The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Activated Disciple Series Part 3: Who Is Choosing Whom?

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

Who chooses whom? In this third part of the Activated Disciple series, Jeff Cavins explains how God chose us first and how we are called to respond. Snippet from the Show The vocation of every Christian is to imitate God. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is episode 262, the activated disciple retreat. Who's choosing whom? And welcome back to our retreat, this lent on the Jeff Kaven show, where we're talking about really music. Lent to become an activated disciple. Someone who is really intentionally following the Lord and their life has a particular shape to it that says, you know what, I'm following someone and my life is centered on Jesus Christ. Okay, so we're going to be going into a whole section today that it's so important to get down when it comes to being a disciple of the Lord. So often, you know, when you ask people, are you a disciple of the Lord? They kind of

equated to, yeah, I believe all that. But being a disciple of the Lord, if you've been with me at all, you know, you know that it has to go beyond believing, it has to go beyond acknowledging that the Lord is right and that you think that he does have the philosophy, the wisdom of the ages. It goes beyond all of that into action, where we literally become the body of Christ here on earth, and we not only study, we not only worship, we not only care for the wounded in the church, but we go outside and we learn to share Christ with other people. In just a couple of weeks, I'm going to be sharing with you how to actually do that, so stick with me. It's going to be really, really good. Hey, before I get into today's content, a retreat for today, I'd like to just

bring up one thing that might just make a difference in your life. And I have two different opportunities for you to come along with my wife and myself. In June of this year, 2022, if you're listening to this in 2029 or 2030, we're going to be going to Israel. That's right, to the Holy Land in the first part of June. We still have room on the pilgrimage if you'd like to go. You can go to my website, jeffcavens.com, under pilgrimage tab. And the information's there. Also the information for a pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey.

and that's in October of this year. We'd love for you to go with us. We feel that it's safe and we're set to go. We have really been looking forward to getting out and sharing Christ with brothers and sisters around the world on location, either in Israel or the footsteps of Paul. And that's going to be taking place in October. So really look forward to that. All right. So let's talk about this, shall we? Who's choosing whom? Now, the reason I ask, this is that the beginning of our relationship with the Lord as disciples really has a lot to do with who started it, right? Who is the one who instigated this whole thing, this, this relationship that we have with God? In our last lesson, we were talking about imitating God. In the last

episode of this retreat, we were talking, oh, by the way, we were talking about imitating God. I have a scripture I want to share with you, but I have to also tell you, this whole thing is based on a book. It's a book I wrote called The Activated Disciple, and you can get that in the show notes at ascensionpress.com. This is chapter three, dealing with who's choosing whom, and I will give you some of the key verses in the show notes. All right. Okay, so last time we were talking about Ephesians 5-1, which said, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. Now, this is the vocation of every single Christian, to imitate God. That doesn't mean that Paul is saying that we are agreeers with God. No, we imitate God. God loves the poor. We serve the poor. God loves the

widow and the orphan. We tend to them. God loves mercy and justice. That's what we're about. Not because we came up with it and thought we were, you know, just sort of outstanding citizens, but we took our cue from our master, Jesus. So who's choosing whom? Now, when you listen to the Bible, you can see very clearly that God is the one that instigates. He's the one that starts the relationship. Jeremiah said, and God spoke of Jeremiah's relationship with him,

when he said in Jeremiah 1-5, it'll be in the show notes. He said, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. appointed you, a prophet to the nations. So to be consecrated means to be set apart for the Lord and to be given a special role in God's kingdom. And Jeremiah knew that and he knew that when he was, before he was in the womb, that's going back ways. God had already chosen him. The Apostle Paul expressed something very similar when he said to the Galatians, but when he who had set me apart before I was born and had called me through his grace.

And to the Ephesians, that's to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, he said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Now, one of the popular phrases that you might have heard out there, and I know what people, I'm not speaking ill of this, but I do know what they're saying, but I think it does have ramifications if we really listen to it, and that is that people will

oftentimes say, I made Jesus Lord of my life. Now, that sounds really good, and I do know what people mean by that, so don't get off on that tangent, but when we say I made Jesus Lord of my life, it is slightly wrong, isn't it? He was Lord. I didn't make him, Lord, but I bowed my knees to him, who he is. He is Lord. And consequently, in responding to him in his love and his faithfulness and his grace, I am, I am a servant to the most high. In that sense, I could say, I made Jesus Lord of my life by a decision of my will to bow to him,

but he instigated it. He started it. And, you know, the very first paragraph of the Catechism talks about this. So, Salvation History, that is all the way through the Bible from Genesis on, as I have my hand on my Bible here, my well-worn Bible filled with all of the promises of God and all the good things, we see that over and over God chose Israel. And that's what we even know Israel by. They are the what? they are the chosen people. They're the chosen people. So I really do believe that this has a lot to do with how we begin our relationship as disciples with the Lord. We do have to come to the conclusion

that I didn't choose him first. He chose me. He chose me to bear fruit. And so I'm going to study. I'm going to, I'm going to dig deep in this relationship with the Lord. You know, as a disciple of Jesus, we are really called to a life of learning, and that's something that all of us should be involved in on a daily basis, studying God's Word, reading it, reflecting on it, getting the mind of Christ, understanding his ways, and how he goes about spreading his mission around the world. I ran into a really interesting quote from the Jewish philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel. Now, I'll tell you what, I'll give this quote to you in the show notes. If you don't get show notes, by the way, all you've got to do is text my name,

Jeff Kaven's one word, to the number so biblical, to the number 3377, and then we'll get you the show notes. But he talks about a life of learning, and he says that there's basically a difference between Greeks, Hebrew, you know, the Jewish mindset, and modern day people. He says the Greeks, well, they learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to reveal. to worship. And modern man learns in order to use. Use. You know, hey, you know, that famous, that famous quote from not Kevin Bacon, but Francis Bacon said, we want knowledge because what? He came up with a phrase, knowledge is power. Oh, so I want knowledge. Why? Because I want power. And what we really want knowledge, we want knowledge to revere, don't we? We want to be able to

to serve God with all that, all that we do. And so when you study, you study the Lord, you are worshiping the Lord, and you want to become like him. Okay, so let's take a moment. Let's look at this for a second, shall we? How did you actually become a disciple in the first century? Did you see postings on telephone polls that Jesus would be speaking at 7 o'clock next Thursday? And you put it on your calendar.

You went and heard him. You agree, basically. He's got a nice talk. He's got a nice presentation. I think I'm a follower of his. Was it that way or was it another way? Well, you probably know. It was another way.

So let me just share briefly with you the process of how you actually became a disciple and who chose who. Now, the rabbis in the first century, which Jesus was one of many rabbis, and don't get me wrong, he wasn't just a rabbi, but he was the second person of the Trinity, a rabbi who was God. The word rabbi, ravi, ravi means my great one, my great teacher, my master. And there were a lot of these different rabbis, and they were traveling around, they were itinerant, and they would stay in homes, and they would rely on the generosity of people to eat and take care of some of their needs. But they were on the road quite a bit. Now, every rabbi had a certain slant to the Torah, to the truth, and when it comes to Mary, when it comes to money, when it comes to the Sabbath, when it comes to mercy and kindness and so forth

in heaven. And so there was that kind of left and right, you know, leaning types of rabbis. But they were very venerated. I mean, the people love the rabbis. And for your child to grow up and be a rabbi, whew, that's cool. That is a big honor for the family. Now, the rabbis were considered sages, wise men, and how many disciples do you think the average rabbi had in the first century, the time of Jesus? Well, the answer is five. That was the number. That was the number. The average number was five. Now, right away, you're probably saying, whoa, Jesus had 12. But listen to this, the great Hillel, the rabbi Hillel, he had 70. Quite an influence, didn't he? Now, Jesus had 12 because that's a fulfillment of the 12 tribes, but he had the 12.

Now, here's how you, here's how you became the disciple of one of these great rabbis. You're starting off your education at seven years of age, and from 7 to 10, you are going to enter what is called the bait seafar. That's bait means house, seafar means book. Bate, you're already familiar with bait, and you've said it over and over, and maybe you didn't even know it. Bait means house, like Bait Lecham. Lecham is bread. Beit Lecham, Bethlehem, house of bread. You're already speaking Hebrew. So they would enter that first phase of their education and they would learn the books of Moses, the five books of Moses. They would memorize and they

really gave themselves over to that. Hey, this was the center of their life. This was the center of their life. And so the Torah became really, really important. And then after that, from 7 to 10, you would do that. And the rabbis are itinerant. They're coming around, you know, they're coming around and they get an idea who some of these bright kids are. Then at the age of 10 to about 13, 14, you enter the next phase of your education. And that is the House of Instruction. It's called the Bait Talmud. The Bait Talmud. The Bait Talmud. it continues on with more scripture and the oral tradition, the oral law that is given to Israel on Mount Sinai. They've got the written scripture, the written word of God, the sacred

scripture, and they've got the sacred tradition that they have. That's what the Jews believed. We didn't make that up. You know what? This whole thing of a tradition, we didn't make that up. That's from the Jewish culture. And we inherited that. anybody ever questions you? And they say, well, you Catholics, you made all this stuff up. Uh-uh. We didn't. We didn't. This was all passed on to us by Jesus. And some of it's written, some of it wasn't written. And that's the way it was even in the Old Testament. Okay, so for the second phase of their education, the Bait Talmud, they're learning more scripture, learning the sacred tradition, but they're also paying a lot of attention, a lot of attention to their father's

trade these young men because most likely they're going to do what their father did. If their father's a fisherman, guess what? Simon's going to be a fisherman. If your father was a carpenter, guess what? John's going to be a carpenter, you know, whoever. And so you would learn your father's trade and you would enter into a form of education here where you are questioned a lot. Your teacher locally would teach and question, and then the great rabbis would come around. And they would make with these youngsters and talk to them and teach them. And they probably got their eyes open for, you know what? I might have space one more disciple for the next five, seven years. And so they've got their antenna up and they are looking. Now, I'm going to take a break. And when I come back,

I'm going to talk to you about how a young person became a disciple after these first two stages of their education, the house of the book and the house of learning. You won't want to miss this. This is really going to be the heart of what it means to be a disciple and how we become a disciple. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ chose corrupt, broken, imperfect, sinful men to be the foundation of his church. And because these broken and perfect men chose to remain in relationship with Jesus, they became saints. And they were used by Jesus to transform hearts and minds 2,000 years later. I invite you to check out my book, Broken and Blessed, where you'll find practical tools to overcome

habitual sin, to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to walk with an imperfect church, toward a perfect God who is calling all of us to perfection over time. To order the paperback book or audiobook, Broken and Blessed, visit ascensionpress.com or Amazon. Thanks for coming back.

By the way, it's really good to be with you. It really is. I enjoy my time with you in the car, walking, jogging, whatever. And it's just a privilege. It's an honor. It really is. And I pray for you.

I pray for you. I love you. And I love sharing these things with you. Okay, we talked before the break about the fact that there's two different degrees of education. Seven to ten is the house of the book. And then the house of learning is from about 10 to 14, the house of Talmud, Bate Talmud. And now the third one, the third one is going to be for those who are going to become disciples and here's how it went. These great rabbis would come around from city to city and right when the youngster was, you know, 13, 14, 15 years old, getting ready to really become that fisherman or the carpenter or the sandal maker. They make not oats in Hebrew. These rabbis would come around and there's going to be kind of like, I guess, I guess you could call it a selection

process where they may choose one, two of these youngsters to become their disciples. people, to live with them, to travel with them, to learn from them, to become them, to teach like them, and to ultimately make disciples themselves. And so the way they would do this is they would go around from town to town, and they would do this interview process, like they might say, they might come to Nazareth and say, Bartholomew, stand up. Bartholomew stands up, yes, master, yes, teacher. Master meant teacher, meant rabbi in that.

time my great ones so i'll use that yes my rabbi my rabbi and so the rabbi may say to bartholomew what did your father teach you so my father's a carpenter fantastic and he taught you all about it oh yeah i mean i've been working with him for years now and yes he's very very good excellent well bartholomew i think you're gonna be a really good carpenter. Now what I said there was there's dignity and he's going to join his father in the work, but he's not going to become my disciple. Now he may say that with a couple more and then finally he gets around to one and he may say, Peter, yes, yes, rabbi. Stand up, Peter. Let me ask you a few questions. Your father's a fisherman, is that right? And you are going to, you're going to be a, you study to be a fisherman then, right? Yeah, yeah.

It's unique about your father. Well, my father is, he's got a way of mending the nets that he's, he's unusual. He's teaching other people. Very good. And then suddenly, the rabbi is going to say to Peter, not go ply your father's trade, but he's going to say, Lech Acherai, Lech Acherai, which means in Hebrew, come, follow me. Come follow me. It was a formulaic statement that all of the rabbis use.

in the first century. Lech Ahre, come follow me. And the minute the rabbi said, come follow me, you have to know that all the other friends standing around were probably like, whoa, whoa, what an honor. I saw it coming.

This guy's so bright, and this great rabbi chose, chose Peter. Wow, not Peter the disciple, but just another one, right? Another Simon out there. So this was a really big, deal. Now, no doubt his parents were going to be proud and it was going to mean that he's going to leave everything now, fishing business with his father, and he's going to start to follow this

new rabbi. And that means that he's going to be with him 24-7. And after five years or so, when you talk to Simon there, you're going to think you're talking to that great rabbi. Because he's become so much like him. And that is what Jesus is doing with you. you. You see, the rabbi is the one who starts this, and Jesus is the great rabbi, and he's second person of the Trinity. And do you remember what he said? He said something that it fits right in with this, because Jesus used Lechaharai, come follow me, all the other rabbis did, and Jesus looked at the disciples one time, and he said, listen, you didn't choose me, I chose you. You didn't choose me.

I chose you. That is powerful. So who's choosing whom? Jesus is choosing you. And I'm talking to you, my friend. He chose you. Now, the number one criteria, this is so important, the number one criteria that goes through a rabbi's mind when it comes to choosing someone is this. it doesn't matter where you grew up, it doesn't matter the bank account, it doesn't matter what

political side your parents are on, it doesn't matter what school you went to, what matters more than anything else from a rabbi's perspective is, do I think that you have what it takes to become like me? That, my friend, is the criteria. Do you have what it takes to become like me because I'll tell you what if you don't have the ability to become like me let's say I'm the rabbi and I've got four guys who I'm with right now for the last four or five years and I have room for another one because my fifth is off teaching on their own now and making disciples if I don't think you can become like me do you really think that I'm going to fund this relationship for the next five years you think I'm going to take time and mental

energy to be with you if I don't think you can even become like me. No, you're not. You know, you're not. But you will invite someone that you think can become like you. Now, think with me for a minute. We know that Jesus said, you didn't choose me. I chose you. But think with me for just a moment. What were the disciples doing when Jesus said to them, come follow me? You're right. They were fishermen, for the most part. They were fishermen. Another words, they were not chosen by any great rabbi. They were overlooked for one reason or another. You see, my friend, God chooses the unchosen to change the world. And a lot of us are familiar with not being chosen. Maybe we weren't chosen when we were growing up. Ladies, let me talk to you just for a minute. Maybe you

weren't chosen. Maybe you weren't the one that got the date for the homecoming. Maybe you didn't make the royal pageant for homecoming queen. Maybe you didn't get into that college you wanted to get into. Maybe you felt left out at home and you weren't chosen. I want you to know something today. Ladies, you are beautiful. You're beautiful in God's eyes. And God chose you. And He knows that you can become like him. He knows that you can become like Jesus Christ, but here's the key. You cannot become like him without being with him. You've got to be with him if you really want to become like him. But more to my point here, you're beautiful. You are desirable by God. And God loves you and cherishes you so much that he died for you. And he's calling you to himself. And the goal is now for you to

become that disciple and to imitate God and become like God. not just a pure imitation, but one with him in the Eucharist. Men, same thing. Maybe you didn't make that team. Maybe you didn't get the date. You didn't make the cut when it came to getting into that school you wanted to get into. But know this, my brother, God loves you so much. He really, really does.

And you are special to God. He chose you. You didn't choose him. Think about it, guys. He chose you. You are a chosen guy. So men, women, all together, you are chosen. That says something, doesn't it?

Yeah, maybe you weren't chosen in high school or college. But look at it now. Yeah, that guy didn't choose you. That girl didn't choose you, but the second person of the Trinity did. They did. Oh, I love that. They chose, Jesus chose you. That is just so powerful.

Now, the second thing that all rabbis said, after Lech Aharai, come follow me, is they said, oh, you know what, I'll put that in the show notes because you're going to, later on today, you're going to be saying, what was that? Lechaharai, I'll put it in the show notes for you. So, so the second thing that a rabbi said after that was found in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 and 29, okay? that's 28 and 29. And what I'd like to do here is I'd like to read that to you. Okay.

Now, you're familiar with the first part, for sure. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's a beautiful thing. Come to me. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And then he says in verse 29, take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Isn't that beautiful? That is so beautiful. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls. Now, when a rabbi says, take my yoke upon you, it means something specific. Naturally, your mind will immediately go to a yoke of oxen with two oxen next to each other. That's not what's being referred to here, even though that can fly in a homily or a teaching. But when a rabbi said, take my yoke, what they meant was, get this, take on my worldview. Take on my worldview. See life through my eyes. Look at the children through my eyes. look at the suffering through my eyes, the widow and the orphan.

I want you to see the disenfranchised as I see them. I want you to see marriages I do. I want you to see heaven. I want you to see the unborn, the way I do. I want you to see finances the way I see finances. I want you to see the way I look at your mother-in-law. We can get into the weeds here pretty deep. But the idea here is that what Jesus is saying is I want to

want you to take on my worldview. So when you put those two things together, Lech Acherai and take my yoke, he's saying, I am choosing you to take on my worldview. Now, as a disciple, that is what you must commit yourself to. You must act chosen. You must act like you have a world view on everything. I mean everything. The more you know Jesus, you could do it. a press conference. You know, like the president of the United States has a press secretary where they are a spokesperson, rather, a press spokesperson where they get out there every day about one o'clock and they give a message from the president and then they take questions. They have a big book in front of them, which is basically the policies of the president. And when the tough question

comes, they go back to that book. They're committed to the worldview of the president. In the same way as disciples, that's what we do. Is that we do, is that we, we, we go back to that we, go out and we proclaim the worldview of the king, not the president, but the king. And so I would imagine that I know I could do it. I know many people can. And I assume that all, I assume you could do it to some degree, right? That the press could interview you and ask you questions about, about Jesus. I said, what's Jesus' view on heaven?

Say, well, I'll tell you about that. Let me talk to you about his view on heaven. and I would go into what he says about heaven, what he says about righteousness. And I say, well, what does God say about suffering? Well, good question. Let me take five minutes to answer that. And I could answer that question because I know his worldview. That's what studies about.

That is what reflections about, coming to know the mind of Christ so that we can go out in the world and become the disciples that God has called us to. be all right now what i'm going to do here is i am going to provide you with some questions in the notes to reflect on after this session together i've got three questions that i want you to reflect on as a result of listening to this and you know ruminate on it and and ask yourself these three questions and where you're at and i'll put those in the show notes it's kind of an extension of our time together. All right, my friend, let me just say this as we close. God loves you so much. He really does. If you're looking for that journey in life, it's bigger than life, you found it.

It is the great adventure with Jesus, and he's called you to it. It's bigger than you. You need the help of the Lord, but it is the most exciting and dynamic way to live, and that is with the king. So God bless you and continue on. We'll talk to you next week. Thank you.