Tag: disciples

Categories
Mark Devotionals

First love

first love

 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:4)

I’ve been thinking about those words the past few days. What is the characteristic of first love? I think the main characteristic is joy.

What sparks first love for God? His mercy and love towards us. (1 John 4:19)

It seems the rich ruler never had that kind of love. He had never experienced his need for mercy, thinking that he was a pretty good person already. (Mark 10:19-20)

And so when Jesus asked him to give up all he had and to follow him, there was no joy. Only gloominess and sorrow. (21-22)

The disciples, on the other hand, did love Jesus, but their motivations were still very mixed, constantly thinking about what was in it for them for following Jesus. (28, 35-37)

But when Bartimaeus followed Jesus, he did so filled with joy. (Luke 18:43)

Why? Because he had asked for mercy and received it.

That’s first love.

Jesus looks at me and loves me. He “mercied” me. (Mark 10:21, 47)

I pray I never forget that or take it for granted.

I pray the same for you.

Because you first loved me,
Jesus, you will always be
You will always be
My first love. — Bob Hartman.

Categories
Matthew Devotionals

The disciples we’re raising

Blessed are the merciful

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are! (Matthew 23:15)

The Pharisees and scribes, needless to say, were terrible disciple-makers.

But Jesus’ words made me think, “What kind of disciples am I making? Of my daughter? Of the other people God has placed in my life?”

Do I ever put heavy loads on their shoulders that are hard to carry, and just tell them, “Good luck?”

Or are they people that know mercy as well as justice and faithfulness? (Matthew 23:23)

Do they see that mercy in me?

More importantly, do they know God’s mercy to them? Do they rest in that mercy? Do they rejoice in it?

And do they in turn show mercy to those around them?

Or are they constantly hard on themselves and just as hard on others?

Father, I want my daughter, my wife, and the people around me to see in me someone who is just and faithful.

But I also want them to see someone who is full of mercy. Who walks in your mercy and shows others that same mercy.

Help me to make disciples like that: disciples who know your mercy and show that same mercy to others.

Categories
Matthew Devotionals

Following Jesus

Matthew

If there’s one word you see in this passage, it’s “follow.”

You see it five times in this chapter, but not all are used in the same sense.

The crowds literally followed Jesus, but not all of their hearts belonged to him.

One man said he would follow Jesus, but it seems he had never thought about how hard it could be.

Jesus called another man to follow him, but that man seemed unwilling to leave his old life behind.

One thing I noticed is when the word “follow” was not used. After Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, the people in his town didn’t want to follow Jesus. They in fact asked him to leave.

But perhaps the most encouraging use of “follow” was in regard to his disciples.

They had followed Jesus for some time. Yet even then, they didn’t truly understand who he was. And instead of living by faith, they sometimes were ruled by their fear.

And yet, Jesus didn’t chase them away. Even when they would later fail him, he did not chase them away. Instead, he still let them continue as his disciples.

In short, they were his disciples by grace.

Sometimes, we fail as Jesus’ disciples. Sometimes we have little faith. Sometimes our priorities get messed up. Sometimes we sin.

But Jesus doesn’t give up on us. All he asks us to do is to get up and keep following him.

We are saved by his grace. And we follow him by his grace.

May we live each day by that truth.

Categories
Matthew Matthew 28

Making disciples

Matthew

Somehow in 35 years of reading scripture, it never really occurred to me that the events in Matthew 28 and Acts 1 were two separate events. One happened in Galilee and the other on the Mount of Olives.

It was perhaps here in Galilee that Jesus appeared not only to the 11, but to 500 other followers of Jesus as well, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:6.

It would also perhaps explain why “some doubted,” not the 11 disciples who had already seen him before, but the others who had come and who had yet to see the risen Lord.

Whatever the case may be, there was no doubt remaining once Jesus appeared and started speaking to them. He said,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:18-20)

It’s significant to me that Jesus didn’t simply say to go out and preach the gospel, although they were to do that too.

He told them to make disciples. Not of themselves, but of Jesus.

How were they to do that?

They were to baptize new believers first, as a sign of their commitment to Jesus.

What is baptism? What does it mean? It basically identifies you with Christ.

It’s saying, “Just as Christ died and rose again, I am dying to my old way of life, and rising up as a new person. And one day, after I die here on this earth, I will rise up and be with Christ forever.”

I think it’s very interesting that here in Japan, in some sense, even the non-Christians have a stronger idea of the implications of baptism than believers in the States do.

I have heard many stories of how parents have told their (adult) children, “Well, you can go to church, but don’t get baptized.”

That’s one of the biggest struggles that young believers face here. Will I take that step of baptism at the risk of alienating my family?

I think for many of the Jews, they faced the same kind of pressure from their families.

But if we are going to become true disciples of Christ, we need to get to the point where Jesus is more important to us than anything else. And baptism is a very visual and public way of proclaiming that.

Jesus also told his disciples that they were to teach people everything that he had taught them. And not only that, to teach them to obey.

A lot of Christians feel uncomfortable with that idea. After all, doesn’t it smack of legalism? And aren’t we saved by grace?

Yes, we are saved by grace. And no, we shouldn’t be presenting Christianity as a series of dos and don’ts.

But what we should be doing is reminding people that God really does love us. That he desires the very best for us.

And if we trust him enough for our salvation, shouldn’t we also trust him enough to believe that his way is best and to follow that way?

More, if we truly love him, shouldn’t we do the things that we know will please him?

In short, we need to be teaching people to draw closer to God in a relationship where they learn to love and trust him more every day.

It is, unfortunately, an area that the church all too often fails at.

As a result, we have a bunch of baby Christians that never really grow up. Christians who though they say they love God, nevertheless never really learn to trust God.

And because of that, their lives remain an utter mess.

Let us not make that mistake.

Let us not just preach the gospel, but teach young believers to be disciples of Christ, so that they will become people who love, trust, and obey him, growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Categories
Luke Luke 5 Mark Mark1 Matthew Matthew 4

Called to follow

The gospels

I do have to back up in time a bit. I just noticed I missed some crucial passages, namely where Jesus first calls the fishermen to follow him. (I’m sure this won’t be the last time I skip something by mistake.)

At any rate, these passages are a little difficult to harmonize, namely Matthew and Mark with Luke.

Any harmonization is purely speculative, but it is my guess that the events in Luke happened first, and that the events in Matthew and Mark happened shortly thereafter, perhaps a day or two later.

One day Jesus was trying to teach, but was getting pressed all the way back to the water by the huge crowds that were surrounding him.

Seeing Peter and his friends washing their nets nearby, he got into one of their boats and asked them to go out from shore a bit, and he taught from the water.

I’m not sure how much Peter and his friends wanted to do that. They’d just had a fruitless night of fishing, were tired, and probably wanted to go home. But they did as Jesus asked.

After Jesus finished teaching, however, he told them to go out further into the water to catch some fish.

At that point, Peter reached his limit. He was tired, discouraged, and wanted to waste no more time fishing this day. He certainly didn’t want to take any advice on fishing from a carpenter.

So he said,

Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. (Luke 5:5a)

But Jesus never wavered and just looked at Peter until he finally mumbled,

But because you say so, I will let down the nets. (Luke 5:5b)

So Peter and his friends went out, probably totally embarrassed. After all, nobody went fishing at that time of day. There were simply no fish to be had, and their friends in the other boat were probably all laughing at them for following Jesus’ advice.

But when they let down the nets, there were so many fish, Peter soon called his friends in the other boat to come help them, and there were so many fish, both boats began to sink.

At first, Peter was probably exuberant. But then it sank down in his heart what had just happened. He realized that this Jesus was much more than just an ordinary teacher.

And so he fell to his knees, and said,

Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man! (Luke 5:8)

But Jesus answered,

Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men. (Luke 5:10)

Again this is pure speculation, but I’m guessing that Luke compressed what happened next.

I’m guessing that they all went home that night. It’s possible that Jesus wanted them to reflect on all that had happened and the words he had spoken to them.

And then, perhaps the next morning, or shortly thereafter, while Peter and Andrew were fishing, and while James and John were mending their nets, Jesus made his formal call to them saying,

Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19)

And when they heard it, they left everything to follow him.

What can we get from this?

First, Jesus’ grace extends to us and covers all our sins and failures, just like it covered Peter’s. He didn’t condemn Peter for his sin. Rather, he called Peter into a new life.

Second, you don’t need special qualifications to follow Jesus. You don’t need to go to seminary or Bible school. Peter and his friends were simple, uneducated fishermen. But Jesus called them anyway as his primary disciples.

Third, the most important thing for us to do is to trust him and to obey him. We don’t need to understand all the whys for the things Jesus asks us to do.

But we do need a heart that says, “But because you say so, I will.” We need a heart that is willing to let go of everything we hold dear in order to follow him.

Finally, as his followers, we are called to join in Jesus’ work. To bring others into the kingdom of God.

Will you be like Peter and his friends. Will you follow the Master’s call?