“Come, follow me,” Jesus said…
Matthew 4:19 NIV
Are You
A Follower?
The
mushroom is an interesting plant. It
does not require sunshine; it can be found in dark corners under logs or tucked
away beneath a shroud of leaves.
Mushrooms provide for the forest a critical function. They fasten themselves to dead logs and
gradually break them down, thus clearing the forest floor of stockpiling old
wood. Because the mushroom is a fungus,
it sends out tiny spores that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. These spores flit about upon the wind, having
been found as high as thirty-five thousand feet, soaring about in the jet stream
with commercial airliners. When a spore
lands upon some dead piece of plant material, it starts to grow, taking out of
either a log or a fallen pile of leaves the nutrients it needs to thrive. As we well know, although mushrooms are tasty
on pizza and in spaghetti sauce, the wrong types of mushrooms when eaten can
kill you. Suppose you have a friend who
is an expert on mushrooms and warns you not to eat a particular mushroom
growing in your back yard. You had plans
for that mushroom and had hoped to add it to your salad. How would you respond to her admonition? Are you the sort to be offended by the
directive to not eat the mushroom or would you be grateful for the correction?
The
other day I was in a church service when a college student gave her thoughts
about what her church should do to stay relevant in an ever changing
society. She shared her concern that if
young adults are going to be a part of churches, they want be free of judgment
and condemnation. Of course I can’t
think of too many of us who want to be criticized for our behavior; we all like
to get a pat on the back and be affirmed.
Yet, should the church metaphorically chop out the rules and commands in
the Bible that many find incomprehensible or even reprehensible to keep
everyone happy? What are we to do with
all the “thou shalt nots” and “thou shalts” found in the Bible? Is God too restrictive for our generation or
those who follow?
The
student, during her presentation on what the church must do to stay relevant
and inviting, made as the centerpiece of her talk the contention that her
church must be all about love. Without
love being exhibited she argued, young people will not want to be a part of the
worship services or Bible studies. Who
could argue with her! What sorts of
people want to join a church that is hateful and mean spirited? Yet here is where we must careful. Is it “loving” to ignore the commands of God
or never speak of them? Should we
pretend as if the commands of God don’t exist to get those outside the church
to “buy into” Christianity and believe the Church is comprised of loving
people?
The
Bible insists that God is love. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in
God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16 NIV)
Rightfully, we emphasize our own behavior in this equation. Because God is love, we too must live in
love. But let us turn this around for
just a moment. God is love. That is the insistence. God is love.
Continually God is love. In every
circumstance and interaction, God is love.
With every determination God makes God is love. This reaches into every single aspect of God…what
we know of Him and what we don’t. God is
love. His motivation is pulled out of
love, His relationships all come out of love, each word that comes from Him is
determined by love. Consider this
carefully. The verb in the statement is
one of continuous being. In every single
way and at every moment in time, God is love.
It is not that God is loving which of course is important but not the
critical point. It is that God is love
in every way…not just in what He does but also in how He thinks, what He
believes, the way He makes decisions and what He commands. God is love and that filters down to what He
insists His people do. Even the commands
of God are love.
Let
us go back to the discussion of mushrooms.
If you know that the person who tells you that you must not eat a
certain mushroom ever is filed with love and only says what He does to you
because love directs Him to do so and not just any love but perfect love, then
the way you think about the command to not eat a certain mushroom must be
evaluated with that in mind. Suppose
that the person who told you not to eat that one mushroom also knows all the
ramifications of eating the mushroom and all the particular outcomes of eating
the mushroom and out of love has given you the command. What do you make of what you have been
told? Is it restrictive? Is it limiting? Is it hard to accept? It might be.
But the way we view the command must fit the character and the knowledge
of the one issuing the command. Should
you be embarrassed to tell your children not to eat the certain mushroom that
is growing in your backyard? Should you
keep the warning to yourself because you are afraid of what others will think
about you if you tell them not to eat the mushroom growing in your backyard? What if everyone in the world insists that
eating that mushroom in your backyard is the best thing for you and that only
fools would demand the mushroom remain off limits? Does the command become less loving or unnecessarily
restrictive simply because six billion people don’t like it?
Admittedly
we must decide if we are to believe the Bible is true or not but if you do,
then you cannot throw out the commands of God as something mean and reprehensible
if they came from God and He is in every way love. The commands too are love because He issued
them and they are for our good because He tells us that we are to obey them and
it is His love that forms and shapes every command of His. Jesus began His public ministry by issuing a
simple invitation. “Come follow me.” Many chose not to follow Christ just as it is
today. They did not trust Him. They did not think He loved them. They were afraid He would not take care of
them. But some did follow Christ. It may not have been easy for them to go with
Him. They might not have all received
support from family members and friends when they made the decision. Some may have been despised for following
Christ. Eventually though, each one
discovered that Christ is love. They
kept on following Him even when it got rough.
Even when it was frightening and they did not know where Jesus was
taking them they kept following.
You
cannot follow Jesus and disregard what He says to do. It is like a Himalayan guide taking her group
to the left and one of the members going right instead. At that point the climber is no longer
following. In John 21 is the account of
Jesus talking privately with John and Peter during the period of the
resurrection meetings. Christ told Peter
of the painful trials he could expect and the horrible death he would suffer as
an apostle but did not mention any troubles that John would face. Peter asked Jesus what he thought was a
reasonable question. "Lord, what
about him?" (John 21:21 NIV) “What
about John?” Our Lord’s reply closed the
discussion. Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return,
what is that to you? You must follow me." (John 21:22 NIV) If you are to follow Jesus, then He is in
charge of what you do and how you do it.
You can decide to not follow Jesus and He will let you go on your
way. If you are going to follow Him
though, then he makes the decisions for you.
At
least forty times in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the Lord tells us to follow His
commands. The idea that it doesn’t
matter what we do as long as we just love God is ludicrous. Jesus Himself made it clear that there is no
love for God without doing what He says to do. Jesus
replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will
love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my
teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who
sent me. (John 14:23-24 NIV)
If we do not obey God, we run
the risk of not having Him make His home in us.
This does not mean we are not saved or that we will be condemned for our
sins. It does mean that there is no
intimacy with God if we disobey Him, no closeness. Jesus asked, "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46 NIV)
Six
times in the Gospel of Matthew alone, Jesus said to different ones, “Follow me!” Some did, many didn’t. Plenty believed He was the Messiah, countless
others knew He was sent by God to be a prophet and teacher. Only a few though decided to follow
Jesus. In Mark 10 is the fascinating
account of a fellow who was a great success story. He came to Jesus though in tremendous need,
falling on his knees before Christ, wanting to know how he could inherit
eternal life. Jesus never answered the
question though. Instead He peeled back
the layers of religious garb that were strangling his faith. "Why
do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God
alone.” (Mark 10: 18 NIV) Jesus put
matters in this passionate Jew’s hands.
He had to decide then and there what to make of Jesus. Was He good?
Then He was God. If He wasn’t,
then there was no point in continuing the discussion. Jesus pushed harder. “You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do
not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and
mother.'" (Mark 10: 19) Was
this man going to obey the commandments or walk away from following God? He replied quite firmly, "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I
was a boy." (Mark 10: 20) Now
remember this most important fact about God.
He is love. Everything He does
comes out of love. God never acts without
love driving every part of it. Jesus looked at him and loved him.
"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and
give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow
me." (Mark 10:21 NIV)
Some
may say that this was a cruel and mean spirited response to this spiritually
thirsty soul. Why tell Him to sell all
he had and give it to the poor? Why push
the envelope like that and make the man give up so much to prove his loyalty to
God? Not everyone is willing to follow
Jesus and many will turn away. We cannot
say with any real certainty why Jesus told this one man to get rid of his
wealth but we can be sure He did so to bless the man and make his life much
better. Some do fine with wealth but
most do not. Some can handle success and
fame but the vast majority of us cannot.
If in love our Lord told Him to give his wealth away, then we can be
certain Christ was not testing him like a school boy in a class. Nor was Jesus giving this eager young
disciple an initiation rite to see if He was fit to come follow Him. Notice the psychological reaction of the man
when he stumbled over his wealth. At this the man's face fell. He went away
sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark 10:22 NIV)
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