以下は2012年3月20日、火曜まなび会で語られたメッセージ、『２種類のイエス様の呼びかけ』を英訳したものです。
Two kinds of calls of Jesus
March 20th, 2012, Kichijouji Bible Study Meeting
Gotthold Beck
Gospel according to Luke
9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
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Today, I am going to talk about two kinds of calls from Jesus.
One of the calls is made to invite people to be the children of God, so that they can be saved. What do we actually need in our lives? The most important thing is to be a child of God. What is required for that? First of all, you have to recognize that you need to be saved. Secondly, you have to know that all of your efforts as a human being are useless. In other words, you have to realize that not yourself, other people, nor any kind of religion can save you.
Any kind of human effort is meaningless and hopeless. What is the salvation described in the Bible? Needless to say, the salvation of the Bible is the solution to the problems of sins. Saved people are those who are convinced that their faults and selfishness are all forgiven. All people are under the wrath of the Holy God because of their sins. However, one day, they will make peace with the Lord, and their debts will be paid. After this their sins are all forgiven, and they will have eternal lives, as it is stated in the Bible.
However, this is not granted by any man or religion: it can only be given by Jesus, who is still alive today and dwells among us. This is because Jesus took the judgment of the Holy God against the sins of men. He paid our debt to forgive our sins, at the cost of his own precious blood.
Those who accept and believe in this truth by hearts are allowed to have the peace of the Lord, forgiveness of their sins and eternal life. No one can absolve themselves of sin by his or her own hands. What we need to do is to step forward and confess that we need a savior to liberate our souls.
'Lord, I will come to you now as a sinner. I thank from the bottom of my heart that you have forgiven and redeemed my sins.' If you can make a confession like this to Jesus, you will be blessed. This is what Jesus wants from you. He is calling to you to come to him just as you are.
Let us summarize. Two things are required to be a child of God the creator. One is to accept everything that the Lord God tells you. And the other is to accept the Lord himself. But what is the Lord actually telling you? The Lord says that the disease of your sins can never be cured and there is no hope for it to be improved. However, Jesus died to redeem us. And what Jesus did for us was just enough.
The second thing required is to accept Jesus: it is stated in Chapter 22, verse 17 of Revelations, the last book of the Bible. Let anyone who wants the water of life take it as a gift. The water of life, as mentioned here, is a pure and simple gift of salvation from Jesus. It is stated that anyone who wants it can take it. However, the problem is whether men really are willing to take it or not.
If you want it, you will never fail to take it. However, if
you don't want it, your future lies in darkness. Jesus gives you an eternal
life, but he never forces you to take it. It is promised that anyone who wants
it will receive it. Anyone who receives it will keep it. If you belong to these
people, you will make peace with God. You will live in the joy of being accepted as a child of God:
all of your sins are forgiven, and you will be granted eternal
life.
The call from the Lord is not just to invite you to become
a child of the Lord, but is also a call for you to obey
him and to become his disciple. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,
Jesus said. What does this call from Jesus mean? This is an extremely important
call from Jesus for all believers.
It is important because it tells us that we were not saved just to be saved, but we were saved to serve. Those who have been really saved should have a strong desire to save other people who have not yet been saved. If you do not have sincere and strong feelings that you want to save other people too, you may not have real faith.
Jesus first tells you that he will remove your heavy burden, so that you may accept salvation. Then he invites you to serve him.
(Continue on next post...)
[2]
Two kinds of calls of Jesus
March 20th, 2012, Kichijouji Bible Study Meeting
Gotthold Beck
However, what do we actually have to do to serve Jesus, to obey Jesus? Following the Lord begins by denying yourself. It is to abandon yourself.
There is another meaning in following the Lord: it is to hate yourself. To hate yourself, it is absolutely necessary for you to stop trusting yourself. You will never be able to obey the Lord as long as you are self-confident. You must be crushed. “I cannot walk another step without Jesus.” This is what you need to think. Not my will, but yours, be done. You have to act in every aspect of your life with this attitude. It is absolutely necessary for you to give up your own desires, but always to value what the Lord wishes. After all, to follow Jesus is to surrender all of your own intentions and desires to Jesus.
There is a third meaning in following Jesus. It is to abandon and leave everything you have.
Gospel According to Luke
5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
Levi was given another name later, which was Matthew. This was the man who wrote the Gospel According to Matthew.
Gospel According to Mark
10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
You will never lose. You will never regret. Disciples of Jesus literally abandoned everything they had.
Matthew
4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Mark
2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Luke
5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
Practically, to follow Jesus meant for them to leave the people most precious to them and to abandon all the possessions they had in their lives.
Matthew
19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
Mark
1:18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
1:19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
1:20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
It is stated in 5:28 of Luke that Levi then left all the property he had, rose up and followed Jesus. All things which seemed so valuable to him suddenly turned out to be meaningless. He found that there was something more important.
There is no difference in this sense for the disciples of Jesus living today. We always need to have determination to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. At least in our hearts, we need to have that kind of attitude. At the time of Jesus, obviously there were so many people who walked after Jesus. It is repeatedly described in the Gospels.
Matthew
4:25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Mark
3:7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him,
5:24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
Jesus did so many wonderful things and performed miracles to these multitudes of people. However, their souls were not yet prepared well enough to follow Jesus.
(Continue on next post...)
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Two kinds of calls of Jesus
March 20th, 2012, Kichijouji Bible Study Meeting
Gotthold Beck
Luke
9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus was a homeless man in the true sense of the term.
9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Off course, people have to take care of their fathers until the very moment they are buried.
9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Apparently, what Jesus said in here was extremely radical.
John
6:60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
I suppose actually it was almost all the disciples.
Following Jesus, as I just said, first of all, means to deny and abandon yourself, and then secondly, to hate yourself. Thirdly, it means to abandon everything you have.
“Come and follow me! Then, he abandoned all he had, stood and started to walk after Jesus.” This was exactly what Levi did. He left everything behind. He stood up and followed Jesus. Of course, Peter later confessed that he did the same thing.
Mark
10:28 Then Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you."
10:29 Jesus said, "I tell you with certainty, there is no one who has left his home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or fields because of me and the gospel
10:30 who will not receive a hundred times as much here in this world—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution—as well as eternal life in the age to come.
Disciples of Jesus literally everything they had to follow him. They abandoned their fishing nets and gave up their jobs. They were separated from their families and one of them even left his own father alone. After all, anyone, once he decides to follow Jesus, is required to be prepared to give up everything.
In chapter 10, verse 30 of Mark, the word 'persecution' is used. Actually, to follow Jesus is not just walking with Him; it is in fact war. It is not easy at all to deny your own thoughts, emotions or will. However, I would like to emphasize here that although these disciples left everything behind, their lives did not end in suffering or sacrifice. In fact, they received a hundred times better.
I would be happy to get even double—but a hundred times? This, I can't imagine. Isn't it an unimaginable blessing? If Peter did not obey Jesus totally, his mother-in-law would never have been healed and would have died a miserable death. He seemingly abandoned his family, but actually, he saved them. No matter what you give up for Jesus, you will never lose it. Not only will you receive a great benefit now in this world, but it is stated that you will be richly rewarded after you are taken up to Heaven.
Paul testified because he had experienced this. It was a wonderful testimony. He was held in prison because he insisted that Jesus was the only one to be worshiped. In jail, he didn’t regret a thing. Instead he made confession filled with joy.
Philippians
3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
This is the reason Jesus said, 'the same way; no one can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.' Total abandonment is the basis required to obey the Lord. For that, you need to show an adamant attitude and make the decision to be separated from everything you have now.
(Continue on next post...)
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Two kinds of calls of Jesus
March 20th, 2012, Kichijouji Bible Study Meeting
Gotthold Beck
Once you give up everything and decide to obey the Lord, you will receive a lot more than before. As I just mentioned, following Jesus is to deny yourself, to give yourself up. Secondly, following Jesus means hating yourself. The third meaning is to abandon everything you have.
Fourthly, to follow Jesus is to continue in his word. Jesus once said,
John
8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
To follow Jesus is to continue in his word to bear as many fruits as you can. What does it mean to continue in the word of the Lord? It is to take all words of the Lord exactly as they are written. The bible should be the ultimate authority regarding all issues on our daily lives and faith.
Those who acknowledge the words of the Lord as the ultimate authority not only continue in the word of the Lord, but will continue in the Lord himself. That is, they are connected to Jesus and totally rely on him. And if you are connected to Jesus and rely on him, it will result in the bearing of fruit.
Those who follow Jesus will bear fruit by themselves. That is, through their trivial services, many people will be saved. Of course, if their services did not work to save many people, we would have to think again whether these people really follow the Lord. To follow Jesus is nothing but to surrender all of our intentions and emotions to the Lord every day.
Jesus once spoke of his own people. It is in the very famous verse 4 of chapter 10 from the Gospel According to John, in which he said ' sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.' Sheep are actually not very clever. They are helpless animals. However, such stupid animals never fail to follow their shepherds. This is exactly what Jesus meant;
John
10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
If you do not follow the voice of Jesus, you are not his disciple. If you would just follow the voice of Jesus, you would never stray away. However, those who do not follow the voice of Jesus wander down a path through the darkness. They keep moving just like waves and will never settle down.
What is absolutely imperative to serve as a disciple of Jesus is complete dedication to the Lord, in which you totally rely on the Lord and surrender everything to him. The one who only says 'Lord, Lord,' will not be a disciple of Jesus. It is the one who does the will of the Lord who can serve as his real disciple. The bible states that once you become a disciple of Jesus, you inevitably face bullying or persecution. As stated in the Bible, no disciple can be better than the teacher. Jesus suffered and died for us. Disciples of Jesus ought to be persecuted and hated.
Matthew
5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
There is no need for sympathy.
Peter wrote about the same fact. After he had similar experiences, Peter wrote his letter to encourage people.
1 Peter
4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Disciples do not have to worry about anything, because their teacher will prepare everything they need. Let's go back to the 'Sermon on the Mount', which begins from Matthew 6:25. These are so familiar to all of us, due to the extremely prominent verses. These words are especially important for the people living today.
Matthew
6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
(Continue on next post...)
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Two kinds of calls of Jesus
March 20th, 2012, Kichijouji Bible Study Meeting
Gotthold Beck
Disciples of the Lord, people who follow the Lord, are granted freedom and authority in their prayers. Jesus emphasized the importance of prayer, as can be seen in some verses.
John
14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Jesus promised this to us clearly. The disciples of the Lord, those who follow him, must be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves, as stated in the Bible.
Matthew
10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
'I will make you a fisher of men,' Jesus says. 'I will change you'. Jesus is still calling to us today. We will never be able to fish men by our own efforts. It is impossible for us, but not for the Lord.
We only need to obey the Lord truthfully. If we do, the Lord will complete everything for us. Our ability to serve and our power to serve: these two things come down from above. The purpose of Jesus when he called his disciples was to make them fishers of men.
Jesus still invites each one of us today for the same purpose: to make us fishers of men. We all have jobs; we need them to earn money. And we have to engage ourselves in our own jobs sincerely. However, Jesus did not save us for money. Jesus said, 'I will make you my witnesses. I will make you fishers of men.'
This is exactly the purpose of the Lord when he calls us. Of course, once you determine that serving Jesus is the purpose of your life, you should stop spending your time at your own job; you will never meet any loss by that. On the other hand, if you dedicate yourself to your duty, you may forget the mission given from above. Eventually it will lead to a loss.
'Follow me,' Jesus says. When you follow Jesus, you must follow obediently. This call from Jesus is so clear. What Jesus has in His mind can be absolutely articulated to anyone. By following only Jesus, everything will fundamentally change. Earlier, we discussed two things. Who is calling us? And, what kind of call is it?
Before I finish, I would like to discuss two other points.
The third point: Who are the people being called? We know the names and occupations of those who were called. Some of them were fishermen and tax collectors. These were never easy jobs, but rather difficult occupations to which these men dedicated all their strength. They were never lazy people but rather people who had settled down firmly.
In addition, they were not people of hollow theory or idealistic philosophy: they were practical people. Those who followed Jesus were so obedient to the Lord. Anyone who decides to obey Jesus has to leave everything behind after all. When we make that decision, it may look like we are making a huge sacrifice—but that is not true. Actually, it will later bring us great joy, gratitude, and honor.
Now, let's think about the fourth and the last call. What kind of call is it? All of these calls from Jesus, needless to say, are still applicable to our lives today. We are surrounded by so many people who do not know the Lord God, and who are thus without any hope in their lives. In order to save these people, we need to show our determination to always obey Jesus and to surrender everything to Jesus. 'I will make you', Jesus says.
What Jesus wants from us is not our money, time, efforts, nor our competence—it is plainly ourselves. 'Follow me.' It is these words which tie the Lord Jesus firmly to ourselves. Once you are determined to follow Jesus, you will never be able to go back to your previous life. To obey Jesus is to obey him one hundred percent; otherwise you are not obeying him truthfully.
Jesus is the one who calls us, and we are the ones to follow. I will make you a fisher of men. I want to use you as eyewitnesses, the Lord says, in your schools, in your kitchens, in your companies. Be my disciple. Be my follower. Be a fisher of men. The call from Jesus, of course is for each one of us.
To walk after Jesus is to recognize that the Lord has a plan for your life and to accept that plan. The call from Jesus demands that you accept it immediately. And the only reason that Jesus calls us is to let us lead other people to salvation. It takes complete dedication to work for the ones who are lost.
For the fishermen who used to work with their nets, these fishing nets were not bad things at all—they were actually rather indispensable tools for their lives. But they did not insist on keeping their fishing nets. Instead they left these nets behind and started to walk with Jesus immediately. They were presented with a choice: to keep their fishing nets or to follow Jesus. They already knew that the serving Jesus was far more important than their jobs or families. Let's read one more verse before we finish.
Ezekiel
22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
Here, the Lord tried very hard to find a vessel to serve him but he couldn't. The Lord is still seeking someone to serve him. 'Follow me. I will make you fishers of men.' This was not just a call Jesus made when he was on this earth, but one he still calls to us today. Are we ready to answer the call and follow the Lord?
Or, will the Lord again fail to find someone, just like in the time of Ezekiel when he sought a man among us? Jesus is watching each one of us and calling. The Lord is calling us, not because we are especially valuable to him compared to others, but because he knows that he can change us by his blessing. Now, can we say that we are the ones to follow the Lord in the true sense of the term?
Once your sins are forgiven and you are allowed to become a child of God, the Lord will want you to follow him, to be his disciple. It is clearly stated in the Bible that today, people are needed to obey the Lord, people to be the disciples of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are the only light which illuminates this world. They are the salt of the earth. Disciples of Jesus are the people who, in this corrupt age, firmly understand the words of the Lord and follow his voice.
Shouldn't we think about this every day? Do we want to continue this life of self-determination and self-governance? Or do we want to choose a new life of dedication and real freedom? You have to choose between the two. You can, at no time follow the Lord without denying yourself. Also, as long as you believe that your intentions, your own decisions and your personal emotions are absolutely right, you won't be able to become a true disciple of Jesus, and you will never be chosen to serve him. It is a choice between the two. Will you walk the way of self-seeking? Or will you follow the Lord?
End