Follow Me

There was a time when I dreaded the calendar.  I hated it.  Each day that ticked over meant another deadline…a deadline to pay a bill, to deliver a project, to update the registration on my car, file my taxes, etc.  I often did not have the money for everything either making those kind of deadlines the worst. 

Now I have learned to appreciate the calendar.   It is a great time to put things behind me and look forward to new things, new opportunities, new time for the things that I want and need to do.   The calendar allows a natural barrier to let us review what we have done before and decide how well that worked for us.  It also allows us to be optimistic about the future.    Whether we are speaking about a new day or a new week or a new year, each one shouts new opportunity. 

In our thinking about the new year we must also review our last year with the Lord and make decisions how we will follow Him going forward.  For many, you may not know how to do this or even what this means.  

The new year gives us a new opportunity to look at our walk with Jesus.    There are many ways in which we skip over parts of scripture that make us feel uncomfortable or that we simply don’t understand.  Still one of the reasons we gather with other Christians is to encourage each other in the Words of scripture.  We believe at our church that the Bible is God’s Word, God speaking to us through these authors across the centuries in a bold and glorious plan to bring us into relationship eternally with Him.  That means that the whole Bible is God’s Word and profitable for teaching and correcting and encouraging people in their walk with God.   We cannot disregard what we do not like and still claim to follow Jesus.

Follow Me

Matthew 4:18-22

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. And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 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.

Matthew 10:37-39

"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. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

Matthew 16:21-26

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."

But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 19:20-29

The young man *said to Him, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Then Peter said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

Luke 9:57-62

 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And He said to another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home." But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

What does it mean to Follow Jesus? 

John 5:19

Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

Luke 19:10

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Following Jesus means doing what He did. Jesus’ number one priority is saving the lost from eternal destruction into eternal life with Him.  He does this by seeing what the Father is doing and joining into that.   We do that by joining into what Jesus is doing.  

Paul said that We are ambassadors for Christ pleading with people to be reconciled with the Father. (2 Cor 5)

Just as the Fishermen left their businesses to follow Jesus, following Jesus for us also means subjecting everything in our lives to His agenda, His plans, His mission. 

They came for the food. – The First Jesus Festival

John 6:22-69  

Jesus has fed the 5000 and then taken a boat over to Capernaum.

22  The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23  There came other small boats from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24  So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25  When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You get here?" 26  Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

47  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

48  "I am the bread of life. 49  "Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50  "This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51  "I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."

52  Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"

53  So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54  "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55  "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56  "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57  "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58  "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."

59  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60  Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?" 61  But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62  "What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? 63  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64  "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

65  And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." 66  As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

67  So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"  68  Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.  69  "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."

The 12 were ALL In

What did Jesus mean by eating my flesh and drinking my blood?  That’s a weird thing to say if he wanted to attract followers.  Don’t you think that He should try to make it as easy as possible?  Maybe they could bow their heads and raise their hands.  Maybe He could ask them to walk the aisle down to the front or simply pray a prayer. 

Instead Jesus made it more difficult.  How?  He basically told them that they must join Him in dying.   By eating His flesh and drinking His Blood, He is calling them to participate in His death and resurrection.  He was cluing them into the fact that following Him means dying to themselves and living again for Him.  Its extremely radical.  He wants His followers to go “All In”.

Have you ever known someone who walked away from Jesus because His words were too difficult to hear? 

Do you know people who continue coming to church and claiming to be a Christian but who intentionally ignore parts of scripture that they don’t like? 

Does Jesus mean something more when He says “Believe”?

When we say “I believe” don’t we really mean that we agree with certain information?  Some people believe in global warming. Some do not.  Some believe that abortion is wrong.  Others do not.  Some people believe in evolution.  Others not so much. 

Some people believe that they will have another piece of pie.

What does Jesus mean when He says that we should believe?

In the last section we read:

John 6:47  "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

Then we have this in Matthew.

Mat 7:21-27 

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.   "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'   "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'  

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.   "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.   "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

James 2:17-23

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.

James is not saying that we are saved by works and neither am I.  However, what is being said here is that agreeing to the information that Jesus is God, is Lord, died for our sins, rose from the dead and return is not the complete story on believing. 

We have this written by Paul

Eph 2:8 

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

James adds that faith is proven by obedience.  Abraham obeys God by offering his son up on the altar.  But Paul also writes in Romans 4 that Abraham was reckoned as righteous by believing God that he would father a nation through Him who would bless the world but also by obeying God to move to another land that God would give to his descendants.  If Abraham had not obeyed that would be proof that he had no faith, that he did not trust God. 

In God’s economy, simply agreeing to information without the obedience that comes with that is not faith. 

Isaiah 29:13 

And so the Lord says, "These people say they are Mine. They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And their worship of Me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”

Doing is believing.  Agreeing in your mind to the facts of Jesus’ sacrifice and Lordship does not align with what Jesus calls “belief”.  That does not align with what Jesus means by “Follow Me”.

Believing is doing as Abraham did…putting everything that you love and value on the altar in favor of loving God.  Believing may be moving.  Believing may be changing jobs. Believing may be as simple as serving others in a way that God calls you. 

Philippians 3:8

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

Jesus powers the “Yes”

We cannot follow Jesus using our own power or talent or abilities or experience.  We are not wired that way to obey and serve.   Jesus gives us the power.  Our job is to stay connected, to abide, to dwell with Him constantly.  We get nourishment and power and wisdom  and our calling from Him when we say "Yes" to Him when we give our lives to Him completely.

John 15:1-8

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

Hard Discipleship Works – “Crossfit” for The Soul

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Radical….Extreme….no reservations…holding nothing back

Is it possible that churches everywhere have been making the decision to follow Christ to be too simple?  Is it possible that we have not been communicating the full cost of becoming a follower of Jesus?  Jesus gave it all and asks us to give Him our complete lives to die to ourselves and live for Him.  Belief is action.  Faith in God is putting all of God’s priorities before our own, before our families, before our careers, before our comfort and leisure.  It is not simply agreeing to a set of facts.