what does it mean to follow Jesus

A calling to follow

tonight we be doing kind of a mini series on Jesus before we get into Jesus

in today society we are taught to be leaders. we are taught to be fight for ourselves, to be the very best and that we should always do what we think is the right way of doing things. the Truth is that is not really how Christians did thing during Christ life. in fact there certain things that some people could not do, and there things that people were able to do. so, let please turn in our Bibles tonight to (Mat 4:18-22)

“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.

21 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. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

From this passage we See Jesus is about to begin his ministry, We also see that Jesus is about to change the lives of four fisherman.

these four fisherman had no idea what this man was going to do, he was complete stranger to them. yet they chose to follow him, they left their jobs and their families to follow this man.

today Christ calls us through the Bible the Problem with today is the world also calls to us

what we also learn from this is that Christ is able to change the live around him.

There is another view we can look at in this passage in where Jesus came and ask the the four to follow him. we can also see the fisherman view:

first off these guys are nothing special. they are everyday Joe’s

fishing is their job that how they bring food to the table in order to provide for their families

these guys are usually train under professional fisherman. this is a career to them.

yet a stranger ask come and follow me

my question this would you chose to follow someone if the just come and ask follow me?

in most common sense way of thinking the answer should be No

yet this four men chose to follow this stranger who came and ask come and follow me, I will making you fishers of men.”

the amount of faith that it would take for those four men to take a chance in this guy in being the Christ that were looking for. this meant everything to them, and they were willing do anything like giving up the career that would provide for their families and to leave their families to travel with this stranger. to live with this man, study under him. would change their lives forever.

the problem that many who do not understand that there is a cost if you chose to take follow the Bible, to follow Christ. many people have always said i believe, I believe, yet do not commit to following Christ. let go ahead turn our bible to (Mat 8:18-20):

The New King James Version Chapter 8

18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

From this passage we see that it is somewhere down the line after Christ had first call his disciples to follow him this right were Jesus has been teaching and that the crowds were astonish with him and his disciples.

we see that one scribe said i am willing to follow you anywhere

We see Jesus answer is that Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

what Jesus is saying here there going to be times when i’ll be sleeping out in the open, there not going to be no tavern everywhere i go.

we see a disciple who ask Lord let me go bury my father

we see Jesus answer here follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.

we see that this answer would seem harsh but in reality it really is not Jesus knew the requirement of burying person at that point was still under the old law that man would still have to go through a cleansing ritual in order to be clean again.

Let go head turn in are Bible to (Lk 9: 61-62) Here we have a similar story like in Matthew. we are going to be looking at the last part.

The New King James Version (Chapter 9)

61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

we see another example here in Luke 9:61-62 where another person says Lord i will follow you just let me say farewell my family. we also see Jesus answer to that. Jesus states that No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. we as Christians need to understand choosing to follow Christ is going to be cost us many world desire in this life, and sometime our very own family. we could also look at the rich young ruler. (Just paraphrase this story) found in (Lk 18:18-30).

let us go on ahead an turn in our Bibles to (Lk 9:23-25).

The New King James Version Chapter 9

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

Here we see here in verse 23 that Jesus is talking to his disciples and telling them that if anyone wish to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.

what Jesus is plainly saying if you are willing to follow me, are you willing to deny yourself? your passions, worldly power, your very self. then we see that Jesus state take up your cross daily and follow me, which means are you willing to die for me. many people would walk away from Christ. as soon as he mention this. one problem that man has is that most men value their lives. the truth about this passage is it is speaking both physical body and spiritual body. we have it easy here in America because our Religious beliefs, we are able to freely believe in Christ, but around the world there are people who are dying because of their belief in Christ. then the spiritual side of this when we chose to follow Christ are we not killing the old self, kill the sinful life style once we chose to get baptized? the answer yes we are. that is all I have for us tonight if you struggling with the choosing to follow Christ understand this. the last part of last passage state this Lk 9:24-25 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? what spend here so little if you chose Christ.

The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 4:18–22). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.