140209 Choosing Disciples

Matthew 4:18-22 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And 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. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

In this passage we find Jesus walking along the way and as he goes he sees four men working at their trade as fishermen. I'm not sure where you thought Jesus would choose his disciples from but it would not likely be along the seashore among the working class. I suspect that most people today would think of him going to a Bible school, or at least a place of worship, to choose the men who would follow him. When we look at the entire list of his apostles — chosen out of his group of disciples — there doesn't appear to be a single one who would have been a scholar! It would be good for us to think about how, and why, he chose these men since we have also been called to make disciples of all nations.

As he went about his day...

Jesus was walking by the sea. I like to think about Jesus going about everyday activities. He was just walking along. I am sure he had a sense of the Father's direction for his life that day. When Jesus heard that John the Baptist was in prison he knew it was time to begin his ministry.

He had already begun preaching. He picked up the fallen flag of John as he began to preach. Let's look at Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

These are exactly the same words that John the baptizer used to begin his messages. "Repent" is a word that is not used very often today even in preaching! Maybe I should say, "Especially in preaching."

Biblical repentance is a deeply felt sorrow for wrongdoing. Repentance includes renouncing the past so far as wrongdoing is concerned. Repentance also includes an emotional approval of God's opinion of our activities and involves a personal decision to turn away from sin.

The kingdom of heaven is a place of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is found only in the gospel of Matthew. The rest of the New Testament (five times in Matthew) uses the phrase "kingdom of God" instead. The two phrases mean essentially the same thing.

Repentance could be the only basis for confronting the kingdom of heaven. There can never be an arrogance on our part that we have any rights to the kingdom. It is a gift of God. Later in his ministry Jesus would reveal it as a gift.

I remember being called to the hospital bedside of Catherine Baham. She had had a massive stroke and would no longer be able to take care of herself. I hardly knew how to comfort her. I had met Catherine when her granddaughter, who lived with her, had attended Vacation Bible School at Plainview Baptist Church. Catherine soon gave her heart to the Lord Jesus and now I found her barely able to speak and almost unable to move. She said to me, and I'll never forget it, "Preacher, read to me where Jesus called me his sheep and promised me the kingdom." That lead to immediate silent prayer on my part, "Lord, where is that at." Then I opened my Bible and turned to the gospel of Luke chapter 12 verse thirty-two where Jesus said, "Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." She rejoiced in knowing that she belonged to the Lord Jesus and would be able to receive the kingdom. Jesus' message had come into her heart and life and she was able to repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

As Jesus walked along the shore seeking disciples…

He had already met some of them. John remembered the occasion let's read John 1:35-42 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

John, the author of the gospel, was one of those two disciples. He and Peter's brother, Andrew, were in a very literal sense the first disciples to follow Jesus. However, they do not stay with him. They returned to their nets until a later day. Then when they heard his voice say, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" they left their nets and followed him. In the case of John and James they left more than their nets — they left their father standing by the seashore. We are not given any indication of the discussion that might have gone on between them and their father. They may very well have left with his full blessing.

I am reminded of Elijah's return from the mountain where he was recommissioned to ministry by God. As he walked along he came by Elisha who is working in his father's field. Elijah did not even call Elisha he walked over to him took his own cloak and laid it on Elisha's shoulders and then walked on his way! Elisha asked permission to kiss his father and mother and then he built an altar, used the wood of the plow for the fire and sacrificed the oxen on it! He literally burned his bridges behind him and followed Elijah.

These four fishermen, in a similar manner, left their old life behind to follow Jesus. They did this because…

He chose them. Later, Jesus would explain let's read John 15:16-17 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

There, Jesus talking to all his disciples, not just the four he first called, but clearly the concept is the same. We need to recognize that we do not choose Christ. No matter how much it seems that's the case.

Let me tell you the story, in his own words, of Charles Haddon Spurgeon's realization that God does the choosing. First, let me explain that Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers who ever lived. He came to know Christ as his Savior and Lord as a teenager about 1850. Here is what he said about his coming to understand that God chose him and he did not choose God.

“Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul—when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man—that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God. One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment—I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God."

Yes, Jesus chose, and still chooses, his disciples. As he walked along beside the sea…

He saw them working. We do not know how many boats were pulled upon the shore. Perhaps there were only the two boats. What we do know is that Jesus saw five man and they were busy. The work they were doing there was a picture of the work they would do in the future.
They were casting a net and mending nets. Later, Matthew would record the words of Jesus as he compared kingdom growth to fishing. Listen while I read Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The kingdom of heaven is like a net that draws in all types of people. Some will be kept and some will be cast aside. We don't know for sure who is kept or who is rejected. It is not our business now to sort them out to be taken care of at the end of the age. I think it's interesting that Jesus chose fishermen first to be his disciples. It was easy for them to understand the concept of becoming fishers of men. They would need to know how to catch men and draw them into the presence of Jesus. His disciples were workmen before they became disciples. And there's a real need for workers today in the kingdom.

Not only were they workers but…

They were a family. The Bible is filled with the idea that the people of God are a family. These men standing beside the seashore were part of the human family but they would soon become part of the spiritual family that extend right down through history until today. John would later write his gospel and in it he would write about that family. Listen while I read John 1:11-13 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

These men by the seashore were chosen to become a part of a new family. That is the case with every one of us. We were born physically and of the family of Adam and Eve. As sons and daughters of Adam and Eve we were born in sin and conceived in iniquity. We were born dead in trespasses and sins and separated from the kingdom of God. But Christ came to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.

In that transfer we changed families and entered into the family of God. Those who receive Jesus and believe in his name become children of God, born of God not of human will or human efforts.

Jesus chose these four disciples who were working at their nets as part of family and…

They were hard-working people. We live in an age where work is no longer considered dignified. Or so it seems. In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonian church he talked about the importance of work. Listen while I read 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Paul set an example of hard work in his ministry. He was a tent maker by trade and as such he often set up shop wherever he was at and, while he spoke to those around him who would listen, he made tents that he sold to provide money for himself and those who are with him. I can imagine him writing this letter to the Thessalonian church seated with cloth spread across his legs that he was stitching together into a tent. He had the right to be supported by the church and he asserted that right while at the same time he did not demand it.

I believe that Jesus chose the people the Father wanted him to choose but I believe part of that choice involved the fact that they were already hard-working people. As such, they would be good examples to the church that would grow out of their ministries.

Jesus extended a very specific call…

Jesus called them to follow him. He didn't call them to think about it and get back to him. He called them to come NOW. The Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation. We have no promise of the future. More than once Jesus extended a general call to follow him and they turned away. Sometimes they turned away because of a fear of losing control of their wealth. Sometimes they turned away because they could not imagine living the lifestyle of Jesus. Jesus said to one of them, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." I wonder if that man reflected on those words as he lay in his comfortable bed that night. When Jesus called them…

This was not a surprise. Not to them not to Jesus!

Jesus knew in advance who he would call. We don't know exactly how long Jesus knew who he would call. Let me read something John, the disciple, wrote as he reflected on the call. John 1:43-51 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Did he know that he was going there to find Philip? Or did he just simply know that he must be there? We're not told the answer to those questions. However, there may be a hint in the words, "He found Philip", implying that he knew he was looking for Philip. It would be Philip who would question how they could feed so many with so little the day that Jesus broke the bread and fish beside the seashore. It was Philip that the Greeks came to saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." But more importantly, it was Philip who said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

We don't know how far in advance Jesus knew but he always knew who to choose. He even chose one who would betray him. It was no surprise to Jesus because he knew who Judas was and what he would do when he chose him. Jesus called them to himself with a responsibility to take the message to all the world. In the same manner…

We are called out to extend the call. At the end of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his disciples that as they went along their way they should make disciples. He had modeled that for them during the time they had walked with him. Later Paul would write to the Corinthian church telling them about the responsibility we have to extend the call. Someone once said that sharing the gospel is simply one beggar telling another where to find bread. Listen while I read 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Christ reconciled us to himself. We did not, and could not, reconcile ourselves to God. All of our righteousness is like filthy rags when compared to the righteousness of God. God came to the earth in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to break down the barriers of darkness and hate that separated humanity from divinity. After Christ came into the world and then into our lives he made us his ambassadors. We need to make it our mission to tell others that they need to respond to the reconciliation that God extends to them in Christ. God will do the work if we will simply put ourselves in the right place and say the words he puts into our hearts.

The last words that Jesus said on earth had to do with the commission given to the church to make disciples. We are to obey in the same way that Jesus did. As he went along his way he called out people to follow him. Some of them, like the rich young ruler, walked away sad because something kept them from coming to Christ. We have a responsibility to plant the seed of the word or water that which is already planted. It is God's responsibility to give the increase. We do not know in our human understanding who will respond. Some will listen and respond to the general call but we cannot make them believe. We should deliver the message whenever we have the opportunity.

Have you received Christ as Lord and Savior? The Bible says now is the favorable time; behold now is the day of salvation.

All scripture quotes from:The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.