Jesus Calls His Disciples

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Notice there that Isaiah 9 carries with it the idea of the son of David and the throne of David. From Matthew 1 to 4, here, there's actually a unit. Jesus has come to be the son of David. That's what is established from Genesis, from Matthew 1, citing that genealogy that ends all genealogies. We saw in Isaiah 1, another citation from Isaiah. He's God with us, coming to be God's salvation for his people. We've seen the idea that Satan is going to try to tempt him with kingdoms, but Jesus makes it clear, no, we will worship God alone. There's something significant here about this son born, Jesus Christ, from Isaiah 9, establishing the government of God, establishing the throne of David to bring about the peace God's people needs. We see Jesus' mission very clearly, I think, as we look at Isaiah 9 in light of where he's going and what he's doing. Jesus' mission is to bring God's light into the midst of our darkness. Jesus' mission is to be the king who established the forever rule of God's peace in the midst of this world of chaos and destruction. Jesus' mission is to establish God's good rule for his people that will bless them. It's very important we have a right understanding of what this means. His mission is to change people's lives. His light comes into our own darkness. He introduces what true worship is while we're practicing false worship. He comes to the rebellious to help us become less unruly and to submit to his good rule. Jesus comes so that we'll be less destructive and we become a happier, healthier version of ourselves. This is the reality. Jesus comes to make us the best version of who we might be. That sounds a little prosperity gospel. It's because Jesus came to give you true human flourishing in the prosperous way of God. Jesus came to help you become the true image bearer he designed you to be, who he died and rose again to make you. He doesn't come to make you the best version that you want to be. He comes to reform you, to shape you, to transform you, so that you know God more clearly, so that you represent God more truly. If you look at the rule of God here and the kingdom that Jesus comes, He never says to stop doing something that's not bad for you. He never commands you to do something that's not ultimately good for you. He comes as the king to bring light into our darkness. That's good for us. Look at verses 23 to 25. Notice the outcome of his kingdom breaking in.

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the peoples. So his fame spread throughout all Syria. And they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

He goes out and he's teaching everywhere. And the people are bringing him every sickness and every infirmary and every possible disease, and he's healing them. The light shines in the darkness to bring healing. The light shines in the darkness to bring a wholeness. The light shines in the darkness to bring peace where there's chaos and destruction. There is nothing wrong with us that Jesus cannot cure. It's important we realize his kingdom is one of restoration. It's important we realize his kingdom is one that sees all our problems, our failures, our suffering, our difficulties, our sin, and he himself is the solution. Now, he never promises he'll heal every sickness for those who believe. He even tells Paul, I'm going to give you an infirmity, I'm going to give you a problem so that you'll always know to depend upon me. What we must see is Jesus is able and he's come to heal us, specifically of all our sin that keeps us from truly knowing God. Now, if we were to look at verse 23 and 25, isn't this the Jesus everyone likes? The healing, making better, happier Jesus. He is the healing, making better, happier Jesus. But if we just leave it at this, if he were just the healer and all sickness is gone, everyone wants to believe in this Jesus. His fame is growing because he's helping people with real felt needs. It's amazing, and three years later, he's gonna be mocked, betrayed. They're gonna cry crucify, and they're gonna crucify. Now, what happens? Well, I believe it's because he's going to remain faithful in confronting sin and declaring, repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. If his ministry is to restore, we need to understand his message. That's our next point. Jesus's message. His ministry is to shine light, to make whole, to heal. Here we see a major transition in the book of Matthew, verse 17.

From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Uh, this is one of the markers in Matthew. You can go to chapter 16, verse 21. And if you're taking notes, if you're highlighting, if you have one of those journals, you want to make sure you're, you're, you're highlighting those two verses, because those are two transitional texts. This is a transition to his public ministry of teaching. That's going to then lead to the Sermon on the Mount and the further teaching in Galilee, which is more general. And then 1621 is a transition towards disciple making on the way to his, uh, his last year on earth to the cross. Let's focus on this declaration, though. His summary teaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. That should sound familiar. It's what we saw John the Baptist teaching. The last Old Testament prophet gave the same declaration and message as the son of God, the Messiah he was proclaiming. There's wonderful continuity there that we can appreciate. But here, let's just look at this phrase. It's worthy of a longer meditation, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We see a command and a declaration. The command is repent, the declaration, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let's just focus on that declaration because that's the rationale for the command. The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, both of these are the same phrase for the same object. It's the same kingdom Isaiah was just speaking of, the government being established, the promise given to David in 2 Samuel 7 is tied to that Isaiah 9 promise. There will be a son of David who will establish a throne of David forever and it'll be good for God's people. I would say this even goes back to Exodus 19, where the people of Israel become the nation of Israel, they're declared a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. We saw this last spring, And Daniel, Daniel 2 and 7, it's also tied to this idea that the kingdom of God is at hand. There's going to be a forever king who will establish a forever kingdom over against all other kingdoms. God's people has been, they've been longing for a kingdom. And now he says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I believe the significance is the king is with them declaring it. There's a big when question. Folks like to know when this kingdom is going to come, and well, I don't have any charts for you today. When is this kingdom going to happen? Well, there's a sense in which it's at hand, it's imminent, it's drawing near. That's easy to understand because the king's speaking. There's something about the inauguration of this kingdom that is imminent because the king is there declaring the kingdom. There's something about it rushing in as he's begun his public ministry. The kingdom that's been promised is present because the king is present, while it might not be truly complete yet. Well, what kind of kingdom? This is also important. Let's be clear about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God on Earth. God is breaking into his creation. God took on human nature to enter into this creation in a unique covenant away. The king has come to restore humanity by becoming like us. The king becomes the absolute deliverer from Satan, sin and death by dying on the cross and rising again for us. The king has come to establish God's good rule for his people. The king comes to establish right worship as God deserves. What kind of kingdom? It's one that's good for us. It's one that breaks into this earthly realm. And I want us to think about what kind of kingdom it is. Last week, if you're with us, Satan takes Jesus up onto a mountain and says, hey, look at all those kingdoms. Look at all those earthly kingdoms With men on thrones, if you bow down and worship, then you can have those thrones. Jesus says, I will worship. No, you're not to worship or serve anyone but God. I think it's important, Jesus hasn't come to set up those kind of kingdoms. You see, his throne is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He reigns throughout all this earth in all kingdoms. Jesus isn't coming to set up another earthly kingdom. He's not that kind of Christian nationalist. Jesus has come to set up a kingdom of priests that are among all the nations. There are no boundaries for this king or this kingdom. His message is going throughout all nations, among all peoples, to establish a new kind of heavenly citizenship that's made up of all nations, tribes, In tongues, it's a holy nation that does not have boundaries. It's everywhere among every nation to shine the light of God as he first designed. The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is a key concept. I always go back in the garden, there's a kingdom aspect. There's good rule. God rules. He comes and he says, this is what's good for you. I'm gonna give you everything you ever wanted. Things you didn't even know you wanted, all the trees, all the fruit. But there's rules, you don't eat of this one tree. There was a kingdom there and that God is the king and we were meant to be his people under his command and we rejected him. When Christ comes back, That good rule is going to be right because sin will no longer get in the way of our hearing his good commands and our obeying his good commands. You see, God's kingdom requires two key ingredients if we're gonna think about it rightly. It's God's right rule exercised over his people and it's his people's right response to his right rule. The kingdom of God is God's right rule for his people and his people's right response to his right rule. Now, if we ever ask what's wrong with the kingdom, the problem is never God's rule. It's always right. It's always good. That means the question is, are we responding in the right way? Are we trusting him? Are we obeying him? In the Old Testament, it was God's people waiting for a king, Now that king has come, now a new covenant is here. It's new and it's better. God's not setting up an earthly throne to rule in a earthly way. He's ascended. He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us so that we can establish, help him establish this kingdom by proclaiming him. If you want to know more of what this means for the kingdom of God, just look at the next section. If the kingdom of God is God's right rule and us having a right response, if you wanna know what kind of rule God has, it's demonstrated really well there for you in chapters five to seven. And let's just look at the first things he teaches as we really are double-clicking on what it means for God to rule. Jesus opened his mouth and taught them, verse two. Notice a key repetition. Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. God's king has come to bring God's blessings. God's king has come to bless God's people with his good rule.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is a kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Christ has come to bless. Now, I realize many of those blessings are coming in a situation you don't wanna be in. Persecuted, weak, poor, Mourning. But God's kingdom is not like anything in this world. We call it the upside down kingdom for a reason. He lifts up those who are lowly and takes down the prideful. The kingdom gives us everything we need and also expects everything from us because there's a way in which he's expecting we're going to be citizens of his kingdom who receive all the blessings and take on the responsibility. The key for us here is to recognize his rule is good. His call to us as his king is good. What he's offering us in the kingdom of heaven, a new kind of citizenship, it is good. And what we need to do is make sure we have the right response to his right rule. That's why the command in this first message or the summary message of Jesus is repent. Notice there, verse 17, he began to preach, simple summary of his message for all people.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This little word needs to be always at the forefront of our mind. It assumes and implies something is wrong with us, and that It's also an invitation. There's a weight to it because it assumes there's something wrong that needs to be turned away from. It assumes change is needed, but it also invites change as possible. It invites a better way, and it tells us there's a way to live more clearly and fully according to the king and the kingdom. Repent is a charge, identifying a problem, and an invitation and a prescription, a solution. It carries with it the entirety of the Christian life. We get to turn away from sin and turn to Christ. We get to turn away from ourselves and turn to God. If you're driving and you're going the wrong direction, you repent. It means you're going to actually turn your physical direction around. If you get an answer wrong on a test, you repent. You now know the right answer to that test question. If you fall in love with a narcissist, you repent. You redirect your affection and your love. Repent. When it comes to the kingdom of God, it changes the way you think. Love. Prioritize. It changes the way you use your checkbook and your calendar. The kingdom of God is at hand. The king has come. It redirects our loves and our commitments. The king who dies for your sin to forgive you of what you need to repent of invites you into life that he purchased for you. The king has come to exercise his good rule. Repent is tied to one of Jesus' commands for all disciples, deny yourself. And it's easy to think about deny yourself when it comes to sin, things that are truly destructive, that we're able to see are destructive. Jesus calls us out of things that destroy us, that bring death, that drive us away from God. Sometimes Jesus calls us to repent of good things that we've just overprioritized and don't know how to have good self-restraint in. The most important thing about the word repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand is Jesus saying, repent, I've come to give you myself. I've come to give you grace. I've come to give you forgiveness. This is a simple summary of the message, I believe, of Jesus. Again, if you want to understand more of what repent, the kingdom of God is at hand, read the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount. That's where we see more of what his good rule looks like. If you're not a Christian this morning, repent. Jesus has come to forgive you of the sin that you will be judged for. He is a righteous God and will judge every sin with perfect righteousness. He's a just God. He's come to be just like you yet without sin so that he could die for you in your place. He comes to give you forgiveness and new life. He who created you and designed you will give you his own life, wisdom on how to enjoy the life he created for you and rose again to give you. Repent, it means believing Jesus, who is the wisdom of God, the Lamb of God, the Son of God. Christian, have you stopped repenting? It's just a good reflective question. Have you stopped repenting? When was the last time you repented? Because the whole Christian life is meant to be one of repentance. The fear is that we have hidden sins that we don't know about, and we have hidden sins that we're hiding. Repentance is a good invitation. Yeah, it's putting the finger on a wound or a part of life that's hard and difficult. It's putting the finger on something wrong, but it's doing so that God can make it right. Repentance is God's invitation to receive healing. Repentance is the king's invitation to draw closer. He is the king. He has come to rule righteously. He is our good king. Now, it'd be helpful if we had some illustrations of what repentance looked like. And so we have verses 18 to 22. We see two demonstrations of repentance.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. 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. Immediately, they left their boat and their father and followed him.

Now let's just make some good observations right out of the gate here. Verse 20 and 22 are almost identical. Immediately they left, they followed. The only difference is in 22 is they also leave their father. 22 only adds another element. But notice Jesus calls, follow me. We assume at the end of verse 21 it's the same thing, follow me. The scene is repeated, there's two brothers, there's two sets of brothers, Andrew, Peter, James, John, and this is the kind of internal, of the 12 disciples, these four are the ones who are regularly closest to Jesus. Follow me. Immediately they left everything and they follow. What do we make of this? First, Jesus' message of repent includes following him. That ain't right. Jesus' message of repent requires following him. Jesus' message to repent requires following him. When we place our faith in Jesus, We're recognizing everything about the way we were going as the wrong way. And now that he saved us from that way, we're going to want to figure out how we're going to start moving our direction his way. Repentance requires following. He has not called us to be forgiven of sins. He wants us to keep wallowing in. He calls us out of sin to himself. He calls us to be ruled under him, who's a good God who gives us himself. Jesus says, follow me, real faith must follow. And notice for these disciples, it costs them everything. This is kind of hard for us. There's like three or four townies in here. There's only like a handful of people ever from Charlottesville. If you find one like it's a it's like a gold star day. We move all the time. We're not dependent upon a people and a location and a farmland. We move constantly. Stop it, stay here, but we'll keep moving the sermon. These folks, people are dependent upon their families, their livelihoods, the one trade they might learn. For these guys to pick up and leave their fishing practice and their fishing hole and their father and their land, That is putting themselves in great danger. They're leaving everything they've known of security and life in order to trust Jesus. He's got something better. And that culture to do this would have not only been dangerous for them, but offensive. You're leaving your family? You're leaving the community? They would have been dependent upon as citizens of that community, but Jesus has something better for them. They're gonna be fishers of men. They're gonna be citizens of a different kingdom. They're gonna be proclaiming a Christ. Now, I don't believe this is the first time they've heard of him. Andrew and Simon have already heard Jesus declared from John the Baptist,

behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin to the world.

But I think what's happening is they hear the voice of their creator and their savior, while not knowing fully who he is quite yet, and they're willing to leave everything to follow him. They will learn over time and they will fail while they're learning over and over again. Who Jesus is, but repentance here means they're willing to lose everything. That they're willing to walk away from anything that they understand in order to be near Jesus. Christian, are you seeking to follow Jesus as closely as possible? or is there still this temptation I'm gonna hold on to something because of the comfort and security it gives me, even though you know it's holding you back from knowing Jesus?

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.

Following Jesus is the first and most important commitment that determines every other commitment. Now, notice they're leaving their livelihood. Good news, you don't have to leave your work in order to follow Jesus. You might have to. There's certain work that you cannot do while worshiping Jesus. But if you're going to commit to following Jesus, it means you change the way you work. It means you change why you work. Our Wednesday night series is on work. I started that series last Wednesday on Genesis 128 with the creation mandate. And some folks asked me questions about something I said, so I get to clarify it. That's what's nice about having a second opportunity. I said, if you're taking every opportunity to advance in your work and realize your personal ambition and potential so that you never say no, you're doing it wrong. I'm very clear what I just said. If you never say no, you're not following Jesus closely. You are going to have to say no to opportunity in this world in order to be more faithful and available to follow Jesus. If you take every opportunity to become, to fulfill your own personal ambition, you're not following Jesus near enough. It doesn't mean you say no to everyone. But if you're never saying no to opportunities in this world, you're not really saying yes to every opportunity you have to follow Jesus. Advancements, they take you away from family meals too often. Bedtimes with children that grow up too fast. Less available to be a disciple and to disciple others. Following Jesus means you learn how to prioritize your whole life, your family, your work, You see, we've we've created this kind of division without a difference. We think we're going to follow Jesus, but then we're going to figure out how to do it our way. Now, this is what true worship is. You worship the right God the right way. You follow the true Jesus, his one and only true way. Citizens of the kingdom of Christ follow Jesus his way. Young folks. College students. I want to urge you to consider the patterns you are practicing now at this very formidable age and consider what kind of patterns it's going to set forth for you the rest of your life. Ask older believers around you what kind of patterns you should have right now because you might think, well, I have all this freedom, I have all this time, I'll put into practice the things I know I should do later. Trust me. You're only gonna get more busy, and you're only gonna have more reasons not to do what you know you should do. If you're young, if you're a college student, put into practice being faithful, available, and teachable now. Be regularly practicing present ministry, presence in a local church, in a college ministry. Be expected and dependable. Now is the time to learn those particular habits that are going to help you grow and be faithful and fruitful for the rest of your life. Adult believers and disciples. It's harder to change, but God's grace is sufficient. An important concept with the word follow me is being present. I was teaching our discipleship class the acronym Faithful, available, teachable. That's what a disciple is. It's very difficult to be a disciple if you're not available. Where you are in presence is where you are investing your discipleship. Is it with other believers in a way that you're growing and helping others grow? The call to be near Jesus is a call to be with other disciples and helping each other grow up into him. Our conviction is that Ephesians four is true, that when every member is doing their work, the whole body grows up together. Every believer, every disciple is dependent upon and should be dependent upon. We have a individualism and consumerism. We only want to come to the things that we think are really going to bless us. Now, I want to encourage you, a mature disciple says, I want to be where other Christians are so that I can help grow with them and help them grow. For consumers, we're only going to check off the things that seem the most appealing to us. If we're following Jesus, we're going to say, how can I help other members of his body grow so that I can grow with them? I fear we look at Jesus and say, I'll follow you, but this is how I want to follow you. I follow you, but here's my list of demands. This is like an employee going through the direct report and saying, I don't like this job description. I want half of these things removed, and while doing it, I need you to add to my pay. That's what we do with Jesus. We say, well, I don't like these expectations, but you should give me more grace. And this is what's so amazing about it. We know, we think we can do this because our king is so merciful. Our king promised he'll never leave us or forsake us. You can't get fired from being a citizen. Praise God. Let's try that again. You can't be fired from being a citizen of the kingdom. But when we take that for granted and say, I'm only going to do what I like in the citizenship responsibilities. I'm only going to follow you so close. It's a presuming upon grace that only robs you from knowing the fullness of God's blessing. Jesus calls us to repent. He is the good king who has good rule, and the invitation to follow him means we're willing to leave behind any and everything that keeps us from knowing him, enjoying him, and making him known. It's a wonderful way of life, Christian. One worthy of losing everything. It's a way to enjoy being a citizen of heaven. It's a way of enjoying the blessing of Christ. May we pray that we would know how to respond in a right way to God's right rule. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you did not leave us in our sin. But you made promises, and now in Jesus we've seen over and over again the fulfillment of God has become with us as the Son took on flesh. You have brought your salvation in person in Jesus Christ. You've proclaimed him your Son, with whom you are well pleased, and we've seen how he's overcome Satan. What we look forward to seeing how he overcomes death, and we thank you for the clear message. We are not stuck in the sin that so easily entangles us. But we can look to Jesus who frees us, who calls us to himself, who helps us follow him, who draws us close to him. Lord, may we know how to walk together in his grace, following our good king. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.