Weekly Sermon

It was an amazing thing, really. First, John and Andrew followed Jesus. Then came Simon Peter, Andrew’s brother. The next day, Jesus said to Philip, “Follow me!”1 And he did! Soon thereafter came Nathanael (sometimes called Bartholomew). And in due time, a small band of 12 commoners became apostles of the Man who was more than a carpenter. They dropped everything to follow him.

To follow Jesus wasn’t easy. Long hours. Little, if any, pay. But they wouldn’t leave his side for anything. Why? Perhaps Peter said it best. When Christ said to his disciples, “Do you also want to go away?”2 Peter said for them all, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life!”3

Yes, it was his message that attracted them. But what was his message? It was truly astonishing! He had the audacity to promise eternal life to those who trusted in him.

Imagine that: Not a fountain of youth; not a diet to lengthen your years; not some magic pill to stop the aging process; but a promise of living forever. This was a powerful message. But it was made even more powerful because he backed it up by performing miracles as object lessons. These had a way of validating his claims.

For example, consider the feeding of the 5000. Out of a few loaves and a couple of fish, Jesus multiplied them until all had their fill. That was the object lesson. Now came his message. To them all, he said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”4

What does he mean? He means that those who trust in him shall never hunger or thirst spiritually, for he himself is the bread that gives spiritual and eternal life, zoē in the Greek. Only Jesus is the possessor of zoē. And he freely gives it away to all to trust in him alone.

He gives it away not in a physical sense but in an invisible, spiritual sense. We may wonder how he can do this. Just remember who he is. He is God–in–the–flesh. What is impossible for us is natural and effortless for him. More than that, Christ feeds our faith with himself in the Sacrament of his body and blood.

Consider another example. In John 11 we find ourselves in Bethany, the village of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. But Lazarus had just died. Four days after his death, Jesus comes to Bethany. Poor Martha is beside herself with grief. But Jesus gives her this solemn promise: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”5 Shall never die? He means that they shall never die spiritually and eternally. This was his claim.

But could he back it up? Jesus says that he has resurrection and life (zoē) in the palm of his hands. He claims to be the Lord and Master of both. Well, is he?

You be the judge. Jesus goes to the tomb where the dead body of Lazarus rests. The tombstone is rolled away. The stench of the decaying body had already set in. So Martha tries to warn him, saying, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”6 Jesus says to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”7 Then he cried out, saying, “Lazarus, come out.”8 And, behold, a very much alive Lazarus walked out of the tomb!

Here we have dramatic proof that Peter spoke the truth when he said to his Master, “You have the words of eternal life!” Even Christ’s opponents, when they saw the dead man walking, said, “Never did a man speak like this man.”9 But they were powerless to keep the people away from him. In despair, they cried out, “What are we going to do, for this man is doing many miracles.”10 It seemed to them as if the whole world was going after him.11 And, in a way, it was.

When Jesus first said to Philip, “Follow me,” he was calling him to lifelong discipleship. He calls us to discipleship as well. The reason we should want to follow him is simple enough. Like Peter, we also know that Jesus has the words of eternal life (zoē). And we want to receive eternal life.

So I say to you, “If you want to live forever, follow Jesus. If you want to die forever (i.e., be damned forever), follow whomever you wish.”

The call to follow the Savior is preeminently a call to life (zoē). That we might attain this goal, the call to discipleship consists of at least two things.

Let us first consider the call to repentance. Repentance is hard work. It’s hard to fight against our sinful nature. It’s hard to fight against that little voice that says, “Go ahead, do it. Everybody else is.” It’s hard to go against the flow. Oh, sure, Jesus may daily call us to turn away from our sins. But the world daily calls us to give in to them. Jesus may say, “Deny yourselves.” But, our society says, “Indulge yourselves.” Hard work indeed!

Maybe you’re thinking, “What’s the use?” Maybe you’re like me. You catch yourself sinning; you confess your sins; you ask for forgiveness; and you pray for the strength not to do it again. But what good does it do? Sooner or later, you are doing it all over again!

I understand what you are going through. And I know how it feels to say no to my besetting sins only to find them creeping back—like slimy little worms—to haunt me all over again! I know the routine:

Every believer knows of this struggle because he is, at one and the same time, both a saint and a sinner. He is both righteous and unrighteous; both as pure as new–fallen snow and as grimy as black mold. For this reason there is constant warfare going on in his soul. And what a war it is! His new nature in Christ wants only to please God. But his old, sinful nature wants only to please Satan and our sinful self.

St. Paul knew about this battle. But he also knew that so long as there was repentance and trust in Christ, there was abundant forgiveness.

In Romans 7, he cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death”?12 When he speaks of “this body of death” he means his cycle of repetitive sinning?” He knew the answer, so he rejoices, saying, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”13 Yes, God would forgive him and, thus, deliver him from the condemnation of sin because of what Jesus had done for him. He does the same for us as well because “the blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanses us from all sin.”14

We believers should never fear for our salvation as long as this fight is going on within us. It’s only when our sin no longer alarms us ... it’s only when we habitually let it have its way with us that we should really be afraid. Faith dies a slow death when the Law no longer alarms and the Gospel no longer comforts. Thus, we see that the constant dying and rising of repentance is part and parcel of the Christian life.

Following Jesus does not mean that we will have victory over our sins in this life. But following Jesus does mean that we get the credit for his victory over all sin in his life. His victory becomes our victory. We are forgiven children of the heavenly Father.

The nails that pierced Christ’s hands and feet mean everything to me. They mean that Christ has atoned for all my sins. Be sure to understand that Christ’s death was substitutionary. In God’s eyes, we paid the death penalty for our sins when Christ died in our places. That means that God cries out in the courtroom of heaven, “In the matter of your sins, I declare you not guilty! And if God declares us not guilty for Christ’s sake, we are not guilty indeed!

This is incredibly good news for the likes of sinners like you and me. To follow Jesus means that we have his forgiveness for all our many failings. And faith clings to that promise.

To follow Jesus also means that we will feed our faith. I know a middle–aged man who considers himself to be a good Christian and, yet, he has not been in a church for more than a decade. He says, however, that he does read the Bible occasionally.

Can such a person be a Christian? I suppose it’s possible. But such a thing would be rare. The early–church bishop and martyr, Cyprian of Carthage15 once said, “No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother.”16 He speaks correctly.

The healthy Christian knows that the Church is a hospital for sinners. In Divine Service God comes to serve us by dispensing his forgiveness and feeding our faith. Apart from this hospital we cannot receive Christ’s body and blood. Apart from this hospital we will not hear God’s Word explained and applied.

But when we follow Jesus by being in the Lord’s House on the Lord’s Day, the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith and forgives our sins. So then, when Jesus says to us, “Follow me” we shall do so by living a life of daily repentance and by feeding our faith with his Word and with the Sacrament.

And so, when Jesus asks if we want to depart from him, we say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Indeed, he does!

May the Lord continue to bless our discipleship on our journey to eternal life! In the name of Jesus, . . . AMEN.

1 See John 1:43.

2 See John 6:67.

3 See John 6:68.

4 See John 6:35.

5 See John 11:25-26.

6 See John 11:39.

7 See John 11:40.

8 See John 11:43.

9 See John 7:46.

10 See John 11:47, free translation from original Greek text.

11 See John 12:19.

12 See Romans 7:24.

13 See Romans 7:25.

14 See 1 John 1:7.

15 For a short biography on Cyprian, see http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/09/13.html.

16 See http://www.chinstitute.org/index.php/eras/early-church/cyprian/. About church attendance, we should note that it was customary for Jesus to be in the synagogue (Luke 4:16). In the same vein, we read in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (ESV). Emphasis mine.