Follow Me
- Strength For Life
- Sep 8
- 5 min read
When Jesus called Simon Peter, Andrew his brother, and the two sons of Zebedee away from their nets, his explanation was simple. “I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Students of the Bible understand that this was not the first time Jesus had met the sons of Jonas. Andrew and Peter learned about Jesus through John the Baptist (John 1:35-42). Perhaps James and John interacted with the Lord before that day everything changed. Maybe they heard about Him through Peter and Andrew, or through the grapevine. However they learned about Him, all four left their fishing profession, never to return to it the same way they had worked it before.
“Follow me” is still a command for believers to obey today. Every Christian is to be a disciple. It is easy to suspect that it means we are all to permanently leave behind our proverbial nets and pursue full time gospel ministry. Before we draw conclusions, however, let us consider what the four men understood Jesus was commanding them to do. There were no universities or schools as we think of them in Bible times. But there were teachers—rabbis who knew the Law. and sometimes had dedicated their lives to studying and teaching Scripture and the interpretations of famous teachers from previous generations. Those who wanted to learn Scripture and its teachings would follow these rabbis as they conducted their itinerant teaching ministries. Obviously, the more dedicated the student, the more time he would spend following, listening to, and learning from his hero.
The goal of such a disciple was to become like his master. He wanted to think, speak, and live like his teacher. Jesus describes this relationship in Luke 6:40: “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.” You could identify a dedicated student of a master by their resemblance. When Jesus told Andrew, Peter, John, and James to follow Him, He was instructing them to come with Him, and to dedicate themselves to learning to act, speak, and think like Him. That is what a disciple was then, and it is what a disciple is now. Disciples of Jesus are men and women who have dedicated sufficient time to being with Jesus that they have begun to resemble Him.
Jesus set high demands on His disciples. “Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,” He told a potential disciple in Luke 9:58. Later, another would-be follower requests that he return to “bid them farewell, which are at home at my house” (Lk. 9:61). Jesus responds with a metaphor: ““No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Hard words indeed. To the rich young ruler Jesus demanded he give his wealth away. The point is easy to identify: learning to be like Jesus requires sacrifice.
At this point we need to remember something extremely important for our modern application. One reason Jesus placed such stringent demands on those who would follow Him was that a disciple was required to literally follow Jesus around. There was no other way to learn of Him. A man could not learn to be like Jesus while continuing his job as a fisherman because Jesus traveled. This leads us to one difference between a disciple then and now. When Jesus returned to heaven, He sent His Spirit to be our teacher in His place. These days, we learn how to be like Jesus through the ministry of the Spirit. Believers are no longer restricted by location or by the physical conditions of following Him around that we find in the gospels.
However, Jesus’ words about sacrifice still apply. Simply, there are things you and I cannot do while also obeying the command to dedicate ourselves to learning to be like Jesus. Some things are obvious: we cannot sin; we cannot have as our first priority making money or being comfortable, or being everyone’s friend, or traveling the world. In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus gives two key pieces of instruction for disciples. First, He says that “if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (vv. 26-27). In other words, everything else in life must be negotiable. Nothing can every have more than second-highest priority, even our own life and comfort.
The other key piece of instruction is found in His two illustrations of counting the cost in verses 28-33. Anyone who desires to be Jesus’ disciple MUST consider what is demanded of him first. Am I willing to forsake all that I have? It may not come to that, but if it did would I surrender everything I have? Of course many of Jesus’ disciples have had to sacrifice many worldly blessings; and many, of course, have been able to experience some of those same blessings. We do not know in advance what we will be called to sacrifice in the pursuit of being like Jesus, but we must be ready with an open hand. The goal, after all, is worth it. Consider the testimony of Paul in the context of this command:
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Remember that “follow me” is a command. All believers in the Lord Jesus are to obey it, in whatever path of discipleship the Lord chooses to take us. Our responsibility is to dedicate ourselves to learning to think, behave, and speak like Jesus, as the Spirit teaches us, in whatever role and station the Lord has placed us. This is what followers of Jesus do.
The above article was written by Jonathan Kyser. He is a pastoral assistant at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.
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