YDJ Winter Retreat 2015 Message

I just wanted to share the message I gave at the YDJ retreat from Dec 31 - Jan 2 this year!

Group photo with 50 + attendees!

YDJ Winter Retreat 2015 Message

Good evening everyone! I want to welcome you to the 2015 YDJ Winter Retreat. You may already know the theme of this retreat is “Jesus’ Disciples’ based on the book of Mark. Tonight I will talk about Jesus’ calling of the disciples. Tomorrow, Dr. Ezra Cho will give a lecture about what it means to be a disciple as well as the training they received. On Saturday, Abraham Song will deliver a message on the goal of Jesus’ discipleship.

Before we begin let’s pray.

Father, I pray that you may be known. Holy Spirit, I pray that you may cover my weaknesses and convict our hearts today - that our hearts may be open to hear what you have to say. I pray that we will be reminded of our calling.

Many of you know me, but for those who don’t know, my name is Grace Chun and currently I am an undergrad at the University of Maryland, majoring in Neurobiology and Physiology (premed). I am honored to be standing here - speaking to you today. As I was preparing for this message - studying how Jesus called his disciples - I began reflecting on how Jesus called me. 7-8 years ago, I would have never imagined that I would give a message. I was awkward, shy, and timid. This is what I wrote six years ago about New Year's Key Verse testimony sharing - “I didn't know what to write and sharing was pretty hard. Going up and speaking in front of people wasn't easy. I get nervous and I don't get to say everything I would like to say because I just want to finish speaking. At school, my teacher would always tell me to speak louder when I already thought I was speaking loudly. I tried to speak louder but wasn't loud enough for everyone to hear. I guess it's good to practice going up and speaking in front of people.” But by the grace of God, I am here today - to share a bit of my journey and what God has put in my heart.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 says 26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

I pray that in the next three days, God would move each of our hearts and that we will experience His presence amongst us, that the Holy spirit will convict and challenge each one of us to wholeheartedly follow Jesus.

The first part of my message will cover the calling of the disciples while second part will cover Jesus’ purpose in calling the disciples.

Part I: Jesus Calls the Disciples

        From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he had a clear purpose. He could have focused on preaching to thousands (and at times, Jesus did preach to thousands), but throughout His three-year ministry, we find that Jesus mainly focused not on thousands, but on twelve. As we go through how Jesus called the disciples, there are four questions that we will answer. (1) How did Jesus choose them? (2)  Who did Jesus call? (3) What were their responses? and (4) Why did Jesus call them?

1. How did Jesus choose them?

Luke, the historian, documented in Luke 6:12-13 that before Jesus chose his twelve disciples, “Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When the morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” (Luke 6:12-13) The disciples were not chosen by their merits, but by God’s Sovereignty.

2.           Who did Jesus call?

        “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Mark 3:13-18)

        Jesus called those who he wanted and they came to him. The twelve twelve disciples represent the twelve tribes of Israel.  The twelve he chose came had different personalities, jobs, family situations. They came from various backgrounds. For example, Simon Peter and Andrew were fishermen. Mark 1:16 “As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Peter was known for his passion. Yet, even when Jesus knew Peter would betray him three times, Jesus spoke over him - “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Levi, also known as Matthew, was a tax collector. He worked for the Roman government, collecting taxes from his own people for the government. Tax collectors cheated people off in order to increase their salaries. Although Levi had money, his people hated him. When Jesus had dinner at Levi’s house, the Pharisees questioned his disciples - “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Through the Pharisees’ questions, we can see that tax collectors were looked down upon by the religious leaders. Then we have the skeptics. When Philip found Nathanael and told him “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus the Nazareth - the son of Joseph.” he replied “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there.” (John 1:45-46). Although the disciples came from different backgrounds, they were each chosen by God’s Sovereignty - and in the same way, each one of us here today have been chosen by God’s sovereignty. By living and spending time with each other and with Jesus, the twelve disciples molded each other. In the same way, when I look at our YDJ - we all come from various backgrounds. Some of us have grown up in this church, while others have joined this ministry later in life. Some of us were born in Maryland, while others were born in another state or country. Some of us are more outspoken, while others are more reserved. I don’t know if you ever thought about this - but if we all went to the same high school, do you think we would be friends? When I was in youth group, my friend Hannah and I would say - “If we met in school, we would never be friends.” Because we are so different, it’s crazy how we became friends - let alone best friends. In the same way, despite our differences, God has called each one of you to attend this retreat. And despite our differences, we are called to love each other and to become more like Jesus.

Let’s move onto the third question.

3.              What were their responses?

When Jesus invites us to follow Him, we must respond yes or no. A delay in response is the same as a “no.” When Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew, they left their nets at once and followed him. There was an immediate action. The Holy Spirit will convict your heart - and Jesus will invite you to come follow Him. You will have the decision - to follow Him or to follow this world. There is no in between. He said - come follow me. He did not promise them riches in this world, but He invited them into a journey, a relationship - why? to get to know him. And in the same way, he invites each one of us - “_____ come, follow me” - into a relationship with Him.  When we say “yes” to God, we may not know the road and paths we are going to take. But we know where we are going and we know whom we are following. When I take a look back at my life, and what I thought I would do in eighth grade, I would have never thought I would be taking pictures of people and families. God has taken me out of my comfort zone - numerous times, but I find that my greatest joy and fulfillment in life comes from following Jesus.

Once you decide you follow Jesus, you cannot go back to your old life. When Peter and Andrew decided to follow Jesus, they had to leave their fishing careers behind them. As each of the disciples accepted Jesus’ calling, they began this relationship with Jesus.

       

4.              Why did Jesus call them?

        He had hope for them. While the world saw a bunch of teenagers, Jesus spoke life and had hope for each one of them. I recently read a book titled “Just Like Jesus” by Max Lucado and the point of his whole book is “God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus.” (also you can read a free pdf version online and I really recommend the book) Although Jesus knew that the disciples would one day - one by one, betray Him, He had hope for them.

Part II: Jesus’ Purpose in Calling the Disciples

Let’s read Mark 3:13-15.

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”

        From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he had a clear purpose in calling the disciples -  (1) that they might be with Jesus (2) that he might send them out to preach and (3) that they may have the authority to drive out demons. Although these three callings go hand in hand, since Abraham will focus on going out to preach, I will mainly focus on the first reason - “that they might be with Jesus.”

        “He appointed the twelve that they might be with him.” Jesus invited the twelve to live with Him. For the next three years they will eat, sleep, travel, pray, and follow Jesus wherever he goes. Why did Jesus want them to be with Him? He wanted them to know who he was and he wanted them to be like Him. I believe that it is crucial that before he wanted them to do something, he wanted to be with them. Jesus wanted to have a relationship with each of the twelve disciples. And by being with Jesus, the disciples were able to really know who Jesus is. As they saw Jesus cast out demons and heal sick people, they learned of his authority and power. They also saw how much Jesus loved each person he met – and how much he loved each one of them.

Romans 5:6 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

2015 has gone by really fast. I feel like I blinked and now it will be 2016 in a few hours. This summer I had the opportunity to go on a short term mission trip with Anna to Uganda for two months. We stayed at the Bethesda Medical Center. I was really excited and I thought I would be doing cool things helping people in Uganda. Before I left for Uganda, I was constantly doing something - really busy and really stressed. I was really anxious, tired, busy, and burned out. And no matter how much I slept, I was constantly tired. But when we arrived, we found that all the students left for an internship during the summer and the hospital was slow because many of the doctors were out of the country. As a result, I had a lot of time to read the Bible and to pray. I realized that I had been so busy - constantly doing one thing after another, that I neglected spending time in God’s word and in prayer. I spent so many hours at church doing something, but I wasn’t spending as much time alone in prayer. In the beginning of the summer, it was hard to sit still in God’s presence. But by the end of the summer, I looked forward to spending time with God in the mornings. This summer I learned that I need to value and guard my quiet time with God above all things. It’s at Jesus’ feet that I lay down my anxiety, pride; it’s where I find my strength, joy, identity, and value. It’s where we declare who God is - come to know who He is and also come to know who we are.

As I came back to the US, it’s so easy to get caught up once again in the busyness of things. School, work, church, etc.

In an article written by Francis Chan, titled “The Greatest Thing You Can do Today,” he says this -

“We often spend a lot of time and effort gathering believers together. We’ve become experts at gathering Christians around great bands, speakers, and events. Where we have failed is in teaching believers how to be alone with God. When is the last time you heard someone rave about their time alone with Jesus in his word? Gathering believers who don’t spend time alone with God can be a dangerous thing...There is no substitute for being alone with God. If you don’t have time, you need to quit something to make room. Skip a meal. Cancel a meeting. End some regular commitment. There is literally nothing more important you could do today”  

I want to ask you a question. If you take away the things you do - going to Bible study, attending church, planning activities, participating in activities, going to YDJ, etc. and it was just you and Jesus, what is it going to be like? Is Jesus enough to satisfy you? Because for me in the beginning of the summer, it was so hard. I couldn’t sit still reading the word of God and in prayer because I had been so busy just doing things. But if you want to know who Jesus is – if you want to know his character and his heart you have to spend time with him. There is no substitution to spending time with him. This past semester we did a series called the “Shadows” where we studied the old testament and how Abel, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samson, and Esther were a shadow of Jesus. We learned how each character foreshadowed Jesus and how they point us to Jesus. How do you get to know someone? You spend time with them. How can we get to know who Jesus is? By spending time with Jesus. It’s important to gather in groups - have Bible study in group settings, but you must spend time with God - alone. It’s one thing to hear about someone else experience the joy and peace from God. It’s another thing to personally experience Him yourself. Psalm 119: 105 says - “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light on my path.”

This year I was really convicted by this thought - If I believe God’s word to be true, unfailing, and unchanging, why don’t I study it as diligently as I study for school? I have studied pretty hard for some of the exams I have taken, but things I learn in school are bound to change. People discover new ideas, theories, and research that changes things what I learn in school. But God’s words will never fail. And this past semester, I was really challenged - to study God’s word and to take His words seriously. As we head into 2016, I want to challenge you this upcoming year - to treasure your quiet time with God. To go deeper into God’s words and to really come to know who he is. Because more than the things that you do for Him, he wants you.

(2) The second purpose in calling of the disciples is that they might go out and preach. I couldn’t fall asleep one night as I was wondering why Jesus chose twelve disciples rather than choosing to preach to thousands of people at a time, I came up with two equations. I haven’t done a lot of math since I started college so I just graphed the two equations.

Let x be the number of times Jesus preached/reached people.

Let y be the number of people reached.

y = 4000x

This is if Jesus preached to 4000 people each time he preached.

y = 2^x

This is if Jesus preached to one person and they preached to another person and then they kept doubling.

If we see this graph, the linear line is if Jesus preached alone. But the way Jesus began his ministry was that although the beginnings may seem slow, the number of people reached will be exponential after x= 16.

Although God did not have begin his ministry in this way, he did and as his disciples, we are part of His overall redemptive plan. I believe that everyone has a group of people they can reach - your sphere of influence. When I was in middle school, I used to think that I could share the gospel with my friends when I was in high school. Then in high school, I used to think that it would be easier to preach and share the gospel with my friends in college. But now that I am in college, I realized that there are seasons in life where you can reach people. Unless I become a high school teacher, I can’t really go back to high school and reach people. And it never really seems to get “easier.” I also thought that if I brought my friends to youth group, my youth group leaders (Aug and Sarah) could minister to them and help them grow. But as Jesus told his disciples - “you give them something to eat.” Today, we have high school seniors, college students, and those who are working. It’s difficult to share the gospel - especially in college campuses because we will undoubtedly face rejection and hatred. It also takes a lot of time and sacrifice to teach and guide someone to follow Jesus. But if we can get over the awkwardness and rejection and help one person come to know Jesus as their savior, won’t it be worth it? I know it gets busy. Many of us work, go to school, and we are often tired. But instead of focusing on the things of this life, let’s focus on sowing into eternity. This will look different for each person. Our ministry focuses a lot on 1:1 Bible studies with college students - and I believe that this is crucial. So I challenge you - to however the Holy Spirit convicts you - to share the gospel with others.

(3) Let’s read Mark 3:13-15 again.

“Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.”

It’s important to note that Jesus did not command the disciples to go out to preach without equipping them. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, people knew that Jesus was different from all the other prophets and teachers that came before him. When Jesus drove out an “impure spirit,” Mark notes that “the people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.’” And this is the same authority that Jesus gave to his disciples in the Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” As we go out and share the gospel, we have the same authority that Jesus had - healing the sick, driving out demons, and more.

One of my favorite praise songs is Come Away by Jesus Culture - the lyrics are

“Come away with me, come away with me

it’s never too late, it’s not too late, it’s not too late for you

I have a plan for you, I have a plan for you

it’s gonna be wild, it’s gonna be great, it’s gonna be full of me.”

Tonight I want to end with one last question - Jesus is calling. How will you respond?