Note: I have prepared some simple slides the I used in delivering this sermon. If anyone is interested in them, send me an Email at sam@srmccormick.net with the words "Following Jesus slides" in the subject, and I'll send the PowerPoint file directly by Email.
FOLLOWING JESUS
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
I. Introduction:
Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would 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 shall a man give in return for his soul?
Jesus treats following him--including bearing a cross--as a make-or-break proposition.
Luke 14:27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
A disciple is defined as a follower; an adherent to the doctrines (that is, the teachings) of the one followed.
A disciple, then, is dedicated to learning and accepting Christ’s teachings and commandments.
Jesus said if you do not carry your cross you cannot be a disciple; that is, you cannot follow him.
There are several allusions in the New Testament about following Jesus.
Those who follow Jesus:
Walk in the light.
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Are known by name.
John 10:3-4 To him [the shepherd] the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Are honored by the Father.
John 12:26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Are counted in the 144,000.
Rev 14:4 (of the 144,000) “It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes...”
II. What does following Jesus mean?
I remember playing a childhood game “follow the leader.” The leader leads a line of followers (1 or more) through difficult places or maneuvers. Anyone who does not duplicate the leader’s course or actions is out of the game. The last follower in the game becomes the leader in the next game.
When Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” they left their nets and followed him for a lifetime.
To Levi (who we know as Matthew) Jesus said simply, “Follow me,” and he got up and left his tax collector’s booth and followed Jesus.
These and the rest of the twelve followed Jesus literally from place to place, observing, learning…following him.
But Jesus does not expect all of us to traverse the territories of Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Casearea Philippi, and Decapolis. His meaning in the scriptures we will examine today is something other than literal, mechanical actions.
Following Jesus is a lifelong vocation of adhering to his teachings and commands, and emulating his values, attitude, and actions.
III. “Following Jesus” is an analogy or metaphor, as it is when the Psalmist declares that we are God’s sheep.
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalms 100:3
Continuing the metaphor, the Good Shepherd says he knows his sheep.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
He not only knows his sheep, but he cares for them enough to go out in search of a lost one.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' (Luke 15:4-6)
Sheep do get lost. They cannot exercise independent judgment about where they are going and how to get there.
What about “Other sheep”
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10:16)
Lots of people are curious about those “other sheep.” Who are they?
Jesus did not explain at the moment.
Some things were to be revealed in their proper time, and the “other sheep” were realized some years later when Peter went to Caesarea and baptized a Roman soldier.
The Israelite family and nation--chosen people of God throughout much of the Old Testament history--were now to realize that God’s chosen people were to be joined with “others.” It is to those “others” Jesus referred when he said “I must bring them also.”
Some things are none of our business.
Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:20-23 NASB)
Wasn’t Peter being a little childish? “What about him?”
When a parent instructs or disciplines a child, it is not the child’s privilege to make sure the parent is being fair.
Peter was not the “follow Jesus” cop.
There is a fine line between bringing back someone who has wandered from the truth, and covering a multitude of sins, and making everybody’s business our business.
Paul wrote:
Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. Rom 14:4
This does not mean we should not be outreaching and evangelistic to others.
Nor does it mean we shouldn’t try to steer others to Christ when we see them following a destructive path.
It means we are not the “sheep police.”
Peter had his duty, and John had his. John was not straying from the truth, and how long John was to live on earth was not Peter’s business.
I suggest that following Jesus means more than one thing. Follow Jesus:
• In right living
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews counsels us to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” What happens when we fix our eyes on Jesus? We see
a truly holy life
humility
meekness
uncompromised devotion to the Father
careful attention to the health of his soul
lack of desire for material things
lack of desire for worldly prestige
forgiveness of those who wronged him
not immune to temptation, but strong to avoid sin
not vain or boastful
readiness to suffer and die for others
a man at peace within himself
• To suffering
1 Pet 2:20-21 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
This brings us to that aspect of following Jesus that he says we cannot do without.
• By taking up our cross
Luke 14:27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
A cross is an instrument whose only purpose is to cause death with great suffering.
Someone may say, “Carrying the cross? That’s not for me.”
“My cross to bear” has been idiomized to describe anything from serious loss and hardship to petty annoyances. (Diabetes, cancer, or simply an annoying co-worker or neighbor)
Listen to what it meant to Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8-11:
...we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ALWAYS CARRYING ABOUT IN THE BODY THE DYING OF JESUS, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
And Peter’s reflection on his own death, Peter 1:13-14:
I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Peter denied Jesus, whom he had earlier declared to be the son of God, rather than put himself at risk. He was not ready to follow Jesus to the cross.
But if early church tradition is correct, he died on a cross in the reign of the cruel emperor Nero, crucified head downward.
Taking up your cross and bearing it means you are willing and prepared to suffer whatever befalls you on account of following Jesus, even to your own death (even on a cross if the situation demands it).
The world is changing. Christians are dying by the thousands in the world today for their faith. Christians living in America have felt safe for generations, but we cannot be assured of that blessing in the future.
There may be a Golgotha for you.
• In the resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
• To heaven
Hebrews 6:17-20 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things [his promise and his oath], in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
“The inner place behind the curtain” alludes to the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle, which is a figure of heaven, and the very presence of God.
IV. We’re called to follow Jesus on a hard road.
There is a price to be paid for choosing to follow Jesus.
It is often called the “cost of discipleship.”
Luke 14:28-33 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? "Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?" Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. "So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
But what we call “our possessions” are not our own.
We have nothing that in reality belongs to ourselves, and not to God.
We need to recognize the source from whom all blessings flow.
Not even our bodies are ours.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Our bodies are for our use--our “houses,” our “vehicles,” our apparatus for communicating and acting, but they are not our own.
Recall that Paul “carried in his body the dying of Jesus.”
Jesus and others were in Samaria, on the road to Jerusalem:
Luke 9:57-58 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
What did Jesus mean?
We see in Matthew’s account that the man was a scribe, who perhaps thought that by following Jesus, he would be led to a life of influence and privilege.
Jesus (meaning it was a life of hardship and deprivation)
It is very true that, as God, the whole world was his, and he could not be in want of anything.
Yet, as man, for our sakes he became "poor," that we "might be rich."
Vs 59-62 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
But he says:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Christ calls a profession of faith in him--and subjection to his commandments--a yoke
Yokes aren’t used much in the modern world. It is a wooden harness used to guide oxen or other draft animals while plowing fields and transfer their power to a plow or another device.
The yoke alludes to the law of Moses, and the law of freedom in distinction from it.
A heavy "burden" laid complex multitude of laws that could not save, even if they obeyed every dictum in the law.
The law required perfect obedience, but gave no strength to perform it, but rather threatened with condemnation and death in case of the least failure.
The scribes and rabbis made matters worse by spawning supplemental laws to make the law even more rigorous than the intent of its author.
Peter spoke about this conglomeration of laws at a council in Jerusalem and the matter of whether disciples had to keep those laws:
Acts 15:10-11 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
In contrast, John says:
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
They are performed of men's free will: they are good and agreeable, and lovely in their nature, and are cheerfully complied with, producing an abundance of spiritual pleasure and satisfaction in believers, for we have the presence of God, the assistance of his Spirit, and the assurance of his love.
Salvation is free – the price has already been paid.
How well are we doing at our vocation of following Christ?
Are we like the Hebrews were as they followed Moses (a type of Jesus) in the wilderness? Are we following Jesus better than the Hebrews followed the pillars of fire & cloud (not so well, at times)?
The Hebrews weren’t sure they liked where they were going, and they surely didn’t like the traveling conditions.
The Hebrews knew what they had been delivered from, but not what they were delivered to—a tough journey, made far longer and more rigorous because of their lack of faith.
Following Moses meant they were going somewhere.
Following Jesus does not mean we are going nowhere. We follow him to somewhere.
Sometimes it’s not easy to follow him when we lack understanding.
John 6:66-68 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Peter’s answer is appropriate today.
