- The preaching of Jesus came down to one thing, “Follow me!”
- Understanding what this means is key to both becoming a Christian and growing as a Christian
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- Last week I spoke on the subject of
- If somebody wants to become a Christian
- What do you tell them to do?
- The Context of these is the big picture of what God is doing in this universe to rid it of evil for ever
- It is a great battle, and it is important to see how we are part of this, whichever side we are on.
- Often when the Gospel is presented, it is just a cut down version of 2 & 3
- Not wrong, but it does need the context
- There’s nothing wrong with that, but today I want to focus on an interesting question.
- How did Jesus explain the gospel? —he hadn’t died yet.
- What did he tell people to do?
- Follow Me!
- I’d like to illustrate this by talking about an event that was in the news in England
driver on cliff edge
His BMW nearly plunged down a 100ft cliff in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, on Sunday.
He was only stopped from falling after the vehicle rammed into a wire fence.
Police and rescue teams then spent nine hours recovering his car following the incident.
The 43-year-old, who works as a driver, said he relies on his GPS for his job and described the incident as a “nightmare”.
- He told the Halifax Evening Courier: “It kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper, so I just trusted it.
“You don’t expect to be taken nearly over a cliff.”
- I want to talk today about “Following Jesus”
- This was his main message
- He called many individuals to “Follow me”
- The question is—what does it actually mean to “Follow Jesus” ?
- Follow me = believe and trust in me, but also to obey
- Just like the guy with the GPS
- To follow the GPS means to “do what it says”
- The real problem with Robert Jones was he was putting his trust in something that was broken, and not deserving of trust.
- But this is a great example because what Jesus meant by “follow me” was
- “I am your guide”
- “I am the one giving you direction”
- But this is a great example because what Jesus meant by “follow me” was
- I want to suggest there are four ways we follow Jesus
1. Leadership
- So what does it mean to follow Jesus?
- Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6]
- Jesus claims to be a leader
- So to follow a leader means two things:
- believe/trust
- do what they ask you do to
- Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6]
- Dog-sledding—an example of leadership
- Pack animals, and in any pack you have…
- That’s Luke on the right – no doubt!
- The other dogs are not paying attention
- But Luke is constantly watching me and listening
- Transition to Anne driving
- The only reason dog-sledding can work is because of this leadership principle
2. Allowing him to have control
- Giving someone the ability to make choices on your behalf
- Takes trust
- Human beings cannot stand being out of control
- Jesus says: I want you to trust me enough to give me control
3. The Cost
- Let’s have a look at Jesus’ “sales pitch” in Luke 14:25–33
Luke 14:25–33
- Now large crowds were accompanying Jesus, and turning to them he said,
- “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
- Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
- For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t sit down first and compute the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
- Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish the tower, all who see it will begin to make fun of him.
- They will say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’
- Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
- If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace.
- In the same way therefore not one of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his own possessions.
based on NET Bible
4. Death (or what seems like it)
- The irony is, that giving up our freedom like this, which feels like death, actually brings us real freedom and life
- Trust (like a parachute jump)
- It is putting ourselves in a position where if he doesn’t come through for us, we have lost everything
- But in fact we end up with everything
- So ultimately the death to self becomes life:
5. Life
- So the irony is that it is death that leads to life.
- He understands in a way nobody else can, and can satisfy us deeply the way none other can.
- So it seems on the surface to be a bad deal, but it is the best possible.
- Following him, we have true life
- So how do you start following Jesus
- The core of following is to trust him as your leader
- Once you do that, then everything else come as he gives you strength
- You simply pray to him and say, “Jesus, I want to follow you. I surrender my life to you”
- But ultimately you can’t trust unless you know who you are trusting
- Read the stories of Jesus in the Bible and ask him to reveal himself to you!
- If you are a Christian this morning, this is not an all-or-nothing thing
- There are plenty of Christians who are half-heartedly following
- They keep areas of their lives unsurrendered
Summary:
Sadhu Sundar Singh
