“Follow Me”

Dr. David E. Gray

Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church

August 2, 2009

Mark 8: 22-36; 1 John 2: 5-6

You may have seen the story in Wednesday’s Washington Post about the six Franciscan monks who have spent the past six weeks walking from Roanoke, Virginia to Washington D.C. They took no money, relied on people they met for food, and slept wherever they could find a place to rest at the end of each day.  They said that the less they took, the more room they left for God. As they arrived in our area a few days ago they told reporters of the adventures they had when they put down their cares of the world and followed God.

We have already heard in our first lesson about what some people discovered about discipleship when walking with Jesus. 

Our second lesson contains a similar statement. A short, simple statement on discipleship. Sometimes, those are the best kinds. Reading now from the second chapter of First John. 

 In the summer months, the broader church encourages a focus on discipleship.  This time last year, when I was talking with churches and considering coming here, leaders at different churches often asked me about discipleship programs. There are volumes and volumes of scholarship written on discipleship. Many seminars are directed towards it.

As often as we can be complex in our programs, theology, and Biblical interpretation about Jesus, Jesus himself was straightforward and in many ways simple.  For example, he was clear about why He had come to earth.   He came for service and he came for sacrifice.  He said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Jesus told those who would be his disciples to follow his example. We are to go serve also and if we want to be Christ’s disciples, we should be servants as well.

Christ he was clear that being Christ’s disciple meant following Christ’s example.  When he washed the disciples’ feet Jesus said, “For I have given you an example; that you should do as I have done to you.”   Pretty simple. These days, in our complex world, being simple can make a real difference.

Being simple, as Jesus often was, can bring a sense of goodness.  The same Greek root for the word “simple,” haplotetos, is also the root of the word “good,” which is haplous. 

As Stanley Jones once said, “Life can be awfully simple or simply awful. 

You may be familiar with the Shaker hymn about simplicity which makes the point:

“Oh the gift to be simple, is the gift to be free,         

The gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.”

For those thinking about how to become Christ’s disciples, we read in our second lesson, “By this we may be sure that we are in him, whoever says, ‘I abide in him,’ ought to walk just as he walked.”

“Walk as he walked.” In Biblical times, walking was the key mode of transportation, so the metaphor made sense. In the famous passage from the prophet, Micah, that Martin Luther King turned to so frequently, we understand that the Lord requires that we “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”

I think the idea of “walking as he walked” still has relevance these many years later. In 1896, Charles Sheldon wrote In His Steps, one of the most widely read books in the English language.  Sheldon gave a series of sermons on what happened to people who solved life’s problems by asking, “What would Jesus do?”  He started with the idea that people should make the simple commitment to follow Jesus in every day and every way in their lives, and thereby walk in the steps of the Lord. This led to a movement that spread throughout the country throughout the past century. 

In our first lesson, Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."  Jesus defined the attitude he wanted from those who desired to follow him: a willingness to deny themselves, a willingness to take up their cross, and a willingness to follow. 

To deny oneself means not only to surrender immediate material gratification, but also it is a willingness to let go of selfish desires. This attitude turns self-centeredness to God-centeredness.

Secondly, Jesus said that following him means to take up one's own cross.  To take up the cross was a vivid illustration of the humility and submission that Jesus was asking of his followers.  Jesus' words meant that his followers had to be prepared to obey God's commands and to follow his will wherever it leads.   

Thirdly, to follow Jesus means taking a road of sacrifice and service in life.  Those who would lose their lives-physical, spiritual, or both - for Christ's sake, will find real life.  Without a life in him, Jesus told his disciples and tells us, there really is no life.

Walking with Jesus means conforming one’s walk to one’s understanding of how Jesus’ acted so that our footsteps closely match Christ’s. That can make a difference at important times. In 1936, Mary Stevenson penned a well loved poem entitled “Footprints in the Sand.”  Maybe you know it.  She wrote:

 “One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.  Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.  In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.  Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.  This bothered me because I noticed that during the low tides of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, defeat or sorrow; I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, ‘You promised me, Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand.  Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?’ The Lord replied, ‘The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.’”

I love this poem and its metaphor of the footprints.  Stevenson’s vision includes a God who takes steps, footsteps, right along with us.  It’s a vision of an imminent God who is near enough to have footsteps that we can sense, that can be a sense of support, and that we can follow.

I have been thinking about footsteps a lot this summer. Our second son, Brendan, is nine months old and in watching his older brother, Brendan, is just desperate to walk. So he is climbing up on everything and holding onto everything. It’s throwing off our baby-proofing.  Well, we are trying to help Brendan walk some by holding up his hands as he follows, and falls, backwards in my footsteps. Children learn by trying to imitate adults and other kids.  By trying to walk in another’s footsteps.  Much of our Christian walk is about trying to walk in the footsteps of our Lord.  As Christians we become disciples by trying to follow Jesus’ footsteps. 

My newborn son’ life is pretty simple right now.  But soon his life will become much more complicated, as all of ours are.  Americans today have more stimuli and responsibilities, actions and pressures, desires and draws on their time than we know what to do with. We have more choices about what to buy or watch or consume than ever before.  We have more religious choices and opportunities and can go in many directions in our spirituality.

In the midst of all this complexity, Jesus offers us a simple message – follow me. Follow ME.

Jesus calls us over and over again, every day of our lives.  He calls you and me to come walk with him.  Walking in His footsteps means making him our first focus.  It means reading what he did, listening to what he said, discovering how he glorified God, reflecting on his sacrifice and service and thinking about what that says about the purpose of our lives.

What does it mean to follow Christ?  It means seeing what love is all about.  In Him, we see giving, caring, and unreserved love.  The more we study Him the more we are impacted by him.  And the more we realize that the simple life of following Christ gives us purpose and power.   The more we read about Christ in the Bible the more we understand what radical grace is all about. The more we speak with Christ in prayer the more we realize that Christ is nearer to us then we could imagine.  When we join with Christ and each other spiritually through communion, we realize how much we all have in common. 

When we watch Him, we discover when it is right to confront, when it’s right to be angry, when it’s right to forgive, when it’s time for us to walk the extra mile and when we have gone beyond our own level of ability and resources to a level where we must rely on God to carry us.

The nice thing about following someone is that you don’t have to have all the answers. You are not the leader. You are following the leader. That realization can make it easier to live without the pressure to have the spiritual path all figured out.

The Franciscan monks who relied on God to walk the road to Washington these past few weeks told the Post reporter that their message is simple: “Anything can happen when you live in the moment, one step at a time. But to find that out, you have to be willing to take that one step.”

For some of us, early August is the simplest time of the year before the rush back to school and long hours at work. What could it mean to read a chapter of the Gospels every day?  To ask, “Lord, what would you do with these problems and what do you want me to do?” Or ask, “How can I serve you today, Lord?”

Life is complicated.  But Jesus calls us back to a simple focus.  A child-like focus.  A focus on the God who loves us and calls us to be God’s people. 

As George Stebbins wrote:

“I have found a friend, oh such a friend.

He loved me ere I knew Him,

He bound me with the cords of love,

And thus he bound me to Him.

And round my heart, still closely twines,

The ties that not can sever.

I am His and He is mine,

Forever and forever!”

Are you ready to follow Jesus? Let’s go.

Thanks be to God. Amen.