Why do only a few people follow Christ for a lifetime? Why do some
appear to follow for a time and then fall away? What prevents us from following
Jesus wholeheartedly? Why do many of us prefer to build on the sand rather than
the rock?
It can't be that we don't know about Him. With all the
technology available today, the archaeological research confirming the people
and places of the Bible, the immense volumes of writings of believers
explaining their faith, and the exegetical study of the words of the Bible -
it's as if we know so much, yet believe so little.
As they were walking along the road, a man said to
him, "I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first
let me go and bury my father." Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own
dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Still another said,
"I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my
family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is
fit for service in the kingdom of God." [Luke 9:57-62]
What keeps us from following Jesus wholeheartedly?
- We want security: home, job, marriage, family. We want personal pleasure and comfort: an easy life, no conflict, to get along with everyone. We want earthly rewards: popularity, friendships, leisure time.
- Some follow only with 'conditions'. Jesus, however, wants
complete loyalty with no conditions. Total dedication, not halfhearted
commitment. We can't pick and choose among Jesus' ideas and follow him
selectively. Jesus did not appoint us to be editors who select the portions of
Jesus' teaching which we "think" are irrelevant.
This man said in Luke 9:57-62, he first wanted to bury his father. It's likely the father was not yet dead and the man wanted to wait until he died.- Our priorities do not place Jesus at the top.
- Some have one foot in heaven and one foot in this life. They cannot let go of the things of this earth.
- They say, "Let me take care of important family matters first."
- "Let me take care of my financial situation first."
- "Show me a miracle"
- "Heal me."
We must be willing to abandon everything else that has given us security and not allow anything to distract us from the calling He has made in our lives.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw
Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were
fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of
men." At once they left their nets and followed him.
When he had
gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a
boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their
father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. [Mark
1:16-20]
Simon and Andrew left their sole livelihood, their job to respond to
Jesus' call.
James and John left their job and their father to follow Jesus.
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large
crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi
son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus
told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having
dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him
and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of
the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax
collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and
'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners." [Mark 2:13-17]
Levi, renamed Matthew by Jesus, gave up his job as a tax-collector
which likely included great wealth and power.
The Pharisees were
uncomfortable with Jesus' life-style and attitude that allowed Him to be
willing to associate with those whom the Pharisees had judged as evil people,
those who did not follow the Mosaic law: tax collectors, adulterers, robbers
and the like. Many churches tend to treat people like this by rejecting them or
demanding they change first.
There is a double standard within some
Christian churches. Christian leaders point their finger at cults and cult
leaders and accuse them of deceiving their members. Perhaps we need to examine
our own history as Christians believers. How many Christians today are guilty
of the same sin? Too often our Christianity is in our mouths and not in our
minds. Often the outsider can see through our facades; he calls it hypocrisy.
He has heard the stories of Christian churches that have been divided by anger
and hatred. He knows about the deacon who left his wife to run away with the
church organist. He knows how some of the Sunday morning faithful spend
Saturday night.
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.
Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and
Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We
have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets
also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
"Nazareth! Can
anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.
[John 1:43-47]
The first thing Philip did after he followed Jesus was he told
someone else: evangelism. Nathanael response was at first skepticism. What
about Christ stirs skepticism today? What stereotypes about Christ prevent
people from trusting Him today? We must set aside all our preconceived ideas
about Christ and allow Him to fill our hearts and minds with the true Spirit.
Many today respond to Jesus with a lack of commitment. They believe
with their mind, but not their heart. They are skeptical about who He is. They
are not willing to give up themselves to follow him. They are willing to follow
some of His commands, but not willing to sacrifice their own needs. They may
hold on to parents, siblings, or children.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his
father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters ... he
cannot be my disciple." [Luke 14.26]
"If anyone comes to me and does
not hate ... -- yes, even his own life -- he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14.26
Whose goals and aspirations direct your daily living? God's or your
own carnal, self-centered desires?
There is a flow of obedience in our
lives - a flow that springs from the motives of the heart.
Legal
obedience - a cold, technical formality, based on fear of consequences.
They obey because they are afraid to go to hell. They fear the Fathers wrath.
Their obedience is "legal" only - they have no genuine desire to please Him.
They do not obey out of pleasure or because they love Jesus - on the contrary
they are angry at him for restricting their freedom and life-style.
These people will stand before God's throne someday and say, "Lord, in You name
we cast out devils, we healed the sick, we did many wonderful works for You."
But they built their houses on sand. They cried, "Lord, Lord!" throughout their
lives - coming to Him for relief, for power, for rewards. But they never
stopped long enough in His presence to get to know Him. They were busy for Him
- but they don't obey Him with a love that flows from a totally abandoned
heart.
Loving obedience - "I do it because I want to please my
Lord - to bring Him great pleasure." These people don't need the "law" because
they wouldn't do things that would hurt their Father because of their love for
Him. Their every action and desire is to please God and willingly forsake the
world and its lusts.
The next day John was there again with two of his
disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" When
the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
Turning
around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They
said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" "Come," he
replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and
spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had
followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and
tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him
to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be
called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). [John 1:35-42]
The first thing Andrew did after he had followed Jesus was to tell
someone else. He told Simon Peter who later was to become a pillar of the
church.
Have you told anyone about Jesus today? This week? This month?
This year? Ever?
What does it mean
then, to follow Jesus?
Clearly, we must step out of our comfort
zone. We're not to be sitting in church but reaching out to the lost and the
needy. We're to be telling others about the Savior! It's a life of evangelism
and sacrifice of self.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" [Matt. 28:19-20].
Expect
resistance
We are told in Scripture that men will reject three
things:
- God created the world, which at first was covered with water (which means that its surface was cool at the beginning, not a molten blob as evolutionists teach).
- God once judged this world with a global, cataclysmic flood at the time of Noah.
- God is going to judge this world again, but the next time it will be by fire.
First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this `coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. [2Peter 3:3-7]
The scoffers skepticism is based upon their evil desires, which lead
them to prefer a view of the future in which there is no divine judgment. The
scoffers maintain that everything in the world goes on without divine
intervention.
Notice that the emphasis here is on a deliberate
rejection, or as some translations put it, a "willing ignorance." Thus,
it is a deliberate action on a person's part not to believe. People refuse to
believe these things even when presented with evidence -people simply do not
want to be convinced. Ignoring the flood as a divine intervention was not an
oversight; it was deliberate.
We read in Romans 1:20 that there is
enough evidence to convince everyone that God is Creator, so much so that we
are condemned if we do not believe. Furthermore, Romans 1:18 tells us that men
"suppress the
truth in unrighteousness."
It is not a matter of lack of
evidence to convince people that the Bible is true; the problem is that they do
not want to believe the Bible. The reason for this is obvious. If people
believed in the God of the Bible, they would have to acknowledge His authority
and obey the rules He has laid down.
What does Christ expect you to give up to follow Him?
What are
you willing to give up in order to follow Christ?
What does Jesus ask all
of us to do?
A
day of reckoning will come.
What is YOUR response?
From Scriptures I have come
to the conclusion that America is going to be devastated in a nuclear conflict
with Russia in the Gog and Magog war of of Ezekiel Chapters 37 to 39 and my
solution which again is based on my understanding and interpretation of
Scriptures is to GET away from America, meaning emigrating to another part of
the world. 