Day 2344 – Prepare Your Heart – Come Follow Me

Welcome to Day 2344 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Prepare Your Heart – Come Follow Me – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 03/10/2023

Prepare Your Heart – Come, Follow Me - Mark 1:16-20

Today, we continue our five-week Lenten series ending on Resurrection Sunday, March 31st. Today, our message is, “Come, Follow Me!”

The Bible tells us that when Jesus began his ministry, he went to live in a village by the Sea of Galilee called Capernaum, right on the shore. It's a beautiful place. Galilee is a freshwater lake 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. The lake makes the air around it humid, and since Galilee is also below sea level, the humidity and the compressed air produces a warm, tropical climate that is good for growing vegetables, dates, and figs.

Today, should you ever visit Capernaum, you can see the remains of some of the actual homes from the time of Jesus. Looking at those stones makes it possible to imagine Jesus walking those narrow streets and staying in one of those small, stone homes when he began his ministry by the Sea of Galilee. And there, on Galilee’s shore, Jesus first spoke those words, “Come, follow me.”

Listen to today's Scripture on Page 1552 of the Pew Bibles from Mark 1:16-20:

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

"Come, follow me." Such simple words, but what did they actually mean to those who first heard them? Let's consider six of the aspects and ramifications.

A Call to be Taught (Bulletin Insert)


Jesus' call, “Come and follow me," was an invitation to learn from him.

Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. So, when Jesus said, “Come, follow me," he was inviting people to be taught by him as their teacher. It's the same as when he said in Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

 

At that time, the Pharisees were also calling people to learn from them. But while the Pharisees taught a faith burdened with mind-numbing rules and regulations, Jesus instilled in his followers the knowledge of God as their Heavenly Father. That's why his yoke was easy and his burden light.

As a teacher, Jesus also purposefully developed close relationships with his disciples. He was not like the professor living in a world of lofty thoughts but lacking genuine relationships with students. The evidence suggests that James and...

Welcome to Day 2344 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Prepare Your Heart – Come Follow Me – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 03/10/2023

Prepare Your Heart – Come, Follow Me - Mark 1:16-20

Today, we continue our five-week Lenten series ending on Resurrection Sunday, March 31st. Today, our message is, “Come, Follow Me!”

The Bible tells us that when Jesus began his ministry, he went to live in a village by the Sea of Galilee called Capernaum, right on the shore. It's a beautiful place. Galilee is a freshwater lake 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. The lake makes the air around it humid, and since Galilee is also below sea level, the humidity and the compressed air produces a warm, tropical climate that is good for growing vegetables, dates, and figs.

Today, should you ever visit Capernaum, you can see the remains of some of the actual homes from the time of Jesus. Looking at those stones makes it possible to imagine Jesus walking those narrow streets and staying in one of those small, stone homes when he began his ministry by the Sea of Galilee. And there, on Galilee’s shore, Jesus first spoke those words, “Come, follow me.”

Listen to today's Scripture on Page 1552 of the Pew Bibles from Mark 1:16-20:

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

"Come, follow me." Such simple words, but what did they actually mean to those who first heard them? Let's consider six of the aspects and ramifications.

A Call to be Taught (Bulletin Insert)


Jesus' call, “Come and follow me," was an invitation to learn from him.

Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. So, when Jesus said, “Come, follow me," he was inviting people to be taught by him as their teacher. It's the same as when he said in Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

 

At that time, the Pharisees were also calling people to learn from them. But while the Pharisees taught a faith burdened with mind-numbing rules and regulations, Jesus instilled in his followers the knowledge of God as their Heavenly Father. That's why his yoke was easy and his burden light.

As a teacher, Jesus also purposefully developed close relationships with his disciples. He was not like the professor living in a world of lofty thoughts but lacking genuine relationships with students. The evidence suggests that James and John were Jesus' cousins. Those two shared a fishing business with Peter and Andrew. That meant Jesus already knew these men even before he called them. He understood their hearts.

In the same way, when we follow Jesus as our teacher, we do so with the certainty that he already knows everything about us. He is perfect; we are not, but he is patient with us and willing to help us step-by-step along the way as we grow as his disciples.

A Call to Recognize His Authority


Jesus' call, “Come, follow me,” is also a call to recognize his authority over our lives.

It would be like if I were to lead a group of out-of-town visitors to tour Marietta. I could say, “Come follow me” because I'm an authority on my city. I have long been here and know all the nooks and crannies. Similarly, in using those words, “Come, follow me," Jesus is claiming special authority. He knows the way.

We see his authority displayed on virtually every page of the New Testament. He commanded the storm to be calmed, and it immediately obeyed him. Jesus commanded the demons to come out of people, and they did. In John's Gospel, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) and “I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). And he said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). And “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." (John 14:6) No one has the right to talk like that except for a person with spiritual authority, someone who can satisfy the deepest hunger and thirst of a human soul.

Following Jesus is not merely liking Jesus. It is living under his authority as our Lord.

A Call to Leave Something


When Jesus says, “Come, follow me," he calls us to leave something behind. He called Simon Peter and Andrew to abandon their nets. He made James and John leave their boat and their father. The tax collector, Matthew, walked away from his table, which was crowded with money and tax records. He just stood up and left it all behind. When Jesus called these men, they left friends, family, and even their occupations. The call affected their time, their finances, and everything else.

The call of Jesus is never just a call to believe in some facts about him. It is always a call to follow him. And following Jesus always involves leaving something. That's what discipleship is all about. It's making choices. It's choosing this, not that. It's leaving one thing to focus on another.

In Matthew 19:21, one young man heard that call, but his money held him back. There is nothing wrong with having some money, but his money was poisoning his soul. So, Jesus told him to get rid of it:

Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  The young man had to leave something behind. Likewise, Jesus calls us to leave something to be his disciples. None of us can be a good disciple without choosing, committing, being serious, and getting rid of the things that get in the way.

Jesus is calling us to follow him. And anything, and that means anything, that stands in the way of that call, is something we must let go of. Yes, that means there's a leaving part to Christian discipleship. We must take the leaving part of discipleship as seriously as the following. Do we have the courage to stand up, as Matthew the Tax Collector did, and walk away from something that we know will stand in our way of following Jesus?

A Call to Be Led by Him (Bulletin Insert)


Jesus also calls us to be led by him. The first disciples physically followed him wherever he went. When Jesus said, “Let's go to this or that village,’ they went with him. Discipleship was very personal and physical.

Things are different today. When Jesus calls us to follow him, we do not follow up and down the hills because he’s not physically here on earth. But for every true disciple, there remains a sense of being led by Jesus. Jesus leads us when we study his teaching and seek to live it out daily in every situation. He also continues to lead us when His Spirit influences us. In Scripture, the Spirit of God burdened, enabled, and empowered Christians to do various acts of service.

Another aspect of being led by Jesus is that we experience God's providence. Jesus and his disciples traveled through the countryside with little money, but God met their needs. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:31-33:

31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[a] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

When we do God's will, we should expect God to provide for our essential needs. It's a trust walk with God. Just as young children must trust their parents to provide for them, Jesus calls us to trust God's providential care as we follow him.

A Call to be Transformed


Fifth, Jesus' call is an invitation for him to transform us. As we follow Jesus, he changes us from the inside out. Jesus told Simon and Andrew, I will send you out to fish for people.

Only certain people could hear Jesus' call to be transformed. Those who trusted in their own uprightness could not hear it, |only those who felt a sickness in their souls. That's why Jesus said: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Mark 2:17). The brokenness of our lives becomes the growing edge of our souls.

A Call to Obedience


When we follow Christ's call, we choose to live a life of obedience. Our lives will be built on a solid foundation that produces good fruit. We can see this in the teachings of Jesus in Luke 6:46-49

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

The point Jesus is making in these words is that  building one’s life in obedience to  his teaching is wise and will sustain his disciples in the challenges they will inevitably encounter in life, |just as building one’s house on a foundation of rock will secure it against the forces of nature that will assault it. Disobedience to his Word is folly and leads to ruin, |as surely as building a house on sand will result in utter catastrophe when those same storms come. If we want to follow Jesus, we will certainly want to begin where the first disciples did, understanding and obeying the foundational teachings in this message.  And from there, study his teaching elsewhere in the Gospels.

Following Jesus, then, entails both obeying his teachings and imitating his example. But this is not the sum of the matter. For obeying and imitating are not ends in themselves but are means to a greater end. That end or goal of discipleship is to become like Jesus himself: to think as he thought, to feel as he felt, to act as he acted, and to desire what he desired. As John puts it, “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6). Because Jesus is the image of God in human form, as we become more and more like him, the image of God is increasingly restored in our lives.

Jesus lived a life of faith before his disciples and called them to live a life of faith. First and foremost, he called them to put their trust in him as Messiah and Son of God. But he didn’t stop there. He called them to an active, living faith in their heavenly Father in the affairs of everyday life. Whether for daily bread or power to heal the sick and cast out demons or to overcome the perils of nature, they were to live by faith and to grow in faith, as we are.

When we look carefully at the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, the call to “Come follow me” takes on much greater clarity and specificity. It is indeed a call to “walk as Jesus walked,” to live a life of radical faith and love. Once we truly grasp this, our first reaction will likely be dismay. If we are aware of the depth of indwelling sin and the dysfunctions that plague our lives, we know it is impossible for us to fulfill such a call. Yet this reaction is actually healthy, because it is based in reality. It is indeed impossible for us to live this way. And that is precisely the point. Jesus knows we cannot follow him without a power beyond ourselves. And that is why he sent the Holy Spirit to empower us.

Only through the indwelling Holy Spirit can we obey the teaching of Jesus and follow his example. He assures us of the Father’s love; he makes the things of Christ real to us; he makes the gospel precious to us; he convicts us of sin and assures us of forgiveness when we repent; he transforms us from glory to glory, into the likeness of Jesus (2 Cor. 3:16–18). That is why we are taught to earnestly seek to be filled with the Spirit each day (Eph. 5:18) and to be led by him in all our ways (Gal. 5:16–25). When we do, we will find that we can live in a newness of life. Not perfectly and not immediately, but progressively over our lives.

But daily, as we walk in faith and obedience, the Spirit will produce in us the character of Jesus: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).

This Lenten season, as we reflect on those words, '‘Come, follow me,” may we be willing to be taught and to recognize his authority. May we forsake whatever hinders our walk with him. And may we be open to his leading and allow him to transform us. May we be obedient to his calling and His Words

Next week, we continue our theme of Prepare Your Heart in a message titled “Take Up Your Cross.” Please read Mark 8:34-35