Follow Me

Matthew 4:18–22 (ESV): 

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 

These men immediately left their work and family to follow Jesus. This shows me that they must have experienced Jesus before, otherwise why would they follow him if they knew nothing of him and had never met him? Jesus did not offer money, prestige, authority or power, he just asked these young, average, working men to follow him. They already had their vocations laid out for them - they were fishermen - capable, hardworking men. 

The 4 of them probably knew each other as they were fishing in the same area, so it is likely that they grew up together, and went to synagogue together. Maybe they were even in the same lessons that are taught to Jewish boys in childhood. Yet, they did not know Jesus in the same way. He was a new rabbi in the area, teaching new, incredible things, so amazing that they were willing to leave their lives and livelihoods and bet their future on him. So, they must have encountered him before because it is a big deal to give up your job, family and community in order to follow something or someone.

Those Jesus called were all young men, especially James and John as they are working with their Dad. So it is likely that they were young teenagers (from 13 years old) being apprenticed into their father’s trade. Simon and Andrew are not mentioned as having anyone else present and so are likely a bit older as they are able to do the work themselves, plus Simon is married, so he could be mid teens up to early 20s. All of them we would still consider to be young men who were trying to make a life for themselves and provide for their families. Then they heard Jesus call out to them and they gave it all up. 

In the Israelite culture, a rabbi gathered disciples when they were considered as having enough authority to do so, at the age of 30. They would call younger men to follow them, so this indicates that most if not all of the disciples, were younger than Jesus. Being chosen to follow a rabbi was a big deal. It was unlikely to happen for anyone who had not taken extended training in the Scriptures (parents would have to pay for this). Plus those chosen would have been smart, intelligent teenagers who showed an aptitude for religion. It is unlikely that these young fisherman fit either criteria, this is why they were learning their family trade. Later on in Scripture they are referred to ‘uneducated and common’ (Acts 4:13) so it is probable that Simon, Andrew, James and John had not had this extra education, but had gone straight into work. Maybe they had not shown much aptitude or enthusiasm in study, or their parents could not afford it and so instructed them in the family business. It was these overlooked, everyday, common, uneducated young men that Jesus called to follow him. 

Jesus had a different criteria to the norm. He desired faithful followers, not necessarily clever, scholarly or rich people. These young men had been overlooked by other rabbis but he saw something in them that showed him they would make good disciples. He saw minds and lives that could be moulded and developed to make an impact and carry the message of who he is after he was gone. Jesus saw potential where others had not. He still does. Maybe you do not feel smart enough, experienced enough, overlooked, too young, too old, or that your life situation makes things difficult. Still Jesus calls you to follow him. These young men did not know what it would look like but they knew the honour it was to be called to follow a rabbi. Their families would have been overjoyed and maybe slightly confused at having their sons chosen as this was not the norm, these students were not the ones others have chosen. They were overlooked, not educated and possibly not religious enough! 

The disciples were brave in saying ‘yes’ to follow Jesus, but they also knew they were privileged and would have been excited by this new adventure. Are you? Following Jesus does not look like what you expect it to, these disciples found that out. He is not like any other rabbi - Jesus teaches radical things, performs miracles, and gets in trouble with religious and political leaders. So these young disciples were not fully sure what they were saying yes to, but they did know that it was an unexpected honour to be called. They were up for an adventure, and they trusted and believed in what Jesus said and stood for. So they left behind everything else, they gave up their lives to follow him. Have you done the same? It will be an unexpected adventure that changes the trajectory of life if you do. 

Surviving the Wilderness

After Jesus’ baptism where he was affirmed by Father God as His pleasing Son, Jesus then enters the wilderness. From a moment of recognition, power, pouring out of the Holy Spirit comes desolation.  

When you have great times with God, breakthrough, affirmation, joy, when the Holy Spirit is tangibly present and affects you, it can be after such times that a wilderness season comes. From a high moment you can experience a low time. This happened for Jesus, so you should not be surprised when it also happens to you. We read in Matthew that, ‘Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’ This sounds odd, doesn't it?! That Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Jesus was purposefully led to undergo temptation. From being affirmed by Father God, he then had to go through significant hardship and temptation. Do you ever feel that this happens to you, that something difficult occurs when you have had an encounter with God or taken a step of faith and obedience? Next time, do not be surprised. The enemy wishes to undo the great work and affirmation that God has given, and God allows it. Do not lose your salvation, hope, promises, deliverance, breakthrough, or recognition of the love and grace of God, because the enemy wants to distract you. God allows you to experience such wilderness times to give you opportunity to exercise the faith you have and to grow in it. Satan will also use this time to get you off track by offering you enticing promises that will compromise your faith and disrupt the plan of God in your life, so learn to hold strong as Jesus did. 

Matthew 4:1–11 (ESV): 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, 

  “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, 

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, 

  “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ 

and 

  “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, 

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 

  “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God 

and him only shall you serve.’ ” 

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. 

This must have been incredibly hard for Jesus. Think of the conflicting emotions, as well as the temptations on a worn out body and mind. When you are tired, hungry and emotionally drained it is harder to resist temptation. Whether it is the temptation to respond in an unholy way, eat what you shouldn’t, pick up bad habits, get angry, lazy or distant. When your body and mind are stressed, it is harder to think clearly and behave well. It is harder, but not impossible as Jesus proves. Jesus saw this for what it was, he was not fooled or deceived. He knew that this was the devil’s work trying to disrupt his sense of identity, and to use his God-given power and authority to fulfill his own selfish desires. Like having some bread because he was ‘hungry’ - i think that is an understatement after 40 days! When you are next tempted to sin, to cut corners, to behave in a way not consistent with the faith you possess, stop. Think about who is really trying to be in control here. Is this the enemy trying to take you out? Can you even imagine if Jesus gave in to even one of those temptations? He would have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God like the rest of us, he would not have proved that he is indeed the Son of God, pure, holy and completely good. So, how does Jesus do it? 

Jesus had the great advantage of knowing God, really knowing Him. Jesus had lived with and loved God in heaven, so he really knows the Father’s character, His power, His expectations, His words. Jesus also knew and accepted who he was in relation to God. Jesus is His Son, and also human. Therefore his life was to be lived in submission to God. Jesus knew that this was the best for him and for the whole of creation. Due to his obedience in his life, death and resurrection, you too can know that closeness with God the Father, and have the same identity as His son or daughter. Invest in your relationship with Him. Spend your life listening, speaking and thinking of God. Consider His words and guidance. Invest in honouring God with your life, then you will know the kind of things that you can and should say yes or no to. 

You can see that Jesus also uses Scripture to combat the devil’s temptations. So, read and understand what is written. Every word in the Bible is true and written by God himself, so use it to help you. Jesus did. he did not feel like saying no to having some bread or power, so he could not rely on his own understanding or emotions. Instead, he trusted in what is always good and true - the Word of God. Although Satan gets wise to this and also tries to use Scripture to persuade Jesus to give into his schemes (v6). So, be warned. The enemy can twist and distort the truth to make sin sound good for Satan knows the Bible too. It is not enough to be able to recite verses, for that is what Satan did, you also need to know what they mean and the God behind the words. When you hear someone quoted and you know the person behind those words, you know if the quote is giving a true reflection of what they are like or is taking things out of context. Jesus could see that this is what Satan was doing. He was taking the words of God and using them to imply something that God did not intend. Jesus knows God better. He knows the content, context and character behind Scripture and stands firm based on his knowledge of God. This is how Jesus overcame temptation, and this is how you can too. Find out about God. Learn what the Bible says and what it means, understand the God behind the words, get to know Him, and hold onto what is true. Then you will be victorious when temptation comes. You can resist temptation, you can overcome sin. It is hard, but you can do it. 

Allow Jesus, The Word of God and the character of God give you strength and show you how. Be prepared and ‘Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ (1 Peter 5;8). The devil will wait, he is patient. He will seek to get you in a weak, despondent, distracted moment or when you are having such fun you are off-guard. You need to live as if there is always a hungry lion in wait. If you do, you’ll be watchful, armed and prepared and would create a strategy. The strategy is to learn about God, obey Him, and know His words and promises. Be armed and dangerous with your understanding of Scripture then the devil will leave (v11). 

you have become the righteousness of God

 Psalm 130:1–8 (ESV):  

1  Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 

 2  O Lord, hear my voice! 

  Let your ears be attentive 

to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 

 3  If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, 

O Lord, who could stand? 

 4  But with you there is forgiveness, 

that you may be feared. 

 5  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, 

and in his word I hope; 

 6  my soul waits for the Lord 

more than watchmen for the morning, 

more than watchmen for the morning. 

 7  O Israel, hope in the Lord! 

For with the Lord there is steadfast love, 

and with him is plentiful redemption. 

 8  And he will redeem Israel 

from all his iniquities. 

Aren’t you grateful God does not keep an account of all of your wrongs?! For ‘who could stand’ if He did? 

Only Jesus has the right to stand before God if The Lord ‘should mark iniquities’. For Jesus is the only one, ever, to have never sinned. The only way that you or I can talk to, stand before and have relationship with God is because of Jesus. There would have been no hope for you without the sacrifice of Jesus life to atone for all the wrongs you have committed. So thank God for Jesus! You can now stand before God as if you had never sinned, as if you were indeed Jesus, because when you surrender your life to God and accept the love and sacrifice of Jesus, who put to death all sin, God sees Jesus. ‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ (2 Corinthians 5:21) You can know forgiveness and hope because you have ‘become the righteousness of God’ through Jesus - isn’t that incredible?!

God’s great kindness, love and sacrifice of being torn away from his only son, leads to your complete forgiveness. You may have times when you feel wretched, blemished, dirty or bad. Do not believe those feelings. Instead, learn to hope in God’s Word (v5). All throughout the Bible, God has been correcting, guiding, and forgiving people. He will forgive you too if you ask Him and trust in His son’s purity which wipes away all wrongdoing. You do not have to carry the load of sin or shame, you can say to yourself,  'with you there is forgiveness' so ‘in his word i hope’. Let God’s Word have more influence in your heart and mind than your own thoughts of who you are, so that your fears of not being good enough, of being bad or a perpetual sinner are put ot death as Jesus was. You can hope in God's Word, and you can know forgiveness.

To know this forgiveness and really accept it, this psalmist recognises it takes patience and commitment. For they write, ‘my soul waits for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word i hope’. You have to wait for the fullness of forgiveness to seep into your heart and mind. It is such great news that radically transforms you, that it takes time to change your perception of who you really are. In order to know the freedom of forgiveness wait for His hope to live in you as your mind is transformed to seeing who you are due to Jesus. 

When you have wronged someone and apologised, the relief of being forgiven by them and given another chance is huge. The power of the words that show you are forgiven break off pain and despair, and bring restoration, relief and joy. Now, think about this; you have offended and wronged God countless times, yet He still chooses to forgive you! You can still approach Him and say sorry, He is not fed up of hearing it. For the reality is when you accepted that Jesus died for all your sins, he died for ALL your sins, therefore you are forgiven. You are even righteous in God’s eyes, just like Jesus is!

 1 Peter 3:18 says; ‘For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit’. Your unrighteousness has been exchanged for righteousness. All that bad stuff that you see in you can be put to death - are you letting go of it? Jesus has already put it to death, and God doesn’t see it anymore, so why do you? You do not need to live carrying around sin and shame - it is not yours to carry - you gave it all to Jesus when you first trusted and believed him. You have the right and permission to live and believe that you are righteous! You can ‘hope in the Lord’ and know His ‘steadfast love’ and ‘plentiful redemption’. For you live in the days when God has redeemed all of mankind ‘from all his iniquities’ and you have 'become the righteousness of God'.

Is your faith active?

 What is faith if it doesn’t affect your life, character and behaviour? 

‘faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead’(James 2:17).

If you believe in God and trust that the death of his son, Jesus releases you from sin, then you may well have faith. Yet, if it does not impact your behaviour and result in doing good things then James is telling you that the faith you have has no life. It is useless, dead. Faith is evidenced by how you live your life. What you really believe about yourself and your relationship with God impacts your character, speech and actions. How you treat others and what you do with your life is proof of what you believe. What do you think your life shows about what you believe? 

If you are someone that says they follow God, then are you demonstrating this by doing good things for others? It could be; talking to the lonely, feeding the hungry, helping those on the edge of society. If you think that taking part in these things is unimportant, then James asks you this,‘Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless’? (James 2:20). James is challenging you to consider the impact your life through faith has on others. Faith in God is not just about salvation for your soul. If you have really begun to understand who you are and who God is then you should be spurred onto doing good works in order to demonstrate and outpour the love you have for God. An alive and active faith is one that does something about the distresses they see in the world, that loves the poor, lonely and unlovely, that cheerfully gives without the expectation of receiving. Does the faith you have sound at all like that? Or do you need to be shown that faith with works is useful, and without them is useless?

Reading the Bible and hearing of others adventures of faith is inspiring. Not one of the Old Testament or New Testament followers of God led lives that were devoid of ‘good works’. They all made mistakes, like we do, but they all put their faith into practice by being obedient and doing things beyond the ordinary, spurred on by the faith they had. Peter was a passionate disciple of Jesus, and he got it wrong sometimes, but he also got it right when he went out and told people who this Jesus was, when he prayed for and healed people. Jonah was a man of faith, and even though he tried to run away from God, he was eventually, begrudgingly obedient - even when he didn’t want to, he put his faith into action. Would we have considered these men, or any other characters in the Bible people of faith if they hadn’t done something to show how much they trusted God rather than themselves? What if Jonah had just kept on running away? Or Peter had got disappointed with the correction and gone back to fishing for the rest of his life keeping his head down? Faith is demonstrated through your actions - so what do people see of yours? 

‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works’ James 2:21–22.

Abraham took the journey of sacrificing his son because he knew God was faithful, and he, Abraham was acting in faithful obedience to the word of God. He walked the journey by faith as well as in heartache. If he hadn’t of done, what would have happened? There would have been no story of a miraculous provision and survival, Abraham and Isaac’s story would have been very different and so would ours. As a result of Abraham’s willingness to give his son’s life into the hands of God, Abraham is promised that he will be blessed and there will be a blessing for the generations to come because of his act of obedience! Even, ‘all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me’! (Genesis 22:18) Wow! 

What could be the impact of your obedience to God? 

Abraham put his faith into action by following the call of God, even though it was heartbreaking, tiring, difficult and confusing. He still did it because he knew above his own understanding that God is good and faithful, therefore Abraham trusted Him. Abraham’s faith was tested and we can, ‘see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.’  (James 2:24).  Abraham’s life and obedience in word and action is just one of the many examples in scripture and history that you can learn about putting faith into action. Would you have admired and respected Abraham as much if he had turned around to God and said no? Have you said no to God? How long will it be before you turn round and say yes? The impact of your yes in obedience to God will not only bless your life, test and stretch your faith but will bless others even for generations to come. Let your faith live. Give the faith you have a chance to grow, it will be uncomfortable, confusing and painful, but do you want a living faith or a dead one?

‘For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.’ James 2:26