Likes, Thumbs Up, and Follows

Social Media is a weird thing.

For those of you who are not familiar with Social media, be grateful. For those of you who live on social media, I’m sorry.

Maggie and I have begun removing ourselves from social media platforms, because we just can’t stomach it anymore.

There is an interesting term used by social media platforms: following. (Or friending, or liking, or whatever the specific social media uses.)

You can click on different pages, profiles, groups, and follow them. Which means that you get notified if they publish anything, post anything, comment on anything. Whatever you do, you get a notification so that you can know what they said, or did, or posted, or recorded, or whatever.

There are some people who follow everything. There are some people who follow nothing.

I would love to take a survey and ask people why they follow people on social media. What spurs them on to click that button.

My kids love watching two shows on YouTube. They are basically the only shows that I allow them to watch. And for the longest time, my kids would ask why I didn’t follow the shows, because at the end of the show, the person always urged his viewers to follow. Well, finally, I did, because I wanted to know when the new content would drop, for the sake of my kids.

Why do we follow people? Social media might be one thing, but why do we follow people in life, whether it is stars, politicians, pastors, teachers. Why do we follow them?

Matthew addresses this question towards disciples of Jesus. Why do we follow him?

Our passage is Matthew 8:18-9 17

Matthew 8:18–9:17 NIV

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Today we are going to ask that question: why do we follow Jesus: Is it because he does miracles, or because he is the king?

Let’s pray.

1. He Does Miracles!

Why do we follow Jesus?

Some people follow him because he can do miracles. They like what he can do for them.

And in our passage, we see some crazy things that Jesus has authority over. Two weeks ago, we talked about the leper that was cleansed, the Centurion’s servant who was healed from across town, and the woman who was on her death bed with fever.

Here we see Jesus having authority over three more things:

A. Storms

We see Jesus having authority over natural conditions.

Matthew 8:24–26 NIV

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

I can just imagine the shock of the disciples

Matthew 8:27 NIV

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

That would probably be my reaction too.

And truthfully, Jesus would be a great friend to have around. I was working at an evangelistic event outside and storms were coming across the state of TX. We started praying and we could see the storm part on the radar, going around where our event was at.

We could follow Jesus for how he has control over storms.

B. Demons

We see Jesus having authority over demons.

Such a large passage.

Matthew 8:28–29 NIV

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

The demons recognize Jesus as the one who will judge them at the end of time, and they think that he has come for that time. He hadn’t.

But they knew that he was going to cast them out, even before he commanded them.

And Jesus casts the demons out of those men, sending the demons into the pigs, who are drowned.

Pretty amazing! He has authority not just over natural conditions, but supernatural ones.

His authority was so complete, that not only did the demons get cast out, but the men were completely changed.

Mark 5:15 NIV

When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

In a world were we see more and more odd things happening, that we wonder might be caused by the spiritual world of darkness, we could definitely be tempted to follow someone who has the ability to control that supernatural world.

C. Paralytics

We see Jesus performing miracles over natural conditions, supernatural conditions, but we also see him having authority over personal conditions.

Jesus is accosted by the friends of a paralytic.

Matthew 9:2 NIV

Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

Pretty amazing. These friends want Jesus to heal their friend. They know how hard it is to live as someone who cannot walk. They know how hard it is to take care of someone who cannot walk.

And they want Jesus to take care of it.

So, Jesus did.

Matthew 9:6–7 NIV

But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home.

How would you react if you saw this?

We would probably be filled with awe.

Matthew 9:8 NIV

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.

And we would want Jesus to do the same to us.

We all have issues in our life that we would love Jesus to take care of.

Whether it is sicknesses, or broken relationship, different burdens that we carry and we just want Jesus to pick up those burdens and throw them into the trash.

And is that wrong?

Well, if the only reason that we are following Jesus is for the miracles he performs, we’ve missed the point.

Jesus doesn’t just perform miracles.

2. He Is the King

He is the king. We follow him because he has all authority and he demands to be followed.

He is the king of kings and we either bow to him now to salvation or we will bow to him then on the way to destruction.

He is the king. He has all authority, will we follow him as such?

A. Authority to Call a Follower

He has authority to call a follower.

We see Jesus approaching Matthew at the tax booth. We’ve talked about tax collectors, they were not the most liked in Israel, they were considered traitors because they were working for the oppressors. But, Jesus walks up to him and says: follow me.

Matthew 9:9 NIV

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

He demands that Matthew follow. Matthew could have said “no”, but he recognized who Jesus was and wanted to follow him

B. Authority to Change a Follower

Not only does Jesus have the authority to call a follower but he has the authority to change a follower.

I skipped over a part of the paralytics story earlier.

Before Jesus healed the paralytic, he said some earth shattering words:

Matthew 9:2 NIV

Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”

He knew that humanities problem is not our sicknesses or our personal problems, it is the condition of our hearts, our sin.

He has come as king, to change the hearts of those who follow him. And he has authority to do that, he proved it by healing the paralytic.

He changed the heart of the paralytic. He changed the heart of Matthew. He changed the heart of the men with the demons. All these people who said that they wanted to follow him, the king.

B. Authority to Push a Follower

He also has authority to push a follower.

At the very beginning of our passage, we read about two people who wanted to follow Jesus. One who was confused about the physical lifestyle of a follower.

Matthew 8:20 NIV

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

And one who was confused at the expectation of a follower.

Matthew 8:21–22 NIV

Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

When we follow the king, we follow the king. We embrace the life that he has called us to follow him on and we embrace the timeline for that life.

Even if it means saying “no” to things that we want to do, or things that our family or friends want to do.

Even if it means turning our lives and our priorities and our timelines upside down, we follow him.

Why? Because he does miracles?

No, because he is the king. He has all authority. And when faced with someone with authority, we bow down, worship, and do his bidding.

In our passage today, we had people who didn’t follow Jesus, who refused to accept him as king. They saw the miracles, and said: yeah, he just did that!

The people who saw the demons begged Jesus to leave the area.

The teachers of the law who saw Jesus heal the paralytic called him a blasphemer.

They saw the miracles. But that’s not enough.

We must see Jesus for who he is and follow him because of who he is. And we must follow him where he is calling.

Where is he calling you?

He is calling you to follow him?

Stand up like Matthew, leave everything behind, and follow him.

He is calling you to a ministry or a task? Don’t make excuses, or demand comfort, or delay, but follow him.

Is he calling you to see his awesome power? Stop your busy life and see. Be filled with awe, praise God, and recognize this is happening not because he can do awesome miracles, but because he is king of kings and lord of lords. And tell someone about it.