Will you follow?

I wrote this talk back in September and my youth wanted access to it so I'm uploading it here.

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Matt 4:18

Have you ever heard people talk about our generation?

That our generation is a selfish generation and we think it’s "all about us."

This one time I really wanted to go to youth group & my mum wouldn’t let me go. I begged her, “Mum its only a 15 minute drive and someone else will bring me home, please it won’t take long, i’ll clean my room tomorrow….”

I’d got her so angry that she went dead….quiet and almost growled.

“IT NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!!!”

Has someone ever said that to you? That you should think about someone other than yourself.

I don’t feel selfish though. I love my friends. I love you guys. If you need help, I’m there! I’d help an old lady cross the street.

You know? I don’t feel like I’m self centred or self focused.

But then there’s this “encouragement” we hear.

“Love yourself,” “do it yourself” “you can do it.” “you can be anything you want to be.”

And behind these “encouragements” are the messages

• that we have to do it alone
• that it’s all on us
• and it’s all about us.

From an early age we are asked what we want to be when we grow up.

Its cute to ask a kid “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and they say “A dinosaur.”

But when you're in highschool we get asked this question frequently. “What will you be? What will you do? Are you going to Uni? How will you support yourself? Will you buy a house? Will you be rich?

You know the Game of Life? It’s kinda like this. Living 65 years for a comfortable “few years” in retirement. Focusing your life on what you want and how much money you make in the end. Who got the best house? Who got a husband or a wife? Who won the lottery? Who won second prize in a beauty contest? Or is that Monopoly?

All of these games are the same in that sense. The “winner” is the one who has the most, the best, the biggest etc.

Is this how life should be?

Is this how you want life to be?

This is the life my parents want me to lead. With their “good intentions” they saw a merit/excellence student and said “lets encourage her to be a lawyer” Never mind she’s the top drama student. That won’t pay anything, Lawyers get the big bucks. So lets encourage and push her into this so she will win the game of life, find a wealthy husband, send her kids to a good school, she will provide for herself and her whanau.

She will be SAFE.

Life with Jesus doesn’t look like this . Life with Jesus isn’t about how much money you can get or how safe you can be.

We sing all of these songs about Jesus calling us out beyond the waters, but do we really want to go?

Jesus told the fishermen to leave their nets, their livelihood, their way of making money and said Come follow me, haere mai.

What would this look like for us today?

We hear that Jesus died for us not so we can be content but so we can have life to the full. Abundant life in him.

Not just safe quiet picket fence life.

“The great unknown, where feet may fail” .

Is this somewhere we are willing to Go for Jesus?

"Wherever you would call me."

Are we willing to follow?

I’m not saying self love is all bad. I’m all for a healthy self esteem but 'gettin’ the gains' at the gym & having the most likes on that Instagram post and having that bikini body is not goals.

Listen.

Those endorphins you get each time someone likes your pic disappear as fast as they come. They are fleeting and not sustainable.

I’m all for Social Media, I think it can be an incredible medium to encourage people and celebrate life. But when we use it in a way that becomes negative, we need to take a step back.

Likes hinder more than they help.

They will not sustain you.

They are not the point of this life we have been given.

It’s not Game of Life - Jesus Edition.

Life with Jesus isn’t a game at all.

We probably wont have the most money at the end. In fact Jesus says it is far harder for those who have more to get into the kingdom of heaven.

What does Jesus tell the disciples after He says come follow me?

I will make you fishers of men.

See our salvation, the fact that we know Jesus loves us and died for us and that we are saved because of this, isn’t even about us. It is to go out and help more people hear this good news. We need to cast our nets wide and not be ashamed of our faith. It is through His grace and mercy that we are saved, and this has nothing to do with how popular or good we are. All of that glory goes to him. We are saved when we turn to Him.

What do James and John have to leave behind?

Their father. They leave their dad, their whanau. There are things we have to sacrifice to follow Jesus. Maybe its that reputation in school, because if they know you're Christian maybe they’ll think you’re weird. Maybe its that boy or that girl that is no good for you. Maybe it’s giving up your Friday nights to spend time with Jesus and talking about Him.

Jesus died for us that we might have life and life to the full. God saw us in our sin and decided that we were worth saving but this doesn’t make it all about us. The fact that we know this good news to be true means we need to share it. This joy we feel, to know we aren’t alone, that it’s not all on us, that the pressure to write this talk wasn’t all on me. This joy should fill us to overflowing that we explode with praise.

Jesus decided you were worth it because He is great. Not because we are. Through Him we become Beloved Children of God. We aren’t saved because we win the game. We are saved because He is incredible and far more than we can imagine.

This is GOOD NEWS because don’t have to strive for more and more and more just to be happy. We can find our joy, our strength, our courage in the one who gives us life.

He is sustainable.

• It’s not all about us. He is greater.
• We don’t have to do it alone. He is with us.
• It’s not all on us. He carries us.

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me.” Jesus said.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Matt 16:25

I am a beloved child of God. I will follow Him.