Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Follow Me

And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Follow Me

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

Deny himself!

Jesus said to follow Him we must first deny ourselves. That is the first step in the process! The NLT says of this turn from our selfish ways and the GOD'S WORD Translation says to say no to the things we want. Those adequately describe what Jesus says here, we must give up our desires and in essence as Paul says in Romans 6 die to our flesh! If anyone loves father, mother, brother, sister, or even themselves more than Jesus thy are not worthy of Him! We must die to ourselves as the first step of following Jesus. Look at the immediate context of the OP topic, Cephas, Andrew, John, James all left their families, businesses and lives to follow Jesus, that is the essence of the sacrifice required of all who seek to follow the Lord!

Take up His cross daily!

This process is more completely in line with what Paul described in Romans 6. When we are baptized into Christ we identify with His death, burial and resurrection. But to be baptized we must repent of our sins! So becoming a Christian is the first step in this process of carrying our cross, but not all of it. For Jesus said whosoever loves their lives will lose them but whoever loses their lives for the same of Christ will find life eternal! Carrying our cross is having the devotion and commitment to obey Christ even if it costs you your life! We are to be 100% sold out for the Lord, otherwise He is not really our Lord but one of but many things/people we obey and submit to. He must be all and in all and before all! Lastly notice this is to be done daily as well. Not just something we turn off and on when it's convenient or every Sunday in front of our religious friends!

I WILL!

Once we have these two principles down, we can begin to hear the Lord call out to us Follow Me! Then what does He say? I WILL make you fishers of men! Jesus says He will make us fishers of men when we fulfill our part of the equation. We do our part and He does His. Amen He is ever faithful! So for those of us who want to see souls saved but find not the strength to speak openly in the square or at work or anywhere Jesus says, Just follow Me and I WILL make you a fisher of man! Not maybe or if it pleases me, but I WILL!!!! Jesus walked in love, so we too must walk in love, sacrificial love that knows no limits and end! Have courage and take strength child of the Most High! Jesus will make you a fisher of man! Just do as He says do and He will be faithful to fulfill His part!


Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love NEVER fails!


And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17, ESV)

Jesus tells all of us to follow Him. In so doing He will (emphasis on will) make us fishers of men. I know growing up I struggled with witnessing because I was such a timid and shy person. I wondered aloud how God could ever use me to share the gospel with anyone, because I could barely say hi to a stranger let alone talk about such a conflicting topic.

Well the other night I was praying and the following came to mind:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. (1 Cor 14:1, NIV)

Now I've posted on this verse before (Mark 1:17) and how Luke 9:23 plays into becoming fishers of men. Now given this increased revelation into this "mystery" I'd like to present that 1 Corinthians 14:1 and Luke 9:23 are not in conflict with each other if it may seem so, but rather they speak of the same thing.

You see Luke 9:23 says, "And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." This speaks exactly of what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:31-14:1, LOVE. The love that Christ requires of us, the greater love that sacrifices all, is exactly that; a love that forgets completely about self and looks only towards pleasing Christ first and others second.

So when Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

He's really giving us a spiritual "road map" of sorts on what following Christ really looks like. It's not about how gifted we are, it's not about how much faith we may seem to have, rather it's about how much love we have towards others. For how much we love others around us, especially our enemies, is a direct correlation on how much we love God. It's not about self, it's about those around us.

Thus fulfilling Christ's greatest command: To love one another as He has loved us!

So follow the way of love! Christ will then make you a fisher of men!

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14, NIV)

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