23.01.11 - Follow Me

I mentioned last week that I have very few opportunities left to preach here. I am away for the next two Sundays doing Moderator stuff. That means there is only today and our last Sunday here which will be 13th February. As I have thought about what I want to say on those occasions, I have chosen to simply reiterate some things that I believe are of the utmost importance.

Last week I simply said that it is all about Jesus. Our faith and our lives must centre on the person of Jesus. It is not about living a certain lifestyle. It is not about serving an organisation; the church. It is about trusting and serving Jesus Himself, and then, on that basis, choosing to live in a way that honours Him and choosing to commit to His church and so on. Jesus is to be central. The other things follow.

Today I want to consider one word that I think sums up what we are called to do in our relationship with Jesus: Follow.

It was a word that was one of Jesus’ favourites. Very often His invitation to people to come into a relationship with Him was “Follow Me”. When He called Peter and Andrew, James and John to leave their nets, the words were, “Come. Follow Me.” When He called Matthew to leave his tax collector’s booth, it was “Follow Me.”

It became the general term for people’s relationship with Jesus. Jesus said,
Mark 8:34 If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Anyone who would be a Christian is called to follow Jesus. Indeed, Christians were called “followers” long before they were called “Christians”: followers of Jesus, followers of the Way.

Why use that word? What does it mean to follow someone?

The most basic meaning is to walk behind or to travel behind. I think it is used that way in the Bible. We are several times told that crowds followed Jesus. It doesn’t necessarily mean any great commitment just that they travelled around after Him and enjoyed the teaching and seeing the miracles. In, fact, often when we are told that there were great crowds, we find that Jesus challenged them. The verse I just used (Mark 8:34) actually begins, “Then He called the crowd to Him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Jesus was looking for a type of following greater than simply travelling around behind. Jesus was looking for more than spectators. To follow does have a much deeper meaning.

If I was to say that I was a follower of Bob Marley that would probably mean that I looked to him as my teacher and inspiration. It would mean that I adopted his Rastafarian views and modelled my life on him. It would almost certainly mean that I wore dreadlock and a multicoloured crocheted hat. I would be committed to reggae music and possibly would try to imitate Bob Marley on the guitar. In other words, I would think like Bob Marley, talk like Bob Marley, dress like Bob Marley, look like Bob Marley, live what Bob Marley liked, behave like Bob Marley and believe what Bob Marley believed.

If I was a committed follower my whole life would be influenced by Bob Marley. Everything: what he ate, what he read, ethical standards musical tastes. Everything.

Likewise if I was a follower of Karl Marx or Mahatma Gandhi! There are all those people who try to look like Elvis Presley and sing like Elvis Presley. That is somewhat trivial perhaps but in some instances people will lay down their lives for the sake of the person they have chosen to follow. People would die in their devotion to Karl Marx and his philosophy.

Think of the lengths followers of Mohammed will go to. Every day, in Islam, we see examples of what it means to follow.

Following, in that sense, means committing one’s whole life to another person. It includes
• Imitating that person
• Becoming like that person
• Adopting the teachings and beliefs of that person
• Promoting the teachings and beliefs of that person.
• Taking instruction from that person.
• Maybe dying for that person.

Another way we might describe a follower of someone would be to say that he is a disciple of that person.

All of that is true when we consider Jesus’ invitation: Follow Me. It literally meant to travel around with Him but the being with Him was so that these other things might happen; so that people would know what he was like and imitate Him; would gradually become like Him; would learn from Him and adopt His teaching; would do what He did and would be committed to the point of being willing to die for Him.

Jesus said that: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross; deny himself; be willing to die.

If people will die for Karl Marx or Mohammed, is it asking too much for people to be willing to die for Jesus? Even if it doesn’t mean actually losing one’s life, it does mean giving up our lives completely. It does mean dying to self so that we become nothing and Jesus becomes everything. It means I surrender everything about myself in favour of Jesus. I surrender my own ambitions, my own views, my own future, my right to make my own decisions and my own preferences. I surrender my own comfort and my so-called “rights” in order to become like Jesus and think like Jesus and talk like Jesus and act like Jesus and take my instructions from Jesus. My one goal is to glorify Jesus (not myself).

Does that sound extreme? Ridiculously extreme? Is that too much? Jesus asks for our complete allegiance. He asks that nothing else comes ahead of Him. Remember He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26-27) “Hate” is hyperbole. It is overstatement. Jesus wants us to love our families but His point is that our love for Him must be so much greater that it completely overshadows our love for our families. Without that level of commitment we cannot be His disciples, He says.

Is that asking way too much? Jesus is God. Are we willing to be 100% committed to God? He is not a human being like Marx or Mohammed. We are talking about God asking for our allegiance.

But not only that, we are talking about the God who sacrificed Himself for us – the God who loves this world so much that He gave His one and only Son to die nailed to a cross. Can a God who died for us legitimately ask for our complete allegiance?

There is no doubt that that is what Jesus is asking for. He doesn’t invite us to negotiate the terms. We either accept His terms or we don’t. What about you? Are you willing to give Jesus your whole life?

Is saying “I am a follower of Jesus” different from saying, “I am a Christian”? It seems to me that “Christian” is a label that doesn’t necessarily imply that I am doing anything. But if I am a follower I must be doing something. Following implies modelling my life on Him, learning from Him, being willing to obey Him and go where he says to go.

Basically, followers try to become like their leader. Followers of Jesus Christ seek to be like Him. Let’s think in terms of head, heart and hands. Head implies our thinking and our beliefs. The Bible talks about having the mind of Christ. We are to learn to think like Him. We are to believe what He says.

Heart involves our character and our affections. In character we are to be Christ-like. The fruit of the Spirit would be one description of Christ-like character that God wants to see in us. Christ-like affections mean that we like what Jesus likes and we prioritise what Jesus prioritises. Our values come from Him.

Hands means that we do what He did. Christ-likeness isn’t only about inner transformation. The Christ-like person acts like Christ. It means praying and worshipping like He did. It means caring for the needy and going to social outcasts. It means calling people to follow Jesus and training those who do. It means being a person through whom God can work miraculously. Followers do what their leader modelled.

There is an Old Testament passage that very beautifully picks up what it means to be a dedicated follower. Remember Ruth’s words to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Listen to them again.

Ruth 1:15-17 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”


16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Notice how Ruth doesn’t ask to negotiate these things or share the leadership. She completely submits to Naomi’s leadership. Where Naomi goes Ruth will go. If Naomi stops and stays somewhere, Ruth will stay there. Ruth was a Moabite and Naomi was a Jew but Ruth said that Naomi’s people would be her people. She would even submit to Naomi’s God. He would become her God. She would die where Naomi died and be buried with her. Not even death would separate her from her mother-in-law.

It is a very beautiful statement. Could you make that same statement to Jesus. Could you say to Jesus, “Where you go I will go”? Are you willing to follow Jesus if He leads you to the mission field or to your neighbour’s house? Ruth models perfect submission.

When Jesus says it is time to move, are we willing to move? When Jesus says we will stay here then are we content to stay?

Your people will be my people. Commitment to Jesus’ church. These are God’s people therefore they will be my people. I will be part of this team. I will love these people. I will put into practice all that the Bible says about the church. I won’t just hang around the fringes. These are my people.

Jesus, your God will be my God. I will believe what you believed and what you taught. I will submit to Your Father. I will worship. I will serve. I will listen to Him. Your God will be my God.

Where you die I will die and there I will be buried. The Bible says a lot about dying with Jesus. I think that is an area we know too little about but we are called to die with Him and to rise to a new life.

Ruth, surprisingly, says that not even death will separate them. For followers of Jesus, death will actually be a coming together. Those who have committed to following Him will, at long last, be with Him.

Jesus must be at the centre. Our response is to follow. Jesus very explicitly calls us to follow and very explicitly talks about what it means to be a follower. He seeks absolute devotion but then the rewards promised to followers of Jesus will make every sacrifice worthwhile.

Matt 19:18-19 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.