Come, Follow Jesus!

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/25/15
Mark 1:14-20


Come, Follow Jesus!
I. It won’t be easy.
II. But it will be glorious.


Do children still play “follow the leader”? You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? I recall more than four decades ago playing the game outside with friends quite often. And do you remember the goal of the game? It wasn’t to make it as easy as possible to follow the leader; it was to make it as difficult as possible. The leader would make his followers jump over objects or balance on narrow logs or beams of wood. His or her lead might include swinging from the branches of a tree or from various pieces of playground equipment. And when the followers couldn’t do what the leader did, it filled the leader with pride and joy.

In today’s gospel we heard Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, James and John to follow him. But this was no game. It was serious spiritual business. Jesus’ intent was for them to follow him for about the next two years, listening to his words of saving wisdom and witnessing his miracles, so that once he ascended into heaven, he could send these men out to spread his gospel far and wide. Unlike the children’s game, it was not Jesus’ intent to trip his disciples up, to make them falter, to cause them to fail in their effort to follow him. Instead, he wanted them to succeed. He wanted them to follow him closely.

In a way, he has called you and me to do the same. His intent with us as his disciples is slightly different in scope, but it’s a call to follow him nonetheless. And he wants us to follow him no matter what. He wants us to follow him in every aspect of our lives. He wants us to do so knowing what’s ahead. So come, follow Jesus. May his words before us this morning enlighten us as to just what that entails.

Part I.

As often as we tell ourselves it won’t happen again, it does. We get involved in a particular situation thinking that things are going to be a certain way. We have a certain set of expectations. And at first, it seems our expectations were fairly correct. But then it happens. We get blindsided. The conditions change dramatically. We realize that the people we thought were working with us are actually working against us. Or we thought the compensation was going to be at a certain level, but it’s actually less than half of what we expected. And we resolve that the next time we’re going to ask more questions, get more guarantees in writing, and make sure we perform a deeper investigation. We’re not going to get burned again.

I know that the focus of this text from Mark 1 is on the calling of Jesus’ first disciples, but don’t let the opening words of our text slip past you unnoticed. Listen to them again. “After John was put in prison.” King Herod had John the Baptist imprisoned because John confronted him with his sin of an unlawful marriage. In doing so, Herod had brought John’s ministry of pointing people to Jesus to an abrupt end. That was bad enough, but do you recall how this imprisonment turned out? Brutally for John; he was beheaded.

So what’s the connection between John, Jesus and these four men? They all had prior experience with one another. Peter and Andrew, James and John had been followers of John the Baptist during John’s ministry. Recall that they were there near the Jordan River on the day after Jesus was baptized. John was telling them that he had baptized Jesus and that the Holy Spirit had come in the form of the dove and remained on Jesus. At just that moment Jesus passed by and John pointed to Jesus and proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). And from that time on John urged these men to follow Jesus.

And that’s what they did, in a non-binding way. I don’t want you to think that the day described in our text was the first time these men met Jesus—that Jesus appeared out of the blue, called them to follow him, and they dropped everything, and followed him simply as if they were drawn by Jesus’ personal magnetism. That’s not the case at all. Earlier Jesus had called these men to follow him briefly so that he could expose them to what life would be like as his disciples. He even sent them out on a short mission trip. And then they returned to their occupations. He likely told them that soon he would call them to be his disciples for the rest of their lives.

That day had come. It’s the one Mark describes for us. How appropriate! Peter and Andrew were doing what was so familiar to them—they were fishing. Jesus approached them and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The same thing happened with James and John. They were mending their nets. Jesus approached them and called them to follow him as well. And they left behind their boats, the nets, their hired workers and even their father and followed Jesus. These men knew a good deal about that they were getting into. Jesus had prepared them. No doubt he explained to them ahead of time what he was asking of them. What they were about to do was not going to be easy. They would face opposition. They had just witnessed it at the hands of King Herod. They had previously witnessed the opposition to Jesus from the Jews in Jerusalem. As Jesus would later tell them plainly, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you as well.”

But that’s the way it is with following Jesus. It isn’t easy.

Have you ever tried walking against the flow of water in a stream or river? Have you ever tried standing in the pounding surf of the ocean? First the waves try knocking you down, and then the surge back out to sea nearly sweeps you away with it. And in either case, it never stops. You’re always struggling against the current.

Jesus is calling you to follow him. If you’re doing that and it feels like you’re standing in a stagnant pond of knee-deep water, you’re not following him closely enough. The closer you follow Jesus, the more our world and your sinful nature want to knock you to the ground, cut your spiritual feet out from under you, overwhelm you. Following Jesus isn’t easy! Jesus never said it would be. In fact, he said if the world hates him, it will hate you as well. And there’s no end of evidence that the world hates Jesus. That’s because following Jesus means giving up every aspect of your life. Your Christianity should affect everything you do. It doesn’t work to compartmentalize your life, to follow Jesus in this portion of your life, but to follow the world and your sinful nature in that portion. And Jesus knows it won’t be easy. That’s why he has promised to be with you all the time. That’s why he assures you of your forgiveness every day. That’s why he holds before your eyes the epitome of his love for you—his sacrifice on Calvary’s cross. There he paid for you with his holy, precious blood and now he calls you to follow him. Come, follow Jesus, but realize it won’t be easy.

Part II.

So why would we want to follow him? Why would we embrace striving against our world and our own sinful nature? Why not just give in? Because you know what awaits you.

Why do people hike to remote areas? Why do hikers forego just sitting in an easy chair and viewing the nature scenes on their TV screens? Because nothing replaces seeing the beauties of nature with your own eyes.

Following Jesus—hiking with him if you will—isn’t easy. No doubt Jesus informed his disciples of it. It meant giving up their way of life, putting him ahead of their families and friends.

So why did they do it? Just look at what they saw. In one case the bread and fish kept multiplying as they distributed it. They saw him raise a young man from the dead. They witnessed him walking on water and calming a storm. He even gave them the ability to perform miracles in his name. Best of all, they saw him risen from the dead.

As they criss-crossed the Holy Land with him day after day, they heard the word of God from the Word of God in human flesh and blood. Imagine hearing God’s truth from God himself!

They watched that word of God do what the Lord Jesus intended it to do—it brought sinners to faith in Jesus as their Savior from sin. It transformed lives. It caused people to turn from their lives of sin to following Jesus as their Lord. It caused them to serve others out of love for Christ.

In fact, it made them so bold in their faith that they were willing to suffer all, even death, rather than deny Jesus. It’s likely that all the disciples with the exception of John died a martyr’s death and they considered it an honor to do so. What a change!

They did so knowing that the glories of heaven awaited them. Every person who follows Jesus knows that heaven is their eternal home. The Savior who died for them has won heaven for them. He’s there preparing a place for us right now. Can you imagine life in heaven? I’m positive that even the most beautiful scene on earth doesn’t come close to the glory of heaven.

So come, follow Jesus. It isn’t easy, but it is glorious!

But don’t think you have to wait until heaven to see some of that glory. Watch as a child is baptized and the Holy Spirit works saving faith in that child and makes that baby a child of God. Watch as children, teens and adults grow in their faith and reflect it with a deeper devotion to Christ. In fact, marvel that the Lord uses you and me to accomplish his saving work. God uses your prayers, your words of encouragement, your offerings, your acts of service to others in order to accomplish his saving work. And the results are eternal. Now where else can you do and see something as glorious as that? Come, follow Jesus! Follow him more closely each day and watch the glorious blessings unfold! Amen.