2020-01-29 Follow the Leader: Practically Following Jesus in Everyday Life

SMALL GROUP MATERIAL

INWARD PRAYER

QUESTIONS:

  1. What stood out to you tonight in the message? Why do you think that was especially a highlight for you?
  2. If Jesus called disciples like a typical Rabbi, do you think you would make the cut?
  3. If Jesus’ call is to not simply follow him, but be his apprentice (mathatis)… how does that change how you would follow him?
  4. Have you accepted the invitation to follow Jesus? If so, have you taken the step to be baptised? (Being like Jesus, who was baptized)
  5. If following Jesus, helps you to learn the “unforced rhythms of grace,” living a life that is “free and light”… does this describe your walk with Jesus? If so why? If not why?
  6. What would it look like for you to live a Matthew 11:28-30 life?
  7. Who in your life models this well? How can you spend more time with that person?

OUTWARD PRAYER

 

MESSAGE NOTES

Week 1 | January 29, 2020

Follow the Leader:
Practically Following Jesus in Everyday Life

WHAT’S THE MAIN POINT?

Following Jesus doesn’t simply mean knowing about him or doing things now and again to please him. Being a disciple of Jesus, literally means apprenticing under Jesus. Living lives where Jesus is in the driver’s seat. And our daily lives start to look radically different from those around us.

WORD UP:

Come follow me scriptures: Mark 1:16, Mark 2:13 , Mark 3:13, Mark 8:34
What it looks like to follow Jesus: Matthew 11:28-30 (Use both the NIV and The Message)                                                                                                         

When Jesus calls his disciples he does something that most normal Rabbis would not do. He has two things which he holds very similar to every other Rabbi in his day.

  1. They would have a yoke
  2. They would have disciples

A yoke was the way in which Rabbis would live, interpret the scriptures and live. It basically was their inherent way of living, what it meant to be human.Disciples would have been highly educated, skilled, promising young men who had completed a number of years of school, testing and interviews. Disciples in Jesus day would be called “Mathatis” [math-ah-taze]. Mathatis can be translated best in our culture as an apprentice.

So when Jesus says “come follow me” or come be my disciple… He is really saying, “come be my apprentice.”

And to be an apprentice of a Rabbi like Jesus, you basically had to organize your life around three basic goals:

  1. Be with Jesus
  2. Become like Jesus
  3. Do what he would do if he were you (Remember WWJD??)

So being an apprentice of Jesus would literally mean, eating when he ate, going where he went, listening constantly, being with the dude 24/7 so that you could become like him! But what is amazing about Jesus’ model as you read in the Mark passages… he calls people who are not “highly educated, skilled, promising young men”… but rather fishermen, tax collectors, down-and-outs, even women as you read more of the gospels (which was not normal for Rabbis).

WAKE UP:

Here are a few options to help youth wake up to the idea of the devotional you are teaching:

  1. Follow the leader game: http://www.group-games.com/action-games/follow-the-leader.html
  2. Grab an example from the world of sport or music, or in your own life… when following the leader literally meant doing what they did and how that impacted those around you. i.e. Conductor in the Orchestra, Quarterback in football, Army commander in the military.

WHY DO I CARE?

For all the tired, the burned out, the anxious, those behind on their to-do-lists, those who can’t sleep at night, those who stress over what others think of them, those who are burned out on religion… The invitation to be an apprentice of Jesus is for you.

And if you do accept the invitaton….
Jesus says, “If you be with me, and become like me… you will learn the unforced rhythms of grace, living freely and lightly.”

Why should you care?… a life apprenticing under the yoke of Jesus… brings freedom.

WHAT DO I DO?

  1. Accept the invitation
  2. Follow the yoke of Jesus (live in the way he did)
  3. Read the gospels more to understand how Jesus lived
  4. Surround yourself with people who live freely and lightly following Jesus (they are doing something right)