Following Jesus Anywhere!
[Editor's Note: THE SUBSTANCE OF A MESSAGE PREACHED BY THE REV. FRANCIS W. DIXON AT LANSDOWNE BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND, ON SUNDAY 16 OCTOBER 1966]
Introduction
"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head" (Luke 9:57-58)
The words to which I call your particular attention are these - "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." I want to try and put these words into your heart and upon your lips. If we take these words at their face value, here is the language of a man who is determined to be an out-and-out, one-hundred-per-cent follower of the Lord Jesus. As a matter of fact, there is every indication that this man was impulsive and that he had not really counted the cost of following Christ. Our Lord, who knows the hearts of all men, knew this man's heart, and when He turned and said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head", He was calling his attention to the costliness of the Christian life. It is not a bit of good rising up to follow Christ unless we mean to go right through with the business of discipleship. Jesus demands one-hundred-per-cent allegiance.
But what a great thing it is when one who has counted the cost of discipleship can look up into the face of the Lord and say, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest"! I believe that there are many in this congregation who are saying that, and we are praying that many more will be able to say this before this service is over.
What would it involve? What does it involve to follow the Lord Jesus like this? If you consider the statement of this man, and as I have suggested, if you take the words at their face value, you will see that to follow the Lord Jesus fully leads to a four-fold involvement:-
I. Personal Decision For Christ
This man made a personal decision that he would follow Jesus. He said, "Lord, I will follow thee..." Just notice how very personal it was - "I...thee..." This is how the Christian life begins. It begins when we come to see who the Lord Jesus is, when we recognise that He has died for us upon the Cross to be our Saviour and that He now lives and claims our allegiance, and when we get up and with all our heart and soul say to Him, "Lord...I will follow thee!" This is a personal decision for Christ. No-one has ever become a Christian without making this decision. Have you made this decision? What is your answer? - yes, or no?
Do you recall the record of the way in which the Lord Jesus went up to Matthew, the tax gatherer, and said to him, "Follow Me!"? What happened? We are told that immediately Matthew left his work and rose up and followed Jesus. This, for Matthew, involved a personal decision. It means the same for you, and for anybody else. To follow Jesus means saying, "Lord, I will follow thee..." And this is a personal decision.
But if you look at these words again, you will see that a second very important thing is included in what this man said:-
II. Absolute Obedience To Christ
Notice that he said, "Lord...", and this word "Lord" means "Master". When you begin to follow Jesus you have a new master; you hand over the control of your life to Him; He now becomes in very truth your Lord; you no longer run your own life and please yourself; you bow to what He wants. Like Saul of Tarsus at the time of his conversion, you say to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" You bow to His authority and recognise that He claims your full obedience.
But I want you to notice that this man not only said, "Lord, I will follow thee", but he said, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." This was a tremendous thing to say. It was like saying, "Lord, from now on I accept your plan for my life, whatever it may be. I will follow you anywhere. You have only to say the word and I'll do your bidding."
"I'll be what you want me to be,
I'll do what you want me to do,
I'll go where you want me to go
By thy grace."
Are we following the Lord Jesus like this, or is it possible that we have not yet come to the place where we are willing to obey the Lord absolutely and to do His will?
Nine years before her martyrdom on the mission-field, Betty Scott Stamm made this irrevocable commitment, MY COVENANT, "Lord, I give up my own purposes, plans, and all my own desires, hopes, and ambitions...and accept thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to thee, to be thine for ever. I hand over to thy keeping all my friendships, my love. All the people and things I love are to take second place in my heart...Work out thy whole will in my life, at any cost, now and for ever. 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21)."
What a tremendous thing it is when a follower of the Lord Jesus is ready and willing to obey Him implicitly and to go with Him "whithersoever" He leads! Is that true of you?
Look again at these words of this man. If we take them at their face value, surely they indicate a third requirement:-
III. Open Confession Of Christ
No one can follow the Lord Jesus "whithersoever" He leads without being an open and known disciple of His. If this man carried out his decision and his intention, everybody would know he was a follower of Christ; and if you are going to be a true follower of Jesus, a "whithersoever" follower, you must be prepared for all the world to know about it. You will tell others of Him, you will confess your faith in Him, you will witness for Him from day to day, your life will speak eloquently of His saving grace and keeping power, your actions will show that you are His - and you will be glad for others to know that you are a Christian, because you will want them to know that you have such a great Lord and such a loving Saviour and such a glorious Leader.
Does someone say, "But can't I follow Him secretly?" Well, in a way, yes, it is possible to be a secret disciple. I believe there are many secret disciples; but we are not talking here about secret discipleship; we are talking about people who are willing to follow the Lord Jesus whithersoever He leads, about people who are willing to be one-hundred-per-cent, out-and-out, undoubted, obvious, radiant, wholehearted Christians.
But there is another way in which you will gladly confess your Lord, and that is by baptism. This is the way that He has appointed. This is the Lord's way for a Christian to confess his new-found faith in Him. This is the New Testament pattern for all believers, and if you are determined to follow the Lord Jesus whithersoever He leads, you will read the account of His baptism in Jordan (in Matthew 3:13-17), and you will want to follow Him through the waters of baptism and identify yourself with Him, and in this way publicly confess Him as your Lord and Saviour.
But who is sufficient for these things? Let me suggest to you that anyone who says, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest" will also be involved in one additional step - daily fellowship with Christ.
IV. Daily Fellowship With Christ
Daily Fellowship with Christ. When we follow Him we are not at a distance from Him; we go with Him, and He goes with us. We go with our Friend and Companion, and He, our great Lord and Captain of our salvation, goes with us. We share His life, literally; He gives us His life and we become partakers of His nature, and from day to day in fellowship with Him He leads us on along the pathway of His will and of His purpose for our lives.
Conclusion
This is a costly business, for "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." To follow Jesus like this often means misunderstanding and persecution, it means being laughed at, and in some countries it means being imprisoned and tortured, or black-listed, or put out of business. When this man spoke to Jesus and said he would follow Him anywhere, Jesus was on the way to the Cross. To follow Jesus all the way, for him would have meant going to Calvary - and it means this for us. To follow Jesus whithersoever He goes means entering into "the fellowship of His sufferings". The Christian life is no bed of roses. Think what it cost the Lord Jesus to procure your salvation, and then look up into His face and say, "Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest!"