Faithfully Follow Jesus

Matthew 16:24

It is often said that knowing Jesus can happen in a single moment with a single prayer, while following Jesus happens over the course of a lifetime. Jesus uses His words strategically throughout His ministry, calling people of all different backgrounds and lifestyles to follow Him. Our task this week is to answer the question: what happens when we decide to follow Jesus? And if we answer that question; we will experience what it means to go All In for Jesus.

Matthew 16:24 NKJV

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Introduction

Today we continue on in our series “All In”, talking about how to be completely committed to the cause of Christ here in this broken world. Hopefully you have enjoyed this series so far, or maybe you are joining us for the very first time today. Either way, we’ve reached a climactic moment in our series. As many of you know, we have been looking at a key verse from the Gospel of Matthew, where Jesus gives us a 3-step command to knowing and following Him. We have journeyed through the first two things He says, and now we land on the culmination of all three in the third…

Matthew 16:24 NKJV

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Once we have taken time to deny ourselves, and once we have even been willing to pick up our “cross” and carry it, Jesus calls us to follow Him! Today, I have one goal in particular. I want us to answer the question: What happens when we decide to follow Jesus?

ILLUSTRATION: Talk about a famous athlete or a sports team you follow. Talk about how you know the stats about them, when they play, and how they’re doing… But highlight the fact that you don’t really KNOW them even though you have a lot of information about them.

There’s a similar thing that takes place in our relationship with Jesus. It’s called a relationship for a reason, because we are meant to be as close to Jesus as possible. We do this by following Him and His direction into the world! So, what happens when we decide to follow Him completely?

Main Teaching

It’s worth noting that we all follow or take after someone or something… It could be a parent, sibling, athlete, musician, or anyone else that we watch throughout life and look to emulate ourselves after. This is how we develop an identity, and the truth is, when we trade our old life for a new life in Christ we also receive a new identity.

He Gives Us A New Identity

As you think about this truth, also think about where you identify yourself now. Who do you like up to and seek to model your life after?

STORY: Talk about a time in your own life when you admired or emulated another person… Share personally about an athlete, artist, parent, sibling, or some other person that had captured your attention when you were younger.

We can look at the way we dress, the things we do, the way we talk and the places we go and see who/what we are identified with/as!

Our identity can often be found in things of the world, things that we spend and even invest tons of time into. In and of themselves, most of those things are not bad. However, when they become our identity they can be.

There’s a story in Scripture of Jesus giving someone a new identity. Now, this very thing happens whenever anyone, even today, decides to follow Jesus personally. The Holy Spirit comes within you and starts to reshape your priorities and life as a whole for the better! But in the Gospel accounts, we read of Jesus calling an initial 12 people to follow Him. And here’s a brief interaction that includes Jesus and Peter, someone who maybe you’ve heard of before…

Matthew 4:18–20 NKJV

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

We could preach an entire sermon on just these few verses. But what I want us to see today in particular are two key phrases. First, the Bible tells us what Peter and his brother Andrew were doing: “they fished for a living”. This is where they were when Jesus found them. It was their trade. It was the thing that brought them a steady income to provide for themselves. And it would have been really easy for Jesus to look at them in this and simply offer something better, something that would have dismissed their desire and ability to fish and brought them into something completely new. Instead, Jesus says this: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.”

You see, if you were to read the Book of Acts, you would read about incredible things that Peter eventually does for the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. He preaches and people get saved. He prays and people get healed. This is the same man that one day, Jesus would say that He will build His Church through! And because of that, we see a shift in Peter’s life that I believe can happen in ours as well. When Jesus finds Peter, he is “Peter, the fisherman who decided to follow Jesus.” But, when Peter nears his death here on earth, he is “Peter, the follower of Jesus, who also fishes.”

Church, please hear me…Jesus does not want to remove your passion and replace it with something different. What if Jesus wants to use what you already do, what you’re already good at, for a higher purpose to change the world? That’s what it feels like and sounds like to have Jesus give us a brand new identity.

But even with this new found identity, we sometimes fall short. You see, there’s a popular misconception that when Jesus died on the cross for our sin, He took away the presence of sin in the world. Instead, what actually happened is Jesus paid the penalty for sin in our own lives. What that means is whoever comes to follow Him would not have to spend Eternity (which is a long time) separated from God. Now, they could spend Eternity with Him in Heaven, while having their lives changed and molded into the image of Christ each day here on earth! So, we sometimes mess up here on earth. And believe it or not, this is the story of Peter as well. The good news is, when we follow Jesus He makes all our wrongs right again in the eyes of God.

He Makes Our Wrongs Right

When Jesus nears His death here on earth, there is a profound scene between He and Peter. Peter makes a bold claim…

John 13:37 NKJV

37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

But this claim from Peter is followed up with a prophetic word from Jesus…

John 13:38 NKJV

38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Can you imagine this scene? Peter is feeling pretty confident, and probably doesn’t even believe Jesus’s words to him in response. But soon enough, the words of Jesus would come to be. Later in the Gospel of John, we read of Peter denying that he has ever met Jesus three different times. This was because of what was happening to Jesus. “Would the same thing happen to me if I associate with Him?” Peter must have been curious. But praise God today that the moments we fall short like Peter are not the full story. And it doesn’t have to be the way the story ends.

For Peter, it doesn’t end here. After Jesus has been raised from the dead, the writer tells us this…

John 21:15–17 NKJV

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Three times Peter denies that he even knows Jesus. And three times Jesus makes the wrong right by asking Peter if he loves Him. Each time, not only does Peter declare that he loves Jesus, but in response, Jesus gives Peter calling after calling after calling for the rest of his life. It is almost as if Peter has rededicated his life to follow Jesus.

STORY: This is a great time for a piece of your own redemption story. Where were you when Jesus found you? Maybe you had to run back to Him after going astray or falling short for a season.

You see friends, here’s what I believe to be true. The God of the Universe is not in Heaven waiting with His arms crossed and angrily wanting His people to turn toward Him. Instead, I believe He is waiting as an eager child on Christmas morning, excited about what is to come, when His children unwrap the free gift of Salvation, the greatest gift ever given. And when we decide to turn and face Him we realize at some point that He has made us whole again… He has redeemed us from sin and death.

He Makes Us Whole

You know, I often ask myself “where would I be without Jesus?” And frankly, I don’t want to know the answer to that question. There came a point in my life where I realized the things I was chasing after and even following after instead of Jesus, were not fulfilling me like I thought they would.

You may have heard it said that there’s a God-shaped hole in each of our hearts. We often try to fill it with many things that are not God and instead come from the material world. None of those things will satisfy us for Eternity. That’s why following Jesus Christ is the only thing that can truly make us whole. Here’s what Paul has to say about this matter…

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NKJV

23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that God desires to sanctify us or make us holy in every possible way. This means, in practical terms, that when we decide to follow Jesus, God will seep into every area of our lives to make us whole. This is the only way we can truly live life the best way possible, even here on earth. He will go to every dark area and illuminate it for the sake of healing, rather than shame. He will visit every hidden thing and bring it to the surface. He will go ALL-In for us as we go ALL-In for Him.

Conclusion

He wants all of us, not just some of us. Not just part of our lives. Not just the pieces of our heart that we feel comfortable giving away. He wants it all.

That’s why we call it going All In for Jesus…Because if we leave a part of our life out, our priorities will be divided. Our understanding of Lordship may be divided. We must be people completely surrendered to Jesus Christ, and willing to follow Him no matter what, through every trial and circumstance that comes our way.

As we identify with Christ and recognize that we have been truly forgiven we are able to give ourselves more fully to Him. Over time we learn to trust Him, our faith grows. Eventually we see His faithfulness in all areas of our lives and that inspires us to follow Him even further.

If you’ve never fully committed your life to Christ, if you’ve never gone All-In on the journey, I humbly invite you to consider giving yourself today.