I actually really tried hard this week to strive for brevity, which apparently is NOT my gift in Sunday School Prep… so we’ll see how I do!
Intro
Popping right out of our passage last week, immediately following Jesus’ temptation, is where we find ourselves. Jesus learns that John the Baptist had been taken into custody, I read in one of my commentaries that Jesus’ movement from Gailiee was partly in response to John’s imprisonment.
Not only was Capernaum a less obscure town than tiny Nazareth, but it was also within the “turf” of Herod Antipas, who imprisoned John for questioning his marriage to his brother’s wife. So Jesus actually left an area (Galilee) and went pretty boldly into the turf in which Herod controlled.
It also fulfilled the prophecy we see in Matt. 4:15-16, which is actually Isa. 9:1-3. It’s really amazing when we look it up, and see the connections. I don’t want to be a broken record, but this is why reading and re-reading the WHOLE Bible again and again. Our brains make the connections, and see the dots. It’s amazing what Jesus is doing not just because He is Jesus and beginning His ministry, but because He is fulfilling so much that has been longed for, for so long. The nation of Israel at this point has waited in darkness, been adrift — and now, hope has come.
We could dwell here a LONG time, and probably should.
It’s worth treasuring these kinds of things in our heart.
He is beginning to fulfill the Kingdom that God always wanted for His people.
His message even draws us back to the same heart of repentance that Yahweh sought in the desert all those years before with His people in the wilderness.
Following & Learning
When we look in the next passage, we see Jesus’ ministry begin. He picks up right where John the Baptist left off, seemingly without skipping a beat, calling for repentance and declaring the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
In Matt. 4:18-22, Jesus starts gathering the first of His followers. I love this part — because their response is so dramatic, and pure, and real. They immediately left their work, and followed after Jesus. Think about that, really slow down and ponder it. They are truly uprooting all of their life, to follow a new Master. To apprentice after Jesus, learn His ways, follow His rhythms.
It’s amazing — our ability to follow Jesus obviously looks a little different, But it’s so important to really pause and consider — do we follow Jesus with such earnestness? Do we seek to learn things by following Him? Are we learning His character? Are we seeking to emulate our Master too?
Clearly these young men felt completely called to this new life — following Jesus.
So if Jesus is calling us to follow Him with the same heart, the same conviction, the same “new life”, what steps do we take?
For Peter and Andrew, it’s somewhat symbolic. They physically left their “tools of the trade”, their old life, their connection to the past — for what they believed they were called to. AMAZING!
That all said, I know it’s not quite as physically dramatic for most of us (but perhaps for some) —
What does it look like to follow Jesus in our culture, in this age of the world?
I have some general thoughts:
- We consider our work, our play, our leisure in light of Scripture, not what the “world” says.
- We are engaged, but not dependent on the world political power systems for our confidence and assuredness — we serve a greater King.
- We see our blessings (gifting, time, money, belongings) in light of a stewardship mentality — we are to care for it, it’s not ultimately ours, and it can be a means of blessing others too.
- We seek a life of humility, not pride, not self-promotion, but a life that points others to Jesus.
- The words we use, are to build up, not tear down.
- Our thought life matters, we are to pray for those who upset us — not deride them and seek their humiliation.
No doubt we could go on and on — but we are not of this world when we are following Jesus. We are being formed and fashioned for a new Kingdom, a spiritual, heavenly Kingdom.
Think back to how Yahweh was directing the Hebrews in the wilderness, they were to be among pagan, evil people — but they were to be set apart & holy. There were God’s People, coming into God’s Kingdom.
BUT NOW, we have Jesus to user this in, where humans failed — Jesus is victorious.
Good News
Looking at the last section, Matt. 4:23-25, we see the exciting spread of Jesus’ teaching. He is proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom, He is healing people, the GOOD NEWS quite literally is spreading. I don’t ever get tired of reading about the spreading of Jesus’ message to the world around Him. It’s intoxicating — I wish I could have seen it.
But I feel that way about most of the great revivals I’ve ever learned about. It’s exciting because people are hearing and being given HOPE. People are learning there is another way, a better way. They are realizing the broken patterns in which they have lived are not forever. They are waking up, and seeing the Light. It’s miraculous and beautiful and awesome.
So I must ask… why are we hesitant to share the good news of Jesus? We would we not want to give people the hope of the Kingdom of God?
I know for me, I’ve said or heard some of these:
- What if they reject it?
- What if they reject me?
- What if they mock it?
- What if I lose something dear to me?
- What if I don’t have the right words?
Well, as I typed that list — I realized (Holy Spirit) that Jesus literally answered all of those in Scripture.
- What if they reject it?
- What if they reject me?
- What if they mock it?
- What if I lose something dear to me?
- What if I don’t have the right words?
In Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit — we need not fear. We serve a better King. We belong to a Kingdom that can never end, that cannot be destroyed. We belong to Him.
Wrap Up
I will keep my wrap up notes short. I am really working on that brevity goal these days (new personal goal).
Big question I want to land on:
“What should our lives look like if we see ourselves as an “apprentice” under Jesus, as a true follower of Jesus?”
I don’t think this is about perfection, nor a “holier than thou” attempt. I think this is more practical, and more about sanctification. Learning and following (Jesus) implies that it’s a process, a journey — perhaps a lifetime?
So we have become well acquainted with a life of:
- Always learning, humble, hungry, earnestness
- Being open to transformation (central to sanctification)
- Continually keeping spiritual growth as top priority in a world of distraction
- Dedication, steadfast loyalty to a new kind of Kingdom — the Kingdom of God
Lord, help us to follow You, help us to reflect Your beauty, Your rhythms, Your Kingdom.
Brian Maloy 
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