The third word of Christ to us is,
“Follow Me”
“Come unto me.” “Learn of me.” “Follow me.” What does it mean to follow Jesus? Is it not true that many are singing,
“I will follow thee, my Savior,
Wheresoe’er my lot may be,
Where Thou goest I will follow,
Yes, my Lord, I’ll follow Thee.
“Though I meet with tribulation,
Sorely tempted though I be,
I remember Thou wast tempted,
And rejoice to follow Thee.”*
Yet do they not have but little comprehension of what it means to follow Jesus? There can be no following of Jesus except there be a denying of self and the bearing of a cross. Jesus bore a cross, not only a wooden one up the hill to Golgotha, but also another and heavier cross from the day He entered His ministry (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34, 10:21; Luke 9:23). Note what word Luke uses that Matthew and Mark do not use. This cross is to borne “daily.” Look through the ministry of Jesus, and see the cross He bore. This is the cross you are to bear in your following of Him. You have a good home, well furnished, receive a salary for your ministry, men are speaking well of you, and recommending you as being a good preacher, and doing a good work, etc. Where is the cross-bearing of Jesus? Some may say that they have some persecutions. If you will examine closely you may find that about the only persecution you have comes from those who envy you your prominent position and good salary, and they are itching to get your position.
Jesus did not teach—and neither does this booklet—that you cannot hold a legal right to a home, but He did teach that whatever you possess of earthly things to regard them as though you did not own them. You are to take that attitude toward every earthly thing you possess. That word mine is not to be found in your vocabulary. Miss Mary Bosanquet said that between herself and Mrs. Ryan and the other saints in their community, that the cold words of mine and thine were never used among them. John Wesley, in speaking of Mrs. Ryan, said: “To converse with her is an unspeakable blessing to me. I can not think of her without thinking of God. Others may lead me to God, but it is, as it were, going around about; but she leads me straight into His presence.” Hold yourself and what you possess as your own and you rob yourself of the presence and power of God. If you will read I Corinthians 7:29-31 you will get some understanding how to regard every earthly thing even the wife of your bosom. You are to take such an attitude, not only that nothing shall hinder you in doing God’s will, but also that you are to use all to His glory purposely. You are to use nothing that you possess for any selfish purpose, but every thing to God’s glory, even to your eating and drinking. Multitudes of professed followers of Jesus will quote I Corinthians 10:31, and give it such an interpretation, or treat it with such neglect as to allow them to indulge in many of the lusts of the flesh. You are to regard your body as not your own, but are to glorify God in it (I Corinthians 6:20). In all the uses of your body, in all you do with it, and for it, there is to be a higher consideration than self-gratification. This extends to all the little things of daily life—to the spending of every penny and of every moment of time. There is not to be a gratifying of the appetite without considering the glory of God, and there is not to be a lounging back in the easy chair in a careless and thoughtless way. Do all, even these, with the thought of God’s glory, and whatever God’s glory calls for is to be done at whatever cost to bodily comforts. If you will live this sort of life you will surely find a daily cross-bearing. That body will needs meet with many denials, and some very severe ones.
Please read the teaching of Jesus as given in Matthew 19:9-12. You may say that you do not understand these words. Do you want to understand them? Do you pray earnestly that you may understand them? It does seem that Jesus understood that not all men were able to receive this saying, and that it was said only to those who are able to receive it, but are you very happy because it is said to only those who are able to receive it? Are you ready to conclude that it does not include you? Have you ever prayed earnestly that you might be able to receive it, and thus live to the greater glory of God? These words do teach, my dear brethren, that we should keep free from all the possible entanglements of life that we might serve God more fully and intensely. Jesus will never give you a cross heavier than you can bear, but oh, beware lest you throw it down long before you get to the breaking- point. There is so little going against the flesh.
We shall ask you to read Luke 9:57-62. Can you not feel in the reading of these words that the following of Jesus forbids looseness or carelessness in life? Life is full of meaning, and that meaning is to live it wholly unto God and never to the pleasures of the flesh. This is the cross-bearing. Some may say that the Scriptures to which we are referring are beyond the reach of the human intellect to comprehend. They are beyond the reach of the human intellect alone but if we will get down into the secret place the Holy Spirit will teach our human intellects through our human spirits and we shall know the meaning of all Christ’s teaching. Jesus never taught any thing He did not intend us to understand. If we do not understand some of His sayings, it is because we are not willing to go with Him into that death and separation from the world, and cease to lean to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), that by His Spirit He can teach us of spiritual things. Jesus says, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Ought we not to want to know what “looking back” means? If it unfits us for the kingdom of heaven, ought we not to seek every possible way to learn what it means to look back lest we be doing it? If you read these words and because you do not understand them, you pass them by and think it is of no great importance that you know them, you are running a great risk, and are in great danger of missing the kingdom of God. Jesus here gives a picture of the Christian life. The plough represents the service of God. The Christian enters God’s service. He puts his hand to the plough. He throws the weight of his body upon it to cause it to turn up the soil. He keeps his eye straight ahead to the work he is doing. There must be no backward glances of the eye; no turning of the head, but a constant bending forward of the body, a tight holding of the plough with the hand and an eye looking unto Jesus. The apostle forgot the things behind—put them out of mind. He reached forth to those things which are before. Alas, too many are looking back to see if man is giving them any praise, or what they may receive from the world for their service in God’s work, or some bodily comfort, ease, or pleasure. If in your work for Christ, you are taking any thought about what recompense you are going to receive and what help the world is going to give, you are not fit for the work of God. You say that your work is a faith work, but you are telling everybody that it is a faith work. If it is a faith work, have it to yourself alone, and go on with your work. To follow Jesus is to fully depend upon Him. He can and will furnish you with all you need in His work, if you are diligently attending to His work, but if you are casting your eye around upon man to see where some help is coming from, you are unfitting yourself for the service of God.
Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38) And He never looked back. He kept looking straight forward to the Father’s will. The devil could not cause Him to look back. He tempted Him with every thing from a loaf of bread to the kingdoms of the world, but Jesus saw nothing but His Father’s will. He could turn water into wine for others, and increase a few loaves and fishes to a sufficiency to feed thousands, but never an act for Himself solely for His own sake. Here is a hard saying, but we will say it in Jesus’ name. We are to do nothing for ourselves for self sake. Alas, how many of the Lord’s own are living too thoughtlessly of God’s will. They eat, they drink, they sleep, they go about the regular routine of life without a thought of God’s will. If we will practice going to our meals, our beds, our work in the thought of doing the will of God, we will find the love of God increasing in our hearts, and life will be sweeter and Christ will be more real to us.
To be a true follower of Jesus the thought of doing His will must absorb every other thought. There is not to be only a perfect denial of self, but there must be a concentration of all our powers in doing His will. To do God’s will from the heart is no cold and indifferent heartedness. We do want to impress this upon your mind, therefore we repeat our warning against thoughtlessness, carelessness, and coldness. Learn to do things purposely for God. Take thought about it. Throw your heart into it with an earnestness. Learn to love God’s will and cling to it purposely. Do not go along day after day in a common routine of life and have no particular thought of God. “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Luke 17:32) Lot when ordered to flee out of Sodom was forbidden to look back. Surely this will deeply impress your mind.
“I have left all the world to follow Jesus,
Never backward to its follies will I turn;
Oh, I’m on my upward way,
And it’s brighter every day;
For I’ve left all the world to follow Jesus.”*
Mrs. Lot’s offense was only a look. But that look unfitted her for a place in God’s kingdom. Her fate should teach us a lesson. If we look back we are not fit for the kingdom of heaven.
It is possible to be deceived. We may sing—
“I am dead to the world and its pleasures,
My affections are centered above”—
And yet we may have our minds largely filled with thoughts of earthly things. Just now we read of a minister who says that he has many heartaches because he has been given but little money in the past few months, and has had to live on dry bread and flour gravy. Another says that he has spent many a restless night because his congregation has not kept their agreement with him, and yet they sing that they are dead to the world and its worries. To be dead to the world with Christ is to have no expectations from it, to be under no bondage to it, to not be worried a moment by it, to not spend a restless hour because of it, to take no thought about it. None of its circumstances could stop Paul from singing praise to God. No state this world could bring him into brought him any discontent. Peter slept soundly in the face of the chopping block. And though the fig tree did not blossom, neither should there be any fruit on the vines, and the labor of the olive should fail, and the folds should yield no meat, the flocks be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, the old prophet would rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Blessed experience. It is for every child of God. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and nothing of this world can disturb that life without disturbing the life of Jesus.