Week 1 - Day 1
THE RELATIONSHIP
Called to Jesus
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Map 2 of Follow The Way called The Relationship. Hopefully, you and your discipleship group have already finished Map 1 on The Story.
If you have embraced The Story of God’s great Rescue in Jesus Christ as your own, congratulations! You’ll find Map 2 on The Relationship a great way to deepen your relationship with Jesus.
If you are still processing your response to The Story, thanks for hanging in there. Map 2 on The Relationship will help you further consider who Jesus is and what His call is on your life.
If you haven’t completed Map 1 on The Story, it’s best to do that before proceeding to Map 2 on The Relationship.
As with Map 1, you could go through this material on your own, but you’ll get so much more out of it if you work through it with others. So continue with your discipleship group or find one. Also continue to record your answers and reflections for discussion at your Weekly Huddle.
THE RELATIONSHIP
Now that we have worked through The Story—a summary of the events, experiences, characters and teachings of the Bible—it might be easy to think that being a Christian is simply knowing and believing this Story. And that is vitally important, because that’s how the Christian walk begins. But it doesn’t end there. The ultimate goal is to be reconciled to God the Father through a relationship of following, trusting, loving and obeying His Son Jesus Christ.
That will be the outline for our first week together in The Relationship.
Called to Follow Jesus
Called to Trust Jesus
Called to Love Jesus
Called to Obey Jesus
CALLED TO FOLLOW JESUS
Matthew 4:19 (NIV)
Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me,”
Jesus calls us to follow Him. What does that mean?
Answer the following questions. Write them down so you can share them at your Weekly Huddle.
What does it mean to follow someone on Twitter?
Is that what Jesus has in mind when He says, “Come, follow me”? If not, what does Jesus have in mind?
If you were going to follow someone’s leadership, what would you need to know about that person?
In the Bible, a follower of Jesus is also called a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is a student or you can think of them as an apprentice or an intern.
What’s the purpose of an apprenticeship or internship? What’s the process?
What would the purpose and the process be for an apprentice or intern of Jesus?
Discipleship isn’t just about believing in Jesus. It’s also about developing a relationship with Jesus so that you become like Jesus in everything you think, say and do. It’s about being with Jesus so that you learn to live your life as if Jesus were in your shoes.
In the Bible story you’re going to read, you’re going to meet a tax collector and the Pharisees. The people of Jesus’ day hated tax-collectors not because they were like IRS agents of today, but because they worked for the enemy—the Romans. The Romans had conquered Israel, occupied their country and used Jewish tax collectors to raise revenue from the subjected people. Matthew is one of these Jewish tax collectors working for the Romans.
The Pharisees were a group of pious laymen who strictly lived according to Old Testament law and other Jewish traditions. In Jesus’ day, they were considered the religious experts. Often, however, these Pharisees became self-righteous religious snobs because they thought they had the corner on the market when it came to God and the Jewish faith.
Matthew 9:9-13 (NIV)
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Why is Jesus’ choice of Matthew so surprising?
What were the Pharisees so bent out of shape about?
Why is Jesus' answer to the Pharisees’ question so encouraging?
Who, then, is eligible to follow Jesus?
CALLED TO FOLLOW JESUS TOGETHER
Who came with Jesus to Matthew’s party?
How do you think Jesus’ other disciples felt about Jesus calling Matthew (a tax collector) to join their discipleship community?
Jesus’ call to follow Him is a call to be part of a community of people who are also following Him. The call to be a disciple of Jesus, though a personal calling from Jesus, is not an individualistic calling to Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus with other followers.
Mark 3:13-15 (NIV)
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
What does this passage say about the communal nature of Jesus’ call to follow Him?
Hebrews 10:23-25 (NIV)
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
“By definition, a disciple is disciplined—in both senses of the word. They are disciplined because they are committed personally to following Jesus and they are disciplined because they are accountable relationally for following Jesus. That’s why being in an accountability group of 3 to 4 Christ-followers is such a life-transforming thing. A community of disciplined disciples is what Jesus deeply desires and what the Holy Spirit can powerfully use.”
How can a community of Jesus followers help you follow Jesus?
Your Huddle has been meeting for some time now. How has your Huddle helped you follow Jesus?
CALLED TO FOLLOW JESUS’ WORD
For Jesus, the Bible and discipleship go together. To follow His word is to follow Him. To know and to believe and to act on His Word is where true life and true freedom is found.
John 8:31-32 (ESV)
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The word “abide” can mean to reside, to remain or to stay.
What does Jesus have in mind in calling us to abide in His word?
What are the results of abiding in His word?
In light of what you have discovered through the Bible readings and your personal reflections, how will you respond? Finish this sentence: I will …