"But Do You Follow Him?"
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Aryn and her connection with me. Every day I hear follow me. She has learned that from me.
No greater command was in all of scripture than Jesus’s two words of, “Follow me”. I have always been intrigued by this command. Two simple words and yet so much weight behind what he is saying.
This is probably the biggest life challenge that you will face when you come to terms with this statement. Jesus is not just saying, hang out, no he is saying, come and follow, all in!
You see why I call it a challenge? The passage we will be looking at today will help us understand our response to Jesus’s calling of following him as bigger than Sunday morning.
At the end of this message, we should find ourselves asking, “Am I actually following Jesus?” I don’t know if there is any more important of a question that we can ask.
Let’s go ahead and read our passage. Read passage: Matthew 4:12-25
12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.
13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.
25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Today we are going to break down the two main word of focus in his statement “Follow me” and see what it means to follow Jesus at the most basic level.
And then we should reconsider the question, are you following, or will you follow Jesus? So first this morning we begin with the most important word out of the statement “Follow me” and the word is ...
1. Me
1. Me
I would say that many people, if not all of us in this room, are familiar with the idea that Jesus has called us to follow Him.
It is not a complicated command, but it is easily one of those commands that is not followed very well.
I think that part of the reason that we struggle with the command is because we have not pursued the order of the phrase. “Follow me”, in the correct order.
I believe that if done correctly, we will want to look at this phrase in a reverse order so that we will get the most out of it.
We will actually begin with getting to know the “Me” part of the phrase and will look at what is said about Jesus in the first four chapters of Matthew that he tells us about Jesus. Starting in chapter one we find that Matthew makes it very clear ...
A. He is Messiah, human, and divine
Jesus’ name means Savior, but we also call him the Messiah which is seen in the name Christ. The name designates him as the anointed One.
He comes from the kingly line of David, and further back the line of Abraham. Since the beginning of time, it has always been about Jesus.
Chapter on also tells us that He is fully human, and fully God. He was clearly born of a woman, but not conceived through a man.
No other person can make that claim. This is truly a miracle and a mystery, Immanuel God with us (1:23) Then as we move to chapter two, we see that ...
B. He is sovereign and shepherd
As you move into Matthew two you see that Jesus is sovereign or ruler over the wise and a shepherd of the weak. Now here is what I am aiming at.
The wisemen on their quest to look for this king and they come before this child and bow before him. Even Jesus as a baby was a ruler to the wise.
But then Matthew goes on to quote Micah 5:2 where Jesus is prophesied as both ruler and a shepherd to God’s people. Jesus was the end of God’s people being broken. He brought hope into their lives.
Their waiting for hope had come. And even as he loved them, He loved his enemies as well.
He came for the despised, destitute, and prayed for those who despised him.
They were committed to destroying him, and He was committed to loving them. Then we move into Chapter three and see ...
C. He is King, and righteous judge
Through the proclamation of John the Baptist, we here that the coming King was now here and that they must prepare the way for the Lord. The king is here, and he is here to save all those who trust in him.
But with that comes judgment as well we learn, but Jesus is not some judge who does not know, no sir, he knows all and will be righteous in his judgement.
So, when John cried out for the people to repent, he could do so knowing Jesus was the king, filled with the HS, loved by the father as we hear the voice of God.
We hear God then, in a rare instance, proclaiming outwardly that this is his son whom he is well pleased with. So, this now leads us to chapter four where we learn ...
D. He is the light and hope for all people
We read about the temptation from the devil. This is the same serpent that we read about in the Garden of Eden, who tempted Adam and Eve and Adam could not resist the temptation.
This same Devil attempted the same on Jesus. Jesus though did what no other human had ever done or would ever do, he resisted.
He did not just kind of avoid sin, he flat resisted it. It was in this moment at Jesus became the light of the world and the hope for all mankind. He conquered sin!
And so that brings us to the place where we began today. This hope for the world has become a light for all those who live in darkness.
At the end of chapter four we read about how Jesus was teaching and preaching the good news, healing every disease, and taking away sickness of all kinds.
I don’t know if you can even fathom what is taking place here but this is incredible. Jesus' teaching and preaching were accompanied by His healing ministry; He healed the sick, diseased, demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics (v. 24).
This ministry consisted of both word and deed—proclamation of the good news of the kingdom alongside demonstrations of the greatness of the King. He is worthy to be called King!
So, in light of all this friends we should feel this weight ...
E. He is worthy of more
There really is only one conclusion that we can draw out of his story so far. When the invitation to follow him has been given, not only is He worthy to follow, but He is worthy far more than our casual church attendance.
Do you see that?! He is worthy of so much more! Jesus is not a puny savior who is begging us to accept Him. He does not need us. He does not need our acceptance.
He is infinitely worthy of all glory in the whole universe, and He doesn't need us at all. We need Him! So now we are going to break and move back to the first part of the statement and that is ...
2. Follow
2. Follow
So, you see that there is no simple casual response to Jesus. We either turn and walk away or we bow before him and worship him. You don’t ever look the same after you meet the King.
Many people claim to have made a decision, prayed a prayer, signed a card, walked an aisle, accepted Jesus into their hearts, but their lives don't look any different.
Look if you have really met Jesus, you look different! When you meet Jesus, everything changes, and you follow and when you follow then you respond. What does it look like when we respond? First things first is ...
A. We live radically
Matthew made it clear in our passage that we look radical when we follow Jesus. It begins with our radical confessing and repenting.
Repenting is expressing sorrow for what we have done wrong and is illustrated in baptism. “That was the old me, this is the new me!” I am no longer my own, I belong to Jesus.
Then He says to follow him. Now you know him, but to follow, what does that look like? For the disciples they left everything they knew to follow him.
They left behind everything that was familiar and natural for them. They exchanged comfort for uncertainty. They didn't know where they would be going; they only knew who they would be with. That’s radical!
I think we have a similar call to our lives friends. We may not know all the details of following Jesus, but we know who it is we are following and that we can trust him. You see, He has kind of earned that don’t you think?
Don’t think it won’t cost, because I have learned that when we are sold out in obedience, it is always costly, but always worth it. This also means that ...
B. We live dependently on Him
Clearly at this point you have not heard me say that following Christ would be easy. As we live for our King and we continue to build that trust in Him we really begin to grow in a joyful dependence in Him.
We must take not here that the disciples did not come and pursue him, He came and pursued them. If He is going to come after you then you should trust and depend Him.
He did not Calle these men because of anything that they brought to the table and neither does he do that with us.
These first disciples though were called and Jesus did not just tell them what to do, he provided the power. Notice that Jesus does not command the disciples to fish for people; rather, He says, "I will make you fish for people."
In other words, "I am going to do a transforming work in your life that will enable you to spread the message of My kingdom around the world." We must rely on and depend on Him. Next we see that ...
C. We live as committed learners
We are not called to be just casual or merely convinced listeners, merely telling others we believe in Jesus, heck James tells us that even the deacons believe who Jesus says He is. No we are called to be committed learners and followers.
It is far from easy and yes it calls you to stretch yourself in a life that is already probably stretched to the core, but I really want to encourage you to yield more here in your life. Now is the time to dig in deeper.
Commit, really commit to learning more. Join a group or at the very least get involved in some sort of study. He is committed to you. Next we see that ...
D. We live in His authority
I will make this simple for you. Let him be the master of every domain in you. For the disciples and for us, it is important to realize that there is nothing in our lives or our professions that is outside Jesus' authority.
All of us have the dangerous tendency to compartmentalize Christianity. He is Lord of every detail. And when we realize that ...
E. We live His mission
Every one of us is simply called to be fishers of men. You see you are a disciple and every disciple is to be a disciple maker.
With the good news of a kingdom to spread throughout the world, Jesus gathered a few men around Him for three years.
He loved them, cared for them, taught them, and trained them, and when He left this earth, He only had a handful of people who were actually following Him.
But each one of them knew that he (or she) had one mission—to fish for men and make disciples.
This is of the deepest burden of my heart here and it is very hard to see that it is not being done to its fullest potential. I want every member, every disciple, to see themselves as disciple-makers.
So biblically, if we're not making disciples, then we have missed what it means to be a disciple in the first place And that breaks my heart. It really does.
A passage like Matthew 4:18-25 isn't intended simply to be analyzed. It's intended to confront us with the question of whether or not we will follow Jesus.
3. Will you/Do you follow Jesus
3. Will you/Do you follow Jesus
I think that you should consider the cost my friends. It’s not easy. Jesus never said it would be easy. But it is worth it for sure. But just as important is to count the cost of not following Jesus. This is burden on me today.
Consider the cost of what you’re missing out on already. Don't be deceived: the cost of non-discipleship is far greater than the cost of discipleship.
And think of this, it affects more than you. If you’re not all in then it can affect your family and your community and those are men and women you are to be fishers of.
Instead, we want to show people that Jesus is worthy of more than Sunday morning or even small group attendance; He's worthy of our lives and our possessions, our dreams and our ambitions.
He's worthy of it all, and we gladly lay it all down for Him. Let's make known the good news of a King for whom it is worth losing everything.