Followers
Matthew 4:18-22
"...They follow the Lamb wherever he goes..."
(Revelation 14:4)
Nobody wants to be called a "follower." Such a slur indicates a lack of initiative or principle. Followers are taken advantage of and used for the purposes of the strong. Rather, everyone wants to be the leader of the pack - the team captain, the pioneer, the C.E.O. In the church, however, the title "leader" is reserved for One: the Lord Jesus Christ. And everyone who would come after Him must be His follower. That's not to say that there are no leaders in the church (see 1 Timothy 3; 1 Peter 5:1). But it does mean that before they are leaders, they must first be followers... followers of Jesus Christ.
Being a follower of Jesus means that He has gone before us. He has faced our enemies head-on and beaten them, and now we follow in the wake of His victory. It also means that He is our teacher. To follow someone in Jesus' time meant to live life with them, learn from them, and conform your way of life to theirs. And Jesus still leads His people that we might follow Him wherever He goes.
INSIGHT
"Am I a soldier of the cross; a follower of the Lamb?"
(Isaac Watts, 1724)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 35-36
Psalm 148
1 Timothy 5-6
Matthew 4:18-22
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 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, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
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