Following Christ

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John 21:21-23

Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?…

1. Our children sometimes sing that they wish that they had seen Jesus and heard His gentle voice; and perhaps you and I have said "Amen!" But it appears that the words of Jesus were not very impressive upon Peter. He had said to him, "Follow Me," and one would have thought Peter would have done nothing else; for there was a day in which his Master had to say to him, "Thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt do so hereafter." But now we find Peter forgetting the following, and turning round to indulge his curiosity. Do not wonder that our people forget what we say, for even when Christ is the sower all the seed does not fall on good soil, and all good soil does not receive the seed.

2. How easily people are diverted from the best of things. Peter at once began to follow Christ; but he turned his head and caught a sight of John, and he began to ask questions. Our people do not attend when we preach as they should. We are telling them a story which ought to hold them spellbound, and yet some one faints in the gallery, and everybody looks round, and it takes a long time to get them back again. Now, we must not be vexed, for it was so even with the Saviour.

3. Since people are taken off from serious thought by little things, do not you be the cause of little things. Among the rest, never come in late and make people turn round to see who is coming up the aisle.

4. Whatever distractions there may be in worship, nothing must be allowed to draw us off from duty. John was a great friend of Peter's, and it was most natural that Peter should want to know what was to become of his friend. But no love of friends may ever come in the way to prevent our doing what Christ bids us.

I. THE MAIN BUSINESS OF OUR LIFE IS TO FOLLOW JESUS. We must follow Christ —

1. By seeking from Him salvation. If you depart from Christ that is destruction. I hear it said that to tell men to be earnest about their own salvation is practically to make them selfish; but if I had to save a man from drowning, I should be selfish enough to learn to swim. If I had to be a soldier, I should be selfish enough to wish to be strong, that I might fight the battle well. I was present once at a street accident, and I fetched the doctor, and I noticed how very quietly and coolly he came. I was running and out of breath, I wanted to quicken his pace, but he said to me, "Why, if I put myself in a bluster, as you have done, I could not do any good at all." Was that selfishness?

2. That done, the next thing is the fashioning of the character according to the mode of Christ. There is no following Christ except by endeavouring to be like Him. Christ, though absolutely perfect, is an imitable character. You could not tell me what special phase of character Christ has. He is so good all round. It is all there, and nothing too much and nothing too little. Lives of Christ — they are in the market everywhere. Write one yourselves in your own life. The Church ought to be like those rooms where the whole of the walls are lined with looking-glass. Stand in the centre, and you see yourself there, there, there, there. Christ is the centre, and all the saints so many looking-glasses, showing Him from different points of view. Each will be different, yet all will be the same, and Christ will be glorified. I saw a little motto hung up in our infant school-room, "What would Jesus do?" Now, in every case, whatever Jesus would do in that case is what you and I should do.

3. Then the man saved and endeavouring to be conformed to Christ, must follow in His life service. We are committed to the Lord. You do not belong to yourselves, not a hair of your head. There is not one minute of your time that you have a right to call your own. A person of New York when baptised turned all the money he had into a certain form of scrip and had it all in his pocket, for he wanted to dedicate the whole of his substance, as well as himself. I never receive a member without asking him, "What are you going to do for the Saviour?" If he says he cannot do anything, I say, "Here is one who belongs to Christ, and Christ cannot make anything of him. He is dead stock." So the man begins to think, and, as a result, he finds there is something or other that he ought to do. Wherever Cook, the circumnavigator, landed he was seen to take little packets out of his pockets, throwing them out of his hand and circulating them. He belted the whole world with English flowers. That is how we ought to do — get some of the precious seed into your own soul, and carry it with you wherever you go. Have it with you on the trip to the seaside, for in this you will be following Christ, who "went about doing good."

4. We are to follow Christ by exhibiting an intense love to Him. This is the way to show that love — attentively listening to everything He has to say.

5. We must do all this —

(1) Unreservedly. But some people have got one little reserve — some favourite sin, or thing.

(2) Constantly — not sometimes. The enlistment in the army of Christ is not for a time long or short. You are called to eternal life. Not to the kind of life which, having lived six months or years, you then go on furlough to serve yourself. I heard of one who said that he did such and such a thing when he was off duty. Aye, a policeman may be off duty; but never a Christian.

(3) Heartily. I hate the miserable way in which some people serve Jesus. I illustrate it sometimes by the mumbler at the prayer-meeting. I called at his shop and heard him say, in loud tones, "John, bring up that half hundred." I thought, "This is the man I cannot hear when he prays." I stepped into a shop the other day, and I noticed the ledger. Oh my! what a ledger! I thought of my own little pocket Bible. Dear me, when the ledger gets on the top of that, what a crush it is.

6. We must follow Christ in the vocation to which He has called us. Some think that if they follow Christ they must give up the shop. No — follow Him there. Another says, "I shall go to a nunnery, and I shall follow Christ there." You are better at hems with your children. Another thinks that to follow Christ he must give up his employment and become a city missionary. It is a great pity to spoil a good carpenter to make a bad preacher. When Christ rode the ass through Jerusalem, the ass did its best to carry Him, and it succeeded. It did not take to flying. No, it was not such an ass as that.

II. TO EFFECT THIS WE MUST AVOID ALL DISTRACTION, AND IF WE ARE GOING TO FOLLOW CHRIST, WE MUST GO IN FOR IT. A child was asked by a Sunday-school teacher, "Is your father a Christian?" The girl said, "Yes, but he has not worked much at it lately." Often the reason is because they have turned aside to do something else. Then —

1. Do not let distractions come in the form of reflections upon others. Peter wants to know about John.

(1) He might have said, "Perhaps John is going to have a much easier post than I am." In working for Christ have you ever said, "Ah, ah, it is fine to be him. I wish I had his place; I could do something there." "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." Art thou the poorer because he is the richer? Leave the Lord as He pleases to deal with John, and let John escape the edge of the sword, even if thou go to the cross.

(2) But some will say, as Peter might have said, though he did not, "Now look at that John. He is all contemplation," "I cannot bear those mystics. They are no use." Martha says of Mary, "Bid her come and help me." Oh, these Marys, what is to become of them, always sitting there at Jesus' feet? Now, Martha, what is that to thee — follow thou Me. What if one brother serve God one way and one in another? You follow Christ, and let him follow Him in his own way.

(3) I heard say of a certain good sister, who does a good deal of work for Christ, by one who never did anything to my knowledge, "She is such a crotchetty woman." Yes, and I never met with anybody who did nothing that was not crotchetty. And if some of the crochets iv God's people were taken away it would take away from them their power. God has fashioned them for His use. Now, the next time you see a friend who is not made quite so perfect as yourself, do you hear the Master say, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me."(4) "Well," says one, "but I know a man that I am sure is very much overvalued." So do I, but what is that to thee? If the Lord is pleased to use him, pray God to use thee too.

(5) "Still," says one, "we must correct the mistakes of some Christians." By all means; and whenever you see a crooked stick in the Lord's bundle, tell it it is crooked by being perfectly straight yourself. Get close alongside in loving fellowship, and the thing is done directly. I pray that you and I may not be so occupied with washing everybody else's doorstep that we may allow filth to accumulate in front of our own house.

2. Do not let us occupy our own minds about deep theological problems.

(1) Some friends cannot save souls, because they do not know the origin of evil. When a thief comes into your house at night, do not ring the bell for the policeman — let him do exactly what he likes till you find out where he came in. And if you are a drowning man, and the life-buoy is thrown to you, do not touch it till you know who made it, and what it is made of.

(2) "Well," says one, "it is very important to know about predestination and free will." Yes, and if you do not do anything good till you understand that, you have plenty of time to wait. Let your servant-maid refuse to-morrow to get up to prepare your meals, and say, "My dear sir, I cannot do it, for I cannot make out the doctrine of election." You would say, "Mary, I never engaged you for that."(3) And do not let prophecy lead you astray. There are some who make the coming of Christ an excuse for spending their time in speculation rather than in holy active service for Christ. I dropped in upon a member of my church some time ago, and I saw her upon the steps scrubbing the doorstep. She blushed all manner of colours, and said, "Sir, if I had known you were coming you would not have found me like this." I said, "But if my Lord was coming to-morrow that is just how I should like Him to find me, at my work." Follow thou me, whatever you have to do tomorrow.

(4) There are certain terrible facts which I pray you never unduly to consider so as to be taken off from the service of Christ — e.g., the condition of lost spirits, of the world and of the Church — and what is to become of it. Now look, if you are in a storm, and are set to pull a rope, if you begin to take the whole state and condition of the ship into consideration, all about the crew, the cargo, the compass, the currents, the winds, and do not pull your rope, I tell you, you would do better to know nothing about these things, and to go to your work. And I believe some of God's servants need to be talked to about this. You get fretting about the times being so bad. Well, you get and make them better. You were never meant to do everything, and God never constructed you to clean the world up. It went on pretty well before you were born, and it is just possible that it may after you are dead.

(5) And sometimes the way of the Christian is so narrow, so dark, that his only safety lies in the clutching the hand of his great leader, as with trembling he says, "Master, the abyss, the darkness, the horror of the way!" He says, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me."(6) Oh God, says a poor soul, my own child, I am afraid he will be lost." The Saviour says in reply, "Follow thou Me." Try to win him, bus look not at the dire possibilities, so as to have thy mouth shut and thy tongue silent within thee.

(7) "We ought all to weep for Jerusalem," say you. Yes, but even Christ that did it did not do it every day.

3. Do not let us distract ourselves from our work with anything out of the line of practical religion. You remember Carey's words about Eustace, his son. "Poor Eustace has drivelled into an ambassador." When everybody else thought it high promotion, he thought it degradation for him to turn aside from the one work of the ministry. Now, you who love the Lord, are all called to some form of ministry, Stick to it. Better be poor and serve Christ than to grow rich and give it up.

III. THE REASONS FOR THIS CONCENTRATION OF OUR LIFE. We are to do one thing and not twenty things.

1. We have not any too much power, and if we do not use what we have for the one thing we shall waste strength. When the miller has got only a certain stream let him pour that all over one wheel and he will grind. But let him not divert his water into many meandering streams, or else he will certainly waste his power.

2. It is only by taking one object that you can ever become eminent in it.

3. We have not much time in which to do the little we are going to do; let us pack it tight, get all into it that we can. Dr. Chalmers one night spent a very happy evening with some friends. Among the rest a Gallic chieftain was present, who was much amused with Chalmers' anecdotes and stories. They went to bed, and in the middle of the night the chieftain was suddenly taken ill and died; and Chalmers, writing of it afterwards, says, "How differently they would have talked if they had been aware of what was about to happpen." Let us live as though we knew that we might this evening finish our life.

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