Following Jesus on the Glory Road
Jesus did not go back to heaven and leave His followers
behind to do their own thing or run their own lives! He carefully left us many instructions and
commandments concerning how we should live our lives as Christians. And He promised to leave us the Holy Spirit
to be our personal trainer and teacher and help us work out how to follow His
commands in our own lives. His Spirit is
to be a fiery presence living in each believer, influencing and guiding and
comforting us as we go about our work and live out our days. .
When we read through Matthew, Mark and Luke we find many of
Jesus’ lessons and parables written there for us to study and follow. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the
“synoptic” or “same” gospels because they repeat many of the same lessons for
living that Jesus left for his followers. When Jesus wasn’t healing people, He was
constantly teaching His important lessons on how we are to live. And today we will look at three of his many lessons
recorded for us, his followers in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
In our first lesson we find Jesus commanding his followers
not to do good deeds in order to impress others. It can be stressful –working on impression
management and trying to be what everyone wants! And of course we can never please all the people
all the time. It can be pressure filled
and burdensome having to dress for success and never letting your guard down. And then we have hurt and angry feelings when
some folks criticize and reject us. Jesus
is calling us to leave all of that behind and live simply. He is calling us to freedom! To a new way of living! Instead we are to do what we do simply to
please and glorify God.
Jesus tells us in one of his lessons that when we give to a
good cause or to the poor we are to do it secretly! Jesus says:” When you give to the needy, do
not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving
may be in secret. And then your Father,
who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4) It’s fun to see our name up in lights and to
receive recognition and applause– to build up our self-esteem! But Jesus tells us not to play that
game. He asks us to follow Him in a life
of humility.
And Jesus did not want His followers to show off when they
prayed or fasted either. (Matt.6:5-8, 14-18)
There were religious leaders back then who loved to stand on the street
corners and pray loudly so everyone could see how pious they were. And these same religious leaders hung their
heads and moaned and groaned when they were fasting so that everyone could see how
much they were suffering and be impressed.
We may not do those things today. But today there are other
“Christian” activities we can get involved in to help others and to please God
but also to make ourselves look important to others. We may donate to a cause partially to please
God and partially to have our name listed in a book of recognition along with
all the other names of folk who donated.
Or to have our name chiseled in stone on the front of the church for all
to see! Makes us feel proud and
important..
But Jesus knew that this prideful competition between
brothers and sisters in Christ can tear apart the unity and love that our
churches and Christian communities are meant to have. Sometimes proud ambitious
people are driven to walk over one another to get to the top and gain
control. And they leave a trail of hurting
and broken people behind on their way to up to prominence. That is not what Jesus wants! The rest of the world plays these prideful games,
but we who have been born again are to be different. Jesus is calling us to follow Him in a life
of humility.
We sometimes play these games because we fear rejection too
much. But we can survive rejection and
we need to tell ourselves that we can. Our
worth and value is not determined by how other people think of us or treat
us. True acceptance is not found in our
accomplishments but in what Jesus has accomplished for us. Scripture says: “We are made acceptable to God
through the Beloved (Jesus).” (Ephesians 1:6) We should try to value the unconditional love
of God more than the conditional approval of people.
Jesus’ next lesson is a command for us not to put all of our
efforts into saving money for earthly things. Here is what He says to us: “Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and thieves break in and steal. But
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy
and thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 5:19-21and 24)
I do not think that Jesus is teaching that we should not
save money for our children or for health care or for food, clothing, shelter
and modest entertainment. There are
other passages in the Bible that tell us to work and save for these
things. I believe Jesus is probably teaching
that his followers should not put their efforts or money into expensive over-the-top
items that are meant to project power and impress others- the very expensive
automobile, the huge elegant mansion with manicured grounds, the wedding that
costs $90,000.or the dress that costs $4,000. Should we Christians spend money to project
power and lord it over others while a third of the world goes to bed hungry? And should we use Jesus Name while we are
doing it?? Jesus’ followers are not to
impress others with opulent displays of wealth designed to bolster their
arrogance! Again we are called to follow
Jesus in a life of humility.
Jesus continued his lessons commanding his followers not to
worry. He told them: “Do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the
body more important than clothes? Look
at the birds, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
more valuable than they? Who of you by
worrying can add a single hour to your life?
And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor or spin…But seek first the kingdom of God
Instead of worrying Jesus calls us to trust God and have a
childlike faith in our heavenly Father. We
pride ourselves for being intellectual and for not believing in God when we can
not fully understand what He is doing. But if we had a god that we could fully
understand it would not be the God of the Bible. Jesus calls us to a lean on God with a simple
childlike faith. (Matthew 18:2-4)
Scripture says to: “Cast
all of your cares upon Him” (1 Peter 5:7) Jesus points out how God cares for the birds
and for the flowers. And He reminds us
that if God takes care of the birds and the flowers, how much more will He take
care of us, His children. Scripture
says: “Fear not for I am with you, be not afraid for I am your God, I will
strengthen you, yes I will help you, yes I will uphold you with the right Hand
of My Righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10)
Jesus is calling us to believe that God is just (Deut.32:4)
merciful and all loving. (1 John 4:8)
And we are to have confidence in the sovereignty of God. He is in control of the whole world and of
every microscopic detail. Even though He
has given us free will and we can mess things up badly, He promises in His Word
(the Bible) to overcome all evil and make everything right in the end. Let’s believe that. “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy
comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
In all of Jesus’ lessons He is teaching his followers a new
way of living. The old way was a painful
and burdensome way and it didn’t work. So Jesus is calling believers to a “new and
living way.” With the Holy Spirit working out our faith and guiding us in this
new way we are learning to act on God’s Word rather than reacting to what other
people think of us. Christianity was
once called “the Way” (Acts 9:2)
In following Jesus on this Way – this road less traveled - we
will be going in a direction opposite from all those who are following the world’s
wisdom. And we may be misunderstood and
persecuted because of that. But Jesus is
calling us to take up His yoke and follow Him on this glory road and we mustn’t
keep Him waiting. We will find joy and
peace along the way and Jesus promises us rest for our souls. (Matthew 11:29) Are you coming along?
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