Pastor Steffan’s Reckless Obedience - January 2020
“And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) “Follow me.” The call of Christ is a call to follow. It sounds simple and straight-forward enough, yes? “Follow me.” Truth is, these may be the two most loaded words in all the New Testament. “Follow me.” Do we really understand what Jesus is calling us to do in calling us to follow him, to be his disciple? Do we really understand what following a first-century rabbi entailed? Or has the concept of followership been so corrupted in our twenty-first-century social media society that Jesus’ words have lost all their meaning and impact? Today, we “follow” and “unfollow” with a conditional, selfish, indifference. We listen only to those with whom we agree, and as a result, learn only what we already knew. We block, unfriend, or unfollow anyone whose views may conflict with our own, and in doing so, fail to grow in any meaningful measure. We resist change, cherish the security of sameness, and protect the life that we have at the cost of a life that was meant to be. That is, if we follow anyone at all, we follow only up to a point, and only if there is no real cost to following. But when a first-century rabbi called someone to follow him, it was both a call to live and a call to die. A call to die to one’s old self and a call to enter into a new life. It was a call to abandon all that one had, to literally leave behind family, friends, belongings, and self-determination, everything, to go with your rabbi, to begin to think as your rabbi thought,
say what your rabbi said, and to do what your rabbi did, all for the purpose of eventually becoming who your rabbi was.
Thus, ensuring that the rabbi’s teaching continued long after he was gone. Yes, to answer a rabbi’s call to “follow him,” was to begin the process of “becoming,” becoming just like the rabbi you follow, and then, in turn, calling others to do the same. Jesus was a first-century rabbi.
Jesus calls his disciples, then and now, to “follow him.” Are you a follower of Jesus? It is a valid question. It is an important question. As Paul writes, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor 13:5-6) Are you becoming just like the rabbi you claim to follow? Or, are you stubbornly holding on to our old life, with its trappings of safety and self-will? Are you willing to forsake everything and begin the process of becoming like Jesus? One cannot both change and remain the same. Have you seen a change in your life since answering Jesus’ call to follow him? Have you begun to think as Jesus thinks? Through the study of God’s word and the practice of spiritual disciplines, may we fill our minds with truth, transforming us, so that his thoughts become our thoughts, his will becomes our will, and we begin to see others as he does. Have you begun to say what Jesus says?
May our words, be they spoken in our personal or professional lives, be full of grace and truth, seasoned with salt, so that others may hear and know Christ when they hear our words. Have you begun to do what Jesus does? May our actions model Christ. In both our personal and professional lives, may we seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly as those who serve the LORD. May we be a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, and commit to caring for the least of us. Are you becoming who Jesus is? It is said that sanctification is the process of becoming, by the power of Christ, who we already are, in Christ, for the purpose of bringing glory, to Christ. May we recklessly pursue our becoming, willingly sacrificing who we were to become who we were created to be. As the new year begins, may each of us as Cornerstone be found to be following hard after Jesus, and in doing so, becoming like him, telling others about him, and bringing glory to him. May this year be the year in which our vision becomes our reality. “Every Christ-follower a disciple; every disciple a disciple-maker.”
