"Following Jesus Together"

Here's the message I shared on Good Friday. Enjoy!

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If I am following Jesus and you are following Jesus, we end up not only walking with Him but with each other too. The Christian journey is not and cannot be a walk alone, though some of us would prefer it to be at times. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus. And to follow Jesus necessarily entails not only fellowship with God but with each other. So we’re in this together, but what exactly are we in? What does it mean to follow Jesus?

In the Gospels we have a record of various times Jesus called people to follow him, and each time he gives us more information about exactly what that means. But to narrow our focus I want to look at the “follow me” statements of Christ as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew (minus one).

“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, [Jesus] saw two brothers, Simon (who is 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.” (Matthew 4:18-20)

It says “immediately,” but it was not out of the blue; there’s more to the story. Before this, John tells us that Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist, who introduced him to Jesus. So he began to follow Jesus and was quickly convinced that he was the Messiah, and so he introduced his brother Simon to him. On a later occasion, both Mark and Luke record that, after teaching at a synagogue, Jesus went to Simon’s house and healed his mother-in-law and stayed there all night healing all who came to him. So both of them had met Jesus, spent time with Him, heard Him teach and saw Him perform miracles.

When Jesus finally called the two as His disciples, Luke tells us he had just finished preaching to a crowd from their boat. Afterwards he told them to go out into the deep and let their nets out. Though they hadn’t caught anything all night, Simon did just as Jesus said and they caught more than their nets could hold! Simon was all at once astonished, afraid and aware of his sin. It was at that point that Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

There are a few things to notice here. When Jesus said follow, he did not mean as you would follow an ongoing news story; Andrew and Simon literally left what they we doing to do whatever Jesus was doing—and that was fish for people. Now Proverbs 11:30 says “whoever captures souls is wise,” but the thought of becoming an evangelist might not be appealing to all of us. That’s okay, because if you are a Christian the Holy Spirit is growing His fruit on your tree.

Three things are important about fruit: it’s nutritious, it’s delicious and it has seeds. So when you are exhibiting the fruit of love or patience, kindness or self-control, the people around you are getting their spiritual vitamins—they are reaping the benefit of your Christian character. Also, the life you’re living is going to be attractive to them just like a shiny delicious apple. And you will be planting seeds in their hearts.

To do this, it does not mean you have to quit your job like Simon and Andrew. It does mean you should approach your job differently, because, ultimately your real boss is now Jesus. As the Apostle Paul says, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. . . . Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:17, 23).

One last thing to point out here: following Jesus may take you out of your comfort zone, but not out of your element. Jesus found people with the skills he needed and directed their abilities toward his kingdom purposes. When Jesus calls us, he calls us; He’s not calling us to be someone else, He’s calling us be His. So as His followers the question is, “How can I use my skills and my strengths for His kingdom?”

“Now when Jesus saw a great crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, ‘Teacher, 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.’ Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’” (Matthew 8:18-22)

Letting the dead bury their own dead is just another way of putting things into perspective. Following Jesus is not like deciding which movie you want to watch, it’s more like getting married. He must be your top priority. As John Chrysostom explains, “nothing ought to be to us more urgent than the affairs of the kingdom of heaven.”

Some people think about Jesus as someone who is cool and they like, and they think they’re cool because they like him. It’s like, my favorite actor is Vin Diesel, my favorite band is Rascal Flatts, my favorite TV show is Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and my favorite religious leader is Jesus. But Jesus is not interested in being popular, or in how many people like him; he is calling followers, not fans.

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard it, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.’” (Matthew 9:9-13)

The power of the call here is in who is being called. Matthew was a Jew employed as a tax collector; today, that would be the equivalent of a Palestinian working for the Israeli army—it was simply traitorous. And tax collectors back then, like our stereotype of lawyers today, were seen to be dishonest and, therefore, sinners. How could Jesus call, much less eat with, sinners like Matthew?!?

The question posed by the Pharisees is also the answer: we are all sinners! But when do doctors treat the sick? When the sick go to them for help. You have to admit you are sick and go to the doctor. Jesus was calling sinners because they weren’t so self-righteous to deny they were lost.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)

Saint Augustine puts this in perspective:
Let a father say, “Love me.” Let a mother say, “Love me.” To these words I will say, “Be silent.” But isn’t what they are asking for just? Shouldn’t I give back what I have received? The father says, “I fathered you.” The mother says, “I bore you.” The father says, “I educated you.” The mother says, “I fed you.” . . . Let us answer our father and mother when they justly says, “love us.” Let us answer, “I will love you in Christ, not instead of Christ.” You will be with me in him, but I will not be with you without him.” “But we don’t care for Christ,” they may say. “And I care for Christ more than I care for you. Should I obey the ones who raised me and lose the One who created me?

“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 life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” (Matthew 16:21-27)

This comes after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the prophesied descendent of King David who would take his throne and rule forever. It is a moment of faith but also misunderstanding because, when Jesus says how it is going to happen—through suffering, death and resurrection—Peter won’t accept it. But Jesus makes it clear that anyone who chooses to follow Him must be willing to suffer and die, just as he is willing.

Following Jesus means not only loving Jesus more than we love our own family, but loving Jesus more than we love our own lives. As Paul writes, “none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (Romans 14:7-8). So, if we choose to follow Jesus we are choosing not to live for ourselves and what we can get out of this life, but we are choosing to live for Him! If we live for ourselves and go our own way, the pleasures of this life are elusive and the ways of this world are destructive to our souls. But if we live for the Lord and walk in His ways, we not only have the joy of being in fellowship with our Creator, but also all we need in this life and rewards awaiting us in eternity.

So following Jesus means taking up our cross and daily dying to sinful and selfish pursuits and instead pursuing a life that brings glory to God. Again, Paul writes, this time from prison, “My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21). And Billy Graham puts it this way: “To take up the cross means that you take your stand for the Lord Jesus no matter what it costs.”

Today is Good Friday and we only have one more day of Lent. We use the word “lent,” which simply means Spring, to describe the 40-day period on the Christian calendar (not counting Sundays) of fasting in preparation for Easter Sunday; it is a time to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ and rededicate ourselves to Him. Last year I did not fast for Lent, but this year I fasted from soda and it was hard; I love soda. Tea is okay, but I’m getting kind of sick of it and I can’t wait until Sunday!

But I have to admit that I didn’t stick to my fast the whole time. There were three times in the last 40 days that I gave in to my craving for soda. I know drinking soda is a trivial thing. But one of the benefits of fasting is that if we can learn to control our cravings in one area we’ll be better at controlling them in another area. But if fasting from soda is so hard, how much harder it is to abstain from sinful desires?

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak… and sometimes, when it gets hard, our spirits are willing to compromise. Following Jesus is not easy! But if Jesus could endure the shame and suffering of the cross to save us from the penalty, power and ultimately even the presence of sin, then how could we do anything less than count ourselves dead to sin and die to our selfish desires not just for a day, or 40 days, but every day of our lives?

The great news of the Gospel is that when Jesus calls us to follow Him, He does not from that point on try to outrun us. He walks with us. And for everything he calls us to He is right there with us, encouraging us, strengthening us by His Spirit, and sometimes even carrying us. Not only that, but we have the fellowship of others following Jesus alongside us, many who have already endured so much and can give us hope.

One thing is certain: following Jesus, we will never be alone.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (Hebrews 12:1-4)