Follow

“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)

Shouldn’t he have gone away with tremendous happiness because he had great wealth?  When we don’t believe God loves us beyond measure and knows perfectly what is best for us, we walk away from His commands with sadness.  God has a command for you and to follow Him, you must obey it.  It might be Sunday worship.  It could be tithing.  It might be sexual purity or forgiveness or kindness.  The command before you could be some sort of ministry or service or sacrifice.  It might be some habit that you need to quit.  Whatever God is telling you to do, remember that Christ loves you perfectly and His way with you is just what you need to have the best of lives, one that will fill your heart with joy forever.  

The Fullness of You...Touching

Mark 1:41 NIV

 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"

                                         Does It Matter Who Touches You?

More than thirty years ago Mary Jo and I started doing things together.  We went to movies, went out to eat, her family had me over to the house for Sunday dinners, we went to the New Orleans Jazz Fest, walked along the Lakefront, hung out in the French Quarter and played on the same volleyball team.  Although Mary Jo didn’t have a boyfriend and I didn’t have anyone I was dating, we had a friendship that was not in a sense romantic.  We had never kissed, we didn’t even hold hands.  Then after a year and a half of maintaining our relationship this way, we both started working at the same Christian camp in North Carolina.  Mary Jo had arrived a week before I did and so we both were happy to meet again after being apart.  My first afternoon there the two of us went hiking along a trail that went through the woods on the campus and to my complete surprise Mary Jo took my hand and held it as we walked.  It felt like electricity flew through my body.  We had never held hands before, not even when we prayed and I was stunned by the sensation of being touched by her.  On that day, touch, even as benign as holding a hand, initiated a chain of events that completely changed our lives.

Touch is perhaps the most powerful of all our senses as it is the only one that impacts the entire body.  As a result, touch is a dynamic force that fuels a wide range of emotions.  Even our use of the term “touch” in its metaphorical suggests an effect that is significant.  If you say that “she touched you” it implies something much deeper than the gathering of sensory information, it means that somehow the person impacted your heart….the center of who you are.  Are you comfortable being touched?  Do you like to touch others?  Do you find that certain people like it when you touch them?  How important is touch to the Church or even to the practice of Christianity?

There are reasons to mistrust the use of touch and the Bible gives several examples of how touch is misused.  Old and blind Isaac wanted to give a blessing from God to his oldest son Esau but the younger son stepped in without the father’s knowledge and pretended to be Esau.  He put lambskin on over his arms and neck so that when his father touched him, he would be tricked into believing he was the older and hairier brother.  Jacob got away with the ruse too and stole the blessing from his brother.  Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau."  He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. (Genesis 27:22-23 NIV)  Both Isaac and the older brother were devastated when they discovered what Jacob had done.

Have you ever been fooled by someone’s touch?  You thought you were loved but you actually weren’t.  You believed the touch meant you could trust the person; assumed the touch would be good for you.  How many have been touched for evil reasons, corrupt reasons.  When Amnon touched his sister Tamar, it was because he lusted after her but had no love for her.  His touch destroyed the personality of Tamar and left her emotionally crippled. 

But he (Amnon) refused to listen to her (Tamar), and since he was stronger than she, he raped her. Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, "Get up and get out!"   "No!" she said to him. "Sending me away would be a greater wrong than what you have already done to me."  But he refused to listen to her...Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went…And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman. (2 Samuel 13:14-16, 19, 20b NIV)

In contrast, when Jesus touched, He healed.  His hands brought joy and comfort.  When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. (Luke 4:40 NIV)  Children were blessed by His touch.  And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:16 NIV)  The elderly were comforted by the feel of His hand.  When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."  Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  (Luke 13:12-13 NIV)  Crowds thronged to Jesus, the people wanting to touch Him because of what they believed would happen if they did. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. (Matthew 14:35-36 NIV)

The Apostles, following Jesus lead also used touch to bless and change the lives of those they touched.  Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:17 NIV)  Even non-Apostles were instruments of God’s work by their use of touch.  Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord-Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."  Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. (Acts 9:17-19 NIV)  Touch became the way believers in Christ confirmed God’s calling to ministry and service.  In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: …While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  (Acts 13:1-3 NIV)  Paul the Apostle especially used touch to bless and heal.  When Paul placed his hands on them (new Christians in Ephesus), the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:6 NIV)  Paul followed Jesus’ lead and let touch be the instrument though which God healed many.  There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably.  His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.  When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. (Acts 28:7-9 NIV)

Touch has been lost as a way to bring the love of our Savior to the world.  Many have been psychologically damaged by touch and are afraid of what it might do.  Others have lost their confidence in God to help them and aren’t interested in being touched by the Lord’s people.  Mostly though, Christians have stopped believing what God can do through them when they touch others.  We find in the book of Hebrews that touch is one of the rudimentary ways God uses His people to change lives.  It is “basic Christianity”.  Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so. (Hebrews 6:1-3 NIV)

Let us not worry ourselves much about why Christians don’t use touch as instruments of God.  They have the Holy Spirit in them so as they gain experience as believers, they will gradually learn how to live with God as part of them.  A critical component of Christianity is touching people and believing that a supernatural work of the Lord will happen when doing so.  Recently I was stunned by how someone I touched through the Holy Spirit was healed by God.  Years ago the Lord told me to pray by touching a couple who for years had been childless.  In three months they called me to say that the next month they conceived.  We have no right to give up on our ability to touch people who need God’s help!  If God flows in you, He will flow out of you and your touch is what He wishes to use to bring comfort and help to the world.  Touch the weak, touch the broken, touch the proud and touch all who feel like they have lost.  Touch and God will touch through you.