20/20: God's Vision For My LifeSample

Follow the Leader

By Todd McIntyre

At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Matthew 4:20–22

As the youngest in my family, I often hung out with my brother who was five years older. He was my hero. He would stick up for me and protect me from boys twice my size. But to his chagrin, I seized every opportunity to follow him around and do the things he did. I adored my brother and wanted to be just like him. Most decisions in my life as a young boy were patterned after whatever my brother was doing. He played football, so I wanted to play football. He played baseball, so I wanted to play baseball. Whatever music and movies he liked, I liked as well. And if he thought a joke was funny, I thought it was hilarious. When he would go hang out with his friends, I would beg to go with him. And for the most part, my brother complied. Whatever he did and wherever he would go, I wanted to follow.

When Jesus called His disciples, He simply gave them one command: “Come, follow Me” (Matthew 4:19). This call to follow Jesus always begins with our hunger to be just like Him. Think about the first disciples of Jesus. In many ways they were like Jesus’ younger brothers. He regularly defended them against the religious critics, and many times, He had to put up with their immature antics. In Matthew 12, when He was told that His earthly mother and brothers were standing outside, Jesus pointed to His disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:49–50).

Discipleship is one of the most basic foundations of our Christian walk, and yet, it has become probably one of the most complicated and misunderstood aspects of our faith. Some people have even tried to say that there’s a difference between someone who is a Christian and someone who is a disciple. In reality, they are one and the same. The essence of discipleship can be summed up in a single word—follower.

In describing His mission on earth, Jesus stated: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). Jesus showed us that being a disciple is simply about following God. The questions you need to constantly ask yourself are: Am I doing the things Jesus did? And am I speaking and producing fruit like Jesus? Because the degree to which we follow Jesus is the degree to which we can truly call ourselves His disciples.

One of the most powerful descriptions of Jesus Christ I’ve ever read comes from the Scottish theologian James Stewart who wrote:

He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men. Yet He spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at His coming. Yet He was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with Him, and the little ones nestled in His arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine.

No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed He would not break. His whole life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell?
He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism, He has all of us self-styled realists soundly beaten. He was a servant of all, washing the disciples’ feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another in the mad rush to get away from the fire they saw blazing in His eyes.
He saved others, yet at the last, He Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrast which confronts us in the gospels; the mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.

The apostle Paul instructed the believers from the church in Corinth: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). I encourage you today to take a moment and reflect on your faith in Christ. Can you truly say that you are a “follower”?

When others watch the way you live your life, would they say that you talk and act like Christ? Would they see you hunger for the things Christ hungered for? Would they know that you’re concerned with the same issues that Christ is concerned with? Would your life be a representation of Christ?

As a man, a lot of my desires have changed since I was a boy. But one desire still remains the same; I still want to be just like my big brother—my spiritual big brother—Jesus.

Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them. Find the things that rob you of that affection and walk away from them. That’s the Christian life as easy as I can explain it for you.
~ Matt Chandler

Memory Verse

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19–20