How do people see you?

Mark 2: 14 And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he rose and followed Him.

John 10: 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

1 John 2: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Jesus is calling you to be His follower, to hear His voice and to walk as He walked.

In a court of law would there be enough evidence to find you a follower of Jesus? or Would the court instead find that you were a follower of an organization?

It is natural for us to want to belong to and be identified as part of a group. It is something I have to fight daily. I once was involved with a church that was a cult and that put more importance in keeping the law, the Holy Days of Israel and watching the foods we ate than we did in the life and sacrifice of Jesus. I would have been found to be a follower of that church instead of being a follower of Jesus.

I once heard a joke about a Baptist who arrived at the gates of Heaven and was met by St. Peter. The Baptist proud that he had arrived at the gates of Heaven asked St. Peter, "How many Methodist are in Heaven?" St. Peter replied, "Oh there are no Methodist in Heaven." Then the Baptist asked, "How many Lutherans made it to Heaven?" St. Peter looked him in the eye and said, "There are no Lutherans in Heaven." The Baptist feeling safe then asked, "So Heaven is full of Baptist?" St. Peter looked at him and smiled, "My friend there are no Baptist in Heaven, only followers of Jesus are in Heaven."

Are you known as a Methodist, a Baptist, a Catholic, a Lutheran, or some other Christian organization more than you are known as a follower of Jesus? Are the traditions of your church more important than the things Jesus instructed us to do? Does your heart go out to those of your church more than it does to those outside of the church?

Jesus Is Our Pattern
Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, but He is also our pattern. The Bible teaches that we are to imitate Him.

PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Think as Christ Jesus thought.
PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Imitate Jesus
1 CORINTHIANS 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

I want to encourage you to take the time and look at the Gospels to discover Jesus' actions, what His heart was moved by and what His ministry was. You are called to take those same actions. You are called to have the same heart. You are called to ministry. You are called to think and be like Jesus. You are not called to be religious or to be anything but a follower of Jesus.

As a follower of Jesus I believe you will find the following:
1. You will think like Jesus.
2. You will begin to identify with the ministry of Jesus.
3. You will find it easier to share the Gospel with others.
4. You will not feel pressured to convert those you share the Gospel with.

People are more interested in Jesus than your membership with an organization.

Do it anyway!

Have you ever noticed that serving is never convenient. The opportunity comes along either at a time when you had something else planned or conditions were not the best.

Let's take a look at the most famous servant of all, God, to see how to handle serving when other things were planned or when the conditions were not the best.

Matthew 14: 13 Now when Jesus heard it, (about the death of John the Baptist), He withdrew from there in a boat, to a lonely place by Himself; and when the multitudes heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

14 And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.

15 And when it was evening, the disciples came to Him, saying, "The place is desolate, and the time is already past; so send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

{Now when first reading this we get the picture that the disciples had compassion for the people too. That they wanted the best for the people. It was probably more like, "We are tired and hungry so let's send the mob back to the city."} The time was not a convenient time and they had a short vacation planned.

16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!"

17 And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." {They thought that surely with that little food Jesus would agree to send them back to the city.}

18 And He said, "Bring them her to Me."

We know the rest of the story He had them sit, thanked the Father for what was provided, then fed the five thousand.

Let's look at one more time when it was inconvenient for the Master to serve. It is found in John 13.

John 13: 3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Consider for a moment these two examples of serving:

In the first, the disciples had just returned from having been sent out by Jesus and were in need of rest (a vacation). Jesus had just heard of the beheading of John and had a heavy heart. It was not a convenient time for five thousand needy people to show up.

In the second, Jesus knew that He was going to face a long night of pain and suffering with the crucifixion following. Certainly the conditions were not best for taking a bowl of water and a towel to wash the feet of his weak disciples.

Here is what I get from these two examples: The creator of everything saw it more important to serve than to be served even at times it was not convenient and conditions were not best.

When I think of these two examples and I look at the opportunities that God brings into my life to serve others the timing is often inconvenient and the conditions are rarely perfect.


I encourage you when faced with inconvenience and bad timing at an opportunity to serve to go a head and do it. I know that God will make the inconvenience and bad timing easy to bear because you will see the joy it brings to the one being served. More than that your actions will bring glory to God.