Come, Follow Me

Scriptures: Luke 9:57-62 “57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

When Jesus begun his ministry teaching in many different  places, doing miracles and healing,   multitudes  of people  always gathered around him and following him. People are kept looking for him, following Jesus for many different personal reasons and people from different walks of life, their life conditions and social status, and some reason are even mentioned specifically in the Bible. 

Why do people followed Jesus? Who are those people? 

1. 1. John 6:26 “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

This scriptures Jesus spoke of it after He miraculously fed 5000 people from two fish and five loaves of bread. Yet when Jesus begins to teach the truth that “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me, shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world…he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ( John 6:35-57) many of those who heard it begins to reject him and stop following Him.  Thus it reveals their hearts that they followed Jesus not because of who He is but because of what He has done and able to do for them, and these things are not just things from the past, it also continually happens in every generations we have now. We asked God for job, He answers our prayers. He told us in His words six days you work and on Sabbath day, keep it hallowed by setting aside a day for you to rest and spent time with Him and with the body of believers yet instead of doing that you choose to spent your day with the passing pleasures of this world. “John 6:27 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. Set a day for the Lord! 

2. 2. People followed Jesus because of His miraculous signs and healing but after receiving their healing and restores their health they go back to where they come from again instead of coming back to Jesus. Because they believed Jesus is a healer but not the God who heals every sicknesses.  Remember the story of Ten Lepers In Luke 17:11-17 “15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
3. 3. People followed Jesus too not because of what He can do but also because of curiosity and finding ways to discredit Him. Remember Jesus ministry made a radical change in the lives of everybody, multitudes are following Him it does not only attracted the needy people but also opposition from those religious people who accuses Jesus as a “sham” (falsely representing truth)

 In the book of Mark chapter 3 it says in verse 22 “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

In Today Scriptures we read,  and we can see as well why a person will follow Him not because of who He is to him personally but because of what He can do to him/her. And am praying and hoping to let us examined ourselves today why do we follow Jesus? And to magnify the truth that we are following Him because He is calling us to Him and may our respond to Him is a life surrendered to His will and purpose, to understand the importance of following Him and the  cost of His calling that we, like Peter bold declaration of faith “ “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68-69) 

4. Why do people followed Jesus most importantly, it’s because He called them and called them for a purpose. (Mark 3:13-15) “He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:

John Wesley an evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism said this “Without God, man cannot, and without man, God will not.” That is an essential truth in John 15:5 ““I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Just like Jesus when he said” For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him (the Father) that sent Me. This is the reason why Jesus was sent by the Father not only to save us but to do God’s will. And in order for that will to be accomplished Jesus came, to be born of a woman, the WORD becomes flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14)