Although they are often overlooked, some of the most amazing moments in the Bible are those when Jesus says to someone, “Come follow me,” and they get up and follow him. Since they happen quickly in the Scriptures, we take these moments quite lightly, but they carry a weight that is both powerful and life-changing, even for us today.
Teaching about these “Come follow me,” moments from the New Testament to your young people and children at church can be very powerful when done correctly. A bonus is that these verses are very simple and easy to understand. You could come at these Scriptures in a variety of ways, but I believe there are three main takeaways that we should take from these moments to use as Sunday school teachers for lesson ideas.
In just a moment, I will explain these three takeaways and how you can teach them at your Sunday school or youth group using these lesson plans. These are great ideas for lessons, so use any or all of them depending on your specific teaching method and need.
First, let’s take a look at the verses in question.
“Come Follow Me” Scripture Passages
The truth is that there was an overabundance of times when Jesus called people to follow him. Our good shepherd would call those in the crowds to follow him and even specific individuals outside of the disciples. However, with these lessons, we will be focusing on when Jesus called the disciples to follow him.
Verses that you can use for this teaching are Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 9:9, Mark 1:16-20, Mark 2:13-14, John 1:43, Luke 5:27-28, and more.
Each of these verses or passages highlights Jesus calling someone to follow him and that person leaving what they have behind to follow Jesus. You could choose any of these passages to teach any of these three lessons.
For the sake of explaining a few of the lessons, I’ll be using Matthew 4:18-22. It says:
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And 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. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
This passage may seem simple and straightforward, but here are three lessons that you can take out of this passage to teach youth and children.
Lesson One: Obedience Requires Faith
The first lesson here that we can take from Jesus’ “Come follow me” moment in Matthew 4 is that true obedience requires faith. The gravity of this lesson comes when you begin to truly understand what is going on in these verses. A great thing to do here would be to encourage your children or young people to put themselves in the shoes of (in this case) Simon, Andrew, James, and John.
Imagine it for yourself. These are four men that are experienced fishermen who are at work on a normal day fishing. Suddenly, a man named Jesus comes to them and says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” I don’t know about you, but if I were them, I would probably look at that guy like he’s insane!
It seems very irrational to just get up and follow this person who is calling you. These four men literally leave their businesses and lives behind to follow this man. James and John even left their father behind in the boat. Why would someone possibly have this response to this unique and odd situation?
Truthfully, we don’t really know what led them to respond in this way. Maybe they had heard of Jesus since he had been teaching and preaching in the surrounding areas. Maybe the conversation that they had with him here was more than Matthew deemed necessary to record. Regardless, the point is that against all rationale and feelings, these men listened to Jesus, left their things behind, and followed him.
In simple terms, these men obeyed Jesus. He told them to follow him and they did. That is obedience. Yet the gravity of this obedience lies in the irrationality of what they did at that moment.
This shows us that true obedience requires faith. For whatever reason, these men placed their faith in Jesus and obeyed him at that time to follow him. Are we not called to do the same?
There are countless other times in the Bible in both the Old Testament and New Testament when God tells someone to do something that seems crazy without context and that person does it out of obedience. Even though it didn’t make sense to them at the time and they had plenty of questions, they placed their faith in God and obeyed.
Likewise, we face this decision every day. There are things that our heavenly father calls us to do every single day that require us to step out into faith. Whether it’s setting aside time to spend with him, sharing our faith with someone on the street, or treating someone as Jesus would despite our feelings or rationale, we are called to do things all the time that require faith and obedience.
The Christian life is one of faith and obedience, so teaching your younger children and teenagers about this concept early on in their walks in the way of the Lord will be crucial and very beneficial for them later on. Be sure to make examples in your lesson that are specific to your audience of various times that they may need to obey God in faith without knowing what lies ahead.
The goal is to help them understand that they don’t always need to know exactly where they are going or what the outcome of unknowns will be. Instead, they can place their faith in God and follow him obediently with the help of the Holy Ghost, knowing that he will work things out and that the Savior’s way is the best way.
Lesson Two: It Doesn’t Matter Who You Are
The second very important lesson that can be learned from Jesus’ “Come follow me” statements is that it doesn’t matter who you are when Jesus calls you. You can be rich, poor, depraved, famous, forgotten, hated, loved; it doesn’t matter. Jesus calls those whom he chooses and you don’t have to clean yourself up before following him.
This is an important point to make, especially when teaching older children or youth. Many young people don’t quite have a biblical understanding of sin and grace and can feel very guilty and convicted about their sin. This is a good thing; we are meant to feel convicted about our sin.
But young people do also struggle with overemphasizing that guilt and shame and therefore not feeling like they are worth anything. This is allowing your sin to define your worth which is not a good place to be.
Making this point with children and youth remind them that yes, they have sinned and will continue to sin, but they don’t have to try and be good on their own before coming to Jesus. Jesus calls sinners to himself because he loves them, not because of anything they have or have not done. There is nothing that anyone could do to merit Jesus’ calling.
This point can be made with the passage in Matthew 4 where you could look at the fact that the men Jesus called were simple fishermen, no one of importance or worldly worth, but I believe you could make this point much better with Mark 2:13-17. This is the passage where Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector.
13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes ofa] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eatb] with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The reason that this passage is more suited for this point is that it points out that Levi was a tax collector and that people had a general distaste for tax collectors. To provide some context, the people hated tax collectors at that time because they would often be corrupt collectors who did the bidding of the government unjustly.
They would take extra tax money from people so that they could skim from the top and increase their own profits in the process. I’m sure you can understand why they weren’t particularly liked.
Yet, in this passage, Jesus specifically goes to Levi, a tax collector, someone collectively hated by his community, and calls him to follow him. The coolest part is that he does! He gets up and follows Jesus, showing to the people and to us that Jesus will call even those that we deem unreachable or too far gone. No one is too far gone for the atonement of Christ and the power of the blood of the lamb.
So then, you do not have to be perfect or clean yourself up before answering the call of Jesus and receiving eternal life. The son of man calls even those that we wouldn’t expect, and they can choose to answer the call of the kingdom of God despite what they may have done in their past or what they are doing in their present.
Lesson Three: God’s Call Trumps Man’s Opinion
The third and final lesson outline that we’ll look at today that you can take from Jesus’ “Come follow me” moments is that ultimately, God’s call trumps and overrules man’s opinions. What I mean by that is that God’s calling on your life will not always make sense to everyone around you, even to yourself.
We see a perfect example of this in the twelve Jesus called. However, God’s calling will be the best thing for you, regardless of what the situation entails.
Take the story of James and John for example. In Matthew 4, Jesus calls them while they are fishing with their father and, according to the passage, they literally leave their father and boat to go follow Jesus.
We talked earlier on about the faith that is required to make such decisions. However, one more thing to consider is the thoughts and opinions of those around you when you are faced with decisions like that. The Scriptures don’t tell us what their father’s reaction was to all of this, but I’m sure he was somewhat confused by their response when they left him and their boat behind!
The reason why this is so important to teach your children and young people is that they face peer pressure pretty much every day of their lives. They face the expectations and opinions of those around them, including from family members, and, for them, it is a very big deal. They want to feel like they belong and like those around them approve of them and the things that they do.
However, ultimately, God’s calling trumps the opinions of other people. Be honest with your young people that if they are true doers of the Word, they will get laughed at, called names, and made fun of for following Jesus. But also show them that it is beyond worth it. The call of God on their lives is so much better than the approval of other people around them.
The risk of allowing people’s opinions to overrule God’s calling can also be helped by encouraging your young people to find mentors and godly people that they trust who can help them to make right and godly decisions. The point of this entire lesson is not a call to not listen to anyone around them; be sure to make that clear.
Instead, it is a call to not give in to peer pressure but to also receive godly counsel from people who have their best interests in mind and are good at listening to the Spirit of the Lord. Encourage them to find people who can help them pursue God’s calling in their lives and who will help them to stand firm in the face of peer pressure.
Although we are often beaten and battered by the opinions and views of those around us, the truth is that God’s calling overrules all of man’s opinions. Encourage your young people to stay on God’s path and to trust Him in all things as they grow and learn in their spiritual walks.
Some Extra Tips
The idea of God’s calling on your life can be a grand idea for young people to grasp. Be sure to not turn your teaching into a lecture, but rather encourage them above all to follow God to the best of their ability. Do your best to get your young people engaged in the teaching and talking about how they feel concerning God’s calling in their own lives.
You can even use visual aids, print outs, or even an object lesson. These kinds of things create a deeper connection between you and your youth as you teach.
Ask them questions, get feedback, and keep them focused. This is a very important topic, but it will be easy to lose them if you try to speak too broadly. If you can, throw in personal examples of how God’s calling has played out in your own life.
Bring in a few people who are slightly older than them, young men and young women, who have testimonies of how the power of God and his calling has been made clear in their lives.
Above all, be patient with your young people and walk alongside them as they begin to grasp this idea. If you devote your time and attention to them, it will pay off in the end as they continue to grow and learn under your teaching.
Prepare these lessons prayerfully and trust God to do the work in your young people’s hearts.