Following Jesus Today
- Rev Norman Cameron

I think every human being needs something to live for. I think we have been created with a soul and with a sense that there is something big that we are meant to live for and without that something in the centre of our existence we do not reach our full potential and we do not have a sense of satisfaction deep down within us. Without this we have a hollowness deep down, an emptiness, a restlessness that is always there.

It is a nagging feeling that there is something more to life than work, and sleeping, and food and parties, and sex and sport and shopping and celebrity. These are good things but when we just live for these things alone we are left sometimes with an empty feeling. Surely there must be something more.

Part of being a human being I think is that we were meant to have something bigger than ourselves and our trivial desires to live for, and something bigger than our selves to die for. Martin Luther King realised this when he once said, “If a man happens to be 36 years old, as I happen to be, and some great truth stands before the door of his life, some great opportunity to stand up for that which is right and that which is just, and he refuses to stand up because he wants to live a little longer and he is afraid his home will get bombed, or he is afraid that he will get shot... he may go on and live until he's 80, and the cessation of breathing in his life is merely the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. Man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. So we are going to stand up right here... letting the world know we are determined to be free.”

He felt called by God to take a stand for something bigger than himself – called to a big task of freedom and equality for black people in America. He came alive as he engaged with this greater goal and purpose that informed his living and would eventually inform his dying as well.

Sometimes we find that this nagging thought that there is something more leads us to explore the big questions of life. Way are we here? Is there a God? What is the purpose of my life? Is there an afterlife? Which religion makes most sense to me? Should I start my own religion? Sometimes we ask these questions and they lead somewhere. Sometimes we suppress these questions and we buy another CD or a problem comes up at work that diverts our attention, or we book a holiday and say we need a break in the sun and that lingering notion goes unexamined.
Socrates once said “the unexamined life is not worth living”, and I think he is right. Satan of course is very happy if people go through life not thinking too deeply about such issues, bubbling along on the surface of life, content with watching TV in our spare time, watching other people living their lives rather than really trying to live our own.

If someone who was exploring the big questions of life was to come to the life of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the gospels I think they would be intrigued by this person. I know I was and still am. At one point in John 6:67-68 Jesus turns to his disciples who seem to be having doubts about who he is and he says “You do not want to leave too do you?” And then Peter says “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the holy One of God.”

When God, and I believe it is God by His Spirit, works in our lives and draws us to see Jesus as he really is then a number of things click into place and we see that Jesus seems to be the one who is capable of answering the big questions, the nagging questions, and who can be the answer to the longing for meaning that exists in every human soul.

Jesus begins to take on a shape and size and importance that we never saw before and we begin to understand how Jesus was able to walk along a shore and say to someone follow me and they followed him. They left their fishing or their tax booth and they followed.

This evening a number of you have come to the point in your life where you have examined your life, you have examined the life of Jesus Christ as set forth in the scriptures and you have decided that you life and the life of Christ should begin to converge and as the disciples of long ago followed you now want to follow him. This is great news. This is a special time in your lives and in the lives of this church. Tonight Jesus says to you “Now follow me”. This is the main thing. Yes attend church, yes read your Bible, yes pray, yes share your faith, yes serve others; but above all and in all follow me.

So tonight I want to leave some thoughts with you on following and what it means to follow Jesus. These are not just for those coming on profession of faith or on re-affirmation of faith but for all of us who will be taking communion on Sunday coming – all who profess to be followers of Jesus.

1.Following means being in the minority

At some parts of Jesus ministry there were large crowds following him. But the following was out of curiosity, or for what they could get out of Jesus whether it be healings or food or stimulating and entertaining stories. But when the following looked like it might involve pain, suffering, social embarrassment, then the crowds began to drift away. In Luke 14:25 it says “large crowds were travelling with Jesus and turning to them he said “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes even your own life, he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”

This was shocking language – all this talk of hating close relatives and carrying a cross, a despised instrument of death for the lowest criminals. Of course we know Jesus meant that our love for him was such that it should have no rivals, even amongst our closest family. But still it is a radical saying. It was designed to sift out the keen from the curious – and it worked. Because following Jesus is a minority occupation. By following we do not mean just having your name on a church membership roll, or being baptised as a child, or having Presbyterian beside your name when you are in hospital. Following Jesus does not happen by default. It is a deliberately counter cultural decision. Jesus talked about the broad road that leads to destruction which many follow and the narrow way which leads to life which fewer find.

Why should it be the narrow way? Why do we have to be in the minority? I do not know beyond saying that we live in a world that is infected by sin and which naturally veers away from God rather than towards him. But this is the way it is and you will find time after time that your following of Jesus will rub against the grain of the culture. Following Jesus is a minority interest, it always has been and always will be.

2. Following Jesus can be painful

This is of course linked to number 1. because being in the minority can be a painful option. Jesus often stressed that there was a cost to following him.

In Mt.16:24-25 it says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” There is self denial in following Christ. Our natural self wants a quiet life, a prosperous life, a safe life. But following Jesus is risky and can actually be dangerous.

A lot of the risk has been airbrushed out of modern Christianity. It is cool to be a Christian in some circles. In the world it can never be cool to be a christian. Once it starts to become cool we have lost the edge and the reality of what it is to be a Christ follower.

It could be costly as far as relationships were concerned where following him could mean not peace in a household but a sword. It can be costly as far as our work might be concerned where he may call you to leave a certain well paid profession to follow him to something that is less lucrative financially. It could be painful in work or school where you are ostracised and treated differently and regarded as some kind of religious fanatic.

It is no easy or light thing to declare Jesus is Lord of my life – it can involve painful choices but we learn that as we deny self and empty self and fill our hearts more with Jesus then we find fulfilment. Erwin McManus has said “that while we strive to fill ourselves and remain empty, Jesus emptied himself and lived fully.” Following can be painful but it is fulfilling.

3. Following is exciting

In Matthew 4:19 Jesus says to Peter and Andrew “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Now Peter and Andrew fished for fish and here was a man calling them now to fish for men. That is interesting and challenging. Jesus is full of surprises. It is hard to really meet Jesus and remain the same. He radically changes how you see things. He is never boring.

It is an indictment of the church that we make Jesus safe, boring and comfortable. But Jesus is far from safe – when we devote our lives to him dear knows where we could end up. Faith may have some doubt in it, but it certainly has some risk. Faith without risk is not much of a faith. When Jesus calls us he calls us to join him in the adventure of living. As he shouted out to Peter and Andrew Come on and I will make you fishers of men they had not a clue what he meant, but it was an adventure that would turn two ordinary Galilean fishermen into household names all over the world two thousand years later. Now that is what I call celebrity status.

I love the story in John 21 where after the resurrection it seems that the disciples are at a bit of a loose end. Jesus was making spasmodic appearances but he was not with the disciples and Peter suggests that they go fishing – for fish – which is what came naturally to fishermen. They caught nothing that night. But then early in the morning as they return to shore they see Jesus on the shore and he says throw your net on the right side of the boat. When they do this they catch over 150 large fish. Jesus makes life interesting when we are willing to follow him. Following is ongoing. When we make a decision for Jesus it is not a once off decision and we have arrived. No it is a journey.

4. Following is individual to you

During ch.21 of John we hear about another incident where Peter is talking to Jesus about Peter’s future role in the church (feed my lambs etc.) and Peter sees John and he says to Jesus what about him. What are your plans for him? And Jesus says “If I want him to remain alive until I return what is that to you? You must follow me.” Each of us has to follow Jesus and he may have plans that are different for you than your friends. We are to follow Jesus as individuals, albeit within the fellowship of a larger body of church members. But we follow as individuals, shaped by Jesus word and his leading.

Our following Jesus may lead us away from that which is familiar or it may not, the important thing is to remain close to Christ – to abide in the vine.

5. Following is worth it

In Matthew 19:27 Peter says to Jesus – “we have left everything to follow you.” In other words will it be worth it? And Jesus replies “I tell you the truth at the renewal of all things, when the son of man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

Will it be worth it. Yes following Jesus will be worth it. As Paul says “therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor.4:16-17)

We are Christ’s followers – it is costly, sometimes painful, exciting, shaped to our individual lives and worth it. Together let us follow the one who is worth following – our saviour, our creator, our Lord for his glory and our good.