Follow Me.

Two words, clear and easy to understand and about as simple as it can get: “Follow Me”

Have you ever been lost, needing directions to a specific place, be it on foot (in a large office building or hospital, or maybe a store) or in your car and you just can’t seem to figure out the directions you had, so you stop and ask someone? Maybe you were the one who was asked by a stranger and you had the time and knew it would be easier to just show or lead them than it would be to try and explain it, so you just waved them on and said those two words: “Follow me”.

When I’m in a hurry, I always so appreciate when I go into a store looking for one particular item and I ask an attendant to point me in the direction I need to go, thinking I can figure it out if I get close, but they will often smile and turn and tell me those two words: “follow me.” They usually lead me to the exact spot where the the item I was needing to get is located.

Jesus understood this as well, how sometimes it is just easier to lead the way instead of trying to explain to folks what can sometimes be complicated instructions – just follow Me.

This really rings true for the multitudes of people on the earth who are looking for pretty much the same thing, and struggle to find it; you know, things like peace, happiness, contentment, health, joy....all those things that we think should accompany true living.

I have some good news for you....those things really do exist and there is only one way to find them. But if you want to experience that kind of living, you have to be willing to ‘come to Jesus’ and then...’follow Him’. (John 5:39-40)

Take a few moments and allow these scriptures to speak to you and see if God does not ‘bear witness’ with your spirit so they might resonate with you.

We are told that we were those people “who sat in darkness” (Matt. 4:16) and Jesus came to “give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:79).

“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life’.” (John 8:12)

“I have come that you might have life, and it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

“He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” (John 12:35)

But once again, you have to be willing to first come to Him, on His terms. It’s that ‘willing’ thing that usually gets us too. (John 5:40; Matt. 23:37). Do you know why that is? It’s because coming to Jesus means we have to be willing to ‘forsake all’ and then ‘follow Him’. That’s where He loses a lot of us.

Another quote by Jesus: “This is the verdict- that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil...and everyone who practices evil (sin) hates the light and does not come to the light...” (John 3:19-20).

He’s not going to force us to come and follow; it was an invitation. But it was also an invitation that came with a warning: “unless you repent, you will perish”. (Luke 13:3,5). Oh, did I mention that was the first thing we have to do before we can follow Him? You have to ‘turn around’ which is what it means to ‘repent’. I mean, that kind of makes sense if you are looking for something or someplace and you were going in the wrong direction and then someone offers to show you how to get there. You have to turn...and follow them.

When Jesus first arrived on the scene, His message was pretty clear and to the point: ‘Repent...and follow Me.’. You see this over and over in the gospels. And this idea of ‘following’ kind of got lost on us over time. Instead of those ‘sticking points’ of ‘follow and obey’, we found words like ‘just believe’ to be easier on our flesh nature. Who needs 'demands' placed upon us, right?

We grew to be more fond of John 3:16 that promised us ‘eternal life to those who believe on His name’ instead of promises like how “He became the source of eternal life to those who obey Him”. (Heb. 5:9). Yet, He would be interested in knowing why we are so insistent in calling Him ‘Lord, Lord, yet are not willing to do what He says’. (Luke 6:46).

Like I said, that ‘follow Me’ thing usually is the deal breaker for most of us. Many start this walk of following...but somewhere along the way we tend to ‘check out’ because, truth be told, there are other things we end up loving more...than we do Him. He gets it and sees it all the time. It breaks God’s heart when we decided to turn and ‘walk with Him no more’ because He tried telling us He was the ‘only way’ to the Father. (John 14:6). You might want to look up and then highlight Ezek. 6:9 as well.

The rich young ruler made his choice and rejected ‘eternal life’. (Matt. 19:22). We also read in John 6:66 how ‘from that time on, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Paul ran into these followers as well...who ended up loving this world more. (2 Tim. 4:10)

Yet, God is patient with us, not willing that any of us perish but all come to ...’repentance’. (2 Pet. 3:9). We are told it is His ‘goodness/kindness that leads us to repentance’. (Rom. 2:4). Why He even uses difficult and sometimes, painful circumstances to bring us to that place...hoping we will relent and turn to Him and follow Him; just like that prodigal son did in Luke 15. It was the ‘brokenness’ that led him to repentance and then restoration and then....’life’. Remember, he was ‘dead but now is alive’. (Luke 15:32). I mean, you just have to read your Bible and see how the ways of God are designed to ‘save us’ ...even if it means allowing ‘Satan to destroy our flesh’. (1 Cor. 5:5). But it is still our choice as to whether we will turn...and follow Him.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but ‘religious activity’ is no substitute for ‘following Jesus’. They are easy to get confused too. Many will come in that day and try to explain to God what all great things they did for Him and ‘in His name’. (Matt. 7:22). He will then sadly...tell them...”I never knew you.” (Matt. 7:23). Why is that? Well, because they continued to practice sin. And if you are truly following Him, and abiding in Him, you don’t do that anymore. (1 John 3:6). You actually ‘keep His commandments’ (1 John 2:3-6) which is...the ‘will of God’ for us. (Matt. 7:21)

“My sheep hear my voice...and I know them...and they...follow Me.” (John 10:27). That really is who the true, genuine ‘children of God’ are – they are the ones who are ‘led by His Spirit’. (Rom. 8:14). To be led...means one must follow, not...’just believe’.

The most often quoted Psalm of all time has to be the 23rd Psalm where we all claim how the “Lord is our shepherd’ and how “He makes us lie down in green pastures and leads...us beside still waters...where He restores our souls and leads...us in the paths of righteousness. But again, "leading" suggests we are ‘following’, yes? Like I said, that ‘following’ thing usually gets us and we fall short of going in to find peace and rest in this place He has for us...on THIS side of heaven. We were warned about ‘falling short’ of that place too. (Heb. 4:1)

I have a pretty good hunch a well-known secular singer fell short in that ‘following thing’ as well. You probably are familiar with that hit song that was released by U2 in 1987. You should look up the lyrics to that song; you might be taken back  a bit, in surprise like I was. It really was a catchy tune; and I was never one to really listen to the lyrics of songs either. Oh, the title of that song is “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”.

He writes/sings about this desperate search they seemed to be on, climbing mountains and running through fields, crawling and scaling city walls. But then comes that chorus: “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Now I suspect the writer of this song may have had some kind of Pentecostal background because he claimed to have ‘spoken in the tongue of angels’ (1 Cor. 13:1) while also ‘holding the hand of the devil’. Isn’t that interesting? How many of us think we can have the ‘best’ of both worlds? James called that ‘double-mindedness’ and those who lived like that were ‘adulterers’. (4:4)

But continuing along with those lyrics...he professes to ‘believe in the kingdom come’ and how “He broke the bonds and loosed the chains...carried the cross of our shame”.

He then passionately professes in that last line of the last verse...”You know I believe!”

Yet, the last four lines of the chorus ends the song...repeated four times: “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

Friends...just ‘believing’ (and/or looking) is not enough. You have to ‘follow Him’.

And that ‘following thing’ will get us every time if we are not careful. Here’s some good news though...if you made it this far in this message: There is still time. What are you waiting for?  You can truly find...what you've been looking for.  I promise! :- )