangelize but a call to make disciples who would make more disciples so that the Gospel is taken to the ends of the earth.
- 7. 19 Jesus did not spend three years with these guys just for their own sake. He was going to use them and us to reach the world with the gospel of grace. These four guys along with seven others were coming in contact with someone who was worthy of their lives and deaths. Christ showed us the disciple’s heart! He took the time and effort to teach, to preach, to perform miracles, to demonstrate love and compassion, to correct his followers, to encourage them, and so much more. That is what discipleship is all about - investing your life in someone else for the purpose of teaching and training so he or she can go out and teach and train others. These Galilean fisherman had a major decision to make that day - they could pick up their things and run or they could drop everything and follow. Matthew does not leave us in suspense about their decision. He writes in verse 20, “At once they left their nets and followed Him.” Because of the decision of these four men, we are still taking the Gospel to the nations. It was all part of the plan and it all started with Jesus saying to Simon, Andrew, James, and John that day, “Follow Me.” He is making the same call to you and me today!