Following Jesus
Are you a fan of Jesus or are you a follower of Jesus? At the heart of this question is defining your relationship with Jesus. Well what’s the difference between a fan and a follower Vicar Joel? Thank-you for asking. A fan of Jesus is a person who likes the idea of having Jesus in their life… having all the benefits that Jesus has to offer…. but wants to do as little as possible to receive “the benefits.’’ In essence, a fan wants to follow Jesus on their own terms and conditions! A follower on the other hand is someone who puts Jesus as their top priority in life and is devoted and committed to following Jesus no matter what happens in their life. They follow Jesus at all costs.
Today our text has three people who want to be followers of Jesus… but realistically they are probably only fans. Jesus isn’t looking for fans….. he wants devoted, committed followers. The first man emphatically states ‘I will follow you wherever you go’ (Luke 9:57b).
Does he actually understand the journey Jesus is on? Is he really prepared to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, follow him during his, his rejection, follow him all the way to death on a cross. Then we get to the second person. ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father’ (Luke 9:59b).
Isn’t that a fair request from this person? Particularly in the culture of the time where a child’s responsibility to bury their parents took priority over everything else in life. It was held in such high importance it even took priority over religion. And there lies the problem! Burying a father took priority over Jesus. The person only wanted to follow Jesus on their own terms and conditions…. once they had done what they wanted to do in life.
We get to the third person who is no different to the second person. “I will follow you Lord, but first allow me to say goodbye to my family.” (Luke 9:61)
Following Jesus again on their own terms and conditions. [Slide] Are these three people in our text today fans of Jesus… or followers of Jesus? Fans! Did they get their priorities right in discipleship… being devoted committed followers? No they didn’t!
That raises a question for us all here today. Are we capable of getting our priorities right to be a follower of Jesus? We want to be followers of Jesus. That’s why we are here this morning…right? But we too, like the people in our text, let our sinful nature get in the way of being a devoted follower of Jesus. We are capable at times of being a devoted follower of Jesus in response to the love and grace which was first shown to us. But there are many more times in our lives when we are only a fan of Jesus… when we put our owns terms and conditions to following Jesus. In these times, our sinful nature prevents us from being followers.
Brothers and Sisters, I would like to change track for a few moments and address a fourth commandment issue to the second and third people in our text. [Slide] ‘Honour your father and you mother.’ Jesus is not asking the people to break the fourth commandment. Wanting to honour your parents and family is not sinful. However, Jesus is teaching them and us, that if you hold you parents and family in higher esteem than God, you have made a ‘god’ out of your family. When God becomes second or third or anything that is not a first priority in your life, you have an idol! Guess what folks….. that’s breaking the first commandment. ‘You shall have no other gods.’
Can you think of the times in daily life where you are merely a fan of Jesus and not a devoted follower? Times when priorities are in the incorrect order. Maybe you only follow Jesus at certain times during the week. Jesus isn’t welcome into my work office….. I make some business choices which are only for my own personal gain. I need to get all these things done first… all the cooking, catch up with friends, cleaning, make some phones calls…. then if I have some spare time prayer and maybe a devotion.
Maybe you justify you un-Christlike actions, like it’s my job is to make people accountable, tell them exactly what jobs they have forgotten and make them feel inadequate and unworthy. Are these the actions of a follower of Jesus? Are these things prioritising God?
Friends, despite our best intentions to follow Jesus as he has called us, we don’t meet the qualifications for discipleship by our own strength. Putting God first, as the number one priority is a requirement of following Jesus- something we don’t do very well.
You may be sitting there thinking, Gee.. not a lot of Good News for me here so far? Where is the gospel in our Gospel reading?
In our text however, Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God. [Slide] The Kingdom of God is wherever God is reigning… even when we never asked or prayed for it. This Kingdom came into the world through the person of Jesus Christ as a loving action of God the Father… completely unasked for. This is demonstrated most clearly on the Cross… in Jerusalem (Which is where Jesus was heading towards when our text today occurred) even though we did not put God first.
[Slide] That is what God first done for us. God put us first. God sent his son Jesus to redeem us all from all our sins. God made us the priority and enacted his grace so that we may not be condemned, but rather receive salvation. God even forgives us when we get our priorities wrong and become fans of Jesus instead of followers of Jesus. That is the underserved and unconditional love God has for us- his children.
In response to this unconditional and underserved love, Jesus calls all of us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. [Slide]
If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and be follow Me. (Matt 16:24)
Following Jesus, means that at times you will need to leave the comfortable and joyful mountain top experiences of life, leave following Jesus on your own terms and conditions, and walk with Jesus through the valley of heartache and trouble. Only wanting to experience the mountain top- is to be a fan of Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus-we can’t avoid suffering, can’t avoid pain… Jesus couldn’t avoid these things, and neither can we. But the difference between Jesus and us, is that Jesus has already taken care of all our burdens and failings on the cross. We follow Jesus into the dark valleys with hope in the resurrection. We follow Jesus-the Kingdom of God where God is the ruler over the whole universe- both on earth and in heaven.
On the journey to our heavenly homes, to the heavenly kingdom, we need to receive strength and forgiveness to be sustained. [Slide]Every time we take part in the Lord’s meal at communion we join with the saints of all time to receive forgiveness through the true body and true blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This heavenly meal is where we join together with God’s heavenly kingdom whilst still here on earth- the kingdom of God comes to us. God’s kingdom comes to you in the body and blood of Jesus and through it you are renewed, and refreshed in body, mind, to follow Jesus.
Friends, to follow Jesus is following in his footsteps, in the footsteps of what he has already given us- the kingdom of God. Jesus has already given us all abundant grace through his redeeming actions. We are called to follow him in response of what we first received in grace mercy, forgiveness, and ultimately eternal life. Jesus has already passed on and secured our salvation – a salvation which is a pure gift of grace. Thanks be to God! Amen
Lord Jesus, thank you for giving up everything for us. Help us wholeheartedly to follow you. AMEN
