"Following Jesus"

          John 1:43 ⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

          A man comes up to you who you only recognize from the descriptions that other people have verbally given you.  This person then asks of you to follow him.  What do you do?  I forgot to tell you this man also claims to be the Messiah.  Does this give you enough information that you can now decide what to do?  Remember you have not met him before or you have not been properly introduced to him by those you do know.  Regardless, this man comes to you and says, "Follow Me."

          Are we who live in this day and time so different than those who lived during the time Jesus walked with His disciples? Were there as much skepticism in the minds of men in those days far gone than there are in our minds today.  We might be able to set ourselves apart from those in the past through language, science and gadgets but truthfully we are very much the same when it comes to trusting anything and anybody.  So are you willing to follow someone you haven't met?

          You have met me, and truthfully I do not want you to follow me, nor my examples unless my examples mimic those of Christ of course.  No, I hope and pray that you will follow that person that you have not met personally.  What does it mean to follow someone?  How do you interpret what Jesus commanded to Philip, "Follow Me"?  What are we to do or how do we follow Jesus? 

We had our Circuit meeting this last Tuesday and I asked this question, "How are we to follow Jesus," to the other pastors.  They gave me answers like, know Jesus, be a disciple of Jesus, know the grace that Jesus gave us.  The one answer a pastor gave me that stood out the most was, follow Jesus by living in His example.  What is Jesus' example to living one's life?  We should live the sacrificial life that Christ lived.  Living sacrificially is being obedient to the grace Christ bought us.  In other words as Christ gives us grace we should give grace to others.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 ¹²“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. ¹³“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other.

          We as people of this world want to live both in the example of Christ and the example of the world.  Living in the example of the world we ask if we should obey the laws of the world even when they go against what God has taught us.  Some will justify through quoting "What is Caesar’s is Caesar’s and what is God's is God's".  But Paul has been inspired to write that certainly there are laws we should follow but not all laws are good for us.  We can clearly see as our laws loosen, or change, as they have now made those laws that are illegal into legal law, these laws certainly are not good for us. 

          Why this example?  One of the answers to following Jesus is to know Him and though we might not be able to meet Jesus face to face yet, we certainly can know Him through studying His word.  And knowing His position on following mans laws vs. following God's laws.  Some of you will say you have a personal relationship with Jesus.  That can only happen if you know Jesus and actually follow Him all the time.  At best we have a part time personal relationship with God.

Knowing Jesus is not enough, we are to be Christ's disciples too.  To be a disciple is to study God's word and put it into practice.  It would be more correct to say Christ has a personal relationship with us as He does know us. And even knows us much better than we know Him or even ourselves.  Still, keep trying, it takes constant effort to try to have that personal relationship with God.  It takes constant effort to have a communicable relationship as well, however when we are working together we can have more accountability towards knowing Jesus and being His true disciples.  I wonder if it might be better to say we have a disciple relationship with God.

          1 Samuel 3:8–10 ⁸And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man. ⁹Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

          To follow Jesus is to know Him, be His disciple, and live the example of Christ that He paid for us on the cross, sacrificing all to serve God.  We might not have to hang on a cross or give up our lives but Christ does tell us to take up our cross and follow Him; Luke 9:23.  Christ sacrificed His life so that we could have life.  Not just life but a life following Him through an eternal relationship with Him.  It is something we have not seen yet, and something we believe through faith.  It is something we will do because Jesus Christ paved the way.  It is that all believers will "Follow Jesus" into eternal life and everlasting relationship through the love of God for all His creation.  Amen.