Following The Call

This past week at Alive, we looked at what was so significant about Jesus calling his 12 disciples.
Maybe for many of you, you've never thought there was much significance that can be taken from these accounts.  Let's take a look.

Sermon from 10/21/12

We looked at the only 2 passages that give a record of the personal calling to 5 men:
Peter
Andrew
James
John
Matthew

Biblical Passages:  Matthew 4:18-22 & Matthew 9:9-13

The BIG IDEA (Bridge) we draw from Scripture:  Discipleship involves forsaking ourselves, following Christ and reaching others!

Learning Goals:
Students will hopefully understand the gravity of following Christ and also consider the costs and responsibilities of following Christ.

PILLARS:

Jesus calls His followers to follow Him above everything else.


When Jesus calls people to follow Him, they often abandon their jobs, families, and
ultimately their lives to follow Him. The call of Christ on our lives demands that everything take second
place to Him.

1. Jesus calls His followers to follow Him with immediate obedience (Matt. 4:18–22).

Jesus’ authority as the Christ is evident in the way that His followers immediately responded
to His call. They followed Jesus with no second thoughts. They simply responded to His command
without letting the things of the world hold them back.

When we think about obeying Christ, focusing on things of the world can easily distract us.
To follow Christ fully, we must respond with immediate obedience to His call without worrying about what we are leaving behind.


2. Jesus calls His followers to follow Him with full obedience (Matt. 4:18–22).

Jesus called His disciples to follow Him and gave no boundaries to what such an action
required. Following Jesus required everything from them. His followers left their jobs, their families, their place in society, their comforts, and their security.

Fully following Jesus requires that His disciples make Jesus their first priority—no matter
what the costs are.  Is Jesus really your first priority?


3. Jesus calls His followers to follow Him in showing love to unbelievers (Matt. 9:9–13)

Jesus clearly demonstrated and proclaimed His intention to seek out people who are
spiritually lost. He also taught His followers to have a heart for unbelievers.

Jesus obeyed and fulfilled the regulations set by the Law. He never allowed other’s
interpretation of Scripture to dictate His interaction with those people who needed Him—unbelievers.
While obeying Jesus’ call to righteousness, we must also allow Christ to develop a heart for the lost in us.


Conclusion:

Jesus calls His followers to completely obey Him in responding to His call to follow Him in
righteousness and in loving the lost. Jesus’ call on our lives demands that we follow Him above everything else. In following Him, we must love those who do not believe in Him so that we show and share Christ with them.

Following Christ first means that He is central and most important to everything that we do
and who we are. We make choices based on what Christ’s choices are. Loving unbelievers not only
results in sharing and showing Christ to others, but it also results in possessing a strong awareness of the urgency of their need.


LIFE GROUP QUESTIONS:

How do we delay obedience in following Christ by pretending to be religious?

What would be difficult for you to sacrifice for the sake of following Christ?

Why should Christ take the greatest priority in our lives?

How can we follow Christ if we do not love others who need Him?

When have you hesitated in your discipleship?  What has Jesus called you to do that you've put off for some reason?  

How have your standards changed since you started following Christ?

How have you experienced Christ using you as His disciple even though you may not be vocational ministry or a missionary?