“Follow the Leader”
John 1:35-51
Three weeks ago we started a journey with Jesus. We are walking in His Footsteps through the gospels. We have met John the Baptist and have seen him prepare a path for Jesus, this lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. We have looked at the boy Jesus as he baffles the teachers in the temple with His understanding and His answers to their questions.
Last week we looked at this early time in His ministry when Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted. Jesus overcame one temptation after another, after another and then again and the Bible summarizes that section by telling us that the devil left Him and angels came and attended to Him. Following His baptism and this time of being tempted we then move to what we believe to be the next event in His ministry and that is the calling of the first disciples.
John 1:35-51
About 10 years ago our oldest son, David, Jr. Came home one day and said hey Dad guess what I did ... that always a dreaded question ... I joined the Army today. Since he was in college at the time and of course with America being at war I was concerned. But as he explained his decision I realized that my son felt a calling to serve his country.
The army uses slogans like these for recruiting:
There’s something about a soldier.
Be all you can be.
Army strong.
I want you!
If not you, who?
Jesus also had a strategy for calling our His disciples in 30 A.D. He uses the same strategy in 2010 and this passage sums it up in several very simple statements. The first call He extends to us is this .... 1. Come and see! Vv 35-39 Of all the commands we find in the scripture the one that is most neglected is the command to share our faith; to witness. Most believers spend some time in prayer and Bible study, never enough , but spend very little time sharing their faith. When we consider the fact that when Jesus met with his disciples for their final meeting this is what He told them to do ... make disciples, baptize and teach. Jesus never distinguished between being born again and being a disciple. Too many people today have prayed a prayer to receive Christ and that is as far as they have gone. They prayed that prayer, sat down and did absolutely nothing to grow in their faith. The gospel that Jesus preached was one that placed great demands on the new believer. It was not intended to be easy. Listen to some of th things Jesus said ...
* take up your cross and follow me. There are a lot of different meanings we can take from this but know this ... none of them are good. Crosses were used for only one thing in that day ... executions. Anyone who picked up a cross could count on one thing .. they were going to die. Or this ...
* anyone who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Or this .
* Luke 14:25-26 or
* when one man was wondering whether he should follow Jesus or not, he said to Jesus my Father just died ... Lord let me go and bury my Father. Jesus then told him ....v. 60.
O.K. so we get the point Jesus. In fact it would seem that Jesus did more to talk people out of following them than into following Him. This was not an easy commitment. So Jesus put it this way ... come and see. Try Jesus. Take a
test drive. Get to Know Him. You will not be disappointed.
The call to come and see is a call to have your spiritual eyes opened to God’s truth. It is a call to transformation/change. Here’s the deal ... you spend time with Jesus and you will never be the same again. Come and see. A few verses later when Philip went to Nathanael to tell him about Jesus of Nazareth we see that Nathanael has doubts. He says Nazareth, can anything good come out of Nazareth? What does Philip say? Come and see! See for yourself!
After Jesus tells the 2 disciples to come and see He then gives them a 2nd invitation ... a 2nd calling. He simply says “follow me.” V. 43. Key word here is follow. You see it’s a short phrase but it carries a lot of meaning. If you are going to serve Christ you must walk in His Footsteps. You must learn to follow. For some of us that’s hard. We want to lead. We want to be in charge. WE want to be the one people follow.
I read this week of a young woman who wanted to go to college but when she read the application her heart sank because one of the first questions was this ... are you a leader? She wanted to be honest so she simply wrote “no... I’m not a leader ” So she expected the worst, expected that they would turn her down. To her surprise she received this letter from the college: Dear applicant: a study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is important to have at least one follower.
In today’s society everybody wants to be thought of as a leader. Bookstores have shelves of books on being a leader. But you would be hard pressed to find any on how to be a follower. Yet that is exactly the invitation Jesus makes to Philip and to us, “follow me!” We call this group of 12 men disciples ... disciples simply means follower. You see the call to follow Christ is a call to greater devotion. Whatever you are devoted to in life, whatever your #1 priority is, this has to be greater. This must be a greater devotion.
Next it is a call to a new direction. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia means to change direction. It is a military term that means “about face.” Jesus calls us to a relationship. To follow Him. To walk in His path ... in his footsteps. The call to discipleship is a call to come and see. It is a call to follow Jesus . It is a call to greater devotion. It is a call to a new direction.
And it is a call to Bring your friends. Vv. 41-42. Jesus was inviting these first disciples to turn around and do the same. Invite those who are close to you. Jesus only had to extend this invitation to them one time. Why? Because they were excited about it . They counted it as a privilege.
I am afraid that some of us have lost our excitement about following Christ. It’s no longer the main thing for us. It has become just another part/detail in our lives rather than being the focus of everything that we do and say.
A young boy who was attending Sunday School for the first time was asked that day at lunch by his mother. Who was your teacher? He said I don’t remember her name but she must have been Jesus’s grandma because all she did was brag about Jesus. Wouldn’t be awesome if that’s what people said about us. Those people over here at ELBC ... all they do is brag about Jesus.
Let me ask you something ... I wish we could actually take time to let you answer. Since the process of calling our disciples has not changed, why are we seeing more people follow Christ? I think it’s because we have stopped inviting people ... inviting them to come and see for themselves ... When was the last time you invited a friend, a neighbor or someone you work with to come and see? To come and hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ for themselves? When did you last do that? I want to ask you to do that this week. And the next and the next and the next. It’s a command from Jesus. I hope you will accept that challenge.
When our son David went off to boot camp, those of you have gone through it know that it’s not easy. The physical demands are tough. You don’t get to sleep much. It’s stressful. It’s just plain hard. David and I exchanged letters several time during that 8 weeks he was there. One week I just casually asked him how he was doing. He said well everything is fine. But I am looking forward to the last day. I said why is that ... he said because on the last day no matter what happens while I’m here ... on the last day, my Daddy’s going to come and get me and I get to go home!
As followers of Christ we have the same promise ... on the last day our heavenly Father is coming to get us and take us home. And no matter what happens between now and then nothing will change that. Oh what a glorious day that will be! Are you ready for it? Have you started this journey? Are you following Christ?
