The Call and Life of a Christian

Introduction:

As a church over the next few weeks, we are going to be focusing in on the need for personal evangelism. It is very important that each person who claims to follow Christ be engaged in personal evangelism. As a church, our purpose is to Love God. Love Others ad to Serve the World. We accomplish this only if we are making committed disciples of Jesus Christ. The church’s mission is to make disciples, not converts. It is all a work of God, but our part in this is not to save, but to disciple. And if we are not encouraging and equipping others to evangelize, well, we are not making disciples.

In his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman said:

You see, evangelism and discipleship are not an either or proposition for the church, but a both and. That is, they are essentially the same thing. If you are not sharing your faith, you are not a disciple, that is, you cannot truly say that you are a follower of Christ.

In his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman said:

“When will the church learn this lesson? Preaching to the masses, although necessary, will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. Nor can occasional prayer meetings and training classes for Christian workers do this job... Individual women and men are God’s method. God’s plan for discipleship is not something, but someone.”

What comes into your mind when I say the word golf? Or how about football? Wait, I’ve got it, what about fishing? What image just popped into your mind? How about the word liberal? Or conservative? Well what about the word Christian? If you were to ask 10 people on the street today what they associate with the word Christian you will most likely get 9 or 10 different answers. If you ask people if they are a Christian a large number of people will say yes, particularly here in the south…some will even say they were born a Christian..but their association with the word is not based on any personal repentance and faith but a cultural or family tradition. They aren’t following Jesus at all.

Did you know that the word Christian is actually only found a few times in the entire bible. However, you will find the word disciple over 280 times in the New Testament alone. In the New Testament, the believers in the early church did not call themselves Christians, they were known as disciples. Now there is certainly nothing wrong with the word Christian and I am proud to be called a Christian..yet the point is that in our modern times we have disassociated the words Christian and disciple…and this needs to change. If the declines in our church’s are to be reversed, the church must be committed to personal evangelism and discipleship.

You see, evangelism and discipleship are not an either or proposition for the church, but a both and. That is, they are essentially the same thing. If you are not sharing your faith, you are not a disciple, that is, you cannot truly say that you are a follower of Christ.

In his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman said:

“When will the church learn this lesson? Preaching to the masses, although necessary, will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. Nor can occasional prayer meetings and training classes for Christian workers do this job... Individual women and men are God’s method. God’s plan for discipleship is not something, but someone.”

Now let’s look at : “As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 19 “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

There are several points I want to draw out from this moment in history when Jesus’ called Peter and Andrew.

As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. 19 “Follow Me,” He told them, “and I will make you fish for people!” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Jewish boys at the age of 5 would be introduced to the book of Genesis. The best of this group, that is the best and the brightest, would by the age of 10 be chosen to continue and would learn the Torah and the rest of the Old Testament by the age of 17. The ones who were not chosen would be sent back to learn the trades of their fathers. At the age of 17 those who were smart enough to continue would find a rabbi, or a teacher they admired and learn at his feet. They would become a disciple, a learner, follower of a teacher. These rabbis or teacher would examine these followers by putting them through a series of questions and tests to see if you were worthy enough to continue the relationship began. Once that test was passed, the disciple would then be attached at the hip with the rabbi.

To be a religious ruler was the goal. These young men didn’t grow up dreaming to be sports stars or famous actors, the job of a religious ruler in 1st century Palestine was a dream job. Only the best and brightest would make the cut.

Well, by age 10 they had kind of a weeding out. They only took like the very best students, say the upper 20 percent or so, and then the rest of them who didn’t make the cut went back home to their fathers, and they would begin to pursue being apprentices in the family business. The boys who remained in a Torah school, would study on till about age 17 where they would learn the rest of what we now call the Old Testament. Joshua through Malachi, and so they would learn that for the next seven years. Well, when they got to 17, there was kind of another cut, and if you wanted to go on with your religious studies after that, then you had to find yourself a rabbi—a rabbi that you admired—and apply to become that rabbi’s talmid. Rabbi just means teacher. Talmid means disciple. It’s the Hebrew word for disciple. When you found your rabbi, you would go and sit at their feet. That was your request to learn from that rabbi, and the rabbis would examine you with a series of questions and put you through a series of tests to see if you were worthy to be their disciples.

Yet where do we find Jesus? In Galilee, not necessarily where the elites hang out. Those people would be in the synagogues and in Rome. Jesus is in Galilee and he chooses not the best and the brightest, but the humble and willing. He qualifies the called.

John MacArthur: “God skipped all the wise of the day! The great scholars were in Egypt; the great library was in Alexandria; the great philosophers were in Athens; the powerful were in Rome. He passed over Herodotus the historian and Socrates the great thinker and Julius Caesar. He chose men so ordinary it was comical. No Rabbis, no teachers, no religious experts...”

21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

We need to remember:

1. Jesus chose these men because His work in the world wouldn’t come from their abilities, but from their availability.

Jesus chose the B-team because His work in the world wouldn’t come from their abilities for Him, but from what He would do through them.

People with a lot of talent and ability would only get in the way because they would never learn to lean on His power. Jesus taught that His power in the weakest vessel was infinitely greater than the greatest talent without Him.

God wants to use you in your family, at your workplace. Stop making excuses that you are not able. He doesn’t need your ability; He requires only your availability. As we often say, He doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. Have you made yourself available?

2. We did not Choose him - He chose us -

II. HE CHOSE

, “ You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17 This is what I command you: Love one another.”

“I chose you, and what I have planned for you and purpose for you, I’m gonna pursue in you, and I’m not gonna let it drop. And so when you lack confidence in yourself, you should put confidence in My purposes in you, because even if you falter, they will never fail.”

, “I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

“I chose you, and what I have planned for you and purpose for you, I’m gonna pursue in you, and I’m not gonna let it drop. And so when you lack confidence in yourself, you should put confidence in My purposes in you, because even if you falter, they will never fail.”

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), .

, “ For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.”

I am going to burst your bubble...Jesus did not choose you because you are awesome. We elevate human ability, and recognize gifts and certainly God gives gifts to people, sometimes extraordinary gifts, and these are to be used for his glory and the furtherance of his kingdom. Yet the reality is that often these can get in the way…pride can overtake a person and they actually begin to believe in their abilities and not in God. Humility is always needed.

1, “ Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world —what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.”

I am going to burst your bubble...Jesus did not choose you because you are awesome. We elevate human ability, and recognize gifts and certainly God gives gifts to people, sometimes extraordinary gifts, and these are to be used for his glory and the furtherance of his kingdom. These still are a result of God’s power and work in a person’s life.

I am going to burst your bubble...Jesus did not choose you because you are awesome. We elevate human ability, and recognize gifts and certainly God gives gifts to people, sometimes extraordinary gifts, and these are to be used for his glory and the furtherance of his kingdom. These still are a result of God’s power and work in a person’s life. Yet the reality is that often these can get in the way…pride can overtake a person and they actually begin to believe in their abilities and not in God. Humility is always needed.

Bottom line: Availability trumps ability every time. Stop making excuses and begin making yourself available. Church, we need to stop evaluating things from purely a human perspective, which is flawed and swayed by personal preferences…

, “Follow me, He told them...”

Supposedly the highest compliment you could pay a disciple was to say to them, the dust of your rabbi is all over you. In other words, you followed your teacher so closely that if he stepped in a puddle of water it sprayed all over you too. That the dust he was kicking up as he walked was sprayed on you. That’s how closely you followed him. Everything that your rabbi does, you do. You got covered with it.

I want you to notice what Jesus did not tell these men:

Supposedly the highest compliment you could pay a talmid in those days was to say to them, the dust of your rabbi is all over you. That wasn’t like saying, hey man, you need a shower. That was saying that whatever your rabbi stepped in sprayed up on you. That’s how closely you followed him. Everything that your rabbi does, you do. You got covered with it

He did not tell them where they were going.

He did not give them specifics - just that they would be fishing for people.

He did not tell them what their assignment was.

We know from that Jesus had known these men prior and that they had met him prior to this event. Yet their willingness to leave their profession is of note here.

Simon and Andrew have already encountered Jesus when Andrew was a disciple of John (), so Jesus’ call is not as abrupt as might otherwise be imagined. Matthew nevertheless emphasizes their decisive response.

Simon and Andrew have already encountered Jesus when Andrew was a disciple of John (), so Jesus’ call is not as abrupt as might otherwise be imagined. Matthew nevertheless emphasizes their decisive response. (Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 90.)

Craig Blomberg, Matthew, vol. 22, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 90.

We sometimes have this imagery that Jesus was walking around in a bright white robe with a glow all around him and then he shot like a beam from his eyes and that these men were put into a trance and then they followed. No, certainly they recognized that Jesus taught with authority, and this drew them to him.

Supposedly the highest compliment you could pay a disciple was to say to them, the dust of your rabbi is all over you. In other words, you followed your teacher so closely that if he stepped in a puddle of water it sprayed all over you too. That the dust he was kicking up as he walked was sprayed on you. That’s how closely you followed him. Everything that your rabbi does, you do. You got covered with it.

I want you to remember this: Jesus did not call us primarily to do something for him - but to be with him. To know him.

Paul said in , “My goal is to know him...”

We miss it when we think it is all about doing…it is about dwelling…abiding in Christ. It is out of the reality of a close relationship with Jesus that true fruit is produced.

Is your life covered by the dust of your teacher? Are you following so close to Jesus that your life is his life. You have to know him..and you cannot know him apart from his word. We need to be so close to Jesus that when this world cuts us we bleed his word. So close to him that in our everyday conversations Jesus comes out. Is that true of you?

We are called, chosen and saved by the grace of God to love him more than anything in this world. These men left all to follow Jesus. Two things are highlighted in the text:

, “22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.”

They left their career (the boat)

They left their relationships (their father)

This was a big deal. There are in the New Testament some hard sayings of Jesus - I can just picture is followers cringing when he said these things -”like wait a minute Jesus, this is going to attract people to our church..you need to stop saying these things…

, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”

Wow! Now Jesus is not saying in Luke’s gospel that we are to hate our family - he is saying that our relationship with Him is to take precedence - the reality is that there are people in this world that when they make a decision to follow Christ, their families consider them dead…I was reading a testimony of Muslim girl in the Middle East who came to faith in Christ there and was told by her family that if you don’t renounce your faith, that we will renounce you. She refused to deny Christ and her family locked her in her room. She overheard her brother and father discussing the possibility of having to put her to death. During the night, her sister, who was pregnant, went into premature labor and her father and brother were forced to go to the hospital in the middle of the night, leaving her in her room. She was able to escape and make her way to a Christian missionaries home where she pleaded with them to protect her, because she feared for her life. She eventually found her way to America to find refuge in a Christian church here.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Chapter 14

26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Jesus says to be my disciple you must choose me first over career and family.

Let’s bring that home for some of us. Because the reality is most of us will not face a situation like the one mentioned. But we are still faced with choices as to our allegiance. We are all going to have moments where we must decide to who or what will we give allegiance to.

Students. Young people. You’re gonna be the only one, some of you, who chooses to follow Jesus out of your set of friends. And you’re gonna get labeled as a religious fanatic or as strange because you want have pre-marital sex or get drunk on the weekends or do recreational drugs, or engage in unhealthy and sinful behavior on social media. You may lose instagram followers or snapchat friends…you may not be popular or well liked...And you’re gonna have to decide if you’re gonna sit back and be intimated or if Jesus has a larger presence in your life than those friends do.

Some of you in business. You’re gonna face the temptation to cut some corners, which, I mean, everybody else in your field does. But you’re gonna have to decide if you’re gonna be patient and do things God’s way.

For many of us it’s simply what you do with your income and your time. Scripture teaches in unequivocal terms that you give your first and your best back to Jesus when you’re His follower, which usually for Christians starts with about 10 percent. That is the area where I see most Christian’s demonstrate that they’ve never really become a disciple of Jesus, because they just want to obey God here. They don’t let Jesus have greater sway over that than their boat does.

You see, to follow Jesus means you subject everything in your life to His lordship. You forsake all that He has forbidden, and you pursue all that He as prescribed unconditionally.

If Jesus is who He says He is, then He deserves more than casual association and church attendance. He deserves total abandonment, and He deserves complete and utter adoration. Right? So, some of you need to cease being Christians, and you need to actually become a disciple. Maybe you’ve never understood that until today. Maybe this is clarity for the first time. You’re gonna leave everything to follow Him.

40, “ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. t38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. w40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

, “and I will make you fish for people..”

Ultimately, evangelism and disciple making is not something that just a select special few are commanded to do. As we stated earlier, if you are not doing this you cannot claim to be a disciple. This is a part of the core curriculum and cannot be rejected.

, “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

How do we prove that we are a disciple? By bearing fruit..and if we are not bearing fruit we need to examine our lives.

Jesus words in , “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The main verb in that verse is make disciples surrounded by the participles of go, teach and baptize..this means that the central component or command is to make disciples…to reproduce…and that going, teaching and baptizing all flow from this main action of making disciples...

The greatest need of every human being on the planet is not to eliminate their physical suffering - for this will always be a part of the human experience here on this earth…we do what we can to help others in this way..but this is not the primary call and mission of the church..the greatest need of every human being is to eliminate the eternal suffering that all apart from Jesus will experience.

Jesus said in that his mission was to seek and to save the lost. And if we are his disciples, his mission should be our mission. This is something that is for every believer, not just a select few. We need to all be engaged in evangelism..this is being fruitful.

Conclusion:

God’s plan for discipleship and evangelism in this community and our world is not a something…it is not a special program or class..it is someone. We are God’s program. We are God’s method of reaching people with the gospel. I desire for these next several weeks to be a time where we re-commit ourselves to this mission. Don’t let this intimidate you, discipleship is simply helping someone follow Jesus like you do. Evangelism is simply one beggar telling another where to find bread.

If Jesus is who He says He is, then He deserves more than casual association and church attendance. He deserves total abandonment, and He deserves complete and utter adoration. Right? So, some of you need to cease being Christians, and you need to actually become a disciple. Maybe you’ve never understood that until today. Maybe this is clarity for the first time. You’re gonna leave everything to follow Him.

Who is your one? I want you today to identify one person whom you will begin an intentional effort to share Christ with and invite into a relationship with Jesus.

A couple weeks ago in the Snowmageddon. You know, whatever. I filmed this little

The Call and Life of a Christian

Jesus Qualifies the Called

Jesus Calls Us To Follow Him

Jesus Calls Us to Love Him Supremely

Jesus Calls Us So That We May Produce Fruit

Jesus Calls Us To Bear Fruit

The Call and Life of a Christian

Jesus Qualifies the Called

Jesus Calls Us To Follow Him

Jesus Calls Us to Love Him Supremely

Jesus Calls Us So That We May Produce Fruit

Jesus Calls Us To Bear Fruit

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