Following Jesus (Christian Basics: Week 2)

[Preface: Sometimes, we just need to let the Bible speak for itself. This is one of those times. "Following" is a huge deal in the Bible. Just think about these passages, which will be read by different readers from our church.]

Matthew 14:22-33 (SeongHwan) “Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.
Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, ‘It’s a ghost!’
“But Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’
“Then Peter called to him, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.’
“‘Yes, come,’ Jesus said.
“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he shouted.
“Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. ‘You have so little faith,’ Jesus said. ‘Why did you doubt?’
“When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”



Numbers 14:24 (Chaplin) “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 (SooHee) “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”

2 Kings 18:5-7 (Ron K.) “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.”

2 Chronicles 34:29-31 (Nick) “Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.”

Matthew 4:18-22 (Jocel) “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.
“Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
Matthew 9:9-13 (Amelia) “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’
“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
Matthew 16:24-26 (Eve) “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

Matthew 19:21-22 (Elizabeth) “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Luke 14:27-33 (Yoni) “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

John 1:43 (John) “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’”

John 8:12 (Sevints) “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

John 12:24-26 (Terry) “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

John 20:21-22 (Michael) “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Romans 15:5-7 (Hanna) “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 - 11:1 (Ben) “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

1 Peter 2:21 (SoonJung) “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

1 John 2:3-6 (Lindsey) “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”


Being a Christian IS following Jesus. If you are not following Jesus, you are not a Christian. If you are not giving everything you have to learn to be like Jesus, you are not yet fully a Christian.
We have three basic trouble points when it comes to following Jesus. First, sometimes we don’t know what it really means to follow Jesus. Does it mean going to church? Does it mean reading the Bible? Does it mean being kind to others? Does it mean giving money to the church and to the poor? Yes, it means all of those things, but it means so much more. It goes so much deeper!
Following Jesus means living like Jesus. Following Jesus means loving like Jesus. So that raises more questions:
How would Jesus live if he were here today in the 21st century?
Would Jesus use the internet or Ipods or airplanes?
Would Jesus take the subway or the KTX? Would it depend on how much time he had?
How would Jesus work as an English teacher, as a factory manager, as a mom?
We have a lot of questions about following Jesus. We read the Bible, and it’s hard to make the transition from dusty sandals and donkeys to Nikes and Hyundaes.
Sometimes, I remember what I heard from an old preacher, Rueben Welch. He said, “There are a lot of things in the Bible that I don’t understand - a lot. Sometimes that bothers me. But what really disturbs me, what really keeps me up at night, is the parts of the Bible that I do understand.”
Questions are good. Questions are important. But we can get stuck asking questions. We can get so stuck in our doubts, that we miss the obvious truths. “Love God. Love people.” That is not difficult to understand. It may be difficult to DO, but it is not difficult to understand. Following Jesus means modeling our lives after the basics of Jesus life - wholehearted love for God and people. We live like Jesus lived. We love like Jesus loved.

Our second trouble point with following Jesus is that we don’t trust Jesus. Jesus’ way is counter-intuitive. Jesus said both, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and “I have come so that you may have abundant life.” So which is it Jesus? A cross or a blessed life? Jesus’ way seems upside down. “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” How can we get something by giving it away? It doesn’t make sense.
So we don’t trust Jesus. We hear Jesus’ telling us to give to others, but all we can think about is how we need to save our money for this project or how we have really been wanting that new thing. We hear Jesus saying that we should leave revenge up to God, but we know it will feel so good to say that little jab about that person who hurt us. We know that Jesus would invite that lonely person to lunch after church, but it’s so much fun just to hang with the same old friends. We don’t actually trust that Jesus’ way is the best way, so we don’t follow. Because we don’t trust that Jesus’ way is the way to true life, we keep living our old life.
During Lent, I challenge you to return to the basics. Trust Jesus. Trust Jesus’ way of life, and follow Jesus.

Our third trouble point with following Jesus is that we don’t trust ourselves. Rob Bell talked about that in our video. Being a disciple is learning to be like the Master. When we become Christians. We are committing our lives to becoming like Jesus.
Peter stepped out of the boat. Peter was walking on the water - being like Jesus. But then he doubted. Whom did he doubt? My translation actually puts an extra word in Jesus’ mouth, “Why did you doubt me?” That’s how we usually understand that passage. We think Peter doubted Jesus, and so he started to sink. But the original Greek text just says, “Why did you doubt?”
So we have to ask again, “Whom was Peter doubting?” I don’t think Peter was doubting Jesus. Jesus was standing there walking on the water. Jesus had already proven himself. Their boat was “far away from land,” and Jesus had walked all the way out to them. Jesus wasn’t sinking. Peter didn’t doubt Jesus. Peter doubted Peter. Peter doubted himself. Peter doubted in his own ability to be like Jesus.
We are so like that! One of our biggest problems in following Jesus is that we just don’t believe that we can. We don’t believe that we really can be like Jesus, so we settle for so much less. We don’t believe that we can really love like Jesus, so we settle for a half-way love. We don’t believe that we really can give like Jesus, so we settle for just giving enough to keep us from feeling guilty. We don’t believe we can really befriend outsiders like Jesus, so we tell ourselves that way of life isn’t really realistic.
We don’t believe in ourselves, so we life half the life Jesus is calling us to live. We don’t believe in ourselves, so we give God half the space he wants in our lives. We don’t believe in ourselves, so we only go half way in following Jesus.
Here’s the thing. Jesus believes in us. Jesus chose us. Jesus calls us. Jesus has laid down his life for us, so that we can follow him. He knows we’re broken and messed up. He knows we’ve sinned. He knows we’re probably going to sin again. He knows everything about us, but he still calls us. He still believes in us. He still believes we can be like him.
And here’s the amazing thing. We can. We can be like Jesus. We can live like Jesus. We can love like Jesus. The same Spirit lives in us. The same Spirit guides us. The same Spirit empowers us.
Following Jesus is simple, really. Love God. Love people. This is the path to real life - even when it passes through death. Today, as we continue in Lent, let’s confess that we have not been following Jesus well, and let’s ask God to pour his Spirit into our hearts and help us to follow Jesus anew. We can. By his grace and by his Spirit, we can.