“²⁶If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” – John 12:26 (ESV)

I think it is pretty clear what Jesus is saying here. When we serve Jesus, it cannot be on the surface only. We have to commit to the service and in doing so, we are to follow Christ who is leading us in that service.

In committing, we are giving up our lives here on earth for greater things that Christ will do through us. Jesus gave up His life for us in the greatest act of service that I know I have ever heard of.

“²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:24-25 (ESV)

The grain of wheat fully commits to going it alone and in doing so grows into another stalk of wheat. The grains that stick together in grain silos loving the life of the grain seed, are left to only be a grain seed. Our service is the greater commitment to follow and therefore bears fruit that non-service cannot bear.

Are you willing to commit to the service of Christ? In that service, are you fully committed? Will you serve and follow completely?

There are many that vie for our attention and wish for us to go their way.

“⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” – John 10:4 (ESV)

Even sheep know the voice of their master. They will not follow unless that someone is someone they know. The shepherd was with them from the very beginning and nurtured and cared and protected them. And in return, the sheep trusted the shepherd to nurture and care for and protect them.

I know that there are a lot of shiny things, events, and people that want us to follow them, but how many of them will or do nurture and care and protect us? Do we “KNOW” them?

Christ wants nothing but the best for us. He wants us to be nurtured and cared for and protected. He loves us, so much so that He gave His life for us. He battled for us and I know that He loves me.

Those other things, events and people will turn away from us as soon as we are not providing for them. God only wants us to accept the free gift of love and salvation. Isn’t that worth following? Isn’t that worth devoting?

What are those things that are vying for your followership? Which of them will provide for you? Will you look to follow the one you know, Christ?

“²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” – Matthew 16:24 (ESV)

I think that is the hardest thing to take on, “deny himself”. In other words, I have to forget about me and what I want. I have to think of Christ before me. I am not the important thing here.

“Take up his cross” is referring to the carrying of one’s own cross when headed to death by crucifixion, and is referenced in my ESV commentary for Matthew 10:38: “Crucifixion is a shocking metaphor for discipleship. A disciple must deny himself (die to self-will), take up his cross (embrace God’s will, no matter the cost), and follow Christ.”

“Following Jesus therefore meant a true commitment, the risk of death, and no turning back.” – NIV Commentary, Matthew 16:24

As a follower, a disciple, of Christ, I must commit to His will and not my own. I must take the command of Jesus and “deny himself and take up his cross and follow”.

When you think of where you are in your relationship with Christ, what is your commitment? Who is most important? Will you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow, no matter the cost?

“⁹As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.” – Matthew 9:9 (ESV)

There are a couple of things going on here. First, Jesus said follow and Matthew dropped everything and followed. Second, Matthew was not exactly the most well respected of the people and Jesus called him to follow. This morning I am looking at the second.

God can use us all. No matter our background.

“¹²But when he heard it, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’” – Matthew 9:12-13 (ESV)

We should not be looking for the reasons that God cannot and will not call us to follow and really look for the opportunity to simply follow when called. We are called and when called we should go. Even you, me, and anyone called.

Have you heard the voice of God calling? Were you wondering why and if you should go because of who you are and where you stand? Will you look for the opportunity to follow as we know that God will choose anyone?

“⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” – Psalm 23:6 (ESV)

As I read the passage of Psalm 23 and get to the sixth verse, I am reflecting on the Lord being with me always. I have written in my bible “Protection and Provision always. How does the always feel?”

Looking at the verse again this morning, I am brought to the Lord being with me. I get this picture in my head of me going through life with the Holy Spirit trailing around behind me. At my desk here in the mornings, at the office, at the ball game supporting my son, traveling with me in the passenger seat. With the Holy Spirit tagging along, I have the Lord with me always.

We are to just “GO” and do the Lord’s will each day, and what I think of is, how do I know what the Lord’s will is and am I actually doing it? Well, we are to “GO”. When we are focused on our Lord each day, we will be doing His will. And we can rest assured that He will be with us through it all.

What are you out there doing for the Lord? Are you aware of the Holy Spirit being with you each step of the day? Are you able to continue knowing that the Lord is with you always?

“²¹And Elijah cam near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.” – 1 Kings 18:21 (ESV)

How many of us are unable to answer when asked? How often are we fooling ourselves as we aim to be political and “not offend”? When we do not decide, we have indeed decided.

Elijah asks a simple question of the people and they are unwilling to answer. I say “unwilling” because they are holding on to both for reasons only they can identify, although I will surmise. They win with the “worship” (and I say that loosely) of God and Baal. That win is strictly political and for appearances as God demonstrates through Elijah with His lighting the water soaked bull on fire later in the passage. Baal demonstrated no such action.

We are called to follow Christ and are unable to serve two masters:

“²⁴No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…” – Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

Jesus makes it clear that a choice must be made.

Are you trying to serve two masters? Are you able to identify to all the one you choose to follow? Will you take the leap and pick one to follow?

“³You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. ⁴You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. ⁵You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 18:3-5 (ESV)

We are followers of Christ and that means we are to follow Him. I know that I am tempted to follow the rule of the land and expect that I will be treated the same, when in reality, those around us are generally looking out for themselves.

God speaks to Moses and has him address the people of Israel and remind them that they have chosen to follow Him. They have left Egypt behind and the land ahead will be given by God and not by the current inhabitants. That said, following God is right.

In today’s world, we are to follow Christ wherever we are. Not where we come from, and not where we will be tomorrow. But, follow Christ in where we are today. God is giving to us, not those on earth.

How do you look at who to follow? Are you looking to the past and expecting that to be today? Will you follow the rule of our Lord?

“¹²Again Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” – John 8:12 (ESV)

That word “follow” is intriguing to me in that what does it mean.

Follow: “¹to go, proceed, or come after / ²to engage in as a calling or way of life / ^3ato be or act in accordance with / ^3bto accept as authority / ^4bto seek to attain” – Merriam-Webster Online

I know that when I think of the word follow, I think more along the physical like identified in definition one above. I will go where you go, do what you do, be what you are. But what about 4b above, “to seek to attain”? That one got me as I thought of the description just below it online that read “follow knowledge”.

Following is more that just the physical action of going. We are to learn and apply based on that learning as well. Below is the commentary from my NIV Bible that helped me with my understanding of what it means to follow Christ.

“As a soldier follows his captain, so we should follow Christ, our commander. As a slave follows his master, so we should follow Christ, our Lord. As we follow the advice of a trusted counselor, so we should follow Jesus’ commands to us in Scripture. As we follow the laws of our nation, so we should follow the laws of the kingdom of heaven.”

Follow we should as described above. Not blindly, but with purpose and resolve.

Are you aware of what following really means? Will you choose to follow? Will you follow Christ?

“¹⁵For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation…¹⁷From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” – Galatians 6:15 & 17 (ESV)

Worldly appearances are of no good to us if the heart is not in the right space. As Christians, we have be made new from the inside. We are no longer held to the law of the outside. We are to act in accordance with the marks of a true Christians as noted in Romans chapter 12.

Paul makes it clear to the Galatians that he is no longer under the rule of the Jewish law. Remember that Paul spent many years in prison with his only crime being that he was preaching the gospel. The thing that we find difficult to understand was that he was content to sit there in prison and write letters of encouragement for his fellow believers.

Paul was clear that his burden was for Christ and he fully embraced living for Jesus and not the law.

Would that we live for Christ? Will you work to glorify God each and every day and be content with your actions? Will you bear the marks of Jesus?

“²Bear one another’s burdens, ans so fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2 (ESV)

Christ took our sins upon himself, so us taking the burdens of others upon ourselves “is the supreme imitation of Jesus (ESV Commentary)”.

In this passage from Galatians, Paul explains to the Galatians that we are to work for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are to continue lifting one another up in our times of need. We are to accept the burdens experienced by our brothers and sisters as our own and give them the assistance they need to work through it.

“¹⁰So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – Galatians 6:10 (ESV)

As “Christians our primary allegiance is to the kingdom of God, with God as our heavenly Father (ESV Commentary)”. And therefore working for our brothers and sisters in Christ should be first on the priority list. We do not neglect others, but need to remember that family comes first.

Are you aware of the trials others are going through? Are you putting family first? Are you willing to bear the burdens of others?