You Follow Me

You Follow Me

Jesus had predicted Peter’s honorable death, saying that he would stretch out his hands and be crucified just as his Lord and Master had been. Then Peter saw John, and he was curious as to how it would go with him. “Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” John 21:18-22.

Jesus did not entice His disciples to follow Him by holding out expectations of glory in this world. Instead He pointed them to sufferings and tribulations: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Jesus made it clear to Peter that if he followed Him, the end for him would be death on the cross. The reason for following Jesus should not be rooted in anything or anyone here on earth, but only in a fervent and unfailing love for Christ. In the previous verses we see that Jesus wanted to have Peter’s complete assurance that he loved Him more than anything else. “You follow Me” was not to be overshadowed or drowned out by irrelevant and immaterial things, but all his heart’s interests were to be concentrated around it.

Jesus said, “What is that to you?” A shepherd is responsible for the sheep; the sheep only have to follow him. A sheep does not stipulate certain conditions for following the shepherd; it just follows him regardless of the weather or the wind or any other outward circumstances.

Jesus is the good Shepherd, and He will take exceedingly good care of us if we will just follow Him in love and faithfulness. If we are willing to take up our cross and deny ourselves, to suffer reproach and endure sufferings, times of adversity, and all kinds of tribulations, fully convinced that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ, then He will bless us on all our ways. Who on earth should He bless, strengthen, and help if it isn’t those who follow Him in truth? Only by remaining in the sheepfold will we be led to the green pastures and still waters, and that is where He wants to lead us.

David sings in Psalm 23: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

This is the blessing in the sheepfold, on the way of the cross and self-denial. Many people go to meetings to be blessed and comforted. They rejoice when they meet with care and goodness in the fellowship of the saints, and they would like to be prayed for when they are sick, etc. They want to enjoy all the good things, but when they meet adversity and tribulations, they are disappointed, and perhaps they even become evil and bitter. Such people have never gone through the door into the sheepfold. John 10:1.

Paul exhorts Timothy to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and meekness, and to fight the good fight of faith. 1 Tim. 6:11-12. Paul knew from personal experience that if Timothy pursued these things, Christ would pursue him with mercy and all kinds of blessings.

How meaningless it is when preachers, evening after evening, attempt to work up a kind of joy among carnal, religious people without showing them the only way on which true joy and blessings can be found: the way of the cross and self-denial.