Sermon Central
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Follow Me!
Contributed by John Howard on Feb 23, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Our problem is when we get past the gates of salvation we sit down and wait, like we have arrived. Really that is just ebeginning of what God has for us.
Follow Me!
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee when He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the lake; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him.
He went on and saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in the boat with their father Zebedee, overhauling their nets. He called them, and at once they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
As Jesus began His ministry
- He called men, 12 of them particularly
- To become His disciples
- To learn of Him and become those who would later turn their world upside
- Jesus came to them while they were going about their everyday affairs
- While they were working and earning their livelihood
- He called to them
- “Come, follow me!”
- “Come, follow me.”
- God is in the business of calling people to Himself
- He called many people over the ages to serve Him
- To know Him, to reveal Himself to them
- He called Moses, Abraham, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos,
- The list goes on and on
- Jesus did the same thing
- “Come, follow me.”
- He called Peter and Andrew, John and James
- Who dropped everything to follow Him
- Notice, He did not tell them where they would go
- He did not say, “Take care of things, put your affairs in order so you are able to come, get ready and I send you to seminary so you can follow me.”
- He simply said, “Come, follow me.”
What did these simple, hard-working men do?
- Did they ask where they were going?
- Ask how long they would be gone?
- Ask how much luggage they could take, how many pairs of shoes would be needed?
- No, they dropped their nets and left
- Going after Jesus
- John and James left the boat and their father
- Standing there wondering what they were doing
- Where they were going
- They hurried after Jesus
- Went at once
- They left the boat, their father, and followed Jesus
- Nothing of their livelihood or possessions went wit them
- They did not stop to arrange for the care of the boat or nets
- They did not question Jesus
- They got up at once and followed Him
“Later, when he went out, he saw a tax-gatherer, Levi by name, at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me’; and he rose to his feet, left everything behind, and followed him.”
Jesus later came by a table of the tax-collector, Levi
- Now Levi was a man of means
- He had money and a comfortable life
- You see, he was able to keep everything above the minimum the Romans required to be collected
- He sat at his table in the custom-house and collected taxes on all the goods that people brought into the city to sell
- Jesus came by and looked at him and said
- “Follow me.”
- “Follow me.”
- And Levi got up immediately
- He abandoned the money at the table
- He did not say, “Just a minute, let me get things gathered up.”
- He did not say, “Jesus let me get all this money together so you can use it in your ministry.”
- He did not make arrangements to return later and pickup where he left off
- No, He got up and followed Jesus
- He left everything that provided security to follow Jesus
- Just like Peter and Andrew, John and James
- He left everything behind to answer the call of Jesus
Let’s look again at Scripture
“As they were going along the road a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have their holes, the birds their roosts; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me’, but the man replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ Jesus said, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; you must go and announce the kingdom of God.’
Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, sir; but let me first say goodbye to my people at home.’ To him Jesus said, ‘No one who sets his hands to the plough and then keeps looking back is it for the kingdom of God.”
One came to Jesus and said he would follow Him
- Jesus tells him that He would find he had no place to call home
