Following Jesus
Life Church is made up of people who have decided to follow Jesus Christ. We follow him not only because of who he is, but also because of what he has done - both for us and for others. We've written this page because it is our sincere desire that you will eventually decide to follow him for yourself. This page will help you get started. |
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How Do I Follow Jesus?
You follow Jesus by listening to what he says and obeying his commands. Following Jesus is more than a fad or a “Sunday” thing – it is a lifestyle. The outline below covers key aspects of that lifestyle - behaviors that characterize followers of Jesus. Click on the icon next to each section to expand it.
- Repent
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We begin this lifestyle by embracing Jesus’ earliest public message:
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali — to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Matthew 4:12-17The word repent in the Bible carries two meanings:
- To turn
- To change your mind
Your old way of life was one that you lived on your own terms. You did what you decided to do and you decided for yourself what was right or wrong. You can’t follow Jesus that way. In order to follow Jesus you have to change your mind about your old way of life and turn from it. At the same time you turn to the new lifestyle of getting to know Jesus and obeying him.
- Publicly Identify With Jesus
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Identifying with Jesus means that you want the people who know you to think of you as a follower of Jesus.
- Required by Jesus - Mat 10:31-42; Mark 8:27-38; Luke 9:18-27; Luke 12:1-9
- Endure persecution for the sake of Jesus’ name – Mat 10:17-42
- Preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name – Luke 24:44-49
Identifying with Jesus also means identifying with his body – the church! People who follow Jesus come together as the church. You can’t love the Lord without loving his children (1John 4:7 – 5:2).
[top of page] - Get Into God's Presence
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Being in God's presence will transform you:
Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.
Exodus 34:28-35His time in God's presence transformed Moses and it will do the same for you (whether your face glows or not). It's only by experiencing the transforming power of God's presence that we are able to overcome those things in our lives that are displeasing to him.
[top of page] - Obey Jesus’ Voice
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Jesus' followers know and obey his voice:
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again.
John 10:14-17 (Read this in its context: John 10:1-17)Jesus' followers hear his voice through the Holy Spirit
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
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“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 14:15-17, 25-26 (Read this in its context: John 14:15-26)“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
John 16:5-15 - Give Jesus All of You
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Following Jesus is a lot like following other leaders or trainers (e.g. exercise instructors, MCs, band leaders, drill sergeants, etc.). You can use your body as a mnemonic device to help you remember various aspects of following Jesus. Each body part has some symbolic significance:
Head
- Brain:
- Remember what God says to you – 2Peter 1:3-15
- Plan to obey – Luke 14:25-33
- Eyes: Read God’s Word - 2Timothy 3:10-17
- Ears: Listen to him – Matthew 17:1-13; John 10:1-16
- Nose
- Mouth:
- Identify with Jesus – Matthew 9:35 – 10:42; Mark 8:27-38
- Speak God’s Word – Mark 16:14-20; Acts 11:19-21
Hands:
- Serve him – John 12:20-50
- Serve others – Mark 10:32-45
- Give – 2Corinthians 8 - 9
Heart (figuratively):
- Repent – Matthew 4:12-17
- Believe in him – John 6:22-40
Feet
- Go where God sends you – Romans 10:5-15
Reproductive Organs
- Not for sexual immorality – 1Corinthians 6:12-20; 1Thessalonians 4:2-8
- For marriage – Hebrews 13:4
- Brain:
- Follow Jesus Publicly
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Following Jesus is something that we must do in a publicly verifiable way:
- We must be willing to give up our lives daily for Jesus - Luke 9:18-26
- We must acknowledge Jesus in our everyday lives – Mat 10:28-42
What Happens When I Follow Jesus?
When you follow Jesus several things change. In this section we will explore these changes. Click on the icon next to each section to expand it.
- From Death To Life
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When you follow Jesus you move from death to life. This is is expressed in two key outcomes:
- Salvation
- Eternal Life
Salvation
When we talk about being “saved” we really mean “rescued”. Salvation is the process and/or the condition of being:
- Rescued From Sin (i.e. our attitude of independence from God that leads to wrongdoing) - Rom 5:12-21
- Rescued From Sickness - Isa 53:1-12; Mat 8:1-17
- Rescued From God’s Wrath - Rom 5:1-11
- Rescued From Satan’s Power - Luke 10:1-20; 1John 3:4-10
Salvation is promised to:
- The sheep (followers) who enter through the gate (Jesus) – John 10:1-18
- Those who stand firm to the end (spoken to disciples) Mat 9:35 – 10:42
- Those who give up their lives for Jesus daily – Luke 9:18-26
- Those who believe and are baptized – Mark 16:14-20
Eternal Life
Eternal life is God’s life lived out in us. Eternal life is promised to:
- Those who give up everything to follow Jesus – Mat 19:16-30
- Those who love God with all their heart, soul, and mind and who love their neighbors as themselves – Luke 10:25-37
- Those who believe in Jesus – John 3:1-21
- From Rules To Relationship
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When you follow Jesus you move from a rules-based way of dealing with God to a relational way of dealing with him:
Rules
Most people seem to think of God primarily as someone who can only be dealt with via rules. Some of them hope to please him by “following the rules”. Others hope simply to “keep God off their backs” (effectively avoiding a relationship) by following the rules (in much the same way that we avoid a relationship with the IRS by following the tax rules). Scripture makes it clear that this approach is doomed – Gal 3 – 4.
Relationship
God’s desire for a relationship with us is a constant theme throughout scripture. He could easily have cancelled the “humanity project” after our foreparents Adam and Eve first disobeyed him in the Garden of Eden, but instead he provided for them. He ultimately provided for all of us by sending Jesus, the one perfect man ever to walk the earth, to suffer and die for us. As a part of that relationship we see:
- God has a plan for your life that will fulfill you.
- You can have abundant life here and now.
- From "Churchianity" To Christianity
- If you have a church background, following Jesus changes the way you engage the church world. You become less and less of a "Cultural Christian", "Insurance Christian", or "Consumer Christian" and you become more of a disciple:
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Cultural Christian
“Cultural Christians” are people who think of themselves as Christians primarily because they grew up in a church environment. Being in church gives them that “warm fuzzy feeling” and they assume that they are carrying out God’s will for their lives simply by spending time in a traditional church environment. They are often more committed to their church tradition than they are to what the Bible teaches and what the Holy Spirit is actually saying now.
Insurance Christian
“Insurance Christians” are “Cultural Christians” who are motivated to engage in religious activity primarily because they don’t want to go to hell. They often take the “rule based” approach to God that we discussed above.
Consumer Christian
“Consumer Christian” is a term that describes people who engage the Christian faith primarily as consumers of spiritual resources. They evaluate ministries and make decisions about ministry participation based on how the ministry serves them. They pursue ministries that offer a “high quality” experience (e.g. the best Bible teaching, the most powerful singing, the most exciting youth ministry, the best marriage or singles ministry). “Consumer Christians” will often visit multiple churches, Bible studies, and conferences in their never-ending pursuit of more spritual support. Unfortunately, “Consumer Christians” completely overlook the fact that Jesus taught us to receive by giving. They somehow never get around to sharing the gospel and making disciples because they are took busy receiving to actually spend time giving. For them, Christianity is like a shopping mall, a supermarket, or a restaurant – places where attractively packaged products are arranged on shelves for our procurement and/or delivered to us by smiling staff members.
Disciple
A disciple is someone who follows a teacher in order to be like him/her. Christians who are disciples actively study Jesus’ words and history in order to be like him and to do the things that he did. Disciples actually expand God’s Kingdom by taking the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ to the people in their spheres of influence. For them, Christianity is not a shopping mall, supermarket, or restaurant – it’s more like a farm where they work with other disciples to grow the crops. The food in a shopping mall, supermarket, or restaurant is already dead and usually preprocessed if not ready to eat. On a farm the food is alive and growing. Disciples actively grow fruit for Jesus. They actively raise up new disciples!
How Do I Get Started?
A good way to get started following Jesus is to reflect on the experience of the first Christian converts:
- Pentecost Proclamation
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After Jesus rose from the dead he appeared to his disciples and continued meeting with and instructing them over a period of forty days after which he ascended into heaven. Ten days after his ascension, on the Day of Pentecost, The Holy Spirit descended on the gathered disciples and a great revival began. Peter preached a sermon that resulted in over 3000 new people becoming Christians:
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:37-47 - Pentecost Practice
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Pentecost Practice
Note the actions and behaviors that characterized these first converts:
- Baptism
- Devotion to apostolic teaching
- Fellowship with other believers
- in large groups (e.g. in the "temple courts")
- in small groups (e.g. in homes)
- Sharing meals with one another (this included the Lord's Supper)
- Faithfulness in prayer
- Sharing resources
These practices got them off to a good start and they will do the same for you. These are not the kind of practices that you can adopt by yourself. You will need to be a part of a believing community. If you're in the Greater Boston area, come and visit us and we'll help you live this new life!