What does it mean to be a Jesus-Follower?

“Come, follow me and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Christ Jesus, Matthew 4:19

• The Call – Jesus gives me an invitation to come to him.
• The Community – Jesus unites me to his people.
• The Change – Jesus transforms me to be like him.
• The Commission – Jesus sends me out to invite others.

THE CALL

God the Father desires a loving relationship with you. No matter who you are, what you have done, or what you have gone through, the Father loves you even if you are still going through it. God designed this world to show his love and provision to you and all men and women he created in his image. The problem is that you, like me and everyone else, have rejected God’s perfect design and started pursuing what you thought was best. The Bible has a word for our rejection of God’s design, which is “sin.” Sin, leaving the Father’s design, leads to brokenness.

We all experience this brokenness resulting from sin. The brokenness, pain, dysfunction, racism, addiction, disease, abuse, exploitation, greed, death, and all the evils of this world are the natural consequence of leaving the Father’s loving plan and following our ways. As we try to fix our brokenness, we try to lessen, numb, or escape it with things like education, religion, relationships, sex, drugs, pornography, illicit entertainment, and intoxication. But these things only lead to more and more brokenness. But brokenness can be a good thing if it causes us to realize our ways do not work and causes us to look for help. Help is available. That help is good news, and it is where the real Jesus comes in.

The biblical term for good news is “gospel.” The good news is that God the Father does not want to be separated from you or anyone else. He made you for you to love him and enjoy him. To forgive our rebellious sins, heal our brokenness, and bring us back to him, he sent his only son, Jesus, to pay for our sins with his own life.

Jesus lived a perfect life, following the Father’s design in every way. Sinful men rejected and killed Jesus on the cross; however, God used Jesus’ death to substitute for your sin and bring you back to the life he planned for you. After his death, Jesus was buried in a tomb and rose back to life on the third day. His resurrection proves he is God’s Son; everything he says is true; he can forgive sins, has power over death, and has won the victory over evil, rebellious powers.

Jesus said if you believe that he became your substitute to pay for your sins, and you turn from your ways and follow him, he will forgive your sins and send his Holy Spirit to help you live for him. Jesus calls it being Born Again. If you sense the Father impressing upon your conscience that this good news is true, you believe it is true, and you are ready to surrender your ways to follow his, he says, be baptized and start following, be born again.

Public baptism symbolizes dying to your old life and letting Jesus raise you to begin your new forgiven life following him. Between now and your baptism, you can express your desire to follow him by asking the Father for forgiveness based on Jesus’ death and resurrection and turning to follow Jesus’ way of life.

When you accept Jesus, you are not only forgiven but empowered by his Holy Spirit to pursue God’s original design for your life, and Jesus gives you a new spiritual family. Jesus also says that even though you will one day die physically, you will be spared eternal condemnation, and separation from him and have eternal life with him in heaven and on a new earth where there is no more sin and no more brokenness.

THE COMMUNITY

Jesus does not call you to follow him alone. When you trust him, you are joined to his family: everyone who follows him, across your street and around the world. In the New Testament, the word we translate “church” means “called-out ones.” People called out of the old life and into a new one, together.

Most weeks, the family gathers. We read Scripture, sing, share the Lord’s Supper, baptize new believers, and encourage one another. Those gatherings matter. They are where we are fed, strengthened, and sent. If you do not have a church family yet, find one. We would be glad to help you look.

The family also scatters. From Monday through Saturday, Jesus’ people are in classrooms, shops, ball fields, and kitchens. None of us is perfect, and we become more like Jesus as we help one another follow him.

THE CHANGE

Jesus said if you believe that he became your substitute to pay for your sins, you turn from your sinful ways, and you follow him, he will forgive your sins and send his Holy Spirit (his invisible Presence) to help you live for him. The Bible uses the word “repent,” meaning to turn away from sins and toward Jesus. Repent is a turning of the mind, a change of mind, to agree with Jesus about what is good and bad, righteous and evil. It is a change in how you think that will begin to change your lifestyle and how you behave. It is a change from believing that God is ruining your life, unfair, and mean to begin believing that you are ruining your life and there is a loving Father God who cares for you, wants to forgive you, and wants to help you enjoy his love and design for your life and his people.

The biblical word for this transformation is “sanctification.” It means to become increasingly more like Jesus and less like our previous rebellious selves. This change is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to work in your life and empower you, your church family to love and show you how to live like Jesus, and yours to actively participate in the process and follow Jesus. After you are born again, the Holy Spirit’s responsibility is to influence your conscience and show you the Father’s preference for your actions and attitudes. It is your responsibility to obey the Holy Spirit and follow his influence. You will please the Father and become more like Jesus as you obey. You can learn more about following his way of life in scripture, the Bible. I suggest you begin by reading the book of John first, and then Matthew or Luke.

The Holy Spirit helps you understand the Bible and apply Jesus’s teachings to your life. The Holy Spirit helps you pray and listen to the Father. The Holy Spirit gives you special abilities to serve others, volunteer in your church and community, and accomplish the Father’s purposes in your life.

While no one is perfect like Jesus, we aim to please him. While Jesus’ followers will never be condemned to eternal life separated from the Father and his blessings, they will be judged on how they followed the Holy Spirit, represented Jesus, and loved others selflessly as Jesus loves and forgives us. The point of following Jesus is actually imitating him in every area of life. Following Jesus results in becoming like him to honor the Father and reach others with his good news.

THE COMMISSION

Before Jesus returned to the Father, he gave his followers an assignment: go and make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything he commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). We call it the Great Commission. It was not given to a few. It belongs to every believer.

Making disciples is simpler than it sounds. It means helping someone follow Jesus, and helping them help someone else. Paul described it to Timothy: entrust what you have heard to faithful people who will teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). That is four generations in one verse: Paul, Timothy, faithful people, and others.

Your church family has been pouring into you through teaching, prayer, and love. This is the next step: carry what you have received into the places where you already live, work, learn, play, and worship.

What might that look like? A conversation over coffee. Praying with a coworker. Opening the Bible with a friend and asking, “What does this say? What will you do about it?” Nothing complicated. Ordinary believers, being faithful.

This ministry exists to help you take that step, and to help churches send their people into it with confidence.

Conclusion

Again, if you sense God’s Presence impressing upon your conscience that this good news message of Jesus is true, you believe God the Father loves you, that he will accept and forgive you based on Jesus’ substitutionary death for you, then you are invited to repent of your sins and follow him. We call this point in your life salvation. Jesus calls it being born again. It is the beginning of your new life following the Jesus way of life!

The next thing for you to do is to talk to God the Father (pray) reiterating your surrender to him, your acceptance of his forgiveness, your desire to live a repented life, and your trust in him to help you follow Jesus in faith. Share your good news with someone who will be glad to hear it, and be baptized.

If you have accepted Jesus’ good news, I want to hear from you. Or, if you want more information about your next step, no matter where you are in your journey, if you are just now beginning to think about it or you are all-in for Jesus and are ready to be a disciple who multiplies, I want to hear from you. Please click here to contact me.

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