Choosing Who You Want Around You

Jesus was calling them into a family. They were going to develop an allegiance to Jesus that would surpass every other relationship and allegiance in their lives.

If you want to be in the family, you will have to choose Jesus just as he chooses you. Here are four suggestions for those who want to be in the company of those committed to Jesus:

 Go to the Mountain:

“Jesus went up on a mountainside.” — Mark 3:13

Sometimes you have to pull away. Jesus did this often as we see in the Gospel records. He needed to be alone with his Father or with his committed followers. Sometimes the crowd wore him out with their demands.

The Mountainside is both high and remote.

• The mountains here referred to are those around the Sea of Galilee. They are not the Himalayas. In size they are more like the Ozarks—2,500 feet above sea level on the eastern side, the Golan Heights.
• The mountainside is a place to draw close to God.
• The mountainside is a place to escape the distractions of the crowds and rediscover what is truly important.

Physically and mentally, you need that place apart from the rush and noise of life.

• Find a place apart like the shores of Lake Pontchartrain or a walking path in your neighborhood.
• Do your business with the Father above, as Jesus did, in that place that is for you the mountainside.

Listen For the Call:

Jesus “called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.” — Mark 3:13

Jesus issued a call.

• What do you do when you call someone? You get them on the phone, right?
• Jesus didn’t have a phone. He called them with his voice. He set their name on the airwaves. This was his call.
• You will hear his call in your inner being. It will be compelling, and you will find it necessary to respond yes or no.

He called those he wanted.

The wanted in our world are people whose pictures are in the post office. They are the most wanted.

• “Wanted” translates thelo which means “would have” or “desired.” The idea of desire is the key to the word.
• To have someone who wants you, who chooses you—that actually feels very good. It is affirming.
• It is sad when no one is calling your name, when no one wants to be with you. When others do not want to be with us we feel undesirable. We think something is wrong with us.
• God wants you, and he is calling your name. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Come to Him:

“They came to him.” — Mark 3:13

You will not understand it fully now.

• These disciples did not understand fully what this call was about. They did not know what they were getting in to. They did not know where this path would lead.
• They didn’t understand who Jesus was. They knew him as a remarkable person. They thought he was a great leader with a great future. They did not know he was destined to be executed and in his death he would deliver them from their sin.
• They didn’t understand what following him really meant. They were all going to end up on crosses in one way or another.

Jesus issued the call to them anyway.

• Did Jesus lack integrity by calling these young people to follow him into suffering and death?
• If Jesus knew what they were all getting into, wasn’t he under obligation to tell them? “Boys, I want you to follow me. But I warn you, we are going to be hunted and slaughtered.”
• Jesus knew he was calling them into truth and life. He knew this was the only way to the Father.

The disciples responded despite the uncertainties and the depth of the mystery.

• Many were saying, “You’re going to follow Jesus? He’s crazy!” Or, “Jesus is the illegitimate son of Mary. He cannot be the Messiah.”
• The hometown people rejected him. You can rest assured that Peter and John knew they were following Jesus over the protest and skepticism of many people they knew.
• You will have to do the same. If you hear this call and respond, you will follow Jesus despite the unbelief and skepticism of those around you.
• You will know that you are being called out of the crowd, that your path will not be broad but narrow.

“They came to him.” You will have to respond to God’s call in much the same way. You will not understand it all. You will bring what you know of yourself to what you know of God.

• You will know his voice.
• You will see his heart.
• You will come just like you are.

See the Faces of Your New Family:

“These are the twelve he appointed.” —Mark 3:16

Peter looks around on that mountainside to see the persons that Jesus is calling to himself. He knows in that moment that something has changed dramatically in his life.

• He hears these names and he sees these other people step out of the crowd and gather around Jesus.
• These are his brothers, and they will become family to him in the days and months and years ahead. They have set out together on this mountain in a great quest for the way, the truth, and the life. And they believe they will find it all in Jesus.
• Peter chooses to be one of the Twelve as well as to be with Jesus. To be with Jesus for him is to be part of this group.

Look at the faces around you.

• These are other persons who have heard the call of God and responded to that call.
• You are companions in your journey. You will travel together through the days and years ahead. You believe that in Jesus you have found the way, the truth, and the life.
• To follow Jesus means joining with his church.

This band of brothers on the hillside that day will ultimately change the world in which they live.

• They were unknown and insignificant when they heard the call of Jesus. They were not unusually gifted or endowed with great resources. They were not highly educated or well-traveled. They were ordinary people in their time who said yes to the call.
• Being together was very important to their call. They knew that they were not alone in their journey. They had the affirmation of significant people in their lives.
• Jesus taught them how to be family together. They learned how to cherish one another. This same togetherness is essential to your success as you follow Jesus.

Jesus incorporates everyone who responds into his Church. He gives them brothers and sisters. That is how it has been from the beginning. And that is how it must be now.

So we issue the call week by week, not only to follow Jesus as Savior, but to join us in our quest to make him known by word and deed in our city and our world.