One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me…
Matthew 4:18-19

A man named Warren Wiersbe defined a disciple of Jesus as someone who is not simply a sitting and listening to a teacher. They are someone who lives with the teacher and who learns by listening, looking, and living. Discipleship involves more than enrolling in a school and attending lectures. It means total surrender to the teacher and living life with and like the teacher. That definition certainly gives some meat to what it means to being a follower (a disciple) of Jesus. If that is what it means to be a disciple then how do we make one? How do we become one? How do we grow as one?

We usually answer that by saying we need to read our Bible, we need to go to church, and we need to pray. These are great things. But, being and making a disciple cannot stop there because being a disciple is more than learning, it also includes living with. Discipleship is not a solo journey or event, it is team effort, journey with family and friends. Jesus made disciples by teaching them, but by teaching them in life and in relationship. 

Paul told the church in Ephesus that God, “makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:16) He was making the point that growth (becoming like Jesus) doesn’t happen in a silo, it happens in the Body of Christ, it happens together. To grow and make disciples we need each other and we need each other living in obedience to Christ. The more we do that the healthier, the stronger, and the bigger the body will grow.

“We become a holy people together. We hear the voice of God most clearly in community. Love is superficial until it is lived out in the context of real relationships. The journey of grace is a team event!” (David Busic) When we say yes to Jesus we are saying yes to entering a growing family. We are in this together – struggling, growing, learning, and living together.  Let’s be disciples and make disciples together.

​Pastor Matt

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me…
Matthew 4:18-19

Who do you follow? That is a pretty normal question these days. It seems like the younger you are the more varied that answer it going to be. Following someone today has been reduced to a click of a button. We can be following hundreds of people via social media and not truly be following any of them. Today, when we think of follow them, it means we get their posts on our news feed. We might be aware of their latest thoughts or antics.  But, when Jesus invited the disciples to follow Him, He was inviting them into something so much more.

One of the words used a lot in the New Testament and in the Church is disciple. Simply put a disciple is a follower. Jesus, when He invited Peter and Andrew to follow Him was actually inviting them to be one of His disciples. But, as the rest of the story goes, we quickly learn that to be a disciple of Jesus meant a whole lot more than just sitting in on some teachings and knowing about Him. Right from the start Jesus asked them to leave their home, their careers, and their family to follow Him.

In a very similar way God has extended this same invitation to all of us. Revelation tells us that Jesus is standing at the door and knocking, just waiting for someone to let Him in. Jesus is standing at the shore of our lives and inviting us to join Him in His life – Come follow me. So, what will we do with the invitation? Will we go? Will we let Him in? For many of us we get stuck on what that means we will have to give up, what we will have to leave behind. 

The disciples left a lot. They left those nets behind for a life of hardship and persecution. So, why did they do it? Why should we do it? Why follow Him if we aren’t guaranteed a life of ease? I think they would tell you they chose to follow Him because they believed the life He was offering them (despite the persecution) was better than the life they had been living or the one they would have ended up living. They believed the Gospel to be enough. The Good News that Jesus had come to usher in the Kingdom through His death and resurrection. He was promising, through the difficulty, the life they wanted. One of redemption, reconciliation, peace, and goodness. No one else could lead them there, but Him. So, will you follow Him there to? 

​Pastor Matt

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8
 
When was the last time you tried to engage in a relationship with someone that was not pursuing any kind of relationship with you? It probably didn’t go very well did it? That’s the kind of thing that can get us labeled as a stalker or crazy person in our world today. But, that is what God, in all of His love for us, has done and is doing. He is pursuing us even when we are not pursuing Him. That is what Paul meant in Romans 5 when he said, “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” 

God doesn't start to love us once we accept Him or put our faith in Him. He doesn't start to extend to us His grace only once we have fallen in line. God’s grace is at work in us before we ever surrender our heart and lives to Him. In the church world we call this ‘prevenient grace.’ This simply means that God comes to us before we come to Him. He seeks us out right where we are in whatever condition we are in. God initiates, we respond. Grace always comes first.   

I always stand amazed at the fact that God would send Jesus to die for us. Making that kind of sacrifice for someone is miraculous by itself. But, then, when you combine that with that fact that He did it when we didn’t love Him back, when many wouldn’t love Him back. God’s relentless pursuit of us makes His love and sacrifice even more awesome to me. He never gives up on us, which also means we should never give up on each other. There is always hope.

In Luke 10 it was God’s prevenient grace that made the harvest field ripe and paved the way for the 70 disciples to get to work. It was that same grace that caused Jesus to look at those lost cities with hope and excitement. As we look out at our city and our lives, no matter how bad they might be, there is always hope because God’s grace is always present. 

God loves you so much that He has come searching for you. He is looking for you before you even start looking for Him. He is at work in your life even before you know Him or even want Him there. My prayer, is that we all recognize God’s grace and respond to Him in faith and love. After all, who else would fight for us like that?
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Pastor Matt

The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.
Luke 10:1-2
 
I grew up in West Virginia – out in the country – farms were all over the place. Towards the end of the summer and into the fall we would drive by acres and acres of corn and through apple orchards.  When the harvest was ripe it was a beautiful site – fruit on the trees and corn on the stalk. Harvest season meant food, fresh fruit and vegetables, and income for the farmers. There were festivals and parties around this time of year! So, when I read Luke 10 I find it interesting that Jesus would choose to use harvest to describe the cities he was sending the disciples to.

When you think about what was happening in the world at this time it didn’t seem very bright. Israel was under Roman rule – they weren’t free. There were great divisions among the people. The Jews wanted nothing to do with the Samaritans. The Pharisees wanted nothing to do with anyone that didn’t look like them or live like them, all those sinners needed to stay away. The very people Jesus was talking to had decided to leave jobs and family to come follow Him. If we lived in that time we would probably describe it as hopeless or at the very least broken and chaotic. But, Jesus saw a great harvest and was looking for people to go work in the fields. 

Jesus looked into the cities of Israel and didn’t see the bad, instead He saw the opportunity. He saw acres and acres of corn and apple orchards full of apples! He saw fruit! What He was looking at wasn’t hopeless or broken. It was beautiful and ready to yield a great crop. So, He sent His disciples out into the field to gather it in and find more people to help them.

Knowing that is how Jesus viewed what was right in front of Him 2,000 years ago gives me great confidence in how He looks at us today. When God looks into our world and into our lives He doesn’t see a lost cause, He sees a harvest – a great harvest. He sees opportunity, He sees life. Don’t ever look at the world around you as dead and gone. Don’t ever look at your life and view it as a lost cause. Those are lies. Jesus looks at us and says now there is a great harvest and with a little work can yield some amazing fruit. The harvest is great!

​Pastor Matt