For Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders. Includes a sample introduction to the lesson, lesson outline and highlights, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

One day Steve Jobs (founder of Apple) appeared at the cubicle of Andy Hertzfeld, a young engineer on the Apple II team. He told him: “I’ve got good news for you … You’re working on the Mac team now. Come with me.” Hertzfeld replied that he needed a couple more days to finish the Apple II product he was in the middle of.  “What’s more important than working on the Macintosh?” Jobs demanded. Hertzfeld explained that he needed to get his Apple II DOS program in good enough shape to hand it over to someone. “You’re just wasting your time with that!” Jobs replied. “Who cares about the Apple II? The Apple  will be dead in a few years. The Macintosh is the future of Apple, and you’re going to start on it now!” With that, Jobs yanked out the power cord to Herzfeld’s Apple II, causing the code he was working on to vanish. “Come with me,” Jobs said. “I’m going to take you to your new desk.” Jobs drove Hertzfeld, computer and all, in his silver Mercedes to the Macintosh offices. “Here’s your new desk,” he said … “Welcome to the Mac team!”  (Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, pp. 113-114)

If you want to start with a discussion question, you might add:

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“Can you share a time that you were called to a particular job or ministry?”

Today we’re going to see how Jesus called HIS disciples to follow Him — in a way only slightly less shocking than how Steve Jobs called Andy Hertzfeld!

CONTEXT:

We’re continuing our study in the Book of Matthew this week, picking up right after Satan’s temptation of Jesus in :1-11. Now we’ll see how Jesus began His public ministry, how He called His first disciples, and what His ministry looked like — and how we can follow His example of ministry in our own lives and ministries today.

OUTLINE:

I.   The Prophesied Ministry Commencement  (:12-17)

II.  The Immediate Ministry Response  (:18-22)

III. The Ultimate Ministry Model  (:23-25)

TEXT:  Matthew 4:12-25

I. The Prophesied Ministry Commencement  (:12-17)

12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned. 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Verse 12 indicates that John the Baptist, who had heralded Jesus as the coming Messiah, had been arrested (by Herod). Then it says that Jesus “withdrew to Galilee” and He settled at Capernaum, which is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, as you see on this MAP: 

Then, significantly, :14 says “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet.” We see this expression “this was to fulfill,” and others like it, throughout the Book of Matthew. The Greek word for “fulfill,” “plero-o,” means “to fill, make full, complete, fulfill.” In this case, it was Isaiah 9:1-2 from the Old Testament scriptures that was fulfilled by Christ.

It is notable that eleven times Matthew uses some form of this word “fulfill” of an Old Testament scripture in regard to the life of Jesus.

(PARTICIPATION EXERCISE: You could choose to have these scriptures printed on slips of paper and have your group read them at this point – or have volunteers ready to read from them in their own Bibles) Here are the eleven instances:

— 1:22-23 “22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)

— 2:15 “He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Hosea 11:1)

— 2:17-18 “Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she refused to be comforted, Because they were no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

— 2:23 “and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (“Nazarene” a play on words of the Hebrew word “netzer” found in Isaiah 11:1)

— 4:14 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—16 “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” (Isaiah 9:1-2)

— 8:17 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and [a]carried away our diseases.” (Isaiah 53:4)

— 12:17-18 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: 18 “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1-4)

— 13:35 “This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Psalm 78:2)

— 21:4-5 “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, Gentle, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” (Zechariah 9:9)

— 26:56 “‘But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.’ Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” Here Jesus Himself said the things that happened in His betrayal fulfilled the scriptures. (Zechariah 13:7)

— 27:9 “Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel” (Zechariah 11:12-13, and Jeremiah 19 & 32)

Matthew cites Old Testament scriptures many other times as well; by one count, 53 quotations directly, and another 43 indirectly, for a total of 96 or even more! So Matthew really emphasizes the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus.

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“WHY do you think Matthew repeatedly emphasized that these things were fulfillments of Old Testament scriptures? Why would this be important?”

(Answers should include that he was writing to people of a Jewish background, to convince them that Jesus was the promised Messiah. These fulfillments are also a powerful demonstration, and one of the strongest arguments to this day, that Jesus truly was and in the Messiah, the Son of God. He didn’t just “appear out of nowhere”! Virtually everything He did, every move He made, was prophesied hundreds of years in advance in the Old Testament. NO other religious leader has anything like the prophetic background of Jesus — which just affirms the fact that He is indeed God’s One True Messiah.)

And as :17 says, His message was “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” We’ve talked before about how the message of the scriptures consistently demands repentance. “Meta-noeo,” “after/to think” is the Greek word for repentance. It is a change of mind that leads to a change in direction in your life. And there is no Biblical salvation without it. Paul said in Acts 20:21 that the message he solemnly testified to the Ephesians was of “repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul preached repentance, Peter and the early church preached repentance, John the Baptist preached repentance — and we see here that Jesus preached repentance as well. So we need to make sure that we do not omit repentance from our presentations of the Gospel. Salvation comes through “repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Repent,” Jesus said, “For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” If you want to be saved, you must turn away from your sins, and trust Jesus as your Lord & Savior.

So :12-17 here show us how Jesus began His ministry, prophesied by scripture, and of His message of repentance which we need to model. 

II. The Immediate Ministry Response  (:18-22)

:18 “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

So now that He has begun His public ministry, Jesus begins calling the men He will train to take the gospel to the world. Where did He begin? Not in the Sanhedrin, not in the Roman governors or centurions. Think of the considerations people today give to Vice-Presidential candidates, or coaching searches. They often want someone with a “name,” or a big following, or a good background, who will bring in many other people. But Jesus did not do that. 

?? What was the occupation of the four men that Jesus called in this passage???

(They were all fishermen! (:18, :21) The Jews would say later in Acts 4:13 that “they were uneducated and untrained men” and they were amazed. They were NOT the kind of people you’d expect to pick to found a Kingdom on! But Jesus called them.

ILLUSTRATION:

Theodore White wrote a book that became a classic: The Making of the President, 1960. In it he wrote about John F. Kennedy, and the kind of men he chose for his administration:

“John F. Kennedy in his fourteen years in politics has had many servants, many aides, many helpers. As he has outgrown each level of operation, he has gently stripped off his earlier helpers and retained only those who could go on with him effectively to the next level. These men here assembled were those who had survived a decade of Kennedy selection. All of them were, in their own fields, quality men. In the personal Kennedy lexicon, no phrase is more damning than “He’s a very common man” or “That’s a very ordinary type.’ Kennedy, elegant in dress, in phrase, in manner, has always required quality work; these men by his standards were extraordinary; they were his choices.”

(Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1960, p. 65)

What a contrast to the men that Jesus chose! John F. Kennedy may well have looked at Peter or John and said “He’s a very common man,” or “That’s a very ordinary type.” But Jesus called them to be His disciples, who would change the world!

And that’s good news for US, isn’t it? Perhaps some people might look at you or me, and say, “They aren’t very sharp; they aren’t very rich; they aren’t very talented — they’re very ‘ordinary’ or ‘common.’” And yet Jesus has called US, hasn’t He?! What a great privilege and honor. And how can we respond, but to get up and follow Him!

And notice a word here that describes HOW they followed Him:

:20 “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”

:22 “Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

That word “IMMEDIATELY” is important. They didn’t wait; they didn’t “think it over.” They “immediately” got up and did what Jesus asked them to do. (In Matthew 9:9 Matthew does the same thing.)

It is vital for us as Jesus’ disciples to learn this “instant obedience.” This may well be one of the reasons Jesus called these men, because they did obey Him instantly. It may be why He did NOT call some others (we actually see on instance of that, don’t we, when the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19 declined to follow Him!)

We know that instant obedience is important for our children.

ILLUSTRATION:

I heard the testimony of a parent, whose toddler was once walking towards an electrical outlet to stick a piece of silverware into it. The parent was across the room and couldn’t get there in time, so he just shouted, “NO! HOT!” — and the child instantly obeyed, and stopped. It’s vital for kids to learn instant obedience.

It’s also vital for us as God’s children to learn to obey instantly.

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“WHY would instant obedience be important for a follower of Jesus?”

(I’d include at least a couple of things in my answer:

1) Our instant obedience demonstrates that Jesus really is our Lord. When He speaks, we obey, because He’s our Lord & King! If we stop and reason, and see if it makes sense to us, then WE are our Lord; our own reason is our Lord, not Jesus! If He’s our King we should obey Him, instantly.

2) There are some things God asks us to do, that depend upon our instant obedience:

— Think of when Jesus told Peter to go and throw his hook into the sea and a denarius would be in it. That fish may have just been there then; if he’d waited 2-3 days it might have been gone. 

— Or when the angel of the Lord told Philip in Acts 8 to go to the desert road to Gaza. Verse 27says “He got up and went” — instant obedience. And good thing, because the Ethiopian Treasurer was passing by RIGHT THEN! If Philip had delayed/argued/procrastinated, he would have missed him, and the man and many in Ethiopia would have missed the gospel!

So in the same way, we need to learn instant obedience to the Lord today:

— A person the Lord is telling us to give some money to may have a bill due just that day; don’t delay!

— A person He’s telling you to witness to may be broken today, and their heart is ready to hear the gospel today; don’t put it off! 

It’s just like the old Marine principle: “instant and willing obedience to all orders,” or as many of us have heard it: “Delayed obedience is disobedience.” When the Lord calls us to do something, we need to learn to do it immediately.

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“What all did these men leave to follow Jesus?”

(Answers should include: they left their jobs as fishermen, James & John evidently left their father/family. They left whatever plans they had, any possessions or relationships they had.

Then emphasize: WE need to willing to give up these same things today, when/if Jesus asks us to.

One EXERCISE you might employ here: POST a slide/poster with the expression:
“Family First” 

Talk about how this is a pretty common saying these days: You have to put family first. Then ask your group: How does this passage speak to that saying? Of course the answer is that Jesus is to come even before family! Remember Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:37, ““He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Is there a Biblical command for us to take care of our family? Absolutely. But we also need to balance that with Jesus command for us to put NOTHING/NO ONE ahead of Him. It is NOT “Family First.” It is Jesus First, and scripture makes that very clear. James & John left their father and  their nets, to follow Him. There may come a time when He asks us to do the same, to go on mission or ministry, and we need to be ready to follow Him when He does!

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“How do you think you might respond today, if Jesus walked into your job/office/home and told you to follow Him?” What all might go through your mind?

(I think we’d all HOPE that we would go — but would we? Would we think, I need to finish my job (like Andy Hertzfeld in the introduction; or “how will I take care of my family?” and so on. 

After all your discussion, make one point clear: Jesus IS calling us to follow Him today! This message is just as much for us today as it was for Peter and John then. We do need to be ready and willing to give up anything, go anywhere, and do anything that Jesus asks us. We all need to ask ourselves how ready and willing we are to do that — because that is what being a follower of Jesus really means. If we aren’t really following Him, then in what real sense can we say that we are “followers” of Jesus”!

III. The Ultimate Ministry Model (:23-25)

23 “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

24 The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, [h]epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”

Notice how the ministry of Jesus is described in :23; what does it consist of?

— “teaching in their synagogues”: He taught them the word.

— “proclaiming the gospel”: He sought to lead people to the Kingdom.

— “healing every kind of disease”: Jesus’ miraculous healing was a sign that He was the Messiah — but it was also an expression of His personal love and care for people. He healed because He cared. 

So we might summarize Jesus’ ministry here as: “teaching, reaching, and caring.” Or to tweak the order just a bit we can say it is “reaching, teaching, and caring”: a Biblical description of a balanced ministry: you reach people with the gospel, then teach/disciple them, and also care for them.

Adding to this, we find virtually this same verse, almost word-for-word, AGAIN later in Matthew, in 9:35: that He was going throughout all the cities, again, “proclaiming the gospel,” “teaching in their synagogues,” and “healing every kind of disease” among the people. So these two verses put a kind of “bracket” around the ministry of Jesus as it is introduced in Matthew, summarizing it as: THIS is what He did. He was about reaching, teaching, and caring for people. 

As we’ve mentioned before, as Jesus’ followers we are called to “follow in His steps” (I Peter 2:21). So this becomes a great outline of ministry for any church, class, or individual. Add worship to it, from earlier in Matthew 4 where Jesus quoted Deuteronomy and said “You shall worship the Lord your God,” and you have a succinct summary of a church’s mission. What should a church do? Worship God together, and then go serve Him by reaching, teaching, and caring for people. 

+x If you go to Acts Chapter 2, and look at how the ministry of the Early Church is summarized, it shows us they were doing these same things:

— :47 the Lord was adding day by day those who were being saved (REACHING)

— :42 they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching (TEACHING)

— :45 they were selling their property and sharing with all who had need (CARING)

So Jesus’ ministry here, as well as the example of the Church in Acts, shows us just what we should be doing as churches — in fact we used this as the ministry statement in several churches I pastored: “Worshiping, Reaching, Teaching, Caring.” 

This also gives us an outline of what we should be doing in our Sunday School classes/Life groups: “reach, teach, and care.” We don’t exists as classes merely to teach the word — though teaching is of course an important part of what we’re called to do. But teaching alone is not all we are called to do. We are also to seek to reach people to bring into our group, and teach them — then also care for their needs once they have joined. “Reaching/teaching/caring” would be a great motto for any Sunday School class — but whether it is our official “motto” or not, it certainly describes what we should be doing, and it gives us a metric to measure how successful we are: are we reaching people? Are we teaching and discipling them? And are we caring for them?

We can ALSO use Jesus’ model here to evaluate our ministry as individuals: am I personally reaching/teaching-discipling/caring for people? Jesus sets before us a perfect balanced ministry here: reach, teach, and care. Many of us tend to focus on the ministry we feel most comfortable with — and to an extent we should do that; God gave us the gift we have to use. But we need to careful that we never “excuse” ourselves from the other elements of balanced ministry because “that isn’t my gift.” For example: a teacher should not only teach the word, but also still seek the reach and care for people. Someone with the gift of evangelism should still seek to disciple and care, and so on. We should use the gifts that are our strength, but seek to learn from the examples of others, and grow, and still be faithful those areas that are not necessarily our strengths. 

So Jesus’ ministry here gives us the ultimate example to pattern our church’s ministry, our class’ ministry, and our own personal ministry after. If you are “reaching, teaching, and caring” like Jesus did here, then you can be content that you are “following in His steps” (I Peter 2:21) and and that your ministry is Biblical, and looks like what Jesus did in His ministry. 

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

Early in his life, Mark Twain sent a note of apology to his sister. In it he admitted that he was made in “the image of God — but not otherwise resembling Him enough to be mistaken for Him by anybody but a very nearsighted person.’” (Ron Chernow, Mark Twain, p. 51)

The question for us as a class, for our churches, and especially for us personally, is: do WE look anything like Jesus, in the way we live our life and do ministry? Do we resemble Him enough that people can see that we are His disciples, following “in His steps,” “reaching, teaching, and caring for people”? 

??? DISCUSSION/APPLICATION???

And if you really want to “get down to brass tacks,” let your class discuss some ways that you/your group can put this into practice, and reach, teach, and care for people like Jesus did! 

ASK: What are some ways that we ARE presently following Jesus’ example of “reaching/teaching/caring for people? (Maybe teaching His word in class, caring for people by taking them food, etc.)

AND: what are some areas we could improve on — and how specifically could we do that? For example, perhaps we could be more purposeful in inviting people to our class, or do an outreach project to try to reach people, and so on. 

And encourage each one to evaluate their OWN personal life too: How am I PERSONALLY “reaching/teaching/caring for people; and where/how can I better imitate Jesus in these areas?)

When we follow Jesus’ pattern for ministry, we can be confident that we will see Jesus’ results from ministry. Verse 25 says: “Large crowds followed Him, from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.” May it be so for us, our classes, and our churches, as we follow Jesus’ ultimate model for ministry!

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