WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.439 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:02.899 --> 00:00:05.480 Would you remain standing for the reading of God's Word? 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:12.759 Our text today comes from Matthew chapter 4 and Matthew chapter 9. 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:19.900 We'll start in chapter 4, verse 18. 00:00:20.900 --> 00:00:26.160 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:29.640 and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:30.980 For they were fishermen. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:34.640 And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 00:00:35.480 --> 00:00:37.799 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:44.780 And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:49.539 In the boat was Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 00:00:50.379 --> 00:00:54.179 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 00:00:54.179 --> 00:00:58.200 And skipping ahead to chapter 9, verse 9. 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:05.159 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth. 00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:07.219 And he said to him, Follow me. 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:09.439 And he rose and followed him. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:15.740 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came 00:01:15.740 --> 00:01:18.620 and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.180 Then the Pharisees saw this. 00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:26.040 They said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:31.680 But when he heard it, he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:33.340 but those who are sick. 00:01:33.880 --> 00:01:35.680 Go and learn what this means. 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.120 I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 00:01:38.580 --> 00:01:42.560 For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:44.000 This is God's word. 00:01:44.080 --> 00:01:44.600 Please be seated. 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:49.819 Would you pray with me? 00:01:50.419 --> 00:01:55.919 Father in heaven, we pray now as we have sung and have given and have praised you 00:01:55.919 --> 00:02:00.719 and have greeted one another now as your spirit comes to us through your word, 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:06.619 that you would speak to each one of us, convicting us where we are unrepentant, 00:02:06.620 --> 00:02:13.259 comforting us where we are wounded and encouraging and strengthening our weak hands to faithfully 00:02:13.259 --> 00:02:14.980 run the race that you've set before us. 00:02:15.420 --> 00:02:16.900 It's in Jesus' name that we pray. 00:02:17.379 --> 00:02:17.680 Amen. 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:19.759 Well, good morning. 00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:21.219 Some of you all know who I am. 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:22.460 My name is Jonathan Clark. 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:25.620 I am the pastor with Reformed University Fellowship. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.640 Jim mentioned my name in our congregational prayer. 00:02:30.040 --> 00:02:33.300 I work as a campus pastor at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.780 I've been there all of two weeks. 00:02:34.780 --> 00:02:39.240 My family and I moved from New Mexico in May. 00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:45.199 I was a campus pastor with RUF there for the last five years, and I've recently come home. 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:46.680 I grew up in Colorado Springs. 00:02:47.300 --> 00:02:50.319 I've got long, old roots with this church. 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:52.979 I did my internship while I was in seminary here. 00:02:53.099 --> 00:02:55.080 So some of you all have been around for a while, knew that. 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:56.439 If not, welcome. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:57.099 We're glad you're here. 00:02:57.139 --> 00:02:59.860 If this is your first time, I'm still figuring out to myself. 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:05.640 So Reformed University Fellowship is the campus ministry wing of our Presbyterian Church in America, 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:11.080 which is the denomination which Cheyenne Mountain Prez is in, along with other churches in our city. 00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:17.460 And we exist to reach students for Christ and equip them to serve for a lifelong of faith in and out of the church. 00:03:18.140 --> 00:03:23.660 Just briefly, we've started ministry as classes resumed or started on campus the last two weeks, 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:24.900 and it's been a good start. 00:03:25.460 --> 00:03:29.340 And most of that is due to your very own Miriam Shamus. 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:35.039 If there's ever a history of RUF, UCCS ever written, Miriam will be the first name mentioned. 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:39.979 She was the one who pushed the paper to get us club status in the last few weeks. 00:03:40.079 --> 00:03:42.719 She's helped sign up for tabling and all that stuff. 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:48.180 So, I mean, literally, I would not have—we would not be where we are without Miriam. 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:49.340 So thank you. 00:03:49.539 --> 00:03:50.199 Thanks for her. 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:51.859 Thanks for helping raise her up. 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:54.820 We're not here to talk about RUF. 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:58.020 I would love to talk with you more about that if that's something you're interested in. 00:03:58.380 --> 00:04:03.320 But here, we're here today, this running right now, to see what God's Word speaks to us today. 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.160 And many of you, as I want to start off this with you, 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:10.780 many of you have either been parents or are parents currently, 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:16.680 or you watch parents try to raise children in church, maybe nieces and nephews or something like that. 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:19.800 And I've been reflecting on parenting for my little girl. 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:25.139 She's three, and she's at this age where she's basically testing her world out in many ways. 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:28.920 And this is really exciting in a lot of ways and really challenging in a lot of ways for her. 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:36.379 And most of her formation is basically, as parenting, my job of training her as a woman, 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:44.540 training her character, shaping her heart and her mind and her values into values that are basically social, 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:48.860 you know, things that are good for society, good for our family, good for the church, right? 00:04:49.200 --> 00:04:55.920 Steering her away from behaviors that are antisocial, narcissistic, and towards ones which are healthy and sustainable. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:05.720 And so things like not opening the door to strangers or not watching too much TV or how to go potty or how to cook a healthy meal, right? 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:10.960 These are very, very mundane details, things that are working in her life, 00:05:11.020 --> 00:05:18.400 but they're shaping her and training her how to be a healthy person, a healthy, functioning little toddler in society, right? 00:05:19.200 --> 00:05:23.280 And so this is, as I was reflecting on this with my daughter, I was thinking, 00:05:23.380 --> 00:05:30.300 man, how analogous is this to what Jesus does for every single person who encounters him in a meaningful way, right? 00:05:30.300 --> 00:05:36.699 That Jesus takes those whom he encounters and he shapes them, he forms them into healthy people, 00:05:36.780 --> 00:05:39.620 both in the world and in society, right? 00:05:39.780 --> 00:05:41.340 In the church and in the world. 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:43.980 And the Bible talks about this in a very specific way. 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:45.300 It calls it discipleship. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.900 It's the formation of followers who are healthy and healthy emotionally, spiritually, in their interactions in the kingdom, right? 00:05:53.899 --> 00:06:04.299 So Jesus teaches, evaluates, and encourages and forms his disciples into people who are going to be healthy members of the church, right? 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:06.379 And this is what we have called discipleship. 00:06:06.419 --> 00:06:10.519 And today we are going to study this idea of discipleship, right? 00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:14.139 Once again, some of you have maybe thought about this a thousand times. 00:06:14.239 --> 00:06:17.339 Maybe some of you today are like, I don't know what this is, but I'm interested. 00:06:17.479 --> 00:06:18.979 Or maybe you're not sure what this applies. 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:28.520 Well, hopefully you can see over the next few moments why discipleship is such an integral and important part of the life of encountering Jesus, right? 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:32.780 We'll see here today in our text that Jesus calls men to follow him. 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:41.960 And when he calls men to follow him, he shows us his gracious heart toward each and every person, including you, including me. 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:46.300 And how he is in calling us constantly to follow him. 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:54.360 So the heart of Jesus is to train and shape and disciple followers to engage the world and shape his church. 00:06:54.460 --> 00:06:55.920 And so we'll look at what is discipleship. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.980 Well, discipleship is one thing with three parts, and this is how we'll look at it today. 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:05.680 Discipleship is following Jesus when he calls, together welcoming others. 00:07:07.460 --> 00:07:12.300 Discipleship is following Jesus when he calls, together welcoming others, right? 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:13.580 And so that's how we'll look at this. 00:07:13.579 --> 00:07:15.560 So I've read our text today. 00:07:16.379 --> 00:07:17.779 Let's start off at the very beginning. 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:20.759 Discipleship is following Jesus when he calls. 00:07:21.219 --> 00:07:26.659 So we read two sort of stories, little vignettes, of Jesus calling people to follow him. 00:07:26.919 --> 00:07:28.579 Well, let's look at each one of these briefly. 00:07:28.719 --> 00:07:35.319 In chapter 4, you see that Jesus first, he calls a set of brothers, a set of men who are fishermen, right? 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:39.259 Peter or Simon, Andrew, John, and James, right? 00:07:39.899 --> 00:07:41.980 And just think about what these men are doing, right? 00:07:42.019 --> 00:07:44.279 So they're just sort of lost in their work. 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:50.300 They're vocational fishermen, and they're doing what they have done for their whole lifetime, right? 00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:51.319 They're mending their nets. 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:55.779 Their heads are sort of stuck down in the daily grind of Monday through Friday, right? 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:58.599 They're doing what they have always done, right? 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.340 And so we see that they're fishermen, right? 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:02.740 The text tells us this, right? 00:08:02.760 --> 00:08:10.520 And so they're lost in the business of business, of making money, of they've got to catch fish because they've got to eat, right? 00:08:10.520 --> 00:08:11.520 They've got to make money, right? 00:08:11.540 --> 00:08:13.939 And so this net is their source of hope. 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:15.420 Where am I going to get money? 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:16.140 Well, I've got to catch it. 00:08:16.140 --> 00:08:19.300 I've got to make sure this net doesn't have holes, and so it can catch a fish, right? 00:08:19.920 --> 00:08:20.460 They're lost. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.040 They're caught up in their occupation. 00:08:22.580 --> 00:08:24.000 They're fishermen, right? 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:25.340 In their jobs. 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:28.699 They're probably, they've been doing this for a long time. 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:33.279 The text tells us that for at least two of these men, their father is a fisherman. 00:08:33.439 --> 00:08:38.339 And so this net, this idea of fishermen is they're just, they are focused on life. 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:40.759 They're focused on what they've always done. 00:08:40.839 --> 00:08:43.019 They're focused on what their dad has always done, right? 00:08:43.659 --> 00:08:50.659 And into this world of just sort of mundane daily focus, Jesus steps into the scene, right? 00:08:51.019 --> 00:08:54.779 And does something fairly unique, fairly radical, right? 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:55.980 And we'll look at that in just a second. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:58.559 But then let's look at chapter nine briefly. 00:08:59.459 --> 00:09:01.259 Chapter nine ups the ante a little bit. 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:02.000 We look at Matthew. 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:03.659 Matthew is far worse than a fisherman. 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:08.980 The fishermen, they're just normal blue-collar workers who are doing their job, 00:09:09.100 --> 00:09:12.139 not looking for Jesus, but not necessarily doing anything wrong. 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:14.220 Matthew is a completely different situation. 00:09:14.439 --> 00:09:17.059 Matthew also is lost in his work. 00:09:17.139 --> 00:09:19.600 He's caught up in his occupation. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:23.360 But his occupation is a sinful occupation, right? 00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:25.920 His occupation is actually bad for society. 00:09:26.460 --> 00:09:28.659 It's not a good thing what he is doing, right? 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:30.420 Matthew is a tax collector. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:37.440 And a tax collector in the Jewish world of the first century meant that he was a collaborator. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:43.440 He was allied with the Roman government, which had invaded Israel, had taken over them, 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:47.720 and had effectively colonized the Israelite and Jewish nation, right? 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:52.080 The Romans had colonized Judea, and Matthew was helping them. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:58.500 He was basically trying to help them take and steal money from the Jewish people. 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:05.060 And tax collectors were well known to charge exorbitant tax rates beyond what the Roman government 00:10:05.060 --> 00:10:06.740 required them to charge, right? 00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:09.200 And so he was a traitor to his own people. 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:11.399 He was a thief. 00:10:12.040 --> 00:10:14.480 And he was a political enemy, right? 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:16.800 So he's a financial cheater. 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:17.379 He's a traitor. 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:21.940 In today's today, if we were to put it in these words today, that he is an inside stock 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:27.100 trader who's allied with the Russian government that has successfully colonized America. 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:30.639 That's what Matthew is, right? 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:31.980 That's what he represents. 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.879 He's an inside stock trader who's allied with the Russian government, which has invaded 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:37.800 and colonized America, right? 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.500 So Jesus here comes to two different groups of people. 00:10:41.599 --> 00:10:47.620 One just normal people doing their life, and one who is in almost every way an unsavory 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:48.459 person, right? 00:10:49.599 --> 00:10:54.959 And in both of these stories, Jesus comes to them and says, follow me, right? 00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:03.079 And both of these stories behind those two little words is a wealth of theological rich food 00:11:03.079 --> 00:11:04.240 for us to meditate on. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:09.060 And so let's look at that, that these stories show us theology, that there is a spiritual 00:11:09.060 --> 00:11:11.720 lesson here for those of us who would hear it. 00:11:12.299 --> 00:11:17.740 And the first is that this, notice here that Jesus, when he calls, his call to these men, 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:24.919 either Matthew or these two sets of brothers, in no way does it depend on the worthiness of 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:26.000 the men that he's calling. 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:32.919 It does not hinge on the value added that these men bring to Jesus or to his mission, right? 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:38.759 In fact, for Matthew and John, there's probably, I mean, for John and Simon and Peter, there's 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.799 probably, there were dozens of men who were fishing along the river, I mean, along the 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:43.039 sea. 00:11:43.339 --> 00:11:44.639 And Jesus picks these two. 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:45.019 Why? 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:46.959 The text doesn't tell us. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:50.360 He just comes to these two sets of brothers and says, follow me. 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:56.439 Nothing about these people tips Jesus' hand and says, this one or not that one. 00:11:56.740 --> 00:11:58.459 And in Matthew's case, it's even worse. 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:06.900 Matthew is doing all kinds of shameful, dishonorable, socially unhealthy behavior that would say 00:12:06.900 --> 00:12:10.639 he does not deserve to be one whom Jesus calls, right? 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:17.460 And all of us, if we were to zoom out a little bit, are somewhere on this brothers doing their 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:19.500 life to Matthew spectrum. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.759 That there is nothing about us which commends Jesus to calling us. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.080 In fact, for most of us, if we're honest with ourselves, we're probably more on the Matthew 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:28.939 side of the spectrum. 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:33.960 That there are things in our life that we would say, if Jesus knew about this, he would 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:35.240 never have called me, right? 00:12:36.860 --> 00:12:41.240 There are things in my story that I'd say, if the people of the church knew this about 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.340 me, then they would say, ooh, Jesus shouldn't call him. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.960 Jesus is not supposed to call him. 00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:50.080 And yet, what happens? 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:56.259 Jesus comes to these people who are doing either nothing or everything to, nothing to 00:12:56.259 --> 00:12:57.820 deserve it or things to not deserve it. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:12:59.360 And he says, come follow me. 00:13:00.800 --> 00:13:04.300 And theologians have studied this over the years and they've come up with a term for this. 00:13:04.420 --> 00:13:06.340 They call it unconditional election. 00:13:06.920 --> 00:13:14.020 That is, Christ's call, his electing of these men to follow him is not conditioned, is unconditioned 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:22.019 upon any merit, upon any deserving, any value that these men bring into Jesus' life or work 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:22.539 or ministry. 00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:28.519 And the best way I can try to think to illustrate this is to look at how Jesus, who was a rabbi 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:32.559 in the Jewish world back then, how other rabbis would have called their followers. 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:37.539 And so Jesus is a Jewish rabbi, which is a religious teacher in the first century, right? 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:42.259 And so it was common for religious teachers to gather their pupils, to create a little 00:13:42.259 --> 00:13:45.639 cohort of other men who would follow them. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.079 And they would teach them. 00:13:47.219 --> 00:13:51.659 And this is, we know this well from Jewish literature, that there's different rabbis like Shammai and 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:52.679 Hillel and other ones. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.980 And they would form little groups who would say, I'm in the school of Shammai or I'm in 00:13:56.980 --> 00:13:57.799 the school of Hillel. 00:13:57.839 --> 00:13:59.740 And Jesus is doing the same thing, right? 00:13:59.740 --> 00:14:05.779 But if you think about how academics work, even today, you want to choose the pupil who 00:14:05.779 --> 00:14:07.220 has the most potential, right? 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:12.799 You want to find someone who's going to be in your school who you think this is the outstanding 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:13.700 pupil. 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:15.720 You know, this is works in academics all today. 00:14:16.060 --> 00:14:20.399 The one who gets to be the teaching assistant, the one who gets to be the next doctoral student 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.139 is the one who's really up to snuff academically, right? 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:27.539 And you would think that Jesus would call someone like Paul, right? 00:14:27.539 --> 00:14:31.939 Paul tells us in Galatians that he was better than all of his contemporaries. 00:14:32.339 --> 00:14:37.019 In all the ways that you could have been a really good Jewish leader or a good Jewish 00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:39.079 theologian, Paul says, I was here. 00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:44.099 Paul met the conditions to be the one who follows a rabbi. 00:14:45.339 --> 00:14:47.059 But what does Rabbi Jesus do? 00:14:47.939 --> 00:14:48.559 This is so cool. 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:51.000 He turns all of that upside down, right? 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:57.279 He picks blue-collar laborers who have probably the equivalent of a GED and says, 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:58.500 you, follow me. 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:07.079 And he picks a political traitor and a government-sanctioned thief and says, you, follow me, right? 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.079 And this challenges me. 00:15:10.959 --> 00:15:13.600 And if you think about it, it should challenge all of us, right? 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:21.259 This idea of unconditional election, that when everything about a person in a culture or a 00:15:21.259 --> 00:15:27.120 moral status says, pick that one, Jesus says, no, no, I'm going to pick the one who doesn't 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:31.539 really up to snuff or even doesn't deserve it, isn't up to snuff, right? 00:15:32.500 --> 00:15:38.600 And that's true today that here's where the gospel, the sweetness of Jesus' gentle heart 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:46.299 ministers to us is that there is no virtue or accomplishment that commends you to Jesus. 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:55.339 And on the flip side, there is no vice or failure, which is so bad that it alienates you from Jesus 00:15:55.339 --> 00:15:56.579 and his call. 00:15:57.659 --> 00:15:59.500 And this is really, really good news. 00:15:59.599 --> 00:16:04.959 This is why Christianity is unlike every other religion or value system in our world, because 00:16:04.959 --> 00:16:12.279 it says that the good grace, the favor of the most important person is not dependent on 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.959 what you've done in the last week or in the last lifetime, good or bad. 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:23.299 It's just contingent upon his free grace to say, come, follow me, be in my presence, be 00:16:23.299 --> 00:16:24.019 in my midst. 00:16:24.620 --> 00:16:25.439 I will train you. 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:32.459 I will shape you into the best, most socially productive, most healthy version of yourself, 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:32.839 right? 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:38.179 That no one is so good that they deserve Jesus' call and no one is so wicked that they are 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:39.240 beyond God's call. 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:46.659 That is a sweet grace that if you sink your teeth into it, shapes how you think about not 00:16:46.659 --> 00:16:48.639 just religion, but all of life, right? 00:16:49.480 --> 00:16:54.159 We can talk about grace in the Christian faith a lot, but grace, unconditional election, is 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:56.580 undeserved or unmerited favor. 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:02.060 Christ doesn't call people who deserve it to come close to him, but he calls people who are 00:17:02.060 --> 00:17:07.140 either doing their own thing or actually doing unhealthy things to come and follow him, 00:17:07.140 --> 00:17:07.320 right? 00:17:07.340 --> 00:17:12.720 And there's a second sweet truth in this, is that this, that Jesus' call always works. 00:17:13.100 --> 00:17:16.000 We saw this in our Old Testament passage of Isaiah 55. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:22.000 When Jesus calls someone to follow him, he always gets his man. 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:24.900 He always, the person says, yes, I will. 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:29.980 He breaks these men out of their nets, out of their focus on their nets, or he breaks this 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:31.440 man out of his great sin. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:36.080 And they rise up out of it and they say, yes, I will follow you, Lord. 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:40.500 Jesus' word disengages us from ourselves and engages us with Jesus. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:41.600 Look at verse 20. 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:45.580 It says, immediately Simon left his nets. 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:49.080 In verse 13 as well, Matthew gets up. 00:17:49.840 --> 00:17:50.960 And the same is true as Jesus. 00:17:51.080 --> 00:17:58.299 When Jesus calls us, he causes us to leave ourselves, leave our priorities, leave our sin, 00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:03.980 and sets us on a new trajectory, a new goal for our lives, for our stories, for our families, 00:18:04.159 --> 00:18:06.019 for our vocations, for our money. 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:13.299 Everything about us is reset in a way that is discipled to Jesus, right? 00:18:14.440 --> 00:18:16.079 Again, another theological term. 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:17.879 We call this effectual calling. 00:18:18.299 --> 00:18:20.519 It's an invitation that leads to a decision. 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:26.180 That when Jesus calls, people respond and they respond in, yes, I will follow you. 00:18:26.180 --> 00:18:30.759 I understand now, Jesus, that there is something about me that would keep you from calling me. 00:18:30.820 --> 00:18:32.320 But nonetheless, you do call me. 00:18:32.560 --> 00:18:36.820 Why would I not want to be in the presence of such sweet, free acceptance? 00:18:37.840 --> 00:18:43.080 I want to follow you with my whole life, with my whole family, with my whole heart. 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:44.720 Jesus calls. 00:18:45.220 --> 00:18:45.820 They trust. 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:46.360 They obey. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:47.019 And they follow. 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:52.460 And notice that Jesus doesn't come up and strong-arm Matthew and say, follow me and I'll 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:53.200 get you out of your sin. 00:18:53.259 --> 00:18:54.580 No, he says, follow me. 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:55.960 And he just, he does it. 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:57.199 He leaves everything. 00:18:57.740 --> 00:19:00.519 He stands and he comes and follows this man, right? 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.139 And we know from the rest of the scriptures that we know that this is because the Holy 00:19:04.139 --> 00:19:12.019 Spirit is working new life in the life of every person, every woman, child, and man that 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:19.159 Jesus calls what we call regeneration, a desire to be in the presence of Jesus for eternity. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:21.679 That is effectual calling, right? 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:28.480 And the motor behind all of this, the motor, the energy behind unconditional election and 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:37.299 effectual calling is nothing less than the sweet, persistent, kind, gracious call of Jesus 00:19:37.299 --> 00:19:45.779 and the heart of Jesus, which is gently calling women and men to follow him. 00:19:45.779 --> 00:19:51.180 Nothing less than the sweet, persistent, kind Jesus is at work all this. 00:19:52.379 --> 00:19:58.379 That scripture is all about human beings who are stuck in their own occupations or stuck 00:19:58.379 --> 00:19:59.160 in their own sin. 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:02.720 And Jesus coming into the midst of that and saying, come, follow me. 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:08.539 And Jesus looks in compassion upon these men and upon each of us and says, come, follow 00:20:08.539 --> 00:20:08.879 me. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:13.700 And this is discipleship. 00:20:13.860 --> 00:20:19.940 It's Jesus' word tearing us away from what is most debased in us in the case of Matthew 00:20:19.940 --> 00:20:26.260 or what is most distracting about us in the case of the brothers, the fishermen, and saying, 00:20:26.360 --> 00:20:27.900 come, follow me. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:28.580 Right? 00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:32.760 And these stories show us that Jesus is like a spiritual doctor. 00:20:33.040 --> 00:20:35.300 This is what he compares himself to in chapter nine. 00:20:35.299 --> 00:20:40.500 There's those who are sick don't need a doctor, but those who are, well, don't need a doctor, 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:41.299 but it's a sick. 00:20:41.819 --> 00:20:44.220 And every person we know from sin is spiritually sick. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:47.359 And I have come that they may have life, as we read. 00:20:47.500 --> 00:20:47.639 Right? 00:20:48.419 --> 00:20:52.960 So that's our first point, that Jesus following, just like Jesus is, discipleship is following 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:54.700 Jesus when he calls, but that's not it. 00:20:54.740 --> 00:20:56.539 It's following Jesus when he calls together. 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:56.940 Right? 00:20:57.859 --> 00:21:01.779 That the first part of discipleship is Jesus' call, but that the simple truth is that you 00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:05.000 can never have a healthy disciple who's out on his own. 00:21:05.299 --> 00:21:08.000 Jesus doesn't say, come, follow me, and go out there. 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:14.639 But no, he begins to form, starting with these first men, a community, a new radical type 00:21:14.639 --> 00:21:18.059 of connection of people who are going to follow Jesus together. 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:18.419 Right? 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:24.919 He builds healthy disciples who depend on him and depend on each other. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:25.180 Right? 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:30.240 The best way I can think about this is recently, as I've moved back to Colorado, I've started 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:31.720 thinking about being in the mountains again. 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:39.019 So growing up in Colorado, I love mountaineering, which is this, frankly, not safe version of 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:41.140 climbing mountains in the winter. 00:21:41.579 --> 00:21:44.920 So, you know, you're climbing in ice, you're climbing in snow, it's cold. 00:21:45.180 --> 00:21:47.680 I have a brutal failure rate because I don't want to die. 00:21:47.759 --> 00:21:47.960 Right? 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.059 So it's highly, it's a little technical. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:51.559 There's elevation. 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:55.599 And so mountaineering is the art of climbing really hard mountains. 00:21:55.819 --> 00:22:01.099 And so last year, there was a documentary that came out about an alpinist, a guy who 00:22:01.099 --> 00:22:02.279 climbs mountains in the winter. 00:22:02.419 --> 00:22:04.500 And the documentary is called The Alpinist. 00:22:04.859 --> 00:22:05.579 I recommend it. 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:06.599 It is kind of intense. 00:22:06.879 --> 00:22:09.539 So maybe not with little kids, but it is a great documentary. 00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:09.839 Right? 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.099 And so this alpinist named Mark Andrew Leclerc. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:13.379 Right? 00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:15.759 And he's one of the best out there. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:21.960 He's known, everybody knows that Leclerc is the best alpinist out there. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.900 He's doing some of the hardest routes without ropes. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:28.279 Just people are like, oh, he'll never pull this off. 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:29.619 And then he goes and pulls it off. 00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:29.779 Right? 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.879 And there's this historian of alpinism named Bernadette McDonald. 00:22:33.019 --> 00:22:34.079 She's an alpinist herself. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:35.279 And she says this. 00:22:35.339 --> 00:22:41.180 She says, climbing is a form of freedom, of physical freedom and a form of philosophical 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:41.720 freedom. 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:46.339 And the ultimate experience of freedom is to do it alone. 00:22:47.100 --> 00:22:47.259 Right? 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:50.360 The ultimate experience of freedom is to do it alone. 00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:53.100 And so both in alpinism, they're doing these brutal mountains. 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.680 But if you're going to be the best at it, you do it alone. 00:22:56.120 --> 00:22:57.779 You go at it by yourself. 00:22:57.779 --> 00:22:58.120 Right? 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.460 And so there's this culture within that climbing mountains of, can you do it alone? 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:04.339 Are you by yourself? 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:06.240 If you're really good, you do it by yourself. 00:23:06.420 --> 00:23:06.700 Right? 00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:09.360 And so as a result, there's a brutal failure rate. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:13.399 And alpinists know that they're basically just a ticking time bomb of when they're going 00:23:13.399 --> 00:23:13.759 to die. 00:23:13.859 --> 00:23:14.019 Right? 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:20.719 And that desire for freedom leads to soloing not only brutal mountains, but ultimately to 00:23:20.719 --> 00:23:21.019 death. 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:21.259 Right? 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.699 And as I was watching this, I was like, man, I think that's not just in climbing mountains. 00:23:26.700 --> 00:23:32.180 That that spirit of, if you're really good at life, you do it by yourself, has sort of 00:23:32.180 --> 00:23:38.960 permeated and sunk into every facet of our culture, of even of our church, and certainly 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:40.059 of our discipleship. 00:23:40.840 --> 00:23:45.019 That we think if we're doing a good job at this, I'm doing it, I'm on my own. 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:45.299 Right? 00:23:47.080 --> 00:23:48.000 How is this true? 00:23:48.100 --> 00:23:49.299 Well, think of it this way. 00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:52.559 When I'm on campus and I'm asking students like, hey, how's your life? 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:54.539 How's your walk with Jesus? 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:54.840 Right? 00:23:54.839 --> 00:23:56.359 How are you doing in your faith right now? 00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:58.859 You know what every single time students say to me? 00:23:59.059 --> 00:24:03.339 Every time without fail, they say, hey, I haven't been reading my Bible. 00:24:04.379 --> 00:24:05.980 I haven't been reading my Bible. 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:06.980 You know what that tells me? 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:11.179 That tells me that these students, and probably if I were to ask you the same question, ask 00:24:11.179 --> 00:24:16.119 myself this, we have trained ourselves, discipled ourselves to think about discipleship as what 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:19.619 am I doing by myself with my Bible? 00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:25.519 That we think about discipleship in one track, by myself, that I haven't been doing a very 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:29.359 good job of it, my works, my effort for Jesus. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:31.579 I haven't been reading my Bible very much. 00:24:32.219 --> 00:24:38.639 That tells me that in this individualist mountaineering personal drive within mountaineering has sunk 00:24:38.639 --> 00:24:40.319 into how we think about discipleship. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:43.619 What am I doing by myself, right? 00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:49.059 Too many Christians think about discipleship as me and Jesus, right? 00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:51.559 Another story to think about this. 00:24:51.619 --> 00:24:53.819 So I just moved from southern New Mexico. 00:24:53.980 --> 00:24:57.579 If you've ever been to southern New Mexico, you know that it is effectively Afghanistan. 00:24:57.579 --> 00:25:03.139 In fact, when they were bringing Afghan refugees back from Afghanistan, they brought them to 00:25:03.139 --> 00:25:07.099 southern Texas, and they got out and they're like, oh, we're home. 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:08.220 This fits in, right? 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:09.639 This looks like Afghanistan, right? 00:25:10.099 --> 00:25:14.939 And so part of the experience of southern New Mexico is everybody feels like they have 00:25:14.939 --> 00:25:17.500 to grow grass because it's a Texas import, right? 00:25:18.159 --> 00:25:20.779 Grass is not meant to grow in southern New Mexico. 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:22.419 It just does not happen, right? 00:25:22.740 --> 00:25:27.320 So me being a good landowner, a good homeowner, I look at the Johnsons, I look at the Davises, 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:29.360 I look at my neighbors and say, I got to grow grass, right? 00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:30.960 So I'm trying to grow grass. 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:32.259 Does not grow well. 00:25:32.320 --> 00:25:36.680 But the only thing I've learned, the only way you can make grass grow in southern New Mexico 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:41.380 is if there's other grass around the grass you're trying to grow, right? 00:25:41.700 --> 00:25:43.360 That's the only way it happens. 00:25:43.560 --> 00:25:47.480 If you've got a little tuft of grass out there in the middle of the desert by itself, 00:25:47.740 --> 00:25:48.720 it will die. 00:25:49.340 --> 00:25:50.460 It cannot live. 00:25:50.460 --> 00:25:56.519 If 105 degrees for three weeks will happen, no rain, and that grass will burn and die. 00:25:56.579 --> 00:26:01.180 The only way it can happen is if there's other grass around it to hold the moisture in, 00:26:01.319 --> 00:26:04.220 to prevent weeds from coming in and destroying it. 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.660 And I was thinking, I was watching this, I was like, this is how discipleship works. 00:26:09.340 --> 00:26:13.279 If we're going to be a functioning, healthy society, a functioning, healthy church, 00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:16.880 the only way that you're going to survive is to have other grass around you, 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.800 other disciples around you who are going to protect you, who are going to nourish you, 00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:26.800 who are going to feed you in a way that keeps and sustains your following of Jesus, right? 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.580 The only way that we can grow as disciples in a hostile environment is to be surrounded by other disciples. 00:26:34.180 --> 00:26:38.120 And the rest of the Bible tells us that this is abundantly clear, right? 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:44.879 That Jesus calls people out of sin, individuals out of sin and into a community of other disciples. 00:26:45.099 --> 00:26:50.299 First, he starts with the 12, but it quickly expands to the 70 and to the 500. 00:26:50.459 --> 00:26:57.359 And by Acts, we see thousands of people gathered together to follow Jesus, their risen Savior, right? 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:05.519 Paul, later in the Bible, in the New Testament, describes the church as a body, right? 00:27:05.899 --> 00:27:10.259 You do not have a healthy arm just lying around over by the side of the stage. 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.139 No, that would be a very unhealthy arm. 00:27:13.379 --> 00:27:16.759 Healthy followers of Jesus are connected to each other. 00:27:18.099 --> 00:27:21.000 And if I can drive this home, what does this mean very practically? 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:27.920 It means that the content that you get from your pastor is not enough to be a healthy follower of Jesus. 00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:33.339 It means the content that I'm saying even right now is maybe good by God's grace, 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:37.099 but it is insufficient to be a healthy follower of Jesus. 00:27:39.740 --> 00:27:41.319 We need a body. 00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:49.799 We need a whole organism of other followers around us to be shaping us to be faithful followers of the one who calls us, right? 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:51.059 Think of it this way. 00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:52.419 Last year, Elon Musk. 00:27:52.519 --> 00:27:53.619 Anybody heard of Elon Musk? 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:55.440 He makes waves a lot in our world right now. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:56.460 He said this. 00:27:56.539 --> 00:27:58.680 He said he's a—I don't know what he is. 00:27:58.700 --> 00:27:59.700 He does a lot of weird stuff. 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:01.519 But anyways, he's a technocrat. 00:28:01.659 --> 00:28:02.779 He invented Tesla. 00:28:02.919 --> 00:28:03.799 He's doing all these things. 00:28:03.940 --> 00:28:05.319 But he says this about college. 00:28:05.419 --> 00:28:11.059 He says, college is for fun and to show that you know how to do your chores, but it's not for learning, right? 00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:13.200 He says, college is for fun, but it's not for learning. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:16.220 He says, you can learn anything you want from Wikipedia, right? 00:28:16.919 --> 00:28:18.440 And he's probably right. 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:21.860 You can learn anything you want from Wikipedia. 00:28:22.840 --> 00:28:26.340 But then if that's true, why are colleges still a thing? 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:44.519 Well, the reality is we all—if you're going to learn effectively, you need the community context that a college campus provides of professors, of classmates, of the time, of the culture and the community that a college provides to grow into the field that you want to study, right? 00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:48.079 So Elon's not wrong, but he's also not right. 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:56.839 That if you want to be a healthy kinesiologist or a healthy doctor, you need the formation of the school that you're in, right? 00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:00.799 It means—what does this mean for us? 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:16.379 It means that you and I have a call to follow Jesus together, to exhort and encourage and even rebuke one another to follow Jesus in every facet of our lives, which makes me ask, do I have that? 00:29:16.380 --> 00:29:18.080 As I move to a new city? 00:29:19.360 --> 00:29:21.260 It makes me ask, do you have that? 00:29:22.420 --> 00:29:27.080 It makes me ask college students, do you have that in the most isolated time in human history? 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:32.240 Do we have people who say, let's follow Jesus in the Bible? 00:29:32.340 --> 00:29:34.840 Do you see how is Jesus working in your heart recently? 00:29:35.120 --> 00:29:37.000 How is your prayer life right now? 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.720 How are you encountering your own sexuality and the call of Jesus? 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:47.019 How are you encountering your relationship with money and the call of Jesus, of politics? 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:50.039 Here's another one. 00:29:50.119 --> 00:29:55.900 How are you encountering technology and media and the call of Jesus, right? 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:01.119 Let's say you read your Bible for 30 minutes a day, five days a week. 00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:02.460 That's two and a half hours. 00:30:02.940 --> 00:30:05.160 Let's say you go to church for an hour and a half a week. 00:30:05.160 --> 00:30:08.820 Let's say if you're really up to snuff, you go to a home group for an hour a week. 00:30:09.340 --> 00:30:13.340 That means you're getting five to seven hours of time with the body of Christ. 00:30:14.360 --> 00:30:19.680 But then I get every week this daily report of how much time I've spent on technology and in social media. 00:30:20.279 --> 00:30:26.820 And it's like five to seven hours a day because of my job and because of my addiction to social media. 00:30:26.820 --> 00:30:33.320 That means that there are five to seven times more formation, hours on task with technology and media 00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:35.839 than even would be a healthy Christian life. 00:30:35.879 --> 00:30:38.000 And I have a feeling that most of us aren't very different. 00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:45.200 That we are being tremendously shaped, informed by communities and by voices that are not Jesus. 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:47.059 Am I saying get rid of social media? 00:30:47.299 --> 00:30:48.679 Am I saying get rid of technology? 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:53.240 Not necessarily, but I'm saying ask what communities are you being formed by? 00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:00.400 What relationships are discipling you and your marriage and your family, right? 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:03.779 What's the strongest pull, right? 00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:10.680 So discipleship is following Jesus when he calls together, last but not least, welcoming others. 00:31:11.099 --> 00:31:16.420 Just as Jesus invites us to follow him, he calls us to invite others to follow him. 00:31:16.420 --> 00:31:23.920 What does Jesus say here when he says, very, very beginning, he says, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, right? 00:31:23.960 --> 00:31:25.480 And he says this to men who are fishermen. 00:31:25.620 --> 00:31:28.759 So they would have thought, oh, we're supposed to, we're going to go out and catch new people. 00:31:28.800 --> 00:31:31.160 And they're going to get welcome into this as well. 00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:32.259 Well, what do we call this? 00:31:33.779 --> 00:31:35.860 Evangelism, sharing our faith, right? 00:31:36.460 --> 00:31:41.420 That our discipleship to Jesus always has the goal of being missionaries, 00:31:41.500 --> 00:31:45.380 of going and bringing others into the community that we are ourselves a part of. 00:31:45.380 --> 00:31:49.300 This is what's really, here's something that's really interesting that struck me as I was thinking about this. 00:31:49.640 --> 00:31:54.340 Notice in chapter four that Jesus does not say, follow me and I will free you from your sins. 00:31:54.820 --> 00:31:59.400 Or follow me and I will satisfy all of your deepest spiritual needs. 00:31:59.740 --> 00:32:02.340 Or follow me and I will give you success in your fishing. 00:32:04.460 --> 00:32:05.280 No, that's not what he says. 00:32:05.340 --> 00:32:09.360 He says, follow me and I will make you go get people who will follow me. 00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:18.279 That the goal of discipleship, the purpose of discipleship of Jesus is welcoming others into being disciples of Jesus, right? 00:32:19.379 --> 00:32:22.579 Discipleship is not for your personal experience of God, this means. 00:32:22.919 --> 00:32:25.039 It's not even for necessarily, hear what I'm saying. 00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:26.699 It's not even for our salvation. 00:32:27.199 --> 00:32:32.439 That is a step along the way that we experience intimacy with Jesus and are saved from our sins. 00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:39.100 But the goal is to be a people who are bringing other people into knowing and following Jesus, right? 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:40.440 It's evangelism. 00:32:40.600 --> 00:32:43.080 And Jesus models this to us in chapter nine. 00:32:43.340 --> 00:32:46.980 He calls Matthew, who should not have been a disciple, and says, follow me. 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:50.400 And then he goes to Matthew's friends, who also shouldn't be disciples. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.600 And he scandalizes the people who were supposed to be the experts and say, 00:32:54.820 --> 00:32:58.380 why is he hanging out with people he should not be hanging out with? 00:32:58.380 --> 00:33:04.520 Jesus is incredibly evangelistic in how he does discipleship. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:08.260 He tells his disciples even, you are the light of the world. 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:12.620 Let your light so shine that others may see your good deeds. 00:33:13.820 --> 00:33:17.380 Glorify God and be disciples, right? 00:33:18.840 --> 00:33:22.660 Jesus models this and he calls us to do the same thing. 00:33:22.660 --> 00:33:30.440 I've been listening to this podcast by a man who's really shaped my own thinking about ministry, 00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:32.040 a pastor in New York. 00:33:32.040 --> 00:33:38.160 And he says that if the church is going to have an effective missionary influence in our world today, 00:33:38.340 --> 00:33:41.360 it's probably not going to happen through pastors. 00:33:41.820 --> 00:33:46.560 And I've experienced this already on campus, that when I go to campus and students ask, 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:47.160 so what do you do? 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:48.380 I say, well, I'm a college pastor. 00:33:48.380 --> 00:33:54.640 Wall goes up and they go, and they take a couple steps back, 00:33:54.700 --> 00:33:56.240 sometimes physically, definitely socially. 00:33:57.080 --> 00:34:00.820 They look at me as a liability to campus health and life, right? 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:04.080 I knew of pastor actually who got out of ministry 00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:08.180 because he felt like his vocation as a pastor was getting in the way of evangelism. 00:34:09.420 --> 00:34:10.880 Now, that's not my experience. 00:34:11.059 --> 00:34:13.220 I know that I'm still called to be a minister of word and sacrament. 00:34:13.219 --> 00:34:19.239 But what I'm saying here is that in the past, we could rely on pastors to be doing this. 00:34:19.319 --> 00:34:22.079 We could count on people coming in, but that's not the case anymore. 00:34:22.919 --> 00:34:27.659 Effective ministry is going to happen by people who are not paid to do it. 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:31.239 It's going to happen through the laity, even through people like you, 00:34:31.339 --> 00:34:35.599 because people look at us and they mistrust and they're cynical of pastors. 00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:38.839 And on this podcast, there's a pastor in Rome. 00:34:39.099 --> 00:34:39.879 He says this. 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:41.660 He's an evangelical pastor. 00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:45.440 He says, unofficial ministry is more effective than official ministry. 00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:48.960 Unofficial ministry is more effective than official ministry. 00:34:49.019 --> 00:34:49.640 What does that mean? 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.059 It means that having your neighbors, having your coworkers, 00:34:53.640 --> 00:34:57.480 having your kids and their parents from school into your house for dinner, 00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:04.079 those sorts of things, going in how you behave at your kids' sports programs, 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:13.699 this is the ministry that is going to be maybe more effective at discipleship than maybe what I can do sometimes. 00:35:15.139 --> 00:35:18.480 You maybe are better gatherers than I can be, right? 00:35:19.759 --> 00:35:22.739 The people in the pews are the best disciple makers. 00:35:22.860 --> 00:35:24.599 My wife does this amazingly well. 00:35:24.659 --> 00:35:30.380 My wife is an artist, and so she connects with other artists who are especially cynical of the Christian faith. 00:35:30.380 --> 00:35:33.460 And already she's met a ton of artists in our area. 00:35:34.099 --> 00:35:38.640 And like just on Friday night, we were touring and touring that old Colorado city looking at art. 00:35:38.680 --> 00:35:45.599 And she's just effortless in how she can make a switch from talking about art to talking about beauty to talking about the God of beauty. 00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:48.860 And if I try to do that, they go, you're a pastor. 00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:49.720 You're paid to do that. 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:50.240 Sorry, bud. 00:35:50.940 --> 00:35:52.660 But she does it so well, right? 00:35:52.659 --> 00:35:53.920 So she's found her niche. 00:35:54.859 --> 00:35:56.779 God has given you a niche someplace. 00:35:57.019 --> 00:36:02.339 God has placed people in your life whom only you can love, whom only you can say, 00:36:03.319 --> 00:36:05.559 Jesus is more gracious than maybe you and I expected. 00:36:05.659 --> 00:36:07.799 Would you study and follow him with me, right? 00:36:09.219 --> 00:36:11.819 We must be an outward-facing community, right? 00:36:13.159 --> 00:36:15.539 So Jesus says, first, come follow me. 00:36:16.420 --> 00:36:19.519 And he says, come follow me in the community of those who are following me, 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:22.539 and then come welcome others into following me. 00:36:23.340 --> 00:36:27.840 And in this, we see the heart of Jesus is to train disciples. 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:30.960 And that's really sweet, good news to each one of us. 00:36:31.759 --> 00:36:33.780 So first, does that minister to you? 00:36:33.860 --> 00:36:35.559 Does that shape you in a way that you say, 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:38.639 my gosh, Jesus is more generous than I thought when I came in this morning. 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:40.980 He's more kind, and I want to follow him more. 00:36:42.019 --> 00:36:44.980 Second, does it shape you to say, I want to welcome other people. 00:36:45.259 --> 00:36:48.320 I want to include others into this community. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:51.080 And I want to be following Jesus together. 00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:55.860 And lastly, do I have people who I can bring into gently, 00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:59.940 but slowly, prayerfully come and follow Jesus, right? 00:37:00.740 --> 00:37:03.300 Two takeaways from this is, do you see the generous, 00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:08.559 gracious heart of Jesus towards you and his call for you to follow him? 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:12.740 And do you see how you are being discipled? 00:37:14.080 --> 00:37:16.100 Do you welcome others into that? 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:17.180 Would you pray with me? 00:37:17.179 --> 00:37:21.799 Father in heaven, we're grateful, first and foremost, 00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:23.699 for your gracious call to us. 00:37:24.399 --> 00:37:25.480 We don't deserve it. 00:37:26.739 --> 00:37:31.460 We need you to work in our hearts and our lives to follow you more 00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:33.039 and to welcome others in. 00:37:33.839 --> 00:37:35.419 We know that you are doing this. 00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:36.339 You always have been. 00:37:36.379 --> 00:37:39.500 And we pray that you would be faithfully tilling the hearts of our soil 00:37:39.500 --> 00:37:41.359 and our heart and our city. 00:37:41.460 --> 00:37:42.480 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:37:42.859 --> 00:37:43.099 Amen. 00:37:43.099 --> 00:37:43.219 Amen. 00:37:43.219 --> 00:37:43.259 Amen. 00:37:43.259 --> 00:37:43.279 Amen. 00:37:43.279 --> 00:37:43.299 Amen. 00:37:47.179 --> 00:37:47.719 Amen. 00:37:47.899 --> 00:37:48.599 Amen. 00:37:48.599 --> 00:37:49.599 Amen. 00:37:49.960 --> 00:37:50.339 Amen. 00:37:52.579 --> 00:37:53.419 Amen. 00:37:53.419 --> 00:37:54.119 Amen. 00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:54.500 Amen. 00:37:54.739 --> 00:38:01.839 Amen. 00:38:02.500 --> 00:38:07.419 Amen. 00:38:09.379 --> 00:38:10.559 Amen.