Follow Me...

Y'all might have to bear with me on this one. It's a little long, but just some things I've been pondering over today. This morning our passage at church was out of Matthew 9:9-13, where Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him. Ryan talked about the seriousness of that call to follow Jesus, and he said that if we are to follow Jesus, we need to follow Jesus. As Ryan said, it may sound a little redundant, but there is definitely a difference in doing something(by word only) and doing something( in word and in action).
That just got me thinking today about what it truly means to follow Him, the implications of that call, and the results of following that call. These are the words of our Lord in the book of Luke 14:26-27:

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father, and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

To me, that really shows the seriousness of the words, "...follow Me." Jesus does not mess around. It is not an easy gospel that we are called to follow. And the crazy thing is( at least to those who don't follow, and I'm sure to some that do) as Ryan pointed out this morning we are told in Luke 5: 28-29, there was a joy in Matthew to that call. He immediately began to follow Him. The scripture said that he (Matthew) gave a big reception at his house for the Lord.

The rest of the chapter in Luke 14 after verse 27 has Jesus talking about counting the costs of discipleship, again showing the weightiness of the call. Jesus tells them what following Him will cost, but He just doesn't leave it there, He seems to make it harder. He really wants them to weigh out the consequences of their decision. This is not going to be an easy road, especially considering the times of oppression that they are already living in.

As I continued to think on this, I've been reading throughout the book of Romans, and I don't think anyone had a better understanding to follow Christ than did Paul. Paul starts off that book with," Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God." Initially I would look at that just as a typical salutation, Paul telling who he is and laying out his credentials. In a sermon by John Piper, he says Paul's isn't just telling us who he is, but whose he is. So as I was thinking on this verse I was thinking about the very beginning where he makes the statement that he is a bond servant or slave of Christ. One who follows his Master's every call. So I thought and wondered how closely that brief statement was related to Jesus' call of Matthew to follow Him.

We are shown in Acts 9:11-16 the results of following Christ. Jesus tells Ananias to go to Damascus to meet Saul of Tarsus, because Saul had a vision of of a man named Ananias coming to him and laying hands on him so that he might regain his sight. When Ananias showed some hesitation due to Saul's reputation of persecuting those following , The Way, Jesus explains how He has been chosen as an instrument of Christ to go to the gentiles, kings, and sons of Israel(...set apart for the gospel of God Rom 1:1) and that he,Saul, will know what it means to suffer for the name of Christ. Kind of a scary result for following Christ.

As I thought about that I asked myself, that call to suffering, was it only for Paul and his specific circumstance, or is that a general call, because you see Paul lay out in II Corinthians 11 the sufferings that he went through for the name of Christ. Then the Lord brought me to Philippians 1:29-30, " For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be in me."

This brought some more question's to my mind. First, obviously there is the fact that he is talking specifically to the Philippians, but how does that apply to me? If it does, and I want to be careful how I question this because I do believe in the complete inerrency of the Scripture, but how literal is this suffering that I have to go through for the sake of Christ? I know that those were some more violent times for believers. Any thoughts on these would be greatly appreciated.

"...Follow Me." What a call. Not one to be taken lightly. How often do I count the cost of what I'm called to? I pray that the Lord would continue to show me what it is to follow Him and when those times of suffering come into my life for the name of Christ that I would be able to as James said, " Consider it all joy...", for my God is great to greatly to be praised. I end with this song just glorifying the name of Jesus.

Jesus Jesus Jesus There's just something about that name Master Savior Jesus Like a fragrance after the rain Jesus Jesus Jesus Let all heaven and earth proclaim Kings and kingdoms may all pass away But there's something about that name.