"The Contagious Life!"
Falling in Love with Jesus…all over again! An epic journey through the Gospel of Mark (message #6)
Pastor Jerry Ingalls
February 20, 2011
Drama-Part 1
My friend and ministry partner in California wears a tee shirt that says, "Attitudes are contagious—Is yours worth catching?" What does someone catch from being around you?
For a message entitled "The Contagious Life!", the Word of God from Mark 1:16-20, "As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." [prayer]
The first activity of the King after He summons His subjects to the Kingdom of God is to personally select and call the first four men to follow Him; to become His disciples. Mark puts this right upfront on purpose! A central theme of the Gospel of Mark is discipleship!
What is discipleship? It's important for us to know and to agree what discipleship is. Please take the next 2-3 minutes to think, discuss, and then write down your definition. Please don't do this alone; turn to your neighbors and discuss as a small group. We learn best in small groups. [play background music]
A strategic component of God's master plan to restore His creation and redeem His people is made visible by how Jesus Christ lived His life and how He conducted His ministry. First, JESUS CHRIST CALLS ORDINARY PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIM!
Mark 1:16 records, "As [Jesus] was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen."
Jesus came to defeat evil and He was putting together the winning team, but what a bunch of ragamuffins He called. He did not call the social, political, military, intellectual elite. God ordained for everyday ordinary people to be the key ingredients to His Master Plan!
To further make the point, we see how God calls even the greatest of Old Testament prophets from amongst the least of people in Israel. From Amos 7:14, "Amos answered Amaziah, 'I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees."
The only qualification to be called is to be available! Are you available to God when He calls you?
Second, JESUS CHRIST CALLS PEOPLE IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES! The story continues in Mark 1:19, "Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets."
All four men were fishermen and in proximity to one another on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus went to them where they were (to their place of work!) and called them to follow Him; to enter the life of discipleship!
When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be a minister of reconciliation. In that moment, you are given a new purpose—to be the ambassador of Christ. As disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to represent the person and work of Jesus Christ to the people we encounter! You are called to be the one who extends the invitation of discipleship to people where they are in their lives! This is a sacred trust to each of us!
God calls people directly through numerous means, but His primary means in history is to select unlikely people to speak for Him. Again with the Old Testament Prophet Amos we see this is how God works throughout history. From Amos 7:15, "But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'" God called an ordinary man in the midst of his everyday work to go to the people where they were to hear God's message.
Are you available to be used by God to invite people where they are? Are you willing to go to them?
Welcome to the master plan of God! You have been called to be a child of God for a purpose. JESUS CHRIST CALLS PEOPLE TO BECOME DISCIPLES ON MISSION! Mark 1:17 records of Jesus' call to these fishermen, "And Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.'"
Jesus' call to discipleship is a call to a missional life—a call to live our lives like Jesus lived His life for the mission He came to us! This is evident in every aspect of Jesus' ministry and how He teaches and trains His disciples to carry on His royal work of the Kingdom of God. From Luke 10:1-3, "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'"
A quick review: God calls ordinary people where we are to be disciples on mission! That is how God calls and now let's learn what the call of discipleship requires of us as the men and women who are called by name to follow Jesus Christ.
First, FOLLOWING JESUS REQUIRES WILLINGNESS TO GIVE UP YOUR IDENTITY! Listen to how Simon and Andrew responded to Jesus' call of discipleship. From Mark 1:18 "Immediately they left their nets and followed Him." These two men left behind all they ever knew. In fact, Jesus actually changes the name of Simon to reflect his new life purpose.
From John 1:42, "He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas' (which is translated Peter)."
Disciples are handpicked! They do not choose Jesus; Jesus chooses them! This is the sovereign authority of the King of the Kingdom! Jesus takes these ordinary men and He redefines their lives for God's mission! He gives them new identities for they are no longer their own—they are now the chosen of God!
You too have been handpicked! Who or what defines who you are? Answering the call of discipleship requires of us to freely and willingly allow God to redefine who we are for His mission. Do you still believe your life is yours to do with it as you please? The Bible declares of you in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price."
Second, FOLLOWING JESUS REQUIRES WILLINGNESS TO LEAVE BEHIND YOUR SECURITY!
Listen to how James and John responded to Jesus' call of discipleship. From Mark 1:20, "Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." James and John were not poor fishermen in hard economic times. These were business men who were a part of a lucrative trade industry. Fishing was big business and this family business was big enough to have hired servants. These two brothers would inherit the family business. They had a guaranteed secure future if they would only keep doing what they had always done.
Listen to the critique our world and culture would make of these men: "What were they thinking giving up all that? If they would only use some common sense and plan for the future; they have families and retirement to consider; they are taking this religious stuff too far if it's actually impacting their life!"
Whose voice do you listen to: God's or the world's? In my heart I hear the words of Jesus from Luke 9:25, "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?" How cheaply we sell ourselves to the world and it's counterfeit promises and illusions of security! When you are chosen by God to be a part of His epic story, what else matters? Your security? Your retirement? Your comfort? Are you willing to trust God 100% with your life?
Listen to the testimony of discipleship from Philippians 3:7-8, "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…" Is this your testimony?
Why would these disciples and why would anyone today be willing to make such significant sacrifices, to immediately leave everything behind to follow Jesus?
I believe the answer is clear when we fall in love with Jesus Christ: JESUS CHRIST IS CONTAGIOUS!
We can be assured that all four of these fishermen have heard of Jesus of Nazareth and most likely have heard him teach and felt the pull of the Holy Spirit on their lives. We don't know all the details or how long the Spirit of God had been preparing them for that exact moment. When these men heard and saw Jesus, they followed because Jesus Christ draws all people to Himself. Jesus testifies of this reality in the Gospel of John 12:32, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Introduce Drama-Part 2
What does it means to live a contagious life? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
A CONTAGIOUS LIFE INTENTIONALLY FOLLOWS JESUS CHRIST... A contagious life is the life of discipleship! A disciple is contagious because they follow Jesus Christ who is the Contagious One! The life of discipleship is the life that makes the sacrifices to leave behind our illusions of identity and security to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and dedicating ourselves to the life-long pursuit of knowing Him and being like Him!
Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'"
Jesus emphatically and unflinchingly told His disciple Peter and tells us, His disciples today, "You must follow me" (John 21:22b).
The proof of whether or not we are intentionally following Jesus Christ is in the fruit of our life! Let's finish the sentence and see if this sounds familiar to anyone: A CONTAGIOUS LIFE INTENTIONALLY FOLLOWS JESUS CHRIST BY MAKING DISCIPLES!
Yes, this is the faith community's mission at FBC! We are called by Jesus Christ to follow and fish! You encounter people every day, are you fishing for disciples? When people watch your life, what do you they catch? Is anyone catching Jesus from you?
Jesus makes it clear that those who follow Him and call Him Master will do two things: follow and fish! We see this in His example and we also hear it in His commands. Listen to the everyday every person call of discipleship. From Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Are you living a contagious life?
Who are you currently discipling? If you are discipling someone, are you equipping them to go and make disciples? If you are not currently discipling someone then start praying right now for God to show you one or two people for you to start discipling.
Are we living our mission to the world?
No comments:
Post a Comment