The Call of Discipleship

Introduction:

You likely have had someone say, “You need to pursue your calling.” And what they mean is that you need to find something that gives you a deep sense of purpose that could encompass all aspects of life. Something that makes you feel like your life has meaning. There are thousands of books on the topic, and many websites, videos, and podcasts dedicated to offer advice.

This morning we are going to examine what the Word of God has to say about this topic. Because there is a call on each and everyone of your lives, family. The interesting truth about callings, is that to pursue a calling, one must give up something in order to have it. There is a cost. And what we have the privilege to discuss this morning is the call of Discipleship.

And as you have heard from the guys, there is a lot too discipleship and there isn’t any part of our lives that are left unaffected by discipleship either.

“Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.”–Billy Graham

“Salvation is God’s gift to us because Jesus died for us on the cross. Discipleship is our gift to Him as we take up our cross, die to self, and follow the Lord in everything.”–Warren Wiersbe

vv. 7-12) The call to separation:

To understand the implications of our first verse this morning we must understand the ramifications of verse 6:

Mark 3:6 NKJV

6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

This verse highlights the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. Really it is the climax between the two and it marks the first explicit reference in this Gospel of Jesus’ death.

It is also revealed that the Pharisees, these men that have taken upon themselves to set the spiritual precedent for the nation of Israel. It is important to remember that for the most part the nation of Israel loved the Pharisees, but their true holiness was only superficial they had no depth that is why Jesus would call them:

Matthew 23:27–28 NKJV

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Hebrews 4:13 NKJV

13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

The Pharisees conspired with the Herodians. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And notice how wicked they truly are that they would be conspiring with Herodians to “destroy” Jesus. Who are the Herodians? glad you asked:

The Herodians were the influential political supporters of Herod Antipas (who would be the one that would execute John the Baptist). Both groups were concerned by the following Jesus was accumulating, for He taught as one with authority and that threatened their authority so Jesus had to go. Their problem was how to get rid of Jesus.

[7-12] Now back to verse 7. Jesus leaves the synagogue, and withdraws to the Sea of Galilee.

There are quite a few different profound implications in this passage, let’s look at just a few:

The crowds had become too large for the synagogues and the cities to handle. This is one of the reasons Jesus has to withdraw to the sea, the people by the multitudes were flocking to Him, even to the point of endangering Him:

Mark 3:8–9 NKJV

8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9 So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.

This is the first decisive separation between Jesus and the Jewish religious system. Jesus moved away from those who had become His enemies, by this deliberate act of separation. In addition, those following Jesus had to choose between following Him or stay behind and there would be consequences for either choice. They followed Jesus from all over the nation and from outside the nation too.

You are being confronted with that same choice this morning, are you going to follow Christ or something or someone else. This call is to be separated unto Christ.

As Christian we are called to be holy because our Savior is holy.

1 Peter 1:13–16 NKJV

13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

This is a command that is given first to the nation of Israel during OT times. He was instructing them to be distinct from the nations by giving them specific regulations to govern their lives. The Israelites were God’s chosen nation that were called to be set apart from all other groups. Being God’s chosen nation meant that they were given standards that God wanted them to live by so the world would know they belonged to Him.

Likewise as believers in Jesus Christ are called to be “set apart” from the world unto the Lord. You and I are called to live by God’s standards, not the world’s.

One quick note about holiness. How might we become holy?

Holiness is the result of a right relationship with God by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior, and being truly born again. Without being saved no amount to righteous living or pursuit of holiness will mean anything. It will all be in vain.

A great verse that helps us understand what we are called to once saved is:

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

It is truly a wonderful thing to behold when people are coming to Christ in droves. However, the sad reality is if their focus is on what Jesus can do for them instead of who He is, because of that they will not be following Him for very long.

Today, more and more people are following Jesus to benefit from His ministry than to contribute to His ministry. Parasites, only looking at what Jesus can do for them, failing to understand that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the King of kings and Lord of lord.

“Some Christians sow to the flesh ever day and wonder why they do not reap holiness. Holiness is a harvest; whether we reap it or not depends almost entirely on what and where we sow.”–John Scott

Those who would follow Christ are listed here too:

Galilee: a district heavily populated that boasted a population that embraced over two hundred cities with populations of 15 thousand or more.

Judea and Jerusalem: these people traveled about 100 miles to follow Christ.

Idumaea: was the Greek name for Edom (the land of Esau), this is the deep south of Israel. Again the point is that these people traveled a great distance to reach Jesus.

Beyond the Jordan: referring to the people who lived on the east side of the Jordan River.

Tyre and Sidon: the foreign land of the Phoenicia, so possibly even Gentiles.

For this season, while Christ was active in His earthly ministry, people flocked to hear Him. However, this would change once the Christ died on the cross and was resurrected three days later. No long is there a place to go to hear the Gospel message. No longer are you required to only go to the wilderness to hear the message of hope.

Christ has given the command to every believer to proclaim the Gospel:

Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

You need to understand that the word “Go” implies, that we are not to isolate ourselves from the world. Notice in Romans 12:2 that it states that we are not to be conformed to this world. Not to isolate ourselves.

Evangelism is taking the message of the Gospel to those who need it most.

Paul tells us:

Romans 10:13–15 NKJV

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Truly family I mean this is a most loving way, but it is concerning that more of you are interested in camping, then seeking and saving the lost. Engaging our perverse and degenerate world head on for the sake of Christ and the Gospel (the good news) that He has given us.

vv. 13-19) The call of every believer.

Something that Mark does not clue us into but Luke’s Gospel does, is the Jesus would spend the whole night in prayer before He chose His 12 disciples (Luke 6:12)

Luke 6:12 NKJV

12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

This would prove to be a critical point in His ministry, because there is a lot of opposition.

He had offended the traditions of the religious leadership, and they plotted HIs destruction.

Great crowds followed Him, but they were not interested in spiritual things and would quickly turn against Christ.

There was also the demonic, that would stop at nothing to see Jesus dead.

Jesus’ response to all of this was to pray and choose leaders to train.

In a very real sense, there is nothing in Jesus’ three years of ministry before the cross more important than this. These men would go on to carry out what He had started. These men, save Judas the betrayer, would go and turn the world upside down.

Jesus appointed these from among His larger circle of follower, and He appointed them that they might be with Him. The first job of the disciples was simply to be with Jesus. Then, they were chosen to be sent out to preach.

A preacher will only be as useful to Jesus to the extent that He has been with Jesus. There is little done for eternal good by those who preach without having a real, personal relationship with Jesus.

A disciple was a student, a learner, but in the first century a student did not simply study a subject; he followed a teacher. There is an element of personal attachment in ‘disciple’ that is lacking if we only consider them to be simply students.

When someone has been with Jesus, and sent out to serve Jesus, they can expect that Jesus will give them the power to serve Him.

Application: The 4 “P’s” of Christ

The Pursuit: “Called to Him those He Himself wanted”—The most humbling aspect of kingdom work is found in the fact that Jesus doesn’t need you but that He wants you.

The Presence: “Be with Him”—Do not attempt to “do” thing for Jesus before you have spent time with Jesus.

The Purpose: “Send them out to preach”—We participate in the work of the ministry by sharing with other what Jesus had taught us.

The Power: “Having authority to cast out demons”—Ministry is pushing back on Satan’s dominion to usher in the kingdom of God.

Family we are in the business of ministering Christ to the nations:

To preach the Gospel

To be the physician of souls

To wage ware with the devil, and destroy his kingdom.

We actually do not know very much about these 12 men. We know more of Peter, James, John, and Judas. But the other 8, we know only their names. As one commentator stated, their fame is reserved for heaven, where their names are on the 12 foundations of God’s heavenly city.

There are some interesting things about this list:

There are the brothers: James and John, then Peter and Andrew

James and John are given the title Boanerges meaning Sons of Thunder and is likely a reference to the fiery disposition of the brothers as displayed:

Luke 9:54 NKJV

54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

Matthew the Roman-collaborating tax collector

Simon the Canaanite. Canaanite is not referring to geography, but is the Hebrew word for zealous. Identifying Simon as a member of the radical Zealot party.

It seems that the names of the 12 disciples are usually arranged in pairs. Since Jesus would send His Apostles out two by two, this was a logical way to list them:

Peter and Andrew

James and John

Philip and Bartholomew (also called Nathanael)

Thomas and Matthew

James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus (also called Judas)

Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot

The choice of Judas was just as important as the choice of any of the other disciples, but many people wonder why Jesus choose him.

It wasn’t because Jesus didn’t know what he would end up doing. Jesus told His disciples that He chose them and knew one of them was a devil.

It certainly wasn’t because there was no other to choose from.

And it definitely wasn’t because Jesus wanted the “bad boy” or a scandalous person. To be fair the other disciples did far more stupid things during their time with Jesus than Judas.

A man once asked a theologian, “Why did Jesus choose Judas Iscariot to be His disciple?” the teacher replied, “I don’t know, but I have an even harder question: Why did Jesus choose me?”

[the love of God for you]

vv. 20-21) When there is a call there is opposition:

So that they could not so much as eat bread: gives the idea that the crowd was so huge that they didn’t have time or space to eat.

His own people: Refers to Jesus’ family and close friends. Remember Jesus grew up in Galilee and practiced His ministry there, there would have been many knew Him before this time of wide popularity.

Jesus constantly faced the rejection of the religious and political leaders of the day, and in a way their hatred of Jesus made sense—He actually threatened their status quo. Undoubtedly, it was far more painful and challenging for Jesus to deal with the way His own people rejected Him. It isn’t easy to be profoundly misunderstood as you try to walk with God.

When Jesus said:

Matthew 10:36 NKJV

36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’

He may well have been speaking from this bitter experience. His own brothers didn’t believe in Him until after His resurrection, and during His earthly ministry they prodded Him to prove Himself.

When following Jesus, your church family might prove to be closer than your physical family.

You cannot please everyone, seek to find your approval in the eyes of God.

Questions to consider:

Who is before you?

Who are you following? Jesus, after all you are here on a Sunday morning. But some of you are following Jesus like Peter followed Jesus at the cross from a distance. Close enough to call on Him if you need Him, but not close enough to hear His heart beat and see what He is in the middle of.

Who are you following?

Who is beside you?

Called not only to Jesus but also to each other. Jesus called them to be a family. And it gets messy, disagreements and the like, but they were called to be in it together.

Who is behind you?

If Jesus is before you, then who is behind you. Jesus is not teaching you so that you can fat and sassy, but to raise up the next generation of followers to reproduce.

Let this one bake your noodle: Jesus impacted Peter, Peter impacted John Mark, who here has been impacted by this Gospel? Who are you going to impact?