by Denis Beausejour

Series: Kingdom Life

Message Outline

Series Message 12:
Kingdom Commitment - “Follow Me”
Text: Matthew 9:9 & Others

Series theme verse: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here....Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 4:17b, 11:30, The Message)

Kingdom Life series goals:

• Learn to think, act and be like Jesus - Matthew 5:48
• Live His radical love for God and for people - Matthew 22:37-39
• Going beyond the elementary teachings about Jesus - Hebrews 6:1
• Be like The Rabbi - spread his “yoke”, live his rhythm - Matthew 11:28-30
• Moving to maturity, by His confidence & His power - Acts 1:8
• Becoming the chosen royal priesthood - 1 Peter 2:9, Ephesians 3:20-21
• Ushering in the fullness of the Kingdom - Matthew 6:10
  Remember: Jesus believes we can become like him!

Remember: Jesus believes we can become like him!
 
Today's theme: "Follow Me" or "Keep company with me"

Jesus is quoted saying "follow me" twenty times in the Gospel accounts. While there is some duplication, I encourage you to look up these verses:

• Matthew 4:19, 8:22, 9:9, 10:38, 16:24-25, 19:21,
• Mark 1:17, 2:14, 8:34, 10:21,
• Luke 5:27, 9:23, 9:59-60, 14:27, 18:22,
• John 1:43, 10:27, 12:26, 21:19, 21:22.

In these verses, Jesus is asking for a total commitment - and he once expresses that as "lose your life." It can be daunting! At the same time, is the only way to becoming all that God created you for—to enter your destiny.

Context of Matthew 9:9:

As we saw in the short video at the beginning of this series, when Jesus said "follow me" he was carrying out the age-old rabbinical tradition of recruiting "talmudin"—young promising scholars who could learn from them and become like them—and eventually carry on their ministry and spread that Rabbi's yoke—his unique interpretation of the Scriptures. When Jesus asks Matthew to "follow me"—he was the hottest Rabbi in Israel and had amazed everyone with the authority of his teaching. That would sound so attractive and persuasive. It would be like being passed up by UC and Xavier after high school and then a few years later have a free ride offered to Harvard, accompanied by the most amazing person you had ever met!

Beyond this, Mike Durkee pointed out this week some neat things he had read about Matthew's response. He was a despised tax collector - a Jew who had "turned" and become an instrument of the hated Roman Empire. Tax collectors often oppressed their fellow Jews with outrageous demands, including a nice fat cut for themselves. The thing about Matthew is that his immediate obedience was in some ways even more costly than the fishermen like John and James—who could always go back to work for their father. As a tax collector, Matthew would have no way back to his job—he would lose it forever.

What did Jesus expect of his disciples?

Jesus spoke passionately and personally about his disciples and what he expected. He framed almost all his teaching in very personal language. He used ME hundreds of times to express his desires and standards of commitment. Here are some of the verbs he used in his commands for and descriptions of his disciples:

acknowledge me,  worthy of me,   receive me,
come to me,   hear me,   learn from me,
lose their life for me,  ask me,   invite me in,
listen to me,   welcome me,   searching for me,
rejoice with me,  remain in me,   feed on me,
know me,   look for me,   love me,
through me,   believe in me,   accept me,
trust in me,   faith in me,   see me,
bring glory to me,  be with me.

What does it mean to follow Jesus in 2007

The elders and staff have collaborated to develop a summary of what the Bible teaches about following Jesus. By definition, no such document can be complete in its own right — however, it can be a useful way to keep important things front and center, and to pray through regularly. This helps us band together and focus on the things that Jesus taught—especially the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). This summary statement is the link between our shared commitment as individual disciples and the overall purposes and commitments of our church.
 
We call this statement "Our way of life". 

The starting point is to embrace His grace—to exchange our sin and rebellion for the perfect life and work of Jesus, and to join his Resurrection and indestructible Kingdom. Anyone who has received Jesus—his sacrifice in our place, and his authority as God—has joined the Body of Christ ....not by works but by grace.

The second step is to follow Jesus in the process of transformation that theologians call sanctification. In this process, we surrender more and more of who we are and we are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. We become more like Jesus, and more like who we were created to be! This process requires our active choices and co-operation with God. "Our way of life" identifies 15 of the most important things we can do as believers to put ourselves in position to grow in God's grace.  

We encourage you to look up these verses and meditate through this statement often! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you know what this means for you today. He will show us each next step in order of priority - our job is to respond immediately and conform our lives to his leading and grace.

(Reference "Christ-Follower Commitment" from 1/28/2007)

Memory Verse for this Week: Hebrews 12:28-29 (NIV)

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire. 

This verse is fitting as a capstone to our series, because it helps us to see that we have a tremendous destiny. It helps us to see that our logical response to the gift of the Kingdom is gratitude and worship of God with reverence and awe. The last reminder is a quote of Isaiah 33:14, reminding us that God will always purify everything that is not holy in his relentless perfection. Better to be made holy now than to be mistaken about his purposes (see 1 Corinthians 3:10-15)!

Worship Response

Today we will have the opportunity to respond to the call of Jesus on our lives—in prayer, worship, singing, and also in signing our names on "Nehemiah's wall of living stones". Also, consider how you may want to continue to meet with your small group between now and the next formal small group series next Fall.

Resources for further study:

1.  The Passion of the Christ, film by Mel Gibson - a powerful experience in understanding just what Jesus did for us on Calvary. ... not appropriate for those under 12.
 
2.  How to Live Through a Bad Day, by Jack Hayford - wise insights from Jesus' final words from the Cross
 
3.  The Cross-Centered Life, by C.J. Mahaney - great perspective on keeping the gospel the main thing
 
4.  The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer - a classic with a great section on the cost of not following Jesus!
 

Preview reading for Holy Week:

Matthew 26:17 to 28:20 - The passion of the Christ and His resurrection

No prayer meeting this Wednesday. Please plan on attending our service Maundy Thursday at 7p, and also plan to pray along with the Prayer CD this week, especially on Good Friday. We will be observing a fast (bread and juice only) as we pray together next Friday.