Jesus Commands, “Follow Me”

“Follow me!” This is the command of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. In the Greek, it is akolouthetô moi. This command appears in the gospels seventy times. We must not define “Follow me” by our own definition; we must use Christ’s. “Follow me” simply means “Hear and do the will of the one who goes ahead of us.”

In this life, we are called to follow Jesus in his footsteps as he goes before us in the straight and narrow way of his lordship. In this world, we are pilgrims, sojourning to our heavenly city. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Isaiah tells us, “A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isa. 35:8–10). This is the way of Jesus, the way of the Holy Spirit, the way of the word, the way of eternal happiness.

Let us, then, consider seven points about this command of King Jesus to follow him.

1. Jesus Commands

Jesus comes to command everyone. He commands all people everywhere to repent and believe on him and follow him all of life. Who is this Jesus? He is God’s eternal Son. He is God incarnate. He is the Creator and Sustainer of all. He is the only Mediator between God and man. He is the Redeemer. He is the only Savior of the whole world; there is no other savior. He is the Messiah, the Son of David the Son of Abraham. He is the one who by his death destroyed the devil and death for his holy people.

As God, he has all authority over all his creation. As perfect and obedient sinless man, he is given all authority by the Father to save and to judge. He alone is the atoning sacrifice for everyone who repents and believes in him and follows him. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Because of Christ’s perfect obedience to his Father, every knee shall bow before him and every tongue shall confess, “Jesus is Lord,” resulting in one’s salvation or eternal judgment. Paul writes, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11). Paul also says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9).

We read in the Bible that he was delivered over to death, the death of the cross, for our sins and was raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25). God seated him in heaven on his right hand. Paul writes, “And God placed all things under his feet,” including every one of you, “and appointed him to be head over everything for the [benefit of the] church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph. 1:22–23).

Jesus commands us to follow him, having confessed him as Lord. He calls his people effectually and savingly by his gospel. His people are the elect; they are chosen, and loved in Christ from eternity. They alone are the Father’s gift to his Son, that he may save them by his perfect sacrifice of atonement.

2. Jesus Commands His People

Whom does Jesus command? His people. Jesus prayed, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word” (John 17:6). Paul declared, “For those God foreknew [foreloved] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29–30). This is speaking about a definite number of people whom God loved from all eternity. Paul also says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:4–6a). Paul also writes, “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13–14).

God regenerates the dead and makes them able to repent and believe in Jesus and follow him as his disciples all of life. Such people are totally surrendered to him in their intellects, wills, and affections. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they hear so that they may do the will of God exactly, immediately, and gladly. Jesus commands, and his people will hear and follow him. If we are not hearing and following him, we do not belong to him.

Everyone is a follower, either of the devil or of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every person is energized and ruled either by the devil, the ruler of this world, or by the Lord Jesus, ruler of the kingdom of God. There are no independent people. To think so is to believe a lie.

We follow Jesus Christ, for God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:13–14). We have been transferred from the dominion of the devil to the dominion of Jesus Christ. We are like the eight members of Noah’s family who were saved by the ark in the great flood of Genesis 6–8. They obeyed God’s command, building the ark and entering into it before God shut the door.

3. God’s People Obey Him

Jesus commanded his disciples to follow him. So Andrew, Simon, James, John, Matthew, Paul and others left everything and immediately followed Jesus. Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men” by the preaching of the gospel. We are to share our faith, not seal our lips. If we do not share our faith in Christ, we do not belong to him.

If we have been called to follow Christ, we will no longer serve the devil. When they were called, James, John and others immediately began to serve Jesus, who saved them from the dominion of sin. Only Jesus can make a bad tree into a good tree that produces good fruit. We can tell if a person is saved by looking at the fruit in his life. When a person does not want to listen to the preached word, such a person is a fake who has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not calling for some volunteers to become his disciples. He is calling God’s elect, whom he saves, to follow him after counting the cost. He said, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matt. 10:32–33). He also said, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26). We read, “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. . . . In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple’” (Luke 14:26–27, 33). Jesus also said, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:37–39).

Jesus wants those who follow him to be like Paul, who said, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Paul also said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord in paradise with God (2 Cor. 5:8). In fact, death is better, precious, and blessed because, as Paul also said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). He was saying, “I denied myself. I have taken my cross and I am following Christ to death that I may live forever with God.”

A man once volunteered to follow Jesus so that he could become wealthy, healthy, and mighty. Jesus rejected him, saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). In other words, “Don’t follow me to make money; follow me to death.”

The only worthy choice in this world is to choose to follow Jesus, the only Savior and Lord. What does it profit if we gain the whole world and lose our soul in hell forever?

4. The Rich, the Wise, the Highborn Refuse to Follow Jesus

The wise, the mighty, the highborn, the rich, the famous, the handsome, the beautiful, the philosophers and the politicians all mock Jesus Christ. They save their souls in this life, only to lose them forever. They are devil-controlled. Their destiny is the destiny of the devil himself, as we read in Matthew 25:41: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

The rich young ruler appeared to be very happy in the eyes of the world. People envied him. But he knew he was miserable. He had everything except eternal life, peace, and joy. So he came to Jesus, who counseled him to go and sell all he owned and give it to the poor so that he could become truly rich, and then follow Jesus. But this man refused to believe Jesus. Why? He was an idolater. He worshiped creation rather than the Creator. So he went away from Jesus just as he came—miserable and lacking eternal life, which only Jesus can give.

St. Augustine was right when he said, “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Christ.” Jesus alone can say, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The rich young ruler had asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus told him, in essence, “Believe in me and you will be saved.” Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will be saved, and the saved will follow Jesus as his sheep.

What about you? Are you following Jesus? Do you obey him?

5. Jesus Is Our Good Shepherd

Jesus is the good shepherd, and his sheep will follow him wherever he goes, just as the Israelites followed their God who manifested himself in the pillar of fire and cloud.

As the good shepherd, Jesus calls his own sheep by name (John 10:3), just as he called Andrew, Simon, James, and John and Matthew and Saul of Tarsus. There are many people in the church whom Jesus never called. Such people will be told, in due time, “I do not know you, lawless ones. Depart from me!” (Matt. 7:23).

Jesus said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Jesus knows our names. In fact, he knows everything about us. He knows that we are sinners. Yet he laid down his life for his elect sheep. Christ died for us. There is no greater love than the love of Jesus. Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). It is not enough to call Jesus, “Lord, Lord.” If he is our Lord, are we doing his will? Did Jesus call us by name? If he did not, he will say to us on the last day, “I never knew you; you are evildoers.” But if he calls us by name, we will follow him. His sheep listen to his voice and his sheep will follow him (John 10:4).

Christ’s sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice as his ministers preach the gospel. They hear, they believe, they call upon Jesus, and they are saved to follow Jesus. His sheep will never follow strangers who preach a different gospel, a different Jesus, and a different spirit (2 Cor. 11:4). Such strangers are agents of Satan and are eternally condemned, as are their churches. The good shepherd alone gives eternal life because he alone is the resurrection and the life; he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus exposed the devil. He said the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He does so through the pleasures of sin. Jesus said, “I know my sheep.” This means, “I love my sheep.” Jesus loved his sheep from all eternity. (PGM) And the Father loves us as he loves his own Son (John 17:23). Jesus also said, “My sheep know me.” This means, “My sheep love me.” Jesus also said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” We love Jesus with all our heart, with the love God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We love God because he first loved us.

Those who do not believe in Jesus are not God’s elect. They do not follow Jesus, and Jesus did not die for their salvation. He is not their shepherd; he is only their Judge. Jesus told such people, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep” (John 10:25–26).

Christ’s sheep are totally secure. They are in Christ, and Christ is in them. No one is able to snatch them out of God’s hand. They have nothing to worry about regarding the past, present, or future. They are eternally secure. Though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, they will fear no evil, for their good shepherd is with them to comfort them by his rod and by his staff. The devil cannot touch them.

But Christ’s sheep must follow him very closely to be comforted by his presence. They must not wander away. Remember Peter? Because of fear, he followed Jesus at a distance, and subsequently denied Jesus three times.

Those who follow Jesus all their lives will dwell with him forever. Jesus said, “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 12:26). He prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24). This is our destiny.

I have been following Jesus all my life, and my life has been filled with one blessing after another. Paul speaks of such a life: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Eph. 3:20–21). We will experience a life of blessing, beyond our wildest imagination.

6. We Follow Also Christ’s Undershepherds

Those who follow Jesus, the good shepherd, will also follow his delegated authorities who faithfully minister the word of God. This includes parents, husbands, pastors, and so on. They must be able to say, “Follow us as we follow Jesus.” They must say, “Follow our example.”

Delegated authorities are to lead us in the straight and narrow way of the lordship of Christ, the way of the word, which leads to eternal life. And they are to protect us from walking in the broad way of antinomianism, which leads to eternal destruction.

7. False Sheep Are in the Church

Every sheep in the church does not belong to Christ. There are false believers in Christ’s church in this world (Heb. 6:4–8; 10:26–31).

In due time, false believers will abandon the gospel to follow demons. Paul speaks about this: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). They turn away from Jesus to follow Satan: “Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan” (1 Tim. 5:15). These false believers leave the straight way of the gospel to follow the broad way of Balaam. Peter says, “They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Pet. 2:15). They leave Christ’s holy church to commit every form of immorality to enjoy the pleasures of sin. So Jude says, “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ . . . ‘These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. . . . They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires’” (Jude 9, 16, 18).

They will be governed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Listen to what John says:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:15–19)

None of them belonged to us. None of them belonged to Christ. None of them belonged to the Father.

Jesus lived to please his Father perfectly. He obeyed his Father immediately, exactly, and joyfully. Listen to what he said: “My food . . . is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). He also said, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29). He prayed, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). And in John 19:30 we read, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’” The work the Father gave him to do was finished.

Consider the Father’s testimony about his own Son: “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matt. 17:5). Paul writes, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11). It is the Father’s determination that everyone must confess his Son as Lord.

We follow Jesus Christ and strive to please him by walking in repentance and faith and in the power of the Spirit.

Conclusion

Let us, therefore, heed Christ’s command to follow him daily, as Abraham did (Gen. 12:1–4). Let us follow him in total surrender to his lordship, without pretension and fake obedience. Let us go wherever he leads us, knowing that all things work together for our good of making us holy and blameless to conform us to the image of Christ himself, to be a radiant church. Let us follow Christ in the way of the word and the Spirit, as children follow their parents.

Jesus told Peter to follow him to crucifixion: “‘I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’” (John 21:18–19).

Rest assured, Jesus will always go before us to guide us, comfort us, and bring us to God. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will be with us always, even to the end of our lives, and even to the end of this age. He is Immanuel, God with us.

Remember, Elisha followed Elijah and was blessed with a double portion of the Spirit. Gehazi, however, refused to follow Elisha and received the double portion of the curse of leprosy for him and for his children.

Friends, let us follow Jesus through prosperity, through persecution, and even through martyrdom. Stephen was stoned to death, but the Lord was with him. Peter was crucified, but the Lord was with him. James and Paul were beheaded, but the Lord was with them. The three Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace, but the Lord was with them. In the same way, he will be with us. So we can say, “Where he leads me, I will follow.” May this be our resolution for this new year! And may we take comfort in the words of the Lord coming through the prophet Isaiah: “But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’” (Isa. 43:1–3a). Amen.