Will You Follow Jesus?
2 Timothy 4:7-8
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Jordan has been teaching us, on Sunday mornings and recapped in the devotionals from this week, how we are called to follow Jesus.
First, we learned about Paul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, and how that began a personal relationship with his Savior that would lead Paul to give his life to follow Jesus (both every day and eventually dying for Christ).
Then we learned that following Jesus is personal, but it is not a private or a solo journey. Just as Paul was surrounded by other believers wherever he went, and just as Paul was committed to the churches wherever he went, so should we too always be committed to faithful fellowship with other Christ-followers.
Next we learned that following Jesus is inseparable from telling people about Jesus. It doesn’t have to be too scary, and it doesn’t usually look like going to a different continent, but we must be faithful to Jesus’ commands to share the gospel with others.
Finally, we learned that following Jesus has a very real cost. Following Jesus is not another part of our life or part of who we are, it is our entire life’s focus and the purpose for our entire being. We reveal that we don’t believe this by how we live with Jesus, church, evangelism, prayer, etc as other parts of life that would be nice to add in but aren’t essential.
That is a lot to take in, so I don’t have anything new for you to “learn” today. But I do have a question.
Will you follow Jesus?
Will you strive, every day, to be more obedient to faithfully doing what God has set for you to do. To be a better employee, or boss, husband, wife, son, daughter, friend, neighbor.
Will you treat this life like the fight that it is? The fight against our own sin and the lies of the enemy and the world that would have us treat following Jesus like a somewhat important part of our life, rather than an all-consuming fire.
Will you run this life like a race? With lots of practice and training, taking one step in front of the other even though you can’t see the finish line yet, or will you finish strong if you think the finish line might be getting closer?
Will you keep the faith? Standing firm to what God’s Word teaches and to how it commands you to live?
I cannot answer any of those questions for you, but how you answer those questions is one of the most important things about you.
Follow Me: Sacrificially
Follow Me Sacrificially
Philippians 3:7-8 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
Following Jesus costs something.
This is why many of us want to call ourselves Christians but not choose to follow Jesus.
As one writer said: Everyone wants a revolution but no one is willing to do the dishes.
Following Jesus doesn’t make life easier or simpler, but it does make it better.
The question each and every one of us must wrestle with is this: Is following Jesus worth it?
Is denying self worth it?
Is taking up our cross daily worth it?
Is giving up control of our life and letting God lead worth it?
As a shepherd can lead the sheep to water, but cannot make them drink, I lead you to this question: Is following Jesus worth it?
Does anything else save?
Can anything else provide what Jesus promises?
Can you do it on your own?
Is anything else truly satisfying? Can comfort, control, security, or worldly gain ever compare to gaining Christ?
Today, Jesus invites you not just to admire His cross, but to carry yours. Will you present your best—your whole self—as a living sacrifice, trusting that the One who gave everything for you is worth every cost? The call echoes: Is following Jesus worth it? Answer Him personally, right now.
Follow Me: Missionally
Follow Me Missionally
2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Missional living is one of the scariest concepts in all of Christianity. We do not feel equipped enough, educated enough, or committed enough to be a missionary! Me neither!
But as we opened the text on February 15th, we learned that Missional living needn’t be intimidating - it is faithful, intentional life!
We wrestled through the truths that we want to rearrange into excuses.
Here they are:
You are ready!
You are commissioned!
You have a mission field!
You have a voice!
You have a story!
Which of these 5 truths do you not want to accept?
Why not?
Pray for God to encourage you in this specific truth as you are tempted to believe that it is a lie.
Follow Me: Relationally
Follow Me Relationally:
Immediately upon conversion, Saul moved to connection! Saul connected with the believers in Damascus, in Jerusalem, and throughout the Roman Empire as he served not people but churches for the rest of his life.
Saul’s connection to the church was immediate, but also instructional. Without the church, it would have been easy for Saul to veer into wrong theology or get arrogant about what he had accomplished.
Finally, Saul’s connection to the church was imperative. It literally saved his life in Damascus, Jerusalem, and Ephesus. Saul needed the help of others to continue to do his work.
While we are called to follow Jesus personally, the call was never intended to be done privately. Your faith is not a private matter! It ought to be shared. To those close to you. Those near you. Those you love!
The big illustration used in this sermon was the church ought to hold the rope for one another. It has been interesting how multiple people from outside our church (and any church for that matter) have commented to me about how meaningful that illustration was to them. I could tell that is what they hope the church would be…and even a church they might be interested in attending!
Here is my challenge this morning: Will you move from around to involved? From sharing a space to sharing life?
This is not done simply for the sake of checking another box, appeasing me, or appeasing God - but for the sake of experiencing all that God has for you.
Following Jesus always leads us into relationship—never into isolation.
What step do you need to take today towards relationship? Trust? Honesty? Involvement? Connection?
Follow Me: Personally
Follow Me Personally
For the month of February, we have looked at the life of Saul from conversion to complete surrender. In Saul/Paul, we get a beautiful picture of what it looks like to follow Jesus.
On February 1st, we looked at Saul’s road to Damascus encounter with Jesus. Remember, Saul was on this road fully devoted to serving God as he was seeking to destroy any blasphemy that others would teach. Saul was passionate and living as perfectly as he could under the law.
Then he met Jesus.
In this meeting, Saul came face to face with the fact that he had missed the Savior in his midst, all the while praying and pursuing God! He had become so focused on religion that he missed the Savior right before his eyes!
Saul was faced with a choice on the road to Damascus - Trust everything I have known or Trust Jesus!
Saul did not waver in his choice and from that moment on he lived a life fully devoted to Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
What about you? When Jesus invites you to come to him…to trust him as Lord and Savior…are you willing to let go of what you have grown accustomed to?
Like Saul on the Damascus road, many of us are extremely religious yet completely wrong—pouring our zeal, our rules, our church attendance, and our sincere efforts into a direction that never actually reaches Jesus.
That is why He says to every one of us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-25).
The call is not “try harder” or “be better”; the call is “surrender.” It is the moment you stop trusting in what you can do for God and start trusting in what Jesus has already done for you.
Today Jesus is offering you the same rescue He gave Saul: not shame, but mercy; not a checklist, but a relationship. Will you let go of the life you’ve built, the identity you’ve earned, and the religion you’ve mastered—so you can truly follow Him? The call that changed everything for Saul is still echoing: “Follow Me.” Answer it personally, today.