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Follow me. Those were by far the most often first words spoken by Christ to someone in His ministry. Those were the first utterance of Christ that the disciples ever heard. Not a "hi, I'm God in flesh, and I'd like to get to know you better." Not a handshake and a name tag and a long discussion over tea. But a command with an implied "you" as the subject. "You -- follow me."

That it was a command that Jesus chose as His opening statement with calling people to serve Him is very relevant because it immediately placed the person at a moment of decision. There is no gray area or complexity that you cannot understand about this command. Follow me. A child could understand it. And yet when anyone hears the command, there are only two responses possible: simple obedience, or simple disobedience. And the obedience required is in the form of an action that must be taken immediately. You either act and follow or stay where you are; such are the responses to the command of "follow me:" it throws the recipient into an immediate decision process.

Despite it being a command, Jesus' "follow me" also exudes the mercy and love of God. He is not commanding man to do something that He will not do Himself. The command is not "you -- go do that." Or "you -- do this." But rather "come and see my example." "Come and see how that I wish for you to live by observing my actions." It's a command, but one full of mercy from a God who is willing to take the first step of what He demands from His followers. And so the command represents the love of God expressed in becoming flesh and living among men: "Follow me!" And we see the expression of our heavenly Father in the first commands of Christ; as a earthly father would demonstrate something new to his child and say "okay, do what I do," so He says, "Follow me."

I bring up this first call of Christ to you today because the scriptures declare that Jesus Christ has not changed. He is the "same yesterday, today, and forever." That means that He is still speaking to people today. He is still calling people to be His disciples and children today. And if that is true, then the call has not changed nor altered. The voice of Jesus still utters first of all in your life a familiar command: "You -- Follow Me." And so suddenly we find ourselves in the quandary of the disciples of scripture and at a point where there are only two decisions that can be made: we either obey the call or disobey it. And that decision is the most important decision that you will ever make. Even today there are no exceptions for everyone young and old and male and female must respond someway to the simple call of Jesus Christ. Rich or poor, tall or short, no matter what your past or culture. The call is the same to all whether they be fisherman or tax collector: the call to all of us from Christ is "follow me."

We must realize that it is possible to be religious and yet not answer the call to follow Jesus. The Pharisees were the most religious people of their day and yet many did not answer the call to follow Jesus. The call is not of one to organized religion or traditions of men, but of actions toward a relationship with Jesus; to live your life in His shadow and in His footsteps. Jesus is not asking for a show of your religiosity through symbols or tradition or churches, but simply says to you to "follow me."

We must also realize the startling revelation that it is possible to believe in Jesus, and even serve Jesus and yet not follow Him. Listen to the words of Jesus, Himself:

"If you are going to serve me, then follow me, also" is what Jesus is saying. And thus we come face to face with a sobering truth that it is possible to be a servant of Jesus Christ and even be used by Him occasionally and even minister in His name and yet not really "follow Him." It is possible to obey part of His commandments and even receive the Holy Ghost and really not be answering the call to "follow me."

How can you tell the difference? Because the command of "follow me" demands action toward Christ's example. And so you can separate those who claim to be serving God from those who are serving God and "following Christ" by their actions. You are either living your life in such a way that your actions answer the "follow me" command, or you are not. There's not an in between. And through this, the beauty and profoundness of the "follow me" of Christ becomes apparent. There is no need for a manual or a list of rules. No need to give you a book of conditions that must be kept to truly be a Christian. If you are following Him, then your actions will match His actions and thus you will fulfill the conditions of Christ by fulfilling the footsteps of Christ.

If you are truly following Christ, then you will come to church because Christ frequented the house of God and the temple and the synagogues. We often preach errantly that anybody in those days could stand up in a synagogue and read, but actually the honor was reserved for only rabbis or people who were faithful members of the local assembly. That Jesus Christ was given the opportunity to read the scroll of Isaiah and speak to the hometown crowd of Nazareth testified that for 30 years, Jesus had been a faithful part of the local congregation. They knew who He was. There was no need for introductions or a whispered "he's such and such that comes every once in a while." They immediately knew Him as the son of the carpenter. And they knew His name. So to follow Christ's example is to come to church regularly and faithfully. There is no other alternative if you are truly following Christ.

If you are truly following Christ then there is no need for a commandment to tell you to pray. You will pray because Christ prayed. And you will pray submissively: you will pray for your will to be surrendered to God's will. You will pray fervently and without someone having to always remind you, for that is how Christ prayed. You will combine your prayers with fasting just as He did. These tenants of living for God come naturally to someone who is truly following Christ.

Forgiveness, perseverance, loving your enemies, faithfulness, stewardship, soul winning, mercifulness: I could continue on with a list of things that we should do and have because Christ did them, but that would miss the point. The point is that how you arrive at all of this religious activity determines the level of your commitment to the calling of God in your life and how long you will last. If you come to church, pay your tithes, forgive others, pray, etc... because a minister told you to, then when and if that minister makes you unhappy or passes on, you will stop doing those things. If your religious activity is in response to a command from a church body or organization, then a rift with that organization or a move from the locale of the church will cause your actions to change. But if you are doing all of these things because you are answering the call to follow Jesus, then you are doing these things because of your obedience to the command of Christ and nothing on earth -- be it preachers, saints, or hell itself -- can stop you! You will make it! You will endure to the end because Christ did and in following Christ you have set yourself on a course where failure is not an option!

And so a great truth emanates from this simple command of Christ. Heaven will be the home of one category of people and one category only: those who answered with obedience the call of Christ to "follow me!" "Wait a minute, preacher I thought I need to get baptized to be saved." You do, but if you are following Christ, then you will be baptized because He was baptized. His footsteps pass through the waters of baptism. He also received a visible anointing at that time that descended "like as a dove" that the scriptures call the "Holy Ghost." Following Christ will take you to a place of receiving the Holy Spirit! It will bring you to a place where you must confess as did He that the greatest commandment of all is "hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29)! To follow Christ, then, is to truly be saved, and so all of living for God and true, God-centered Christianity can be summed up with Christ's first command: "Follow me."

"Follow me." It's words are the most dear phrase that a man or woman can hear uttered towards them because it is the call to a place where your life is changed. It is the call of hope because it is the opening of a door to a better life. It is the call of salvation because it is the call to come follow the Savior. It is permission to believe. A reason to step out in faith. It is Jesus looking at us as He did with Peter in the boat and saying "come unto me." There is no greater edict of scripture than these first words of Christ.

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The call is of such importance, that we must take care to answer correctly! And thankfully we have case after case of men and women in scripture that did just that. But there are also the curious examples of those who refused the call of Christ. And it should come as no surprise that the excuses and human reasoning that then caused men and women to miss out on responding to what should have been the greatest moment of their life is still the cause for spiritual disobedience to the call of Christ today. As our first text, we read Luke's record of three examples where the call of Christ went unheeded. The first reads thus:

This first disciple offers to follow Jesus without waiting to be called. And he does so ignorantly not fully realizing the cost. Jesus immediately points out the discomfort and hardships of following in His footsteps. There is no response from the would-be disciple in scripture but it is very evident that he does not become a follower of Jesus Christ after such dialogue.

Perhaps Jesus' response sounds harsh to the "velvet-lined" ears of modern church goers, but Jesus is pointing out that the man does not rightfully know what he is getting himself into. His path is destined for sorrow. He will one day trod up a hill and face a cross. No man or woman in their right senses would choose such a path for themselves of their own will or volition. And so Jesus knows that if the man is willfully calling himself to Christ, then he is doing so without really understanding the sacrifice that will be involved, and as such will soon be gone when heartache or trouble surfaces in his life.

It is true that many were called and perhaps accepted the call of Jesus not fully knowing where the end of the path might lead them. But there is a vast difference between answering His call and finding out later that the path that He has called you to may involve some hardship and the case of this would-be disciple. If Christ has called you, then you have His promise that He will not put more on you than you can bear and that any cross will eventually lead to a resurrection! If you call yourself, then there is no trust or dependency on Christ and thus you only have yourself to rely upon in hard times. Such "disciples" don't last through persecution and ill-contentedness.

The first would-be disciple of Luke's narrative was basing his decision to serve Christ solely on receiving the blessings of Jesus. He had perhaps seen the miracles and heard of the healings and how that the demons were subject to the commands of this Wonder Worker. And thus he approaches Jesus with the attitude of "I want to receive the blessings of God" and not with "I want God's will for my life." There are definite blessings to serving Jesus and thank God for that, but the call is not necessarily to come be blessed in life, but to be saved and the path of salvation always includes a cross and some times where truth and not comfort is the primary trait! The blessings will come but if that is the primary reason why we are here, then we will not last long because life will bring it's share of disappointments and God will eventually delve into every area of our life by allowing situations to arise which may not be the most enjoyable but that provoke us to change and allow Him to transform us. We must live for Him for the sake of the call of His will being done! We must follow through on a decision made in response to the salvational imperative: "Follow Me" and not just because of wanting the good things of God!

This second would-be disciple is rightfully called by Jesus and called not just to discipleship but to preach in the kingdom of God, but immediately the recipient has an excuse as to why he can not instantly obey the command and says "let me first go and bury my father."

It could not be that the would-be disciple's father had recently died and was in need of burying because the manner of the Jews was to bury the dead on the day of their death and had such an untimely event happened, the son would have been at home with the preparations and not having this conversation with Jesus. Christ was by no means ever cruel in His ministry and no doubt had the situation been the need of an imminent funeral, then Christ would have relented.

The truth that the would-be disciple's father was still alive is found in the response of Jesus: "let the dead bury their dead." Here Jesus uses the term "dead" as He did in other recorded instances to refer to those who were not spiritually alive or who were not living by the law of God. The likely scenario is then this: the would-be disciple has a father that would be very adverse to his son following and preaching the ways of Christ, and as his father is older, the son decides that "I will follow you Jesus, but only after the situation arises where I do not have to face persecution or resistance from my family." "Let my earthly father pass from my life and then I will do the will of my heavenly father!" "I will answer the call when every one around me agrees with my decision."

But the call of Christ to "follow me" cannot be answered with regard to what your family has done or thinks. Jesus said in another place:

That is not the teachings of an unreasonable God who had never experienced family persecution, but rather the words of the Savior of the world who finished out His entire earthly life and ministry without any of his brothers are sisters believing in Him! Jesus' brothers and family were only converted after His resurrection and if Jesus would have waited for their approval before doing the will of God, the world would still be without hope! In answering the call of Christ, we must simply follow Him regardless of what our loved ones might say! And to follow Him will lead us down the path of being misunderstood by those who are the closest to us. But if we are brought to that point of persecution for His sake, then you can rest assured in the promise that the road -- no matter how tough it may be to trod currently -- eventually leads to the very glory of God! Paul wrote Timothy:

And also:

Even if the suffering comes from our closest relatives or friends, we must correctly answer the call and Follow Him! And so we come to the final would-be disciple of Luke's text:

Like the first, this man calls himself to follow Christ, but is also bold enough to stipulate his own demands. He is offering himself to God as to an employer, negotiating his wishes and offering Jesus a contract: "I'll follow you, but first let me . . . " He is willing to come to Jesus but only on his own terms and conditions.

Like many people today, this man misunderstood the call of Christ. It is a call to discipleship and to follow Him unconditionally that must take precedent over everything else. It's a covenant not a contract. By introducing terms and conditions and loop holes, the man not only makes himself at odds with the will of Christ, but with his own will: he agrees to follow and then immediately finds a situation that must be met in order for him to do so. Jesus' answer highlights his indecisiveness: "no man . . . looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Christ is not saying that failure removes you from the call of God but rather that one cannot agree to follow Him indecisively.

Notice that this man leaves never having the perfect plan of God revealed for His life. There is a reason that God does not perfectly reveal to you the future in your life. One reason is that you might not choose the path with such passion if you see the obstacles that must be overcome ahead of time. Another reason is that you might not be able to handle the pride of knowing the successes ahead of time. But the main reason that God does not reveal to us what will happen ahead of time is that it is conditional on the degree of our commitment. Try to live for God on your own terms, and you will never know what "might have been" and the blessings that God intended to give you in His perfect will. You must be willing to submit to God -- on His terms of total commitment -- and answer the call of Christ without any conditions on your behalf. Only then will you discover the joy of His design for your life. Those who answer the call of Jesus with "I'll follow you if this is met" or "only if this doesn't happen" or "if you don't require that," will never experience the complete plan of God in their lives because they will not have truly answered the call to "follow me!"

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Follow me! It's a command that you must answer and not necessarily just once. In our other text today we read these words of the Apostle Peter:

It is fitting that it would be Peter who would emphasize the need of following in Christ's steps because "follow me" was a command that Peter heard no less than five times throughout his life. That these facts are recorded are evidence that you will not just hear the call of Jesus when you first come to Him. I would like to end this sermon by pointing out the five instances of the call in Peter's life and show you that the timing of the call determines what it really means to answer the call of "follow me."

The first time Peter ever heard those words is recorded in Matthew chapter 4:

At first hearing, the command of "follow me" means that you must decide to forsake your old lifestyles and to cut the strings that bind you to your past. Peter straightway left his nets. He didn't store them up so that he could come back to them later. He did not have all of the excuses and delays as some of the cases that we have just studied. But the scriptures say that Peter and Andrew "straightway left their nets and followed him." They acted and obeyed, leaving the sea to become fishers of men!

The same call went out to James, John, and their father Zebedee. James and John made the correct decision and "immediately left the ship" and notice the next phrase: "and their father." They did not let daddy's indecision stop them from following Christ! He had called and so there was only one thing to do!

It would several years later into Peter's walk with God that he would hear that familiar command for a second time. Jesus began to openly tell the disciples of the humiliation and suffering that would take place at the end of His ministry and Peter immediately spoke up:

"Get thee behind me!" We often focus on the startling fact that Jesus called Peter, Satan, and miss the point. "Get thee behind me," is an even more emphatic way of commanding "follow me!" And Jesus immediately begins to talk about the importance of "if any man will come after me."

You will hear the command to "follow me" again after your initial decision, but this time it may mean "it's time to get out of the driver's seat." It's easy to get complacent in serving God so much that we think that we know His will better than Him! And then what we perceive to be the will of God falls apart and we like Peter must obey the voice of God to "get behind me!" "You may have served me for a while, but you still must trust me!" Follow Me!

As Jesus' ministry was winding down, Peter heard that familiar refrain with a new twist. Jesus told the disciples that He must go away and that they could not follow Him now, but that they could follow later:

Peter has no trouble following Jesus by now, but this time he cannot follow immediately! The plan of God is for a delay to come before the fulfillment of what God has spoken, and so Peter finds himself in a place that hardly anyone likes to be within: having to answer a call of "follow me" but not right now.

We have trouble accepting delayed hope or promise. If God calls us to preach, then we want to preach right then. If God tells us that we will one day be blessed, then we desire for the windows in heaven to be opened at that moment! If God tells us that He would desire for us to do something in the future, then nothing doing until we try to kick open a few doors! But what of when God says "do this, but wait until the right time?" Then, as at first, we must answer the call of "follow me" and wait on God's perfect timing!

It was after the resurrection of Jesus and right before the ministry of Peter was about to be fulfilled that he heard the familiar call twice more. Jesus appeared to the disciples on the sea shore and singled out Peter with these words:

He told Peter "you are used to having the freedom to do whatever you want to when you want to, but the day will arise that you will be dressed by others and will tell you where you can and cannot go and will take you places that you would have rather not visited." Peter was going to end his life under the arrest of Nero and Jesus was telling him: "even when situation arise in your life that you cannot see what possible good will come out of it and you cannot spiritually see the point, follow me!" "In every situation no matter if life does not turn out quite like your mind's eye envisioned, still . . . Follow Me!"

Peter immediately turns around and asks Christ how John's life would turn out but Jesus tells him "what is that to you, even if he would never die, what does it matter? Follow thou me!" And so we learn that in times of our lives where we are comparing our earthly journey with the earthly journey of others and when it seems as if we have had more than our share of heartaches or pain and others have not suffered near as much, the call of Jesus comes again: "what is that to you? follow thou me!" And once again, we must remember that in the end we will find out that God has been more than fair and just and that there truly was a purpose in everything that was done. But we will only discover that if we take our eyes off of what we can see of others and fasten them on obeying the simple yet insistent command of Jesus: "follow thou me!"

The day came where Peter was cast into prison. No doubt remembering the prophecy of Jesus, he was ready for the culmination of his life. To make sure that he did not get away, Peter slept chained between two guards with another pair stationed outside of the only door to the cell. I believe that Peter had fully resigned himself to his fate and was at peace with giving his life because the scripture says that "he slept." But prayer was made in the church for him and so suddenly an angel awoke him:

"Follow me!" I wonder if those words triggered something in Peter's mind after all of those years? "I thought I was about to die, but surprise! God's not through with me!" "I can't see Him here tonight, but Jesus is still with me because I recognize the source of that phrase anywhere!" And Peter's life took an unexpected twist once again and he courageously walked out of the prison to face his still bright future in God. All because of following and obeying and responding to that all-too-familiar command: "follow me!"

No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, from deciding to take the first step to trusting God through hard times, to the last years of your life, the call of Jesus is still going forth today and it has not changed! He is calling "follow me!" If you will answer that call, you will find that it winds through mountains of transfigurations and valleys of death and then through a cross and a resurrection, but you will also find that there is an ascension and a heavenly awaiting and a future without end or sorrow! This life is but a passing fancy and soon eternity will begin. Choose to face eternity having answered correctly the most important call of your entire life. Jesus is calling to every one here today once again not matter your circumstances. And that call is still "follow me!"