INMERSO

Are You Believer or Follower

When we look at the church every Sunday and see the amount of people attending the service we hope that all of them are there because of their love to Jesus. When we refer to the people attending, usually the term used is congregation, which means "a group of people gathered for religious purposes". That congregation is gathered to worship because they believe. They believe in God and that Jesus is real. In the other hand it is very interesting that Jesus refers to anyone faithful to Him "as follower".

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:18-19.

In contrast He also clarified:

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10: 38-39.

The church then is comprised of two groups; believers and followers. Believers are certain of God and Jesus, they love church and will try to make their life as good as possible. Followers believe but also surrendered their life and will to Jesus.

The question then is this: Are you a believer or a follower?

If you are a believer you are doing your own plans, living in disobedience and maybe harboring a little rebellion. Some christians think that praying to God to bless them after they have made their plans, their own ideas, using their own criteria based on the concept of "I am a good person" is following Jesus. Sadly, that is completely wrong.

What does it means to be a follower?

How can I follow Him if He is not physically here?

How can I follow someone I cannot see, cannot touch, hear His audible voice or keep doing what He wants me to do?

Jesus promised His disciples before leaving that He will send a Helper.

7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. John 16: 7-8.

Jesus knew that without the Holy Spirit the disciples would have turned back to fishing and forget about the ministry because all the suffering in front of them would have been unbearable. For that reason the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus to help us by holding three responsibilities:

1- Guides us through or life. He will make the decisions and we will follow.

2- Enabling us to do it. He will prepare us and provide us with anything needed to succeed.

3- Correcting our direction. When we drift away from Gods plan the Spirit corrects us to the right path. When we hear and let ourselves to be guided by human advices or others influences, He will push us back in track.

What are the requirements to follow Jesus?

Following Jesus means obeying the Holy Spirit prompts no matter what is asked of us. In all of Jesus ministry He never promised that if we follow Him our life will be trouble free, on the contrary if we follow expect the cross.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:38.

As humans we tend to formulate our own requirements as of what is right, but that is not the way. Jesus knows what happens when the church doesn't want to surrender to Him and just want the blessings but not the obedience to Him.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. John 6: 66.

People were following Him because they liked the blessings and signs. They like the bread and the fish but not the sacrifices. So many left Him that He turned to His disciples and asked them if they were going to leave Him too.

So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” John 6: 67.

The requirements were and are not very appealing to people:

1- Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. It was easy when Jesus was physically present but now we need to develop keen sensitivity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He speaks to our spirit. He audibly speaks on the inside of us. He is prompting us everyday.

2- Service. Jesus said to Peter "follow me and I will make you fisher of men". We have to give ourselves to Him and in the process He will switch our vocation and will train us. We cannot be followers of Jesus without giving ourselves to other people. He came to serve and not to be served and expect that from us. It is amazing how many people come to church Sunday after Sunday but never help anyone in need, never serve others, never give anything to the Lords work. They only visit church to hear the choir, to stay in touch just in case of an emergency, but never give themselves away to others. Serving the Lord is not going to church, we can be there everyday just for our own gratification, serving the Lord is giving ourselves to Jesus and others.

3- Sacrifice. Jesus asked the disciples to leave everything, job, family, security to follow Him. If God ask you to lay down something, are you willing?

4- Self denial. To deny myself is to ask God what He wants me to do. Is surrendering our natural self under Gods control. Is telling God that we want to pursue the life that God had planned for us. Satan will try by any means possible to convince us to gratify our senses and get what we want now, but God will get us there with a perfect plan for each of us.

5- Suffering. If we are going to be a blessing to others we must suffer. The Apostle Paul said two things he wanted to know, one, the Lord Jesus christ in the fullness of His glory and second in the fellowship of His suffering. God wants us to identify ourselves with others suffering and use our own experiences to help them.

All this comes with a beautiful promise from Jesus:

29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19: 29.

We should asks ourselves the question: What will I become if I follow Jesus? What I will become if I don't?