Who's Your One - Part 1

October 06, 2019

Noah Leighton

18 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. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 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. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Have you ever played the word association game? Many of you have, but for those of you who haven’t the game goes like this: someone gives you a word, and then you are to say the first thing that comes to your mind upon hearing that certain word. If we were to play that game today and I gave you a few words to associate how would you answer? If I were to say food, you might say Pizza. If I said instrument, you may say Guitar. If I said, “movie” what movie would pop into your mind? I may say Batman and you would respond with Robin. If I were to say “Tennessee Vols Football Fan”” you might say, “SAD”…. right???… Many of these would be pretty easy to associate with something else wouldn’t they? But what about this one: Christian… What comes to mind when you hear the word “Christian”??? That term has become very vague in how we as a society use it hasn’t it?? When speaking of being a Christian people often say things like “I’m Christian because my parents were Christian” or, “I’m a Christian because I’m from the south” Or “I’m a Christian… But I don’t care about that church stuff.” “Christians do this” “Christians don’t do that” “Someone is a Christian if they pray before their meals” “Someone is NOT a christian if they see an R Rated movie, unless it’s the passion of the Christ” It seems as if in our world today it’s tough to pin down what we associate with the term “Christian" because we’ve made it into a ton of things. Did you know that Jesus never used the term “Christian”? The first time we see the term “Christian” used in the scripture is in Acts 11:26 when it says, “26 in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. “ So, if the followers of Jesus were not known as Christians what were they known as??? The text tells us… The disciples….. Consider this: The word Christian is used only 3 times in the entire bible… The word disciple is used 281 times in the New Testament alone… We see that even though our primary term would be “Christian” The authors of the New Testament, inspired by the Holy Spirit, primary term was “disciple” You may be thinking right now, “so what? Christian, disciple, tomato, tomAto, it’s all the same…. Why does it matter if we changed our name from disciple to Christian?” Check out what Andy Stanley says of this when he says, “I want to suggest to you that in changing the primary word that we use to describe ourselves, we lost the clarity that the word disciple conveyed about what a follower of Jesus actually is.” So, if we know that “Christian” can mean a ton of things, what does disciple mean?” When looking at the word disciple in the original language we see that in the simplest of terms it means “learner”… or “follower” I hate to say this, but I believe that in our day and age, a lot of people who call themselves Christians are not actually disciples. Just because our parents went to church, does not make us a disciple. Just because we are from the south, that doesn’t make us a disciple. Just because we choose not to watch R-rated movies does not make us a disciple. So, what does? One pastor says that, “Being a disciple is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you.” And I believe that God is calling all of us to be His disciples. From the text here I believe we see 3 realties of being a disciple of Christ: First I believe we see the reality that…….. JESUS DOESN’T CHOOSE THE BEST, HE CHOOSES THE WILLING. 18 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. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Here we see that Jesus is making his first selection of the disciples he’s going to build his dream team with. If you were a religious fan back in this day, I can imagine you would have had your predictions of who Jesus was going to pick. Will it be one of the amazing scholars in Egypt? Or will it be one of the great philopshers from Athens? No. No. I know, it has to be one of the most powerful men from Rome… And the religious fans would’ve waited in anticipation to see who Jesus’ first selection would be… Those of you who know me, know that I love sports… Especially, the eight time national champion Kentucky Wildcats. I sometimes become convicted though, that I get more excited about sports then I do about church… So, I started wondering. What would happen if people treated church like they do sports… Check out what Kyle Idleman has to say about this: See if you can imagine this one.  People arrive hours early for church. On Sunday mornings, they don’t just set a backup alarm on their cell phones to assure they wake up in time —they set a backup for the backup. Throughout the week, they talk about what happened the previous Sunday as excitement builds for the upcoming church service. There are all-day radio talk shows devoted to reviewing last week’s service and breaking down the next one. There’s even a  TV show called “ChurchCenter” that runs highlight clips of  church activities that have happened across the nation.  When Sunday comes, the people load up their trucks, SUVs,  and sedans hours before the service starts.  “Hurry,” Dad says frantically. “We’re behind again.”  “It’s 6:00 a.m.” Mom says. “Church doesn’t start for five  hours.”  “Last time we left at this time, we had to park three miles  from the sanctuary and sit in the nosebleed seats. Someday, I re-  ally want to sit in the front row. But you have to camp out on the  church lawn to have any chance of that.”  The roads are really congested on the way to church, no matter how early you leave. At church, there are vehicles parked as  far as the eye can see. Some members are tailgating, laying out  elaborate spreads of barbequed meats on portable grills. Lawn  chairs dot the church parking lot. Some people have television  monitors and satellite dishes so they can catch updates from  other worship services while they wait for their own to begin.  Even in the dead of winter, they’ll be out here in the same  numbers. And once the church doors open, the masses begin fil-  ing into the sanctuary, cheering with great passion and excite-  ment. As the service starts, the people are all on their feet — not  that they ever sit down. A bunch of young guys stand in the front  row. None of them wears a shirt, but each one has a letter paint-  ed on his chest. Together they spell J-E-S-U-S.  After several hours of worship and an extra-long sermon, peo-  ple start looking at their watches. Everyone is thinking the same  thing: “I hope the service goes into overtime!” Did any of you go to the NFL draft in Nashville this year? They said it was somewhere around 500 thousands people in attendance. People love the draft…. One of the most outstanding draft selections in the history of football came at a very unexpected time in the year 2000. The person walks to the stage to represent the New England Patriots. He takes a deep breathe and says… “With the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft, the New England Patriots select… Tom Brady, QB from the university of Michigan…” And everyone looked at each other and said… “WHO!?!?!” Not knowing that he would go on to be the greatest football player of all time. What if there was a disciples draft??? “With the first pick in the very first disciples draft Jesus Christ of Nazareth selects…… Simon Peter & his brother Andrew, fishermen from the city of Capernaum.” And everyone looked at each other and said “WHO?!?!” Fisherman were not on the top of the board of the religious list back in this day. Most likely, they had little education, little spiritual perception, and little to none religious training. It was an unexpected pick… Little did they know, they would be the ones Jesus would use to turn the world upside down. John Macarthur: speaks of this when he says, “God skipped all the wise of the day! The great scholars were in Egypt; the great library was in Alexandria; the great philosophers were in Athens; the powerful were in Rome. He passed over Socrates the great thinker and Julius Caesar. He chose men so ordinary it was comical. No Rabbis, no teachers, no religious experts...” Don’t miss what I am about to say: God may not always call the qaulified, but He always qualifies the called…. Paul describes it even better there in 1 Corinthians 1:26 when he says, 26  Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” So, whether it is a lack of education, it’s an insecurity you may have, a weary heart, or a sinful past, despite our shortcomings Jesus calls to everyone of us as he did Peter and Andrew and says, “Follow me… Be my disciples….” We see the reality that Jesus doesn’t choose the best, He chooses the willing. Not only that, but we also see the reality that…… 2. TO FOLLOW HIM, WE HAVE TO LEAVE ALL. 21 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. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Notice the two things they left in this passage. The Boat Their Father I think the author wants us to notice something here.. The boat is what the place they were most comfortable. Their father was one of their most significant relationships.. The author is trying to show us that a call to follow Jesus is one where He has to be of utmost importance to you, or it’s not gonna work out. We see that Jesus says something similar in Luke 9:57. It says, “57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” In other words, being a disciple means being out of your comfort zone. We’re not gonna stay in the boat the entire time. 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Again Jesus shows us that we have to love Him above everything and everyone in order to follow Him. One of the most popular teachings on this subject would be when Jesus said in Matthew 10:38, “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What do we know about a cross? It’s a death instrument. Jesus is saying, if you are not willing to die to yourself daily, then you can’t follow me. A call to follow Jesus means dying to anything that would be a hindrance to the work he’s called you to. A call to follow Jesus is one that requires anything living within’ us that causes us to love something else more than Him, to be put to death. That’s why Deitrech Bonnohefer so accurately said, “When Christ calls a man to follow Him, He bids him come and die.” I know what you are prolly thinking… “Wow.. This doesn’t sound fun at all to me.” All this talk about dying… I thought that following Jesus meant to have abundant life, not all this talk of dying.. So, which one is it Noah, does being a disciple mean dying or living? Here’s the answer: Yes…. Let me expound… Here we see one of the great paradoxes of Jesus. Taking up your cross means dying to yourself. Trading in your earthly desires for the heavenly desires Christ wants to give you. Trading in the lie of trying to be fulfilled by things of the world, and becoming fulfilled by the things of God. It is the process of dying to the flesh, and living by the spirit. Becoming less of who you were before you knew Christ, and more of who He is calling you to be. The Apostle Paul had this same idea when he wrote to the Galatians and said, “20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I like the way a popular worship song puts it when one of the lyrics say, “I found my life, when I laid it down." A call to follow Jesus means that we are to leave all. We are to love Him and seek after His will more than anything else in our lives… When it comes to being a disciple, not only do we see the reality that Jesus doesn’t choose the best, he chooses the willing; not only do we see the reality that he calls us to leave all, but lastly we see the reality that…. 3. HE COMMANDS US TO SPIRITUALLY REPRODUCE. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus says, if you follow me, I will MAKE you fishers of men.. Not, “If you do this bible study, or you memorize this gospel presentation, then I’ll make you fishers of men.” NO! In this text there’s a command, and a result… The command: Follow Jesus. The result: become a fisher of men. Spiritually reproducing is not just something that a disciple does, spiritually reproducing is the main factor of who a disciple is… Have any of you heard of the Ennegram thing going around? It’s basically like a personality test.. Like, a 7 is this. And if your result is a 4 then that means that you like this, but you don’t like this… I don’t know… I have to get my students to explain it to me… But, Jesus gives us a bit of a similar personality test in John 15:8..  “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples.” How do you prove you are a disciple? By bearing fruit. And if you are not bearing fruit, you have reason to question whether you are a disciple at all. Jesus tells His disciples how to bear fruit in His famous Great Commission: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” In his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman said: “When will the church learn this lesson? Preaching to the masses, although necessary, will never suffice in the work of preparing leaders for evangelism. Nor can occasional prayer meetings and training classes for Christian workers do this job... Individual women and men are God’s method. God’s plan for discipleship is not something, but someone.” Church, when it comes to making disciples, WE ARE PLAN A, AND THERE IS NO PLAN B. That’s why we are happy to share with you guys this morning that we are launching what is called the “Who’s Your One” campaign. We are encouraging every member of the church to identify one person whom they know that is spiritually seeking or lost, and commit to praying for that person, and taking the initiative in being the first piece of the puzzle that could help that person come to know Christ… Now, if you have been in church for a while, you may have heard of or been apart of something like this before. So, you may be wondering, what all this will entail. If it will be like the evangelistic campaign you did this time, or that time. I believe the best way I can explain what this campaign is, is to first tell you what it is not. 1. Who’s Your One will not be motivated by guilt. Far too many times in the church culture we see a lot of these evangelist efforts driven by something of the effect “If you really love Jesus, you’ll go knock on this door, hand them this gospel track, give this presentation” Who’s Your One is not that… 2. Who’s Your One will not simply be a leverage point for us to brag of our evangelist success. Will we be excited about people coming to Jesus? Yes! Will we be doing it all so that we can show everyone how amazing we are? No! We will do everything for the glory of God, and not ours. 3. Who’s Your One will not be a process in which we turn people into projects… We will not approach people who do not know Jesus and turn them into our own little project that the church has us working on… Rather, we will love that person as Jesus would love them, and show them that we want them to know Christ because we love them, not simply because we are involved with a churches evangelist campaign. Through Who’sYourOne, I believe that God is going to show us that He is calling all of us to be His disciples. And we can jump into this season with confidence because we know that even though we may not be the best by the world’s standard, God loves to use those who are weak to shame the strong. We know that if we follow Him and love Him above all else, he will in return give us a life that will truly satisfy and fulfill all we could ever long for. And by knowing these things, and believing them, we know that He will use as His disciples, to make disciples, all for the glory of His name.