THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS 1 WHO ARE YOU FOLLOWING?
1 Peter 2:21-25
1 Peter 2:21-25 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
INTRODUCTION
1. Can you believe it? Covid has been with us for 8 months and the end is still not in sight.
2. As we look forward to the unique challenges COVID-19 presented to the church universal and the Surprise church specifically I would like to set the theme going forward ,
Where He Leads I will Follow – Faithful discipleship in a pandemic.
3. The scripture teaches that those who follow Christ will always be a special blessed minority, because the world will always follow someone else.
Matthew 7:13-14 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few..
4. Napoleon said, “follow me and we will rule Europe.” Historians tell us that 5 to 7 million people died in the Napoleonic wars.
5. Hitler said Follow me and we will rule for a thousand years. Millions believed him and the consequence was World War II and the Holocaust.
6. Lenin promised follow me and communism will create a world-wide Workers’ Paradise. The consequences included more deaths than in all of the wars in the history of the world combined: Russia’s Stalinist purges, China’s Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Killing fields.
7. All were possible because men were following men.
Discussion:
I. Why following someone other than Jesus is so disastrous.
A. Because behind all false leaders is the author of Death, Satan
Ephesians 2:1-3 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
John 8:44 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
B. Is it any wonder that there is so much suffering in the world today?
C. Jesus issued his call to follow him first to Peter and John
Matthew 4:18-22 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
D. Why should we choose to follow Christ? Read the rest of the account.
Matthew 4:23-25 23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
E. But why should we follow Him?
II. We should follow him because he is the all-powerful eternal God who created us, and sustains us with a steadfast love.
A. He is everlasting and powerful.
Genesis 1:1-3 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
John 1:1-3 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
B. Jesus came to bring light into a world of darkness to show us the way to real life
John 1:4-5 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jeremiah 10:23 23 I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Jeremiah 17:9 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Proverbs 14:12 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
C. We live in a world where so darkened by sin that a high profile person (Chelsea Clinton) publicly proclaimed, that she supported killing unborn children because she was a Chrsitian.
D. Imagine the one whe said, “Permit the little children to come to me and don’t forbid them, saying but it’s ok to kill them if they haven’t been born yet.
E. He came bringing Grace and truth.
John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
III. We should follow him because of the consequences of not following him
John 12:48-50 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
IV. We should follow him because of where he will faithfully lead us.
A. Exegete Revelation 21:1-5
Revelation 21:11 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Romans 8:18-24 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
Revelation 21:2-8 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Application:
1. Who will you follow?
2. Song
"Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee Calling,
Come follow me!
And we see where thy footprints falling
Lead us to thee.
Foot prints of Jesus
That make the pathway glow;
We will follow the steps of Jesus
Where'er they go."
- Mary B. C. Slade
