Come, Follow Me

In the 19th chapter of Matthew and the 18th chapter of Luke, the authors relate the story of the rich man who came to Jesus seeking eternal life (or the Kingdom of God), saying that he had kept all the commandments since he was a young man. Who knows what the man's true thoughts were, but the suggestion is that he hoped that wealth might play a part in gaining eternal life. Jesus answers;

Matt 19:23  "If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Luke 18:22  "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

These words from the master's own mouth, if adhered to, and followed, could turn every church and/or religion upside down in these United States. What would happen if your church would "sell all its possessions" or "distribute its wealth" from its bank accounts, to the poor, and truly followed Jesus?  To make it more personal, what would happen if you or I would sell all our possessions and followed Jesus?  

Could this be a metaphor? Perhaps Jesus was strongly suggesting (spiritually) that if we want to follow Him, we should “seek first the Kingdom of God”, and put worldly or earthly possessions behind us. His Kingdom would supply all our needs if we put our faith in Him, for He is the Son of God.

Maybe the “church” today should take note and begin to focus on giving more to the poor and needy. Instead of lofty programs, mega-conferences, tele-evangelism, and huge church domes and campuses, lend their spiritual and material wealth to taking the message of Jesus “on the road” or out into the communities”. Some churches have “outreach programs”, however they are designed to bring people into the church building, not to disciple and minister to them. They have all sorts of social events, and great children’s programs, which is good, yet there is no or very little spiritual development. Instead, the program is to get plugged into the church body, while being fed milk (sometimes strained milk).

What do you think Jesus meant by “sell all your possessions"? I believe Jesus saw the heart of this young man, and could see pride in him… his wealth, his accomplishments in the natural realm. There was nothing of eternal value, only works and religious law.

So then, to make it more palatable, what would happen if we took these words, "come, follow me", to heart and followed Jesus?

Acts 10: 38 tells us:
".....how God  anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

The first inclination is to feel inadequate, which is true (in the flesh or sense realm). You think to yourself, “there is no way I feel anointed with power, and I have never even thought about (actually) healing the sick”! We would not accomplish anything close to what Jesus did, healing the sick, feeding five thousand plus with bread and fish, and the many other miracles Jesus performed. Second, our minds cannot comprehend the reality of Jesus’ worldly experience. Somehow the idea of, defying gravity, healing sickness and disease, and commanding demons to vacate human bodies is far beyond our normal thinking. It all seems just a little farfetched to the natural mind. Yet, he tells us to, “come, follow me”.

What is it about following Jesus that really makes us so uneasy? To many it is downright frightening to accept what He says about us as truth:

John 14:12 (Amplified)

“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.”

It may not be the natural miracles that makes us hesitate, could it be the giving of oneself to the spiritual life? Or could it be that going into the unknown territory of God produces fear? After all, maybe one could lose himself/herself; or maybe a person could make a fool of himself/herself. Or, just suppose it doesn’t work, then where will you be? Maybe you see yourself as losing your friends and family, or losing your “mind” or going off the “deep end”. I have heard all of these things before!

Since “God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ( unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”,  And, He went to such great care, to do this miraculous thing, then what would make a person think that God would say or do anything to have you, or anyone else in the world lose his/mind? This is a lie from the author lies, satan himself!

We, in general, spend 98-99% of our waking lives, thinking, speaking, and acting in the sense realm, or the natural, or “the world”. So, it is understandable that one would actually think that moving into the spiritual realm would be somewhat fearful. But, it is God Himself that says to you and me, “come, follow me”. Would we think that He who loves us so much would lead us into the very place He rescued us from? In my early years, this really crossed my mind!!

However, since you know that God is a loving God, and He is always with you; He forever loves you; He forever intercedes on your behalf; He gave His life for you; He conquered the devil for you; He saved you; He took the sins of the world upon Himself; and rose from the dead, all so you could have eternal life, then you just might be follow Him. Maybe one day you will tell someone else what a wonderful thing He did for all them, and all mankind, even the worst of the worst. Maybe, you will be able to tell someone who doesn’t know Jesus how you heard Him say, “come, follow me”, and you did follow and are still following Him today.

Again, as I write this, I sense a stirring in my heart that draws me to the place of unselfish caring for the lost. Have you been stirred by the Holy Spirit lately? If the Father is drawing you to follow Jesus, then He will put the field to be harvested in your path. Sometimes we get winning souls for the Kingdom and "doing good" confused. It's all about showing Jesus to the lost world; we present Jesus; He draws all men unto Him.

Matt 9:37-38 "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of harvest will send out laborers into His harvest."