Christian Living

Following in the Way

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
11/04/20
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“And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

Early in my youth, my father would take us to a Bible Conference in Muskego, Michigan. It was called Maranatha and rested on the banks of Lake Michigan. We would spend two weeks there each summer, and it was a marvelous place to visit. The afternoons were spent playing and swimming in the great lake’s cool water or running around in the sand dunes. The mornings were even more fun as I got to go to the children’s chapel and sing, learn Bible stories, and work making various crafts. One summer, an evangelist came into the children’s chapel and invited us all to become followers of Jesus. All we had to do is allow Jesus into our hearts and let Him lead our lives in faith in His Word. If we were willing, we were to raise our hand that we were. Then we were asked to come down to the chapel’s front and pray the sinner’s prayer and fill out decision cards. I did that because my friend Allen was going to, and I didn’t want to be left behind. I knew that I had done a good thing and told my parents about it and were pleased. I didn’t feel different, I didn’t feel led by the Spirit, and the days after were about the same as days before. Fun but not living in splendor.

Now, much later, I have not found any Scripture telling me that I had to pray a sinner’s prayer or saying I had to fill out a decision card or raise my hand, and Jesus would look my way. What I have read is that one day along the shores of Galilee, Jesus walked by Andrew and Peter and said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) I have wondered why they would have chosen to give up everything they had worked for and follow Him. Did Jesus have a magnetic personality that drew some men to Him? Did they already have a love of God within them and felt burdened by the welfare of their fellow countrymen? They knew who Jesus was and thought Him to be the Messiah, but did they know? “He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).” (John 1:41) They were just fishermen along the poor county side of Galilee. They were not qualified as the religious elite of the day in Jerusalem. But the qualified do not see their need for Jesus; they were already righteous; they did not know that they were broken. God knows who the willing are, He knows who the broken are, all of humanity, and those are the ones He draws to His Son. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44)

There are many today who profess to be Christians. Most of them fill the Churches on Sunday and sometimes on Wednesday night. I often wonder where they are for the rest of the week. Sometimes I believe that proclaiming to be a Christian sells a true follower of Jesus short of the mark of who they are and represent. If you accepted Jesus’ call to follow Him as the disciples did, then perhaps you are better to relate to yourself as a follower of Jesus. A follower of Jesus lives in obedience to His Word and is led by His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13)

What is interesting to me is that as Jesus was walking along the shore of Galilee, He saw Andrew and Peter fishing. Jesus called out to them to “Follow Him.” In the next verse, we read, “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:19) The brothers did not pause to talk about what they were committing to. They did not consider the cost for them to abandon their business and family and follow Him. There is no hint that they pondered what kind of life they were getting themselves into. The Bible says, “Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:19) Sometime later, Jesus saw a tax collector at his booth collecting taxes for the Roman government. Jesus called out to Him in the same way. “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9) There is no mention that Matthew gave it any thought. He just got up and followed Jesus. Matthew was in a money generating business as a tax collector, yet he abandoned it and followed Jesus.

This is what it means to follow Jesus, a radical change in your lifestyle. One must stop living for this world and look to the world of the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s no longer looking to the things of this world, but looking to the things of the world to come. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) It is a heavenly trip, but it is not traveled in heaven. There will be a high cost to the journey, there will be pain and suffering along the way, but Jesus told them of the great reward ahead of them. They would be granted eternal life and for His faithful disciples that would rule from thrones of judgment. “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28)

Jesus did tell those who would follow that they should count up the cost before they begin the journey with Him. “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?” (Luke 14:28) But what in this world can one obtain that has value in the next? Those who follow Jesus have more incredible blessings waiting for them in the Kingdom of God that is far more valuable than anything that can be received here and lost when we depart. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29) It may sound as we are called to abandon our family, friends, and possessions, but in truth, they could become willing and follow Jesus as well. The world has nothing to offer that is greater than what God has prepared for those who will follow His Son in faith. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

There is a cost that people may not consider that may be hard to accept fully. We first must have to realize the love that Jesus has for us fully. Jesus made this point when He taught His disciples about their relationships with Him, each other, the world, and even with themselves. The point is that man’s salvation is God’s free gift by His love and grace towards humanity. (Ephesians 2:8) But that gift from God came at a supreme cost to God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God, the Creator of all, humbled Himself to come and lived as a man and sacrifice His life on a Roman cross to pay the sin debt of all men. It is more than a soldier sacrificing himself on a battlefield for his comrades. It is God the Creator, sacrificing Himself for a rebellious creation. This is the measure of God’s love for you and me. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

This is also the measure of love that Jesus expects in return that God is first on the love list, then family, friends, associates, our neighbor, and then our self. “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26) This is certainly something we have to consider when we commit to follow Jesus that His word drives us and not our own desires. We are to love one another, but the love that we have for Jesus is the same supreme love that He has for us.

We must also realize that Jesus went to the cross willingly for us. No man nailed Jesus to the cross against His will. Isaiah describes Jesus as the suffering servant of God, and we must also be willing to suffer with and for Him. If we love our life here in the world more than our Savior, we will surely lose that life. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:25) Jesus requires our all, He did not half save us, and we cannot half serve Him. Our commitment to following Jesus is a 100% commitment to trust and obey His commandments as a demonstration of our love for Him. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)

Today, many Christians sit in their Churches on Sunday, listening to the preacher give them feel good messages. They live in the abundance of God’s common grace and return a portion of their time, talent, and treasure to the Church, charity, and think they live a good Christian life. The follower of Jesus is obediently following where He leads them. They are getting out of the boat, out of their comfort zone, and joining Jesus on the front line of the spiritual war for the lost souls of the world. It is a life of love, commitment, sacrifice, suffering persecution, and for some, the loss of life on the cross. If we persevere for Jesus in this world, we will share His glory in the next. “If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” (2 Timothy 2:12) These are worthy, the willing, and disciples of Jesus, and He is their friend closer than a brother. This kind of commitment is no surprise to the followers of Jesus as He made it clear in the beginning this was the cost of a personal relationship with Him. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38). For those who are only lukewarm, give their approval but not their full commitment, that day of the Lord will be a sorrowful moment when they are told that He never knew them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven, will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, January 25, 2018