Jesus Calling

Intro

Good morning, I am Pastor DJ and this is Pastor Adriana. We are excited to be with you today at Redemption Church!

Let’s take a moment to ask God to speak to our hearts through His Word as we continue our focus on Discipleship

[Pray]

In Matthew 4, we see Jesus is called into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After He overcomes temptation, He begins the calling of His first disciples.

He does not call royalty or high class people whose attention are on their own worth. Instead, Jesus calls career fishermen. In fact here is how Jesus calls them:

Matthew 4:19 NKJV

19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 4:19 RVR60

19 Y les dijo: Venid en pos de mí, y os haré pescadores de hombres.

Follow Me - Venid en Pos de Mi

Four fishermen, choose to follow Jesus.

Peter and Andrew were brothers who made their living as fishermen

James and John where with their father mending nets when they left to follow Jesus.

They left their:

Comfortability

Safety/Security

They stepped into:

The Unknown

The hope of something more

For those of you who have felt God calling you, I hope you can see, there are two parts to this calling.

1. The Invitation - La Invitación

The invitation is Jesus inviting you to leave your comfortability, your sense of safety/security, and to step into the unknown with a hope for something more than you have right now.

2. The Response - La Respuesta

The response we see in the disciples is that they immediately choose to leave their nets, their lifestyle, their comforts, and they choose to follow Jesus wherever He would lead them.

NOTE: They did not lose their identity, or likes/dislikes. Instead, Jesus took them as they were and used their character and style to build His Church. Jesus does not remove who you are, but shows you who you were created to be.

Everyone is Invited! ¡Todos están Invitados!

In Chapter 9, Jesus calls Matthew.

Matthew was a Tax Collector. They were the worst. They were hated by the Jews because they represented the Roman government. That made them traitors to their own people. They were considered dirty and rejected. But Jesus does something amazing!

Matthew 9:9 NKJV

9 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 arose and followed Him.

Matthew 9:9 RVR60

9 Pasando Jesús de allí, vio a un hombre llamado Mateo, que estaba sentado al banco de los tributos públicos, y le dijo: Sígueme. Y se levantó y le siguió.

Jesus tells this man that he is invited to come and follow Jesus.

You may feel like Jesus would not want you to be His disciple, but you need to know today. Jesus is inviting you. You might have known Him your whole life at a distance but you failed Him. He is still inviting you.

Jesus tells us in John 3:17

John 3:17 NKJV

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:17 RVR60

17 Porque no envió Dios a su Hijo al mundo para condenar al mundo, sino para que el mundo sea salvo por él.

So know that Jesus wants to save you. He is inviting you like Matthew and saying, Follow Me.

When Jesus calls Matthew, he sits with him, and other tax collectors come over and other people who were considered the sinners in their community.

They are all hanging out with Jesus in verse 10.

So the synagogue leaders of their time, the Pharisees, ask why Jesus is spending time with these people. And Jesus hears what they ask. Let’s go to verse 12 for Jesus’ response:

Matthew 9:12–13 NKJV

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Matthew 9:12–13 RVR60

12 Al oír esto Jesús, les dijo: Los sanos no tienen necesidad de médico, sino los enfermos. 13 Id, pues, y aprended lo que significa: Misericordia quiero, y no sacrificio. Porque no he venido a llamar a justos, sino a pecadores, al arrepentimiento.

Jesus was inviting the pharisees and they didn’t even know it. What you might not realize in verse 13, is Jesus is quoting the Old Testament that the Pharisees are very familiar with.

He quotes Hosea 6:6 where God is calling His people to repentance. He tells the people of Israel that they had focused on sacrifices but rejected mercy. They had rejected the knowledge of God for burnt offerings.

If you are not careful, you might think that when Jesus says “I did not come to call the righteous”, that he is referring to the religious leaders. The passage in Hosea that He is quoting was not spoken to people doing right things; but spoken to people who needed to repent. Jesus is calling them - inviting them to repent.

Perhaps you have known God for a long time. You might have been brought up in church. Perhaps you come every Sunday to church and make sure all the right things are done, but you have not known the JOY of Salvation, or the Knowledge of God, or the Mercy of God. Jesus is calling you.

He is calling you to leave your religious nets and follow Him.

For everyone of us, there is something to leave behind

Perhaps we are leaving our ideas of what is right.

Perhaps we are leaving our “Rights” behind.

If you hold on to your own righteousness, it is not enough. You cannot follow Jesus holding on to your own sense of “Goodness”.

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. What does that mean?

Jesus is calling people who realize they break God’s rules, His law, His way - and want to be forgiven for it.

Forgiveness is available to all of us through Jesus Christ.

What is God calling you to let go?

The second is what you are receiving. You let go of your sin and self-righteousness, but you also received something.

You received Jesus as Lord. It is now Him you choose to follow. When He said “Follow Me”. This just for a limited time - instead it is a new life of following His way, His word, His Truth, His Life.

Jesus does not promise a life of ease. In fact, it can be difficult to follow Him, because we have to continually let go of things we want to hold on to. But we find, that it is worth it. Following Jesus is worth it!

Jesus promises us a life that is abundant. A life that is full of the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Galatians 5:22–23 RVR60

22 Mas el fruto del Espíritu es amor, gozo, paz, paciencia, benignidad, bondad, fe, 23 mansedumbre, templanza; contra tales cosas no hay ley.

This is what is found in the life of a follower of Jesus.

The focus this month has been on Discipleship.

Jesus is calling you and me to be His disciple. To follow His way and not our own.

I have been following Jesus for most of my life. The times I put Him first, I found His goodness and love overflow in my life. When I stopped following Him through my actions, I found joy and peace lacking in my life. My family experienced a lack of gentleness and self-control flow out of me.

In the times I have failed to follow Him. I am so grateful that He has accepted me back to Him.

Remember, He calls Sinners to Repentance. If you have failed Him and stopped following Him. Humble yourself, and call out to Him. Let Him know that you recognize that you sinned against Him and want His forgiveness.

The Bible says He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

This is not a set of rules to win a prize. This is a relationship between you and the King of the Universe. You recognize Him as King and He calls you son and daughter. This is so amazing!!!

We are going to experience two expressions of this discipleship today. Leeroy and Julie are dedicating their son, Sammy, to the Lord. And Sabreena has chosen to declare her love for Jesus through baptism. As we go through these ceremonies, I ask you to talk with God about your life. He is calling you and saying, Come - Follow Me. At the end, I will give an opportunity for you to also be baptized. You are Invited too.