How Do We Follow Jesus (Part 3 of 3)

Matthew 4:12-25

Like the apostles of Jesus day, we too are called to follow Him and if we’re going to follow him, we need to conform our lives to scripture, and we also need to call others to follow Christ.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem.

(Matthew 4: 23-25)

The rest of this simply tells us, that he went all over Galilee teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people and that because of that his fame spread. A very simple observation. Jesus cared about people. He didn’t start a Bible college, neither did he become a monk and put himself in a cloister and gather these new disciples around him so they weren’t disturbed, and they could study the niceties of theology. 

Jesus called those to follow him and then plunged himself into ministering to people. The ministry is spelled out in these verses. He went around all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and preaching. Preaching, and teaching? That raises the question, is there a difference between these two? Most bible experts would say that the difference is that preaching usually has to do with public proclamation or evangelism and teaching has to do with what you tell those who are already committed.  I think that’s often true because preaching is connected with preaching the gospel in the New Testament, I think there’s some truth to that interpretation f this phrase. However, I have also concluded after looking at all the references to those words that it isn’t always like that. There’s a Greek word “Caruso” often used that has to do with heralding the message of a king. The use of this word is a sense of the speaker coming before us with the message of the king.  Embedded in it the idea that the source of what is proclaimed is from somebody else, someone who is above us who speaks with authority, and we are only the messenger. The thing I like about this is that when you’re delivering a gospel of Bible message it should come from the king and you function as a herald. That means to me you can do it with a certain amount of confidence.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe many years ago said, “Give me your certainties. I have enough doubts on my own”. When Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God, He too did it with authority and with certainty. Urging people to change their mind about trusting themselves so they could be prepared to enter into the Kingdom when it came. And then he taught them and showed them how to live their lives. 

Another thing worth mentioning is that he did what he did because he was compassionate, He did what he did because he cared about people and that’s the point I wish to make. Love and compassion for those already loved by God was his primary motivation. However, I think also there’s some other things involved here. One thing the New Testament makes very clear is that Jesus worked miracles, including healing, to certify his message. In the sermon at Pentecost in acts Chapter 2, verse 22, Peter said he came preaching and his message was attested by the Miracles he performed.

In Mark Chapter 16: 20, Jesus sent out the disciples, and it says they went everywhere preaching and that the miracles they did were certification of the message. So, the new test makes it very clear that he did these miracles to prove his message was from God. Now this is going to be very important as we continue to work together through the Gospel of Matthew week after week. When we get to chapter 12, you’ll see just how important this is because the people got it and the leaders didn’t. The critical question is why did he do miracles? Not just for compassion though that’s here, but to prove who he was. I’ll speak more about this later.

One other thought. It’s been suggested, and I think with merit, that these miracles offer insights into the coming Kingdom. This passage says he cast out demons and healed the sick. The Kingdom of God, when it comes, will of course finally and completely defeat sickness and destroy the ability of demonic forces to oppress anyone. The Book of Revelation tells us, it will be the end of disease. No more pain, no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more disease. Another insight into what happens when the king sits on his throne is that it will in fact be the end of death itself for the dead will be raised. It will be the death of death. There’s no more death in the Kingdom of God.  These miracles are little insights into what Jesus as king will do upon his return. 

Having said all that, I want to go back to the fact that he’s doing this also because he cares about individuals.  What this tells me and what we need to take on board in this life is that are view of people who are experiencing any form of suffering, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or societal, you attitude towards their problems is a commentary on you. 

Somebody once put it like this, a man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out of it. The religious person said only bad people fall into pits. The mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit. The news reporter wanted the exclusive story on what it was like in the pit. The civil servant wanted to know if he was still paying his taxes whilst he is staying in the pit. The self-pitying person said, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the pit, I’m stuck in. The fire and brimstone preacher said you deserve your pit, the power of positive thinking guru said the pit is just in your mind, and just believe in yourself and you will get out of the pit the psychologist said that your mother and father are to blame . The optimist said things could be worse. The pessimist claim things will get worse. But Jesus seeing the anyone in a pit sticks out his hand and lifted him out.

Jesus went around helping people physically and spiritual and those of us who claim to follow him must never look down their nose at anyone stuck in a pit of any making. We don’t condemn of judge anyone, because we above anyone should know that, there but for the grace of God go I. We don’t condemn people or judge people we  help people, we help pull them out of the pit or give them the means by which they can extricate themselves.

Summary

In one sense, it’s telling us that Jesus fulfilled scripture. Beyond that I’m suggesting he conformed his life to scripture. He went out of his way to fulfil it. That’s what conforming your life to the Bible means. He called disciples to follow him, and they too made the active decision to go around preaching, teaching, healing because he cared for them. But imbedded right in the middle of the beginning of Matthews Gospel account is the call to follow Him. 

The way we do that today, well the starting point anyway is to follow him, throughout the whole rest of this gospel and see what he did and make that a template for your life also. I submit to you that a lot of what God requires from you is right here in the context of this gospel account. If you want to be a learner, a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ, it all here. Now don’t misunderstand me this has nothing to do with gaining you a place in heaven, that’s a gift. You just simply trust in Jesus Christ, who died and paid for your sin, who rose from the dead. You trust him and you’re given the gift of eternal life.  If you want to go from being a believer to following him, that requires much, much more. And here’s what we need to do. 

·        To follow him, we must conform to Scripture.

·        To follow him, we must put him before family and business. 

·        To follow him, he must care about people spiritually and physically. 

·        To follow him, we must tell others to follow him even as we follow him.

We must fish for people because if we are not fishing, we’re not following. Let me ask you question, are you a follower? Are you fishing? One of the ways we can fish is to share links to these messages across the internet in the place you inhabit. Your social media accounts etc. You can do something really simple and just go distribute the life changing power of Bible among the people you interact with online. Allow the life changing power of the good new of the Bible to become part of the rhythm of their daily lives also. If you want to be a follower of Christ, you got to fish. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus said, “The son of man has come to seek and to save”. That was Jesus’ passion, to reach people, to save them from their sins. To teach people so they can know how to walk in the will of God. We cannot own title of Christian if we’re not about his business. You have got to follow him, which means doing what he did. You can’t follow him without going there, without doing what he did. But of all the  things he did, and they’re all important. I want to focus on and  on one. Be, “Fishers of Men”. And I’m doing that because that’s what the passage does. Follow me, he said, and I will make you to “Fishers of Men.

That’s the most important thing we can do. That’s more important than your job, and I’m not suggesting you quit your job because you job will usually give you the resources to do that, anyway it’s more important than your job, it’s more important than your business, iIt’s more important than your family, and I’m not suggesting that you should not treat your family well, I’m simply saying the most important thing that you can do is, win people to Jesus Christ. If you believe that, if you’re following Christ then you have no choice. That’s what’s involved in being a Christian.  If you’re not fishing, you’re not following.

Many years ago, in the 18th century a British doctor named Edward Jenner  discovered the concept of vaccines and in fact developed the first vaccine for smallpox. One day, a minister friend of his introduced a mutual friend of his to the doctor. The friend said, “you must have saved more lives than anybody else on earth. And here’s what this 18th century Doctor said, and I quote. “you say of me that I have saved more lives than any other man, and that may be true. However, I would rather have it said of me, as it might be said of our minister friend that I say more souls than anyone else.

How proud would you be if today you dragged someone out of the sea, or gave someone CPR in the town square and saved their life? Amazing, you saved one life. Now, please, would you be if you could save a handful of people from dying physically? Well, it’s more important that we can stand before the Lord and say we saved people spiritually.