It was a cold and bright sunny winters day. Crystals hung in the air as we rode the horses up the snow filled canyon. Surrounded by the mountains as we began our ascent up the little valley, we noticed the quiet, the beauty and the solitude. The only sound was the crunching of our horses’ hooves in the fresh foot deep snow. The trees were covered with the cold white snow from the recent storm and the sky was a faded blue. Our only real concern was to not bump a tree and then be covered in the falling ice-cold snow. One horse following another up the trail deeper into the Montana mountains. Up ahead, at perfect forehead height, was a large tree branch crossing the trail. As Allan followed me on his horse I yelled out, “Tree branch ahead, duck.” Allan acknowledged my warning and promptly forgot to duck. He struck the branch with his forehead, did a 360 backwards roll off of the horse and sat there in the foot deep snow. When we follow, we must listen to and obey the leader.
We are the disciples of Jesus. We are to follow the lead of Jesus our master. We, as the disciples of Jesus are to learn, follow, teach and go forth to create more disciples. The preceding is a nice step by step method of what a disciple is and does. After we learn about Jesus, we must follow Jesus. This is step two of becoming a dedicated disciple of our master, Jesus.
At the beginning of His ministry Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee where he met two brothers named Peter and Andrew. Jesus simply said to them, “’Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” (Matt. 4:19 [NKJV]). Are we as willing as Peter and Andrew to leave our daily livelihood and follow Jesus?
Disciples of Jesus must grow in the spiritual disciplines. Being a follower of Jesus is one of the most important disciplines for us to grow in. Let’s take a look at some examples of following God.
Elijah and God had enough of the terrible national sins brought on Israel by Ahab and Jezebel. On mount Carmel Elijah threw down the gauntlet to the wicked, child sacrificing priests of Baal. In front of all Israel he yelled, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” (I Kings 18:21). By the end of the day the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah were dead. (I Kings 18:19). Following Jesus is a matter of life and death.
After his remarkable calling and transformation on the road to Damascus, Paul taught all to follow Jesus and to put away the sins of this world. “But thou, O man of God, flee these things: and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” (I Tim. 6:11 [KJV]). Like Elijah telling the children of Israel to put away and not worship the Baals, Paul reminded us to put away our sins of this world and to follow Jesus in righteousness.
The Sea of Galilee is a large deep fresh water lake and produces some very tasty fish. The lake is large enough that when storms come it can be very perilous to be on a boat out on the lake. The disciples had gone ahead of Jesus and were trying to row across the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night. A storm had arisen, the waves were high and the wind was pushing the boat around like a cork on water. In the midst of this frightening situation the disciples saw someone walking across the water towards them. It was Jesus coming to their rescue. Peter was so excited that he asked if he too could walk on the water. He so desperately wanted to follow Jesus that he believed he could walk on the raging water. Jesus simply answered Peter with one word, “come” (Matt.14:29). It was His invitation for Peter to follow Him in faith. Immediately Peter walked on the water towards Jesus and then reality set in, no human can walk on water, his faith waned and he began to sink. Jesus reached out His hand and rescued Peter from his lack of faith. Following Jesus takes faith. The path forward is difficult and without the love and the guiding hand of Jesus we are truly lost.
Sheep are herd animals and are followers of their shepherd. I often go down to my little flock of sheep and call them by name. Each sheep knows its name and will acknowledge my shepherd’s voice. When I walk in the field, they follow behind me knowing I am there to care for and protect them. Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27 [NKJV]). Follow Jesus, listen to His voice when he warns us of the branches across the trail ahead. Following our master involves doing what Jesus says to do. By following Jesus, we obey Jesus.
Does Jesus inspire us so much that we are willing to follow Him and do what He tells us to do? As Allan sat in the deep snow, I noticed a large bump and red mark begin to form across his forehead. The horses had stopped, turned their heads around, looked at him and I think they giggled a bit at his misfortune. Makes perfect horse sense to me. Following Jesus involves the faith to do what He tells us to do. When He returns, we do not want to be sitting in a foot of snow wondering why we did not listen to Him. When we follow Jesus, we must have faith in Him and obey His every Word.
Next week we will look at the third step of being a disciple of Jesus, teaching.
