Mat 4:18-22; Come, and Follow Christ to See Heaven Before You Die.

Class Outline:

Sunday March 10, 2024

Introduction:

In our first birth we receive the gift of bios, biological life; in the second birth we receive the greater gift of zoe, spiritual life. Just as we mature and reproduce on the biological level, God wants us to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (GEN 1:28; 9:1) on the spiritual level.

 

Growth and reproduction.

Growth - personally becoming more like Christ in every area of life (discipleship, lordship).

 

Reproduction: Evangelism and nurturing others.

 

ISA 55:1-5

 

There are false ideas about what it means to follow Christ, and they are abundant and popular. The actual life of following Christ is higher than the false, as much higher as the heavens are from the earth.

 

ISA 55:6-13

 

We often see the phrase, “My ways are higher than your ways” as meaning that His ways are unattainable, but that is not said here.

 

Idea: Following Christ will be a very surprising path that will reward the heavens to you.

 

MAT 4:18-22

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  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 John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

 

“Follow me” meant, in rabbinic speech, “become my students, be apprenticed to me, join my school, live with me.” Students lived with their rabbis; they did not merely hear their lectures. It was home schooling.

 

Immediately they did. They had no idea what it entailed or what it would mean for them. Christ did and had every confidence that they would learn and do and be amazed (beyond what you could ask or think).

 

No believer begins with understanding the life and its way.

Christ invests in them with confidence.

 

 

Learning our own discipleship / apprenticeship from the realities of following Jesus in the Gospels. 

 

The fishermen left behind a prosperous business, MAR 1:20. They have servants. 

 

It is not, “There is nothing better to do, let’s follow Jesus.”

 

God has made it so that this decision for us will be one that is the joy of discovery of something magnificent, otherworldly, of the heavens but lived now by you in your home, in your life.

 

Call of the disciples (4:18-22):

Leaving (in our hearts) the familiar for the sake of unfamiliar Christ.

 

Full idea: the old world is gone; in your rear view mirror. The new world (kingdom of heaven) is now your life.

 

MAT 8:18-27

 

3 different kinds of people want to follow (apprentice to Him): 

 

Scribe: it’s not going to be what you imagine.

 

Bury my father: you are no longer tied to the rituals (ways) of this world. 

 

Say goodbye to family (LUK 9:61); you are no longer familial ties. 

 

 

MAT 9:9 Matthew, follow Me. 

 

Jesus eats with TCs - I did not come for the righteous but for sinners. 

 

You are no longer tied to the world’s definitions of success, good, bad. 

 

 

MAT 16:24, the most violent, and important.

You have to die to the world and flesh.

 

Pick up your cross (death) and follow Me. To the extent that you are tethered to this world and the lusts of your flesh, eyes, and pride, the less of Christ’s life will you see and live. You have to drop it. All of it. Not neglect it, but put all (money, family, job, entertainment, mundane and exciting, before the Lord Jesus Christ).

 

If you get this one right, the others will be easy. 

 

 

MAT 19:21 Rich young ruler.

You cannot take this world into the kingdom of heaven. 

 

All of us are poor. All believers in Christ, no matter how much they possess, should know that they are poor and so should be poor in spirit.

Give your possessions to those in need. Be gracious and lend and get rid of it. 

 

Drop your nets and follow the shepherd of your soul. 

 

This is the most bewildering, surprising, and challenging journey of all. It is as high as the heavens. If you seek it, the promise is that you will find it. If you do not seek it above all things, the promise is that you will not find it.

 

God is patient and gracious and will take you along the way of discovery, but He will not discover for you.