As the start of a new college school year begins it brings along with it some great things happening in the College Ministry at First Baptist Cleveland. One is that my wife, Emily, and I have joined an awesome team of people to work in this ministry. We join Dean and Debbie White & Curtis and Jackie Crumbley who have been working hard over the last couple of years and have made a big impact on the lives of college students in Cleveland. We are looking forward to what God has in store for this upcoming year. Second is that the lesson taught on Sunday mornings in Connect Group at 11am will now be in blog form so that those who couldn't make it Sunday morn or those who are in school in another city can see what we are studying & stay on track for when they return. We want to make sure that everyone is connected & up to date on all that is going on. This is the first of the Connect Group blogs.
Change can be both a fear or a motivaion. To some of us change can be a scary thing or it can be a challenge that we can overcome. How do you view the word change? One thing is for certain, we have all experioenced some kind of major change in our lives. It could have been in the past, right now or there is something down the road. Two things we need to always remember about change: It happens & it never catches God off guard. In order to survive change we need to start with Jesus.
When I was 8, there was a major change that occured in my life. One week I got the flu, lost 10 lbs & was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Imagine being 8 in a hospital bed with an IV sticking out of your arm, band-aids on all figers b/c they've been pricked once every hour & developing a new hatred for the Colonel b/c you don't know if you'll be able to have any of his chicken ever again. Then, as if there wasn't enough, the dr. says that you, as an 8 year old little boy, will have to take insulin shots for the rest of your life. All I could see was no more fun. I was able to adapt to this change, but there has been more change that occured over the course of my life. I would later learn that fear was not the answer to change, faith in Christ was.
When we look closely at the disciples, we come to learn that Christ called them in the middle of whereever they were in their life. The Bible calls us to be set apart from this world & to be ambassadors for God's kingdom. When we say OK to Jesus' call to 'follow Me', at that moment everything changes. As with the disciples, they took this change, this call to be Jesus' ambassadors seriously. Peter, Andrew, James & John were in the fishing business together & left it all to follow Jesus. Matthew was a dishonest tax collector who immediately dropped what he was doing when Jesus came by & called him. Simon the Zealot was a political activist that answered Christ's call to change the world in a different way. All of the disciples left who they were when Jesus called them to follow Him & let Him change their lives.
In John 1:37-51 we learn a lot about the change Jesus brings into our life by seeing how He was when calling the disciples.
1. Jesus Is Approachable. John 1:37-39. The two men here were just tagging along & not yet committed to following Jesus. What we learn is that God desires for us to approach Him daily and that Jesus is welcoming when we do approach.
2. Jesus Impact Would Be Unforgettable & Central To Their Lives. John 1:39. This moment with Jesus was a life-altering experience with Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus should be a living, breathing relationship that has a distintive beginning point-whether you remember it or not.
3. Jesus Not Only Wanted To Change Their Lives, But The Lives Of Those Around Him. John 1:40-42. Andre went & found his brother Simon & brought him to Jesus. The very nature of the Gospel is that it was meant to be shared.Jesus made himself available to all people for all time.
4. Jesus Not Only Knew Them As They Were, He Knew Who They Would Become. John 1:42. When Jesus looked Simon, He saw who he would become, later Peter. God knows you, & He knows your potential. He accpets you as you are b/c He sees who you can become when transformed by Him. Don't discount yourself or those around you.
5. Jesus Was Pleased With Honesty & Questions. John 1:43-46. If these men were going to committ their lives to journeying with Jesus, they were allowed to question who He was. We don't have to be perfect & have everything figured out in order to follow Jesus. We are to give our lives to Him, trust in Him as He sanctifies & grow us along the journey.
6. Jesus Knew About These Men That No One Else Knew. John 1: 47-49. When Jesus told Nathanael about seeing him under the fig tree, He established himself as God to him. He knows everything about us & yet He still chose to die on the cross for us. He chose to love us & He still does. He knows our dreams, desires and hopes.
7. Jesus Desired To Teach Them More Than They Could Ever Imagine. John 1:50-51. In Vs. 51 Jesus is referring to Genesis 28:12, Jacob & the dream about the angels going up & down the ladder. Jesus established Himself as the Ladder, greater access to God. Jesus assures you that He will show you greater than you could ever imagine. You should never stop meeting wiht Him, but be careful not to settle in a place of comfort, familiar communion with God. He wants more for your life.
Jesus wasn't moving the disciples through change, but towards change. He wasn't freeing them from it, but calling themm to a life of it. The disciples would later be a part of leading 5,000 people to Christ in the first few chapters of Acts. They wanted others to be changed by Jesus just like they were.
Conclusion about change: 1. The world is constantly changing. 2. God never does. 3.He is God. 4. He's worth following. 5. Following Him changes us. How can we let God constantly change us? By following what Paul says in Romans 12:2. Our lives are changes as our minds are made new through the study of His Word so that we are able to discern God's good & perfect will for our lives.
Next week we'll look at how following Jesus casts out all fear.
*The material taught in this series is from the Bible study Follow Me by Jason Hayes, published by LifeWay Press in 2011. It is a part of their Threads study for college & young adults.
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