Quick recap of the storyline so far.

The adult man Jesus makes a public declaration to dedicate His life to the service of God by immersion in the waters of the Jordan River by John the Baptist. John identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Holy Spirit falls on him like a dove and an audible voice from heaven declares Jesus as God’s beloved Son with whom he is well pleased. 

Next Jesus undergoes a 40 day fast in the wilderness, where his character and resolve are severely tested by Satan. Jesus employs the word of God to fight back and triumphs with his integrity, anointing and calling strengthened.

After this process of commissioning and testing, Jesus is prepared to begin his earthly ministry.

Now let’s pick up the storyline with Jesus calling His First Disciples Reading from John 1:35

John 1:35

35 The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37 When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.

They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41 Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).

Does this sound familiar to you?

“Our mission is to make disciples for the transformation of the world”.

To make a disciple, you must first be a disciple. That’s where your journey begins, at that moment of decision. Your response orients the entire trajectory of your life journey.

The calling of Jesus is extremely simple. The gospel of Mark records this same story this way:

“Come and follow me and I will make you disciple-makers of men.” Mark 1:17

The response of Simon and Andrew is immediate, radical, and completely life altering. Their response to the invitation of Jesus was to change the entire history of the world.

“At once, they left … everything they had ever expected to do with their lives … and followed Jesus.”  Mark 1:18

Then Jesus calls James and John.

“Right away he called them and they dropped what they were doing and left their father, their boat and their fishing business  to follow Him as His disciples.” Mark 1:20

Why would they do that? Was this impulsive, irresponsible and reckless behavior?

Well, Jesus was not a stranger to them. Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and John adamantly declared “someone is coming after me who is a lot more powerful” and as we saw in John 1:35 “Behold! The Lamb of God!”

The spirit of God in Jesus was so obvious to those with eyes to see.

There was something about being in the presence of Jesus – seeing Him, hearing Him – that connected beyond their human senses and resonated with their spirit.

I’m sure Jesus was a winsome, charismatic personality. But there was something else about Jesus. Something powerful and divine, beyond logic and wisdom, that awakened their spiritual eyes and hears. Something that can only be explained as divine, or transcendent or supernatural.

I remember when I said “yes” to Jesus and gave my life to him. There was something deep in my spirit that simply knew following him was the right thing to do.

Something about Him stirred my very soul. I knew that I knew.

Maybe you’ve had that same kind of experience, I hope you have.

John Wesley had this type of experience, as many Methodists will be quite familiar with his Aldersgate story: “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone …”

My point is this. Somewhere in your life journey, a decision must be made – to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, or not.

To be a disciple, you’ve got to be all in.

So if Jesus was speaking to you right now, directly: “Come and follow me and I will make you a disciple-maker.”

What would your answer be? Would you be all in?

Prayer:

Jesus you invite us to “come and see, to follow you and become fishers of men. May our answer be “yes Lord” and may we become “all-in” for Jesus. In the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

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Daily Worship Devotionals is a 5-minute podcast dedicated to studying the Word of God and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Currently, we are following the Christian year calendar as our framework. We’re in the season of Epiphany – the Season of Light and exploring the early life of Christ.