Follow Him, Boys

Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles. (Rom 1:5; emphasis added)

. . . but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. (Rom 16:26; emphasis added)

This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thess 1:7-8; emphasis added)

After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. (Heb 5:9; emphasis added)

For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? (1 Pet 4:17; emphasis added)

True belief in Jesus is always accompanied by obedience to his Word. When we place our faith in Jesus as Savior, we’re putting ourselves under his authority as Lord. You can’t accept half of Jesus. You can’t say, “Jesus, I’d like you to rescue me from death, but I don’t want to follow you.” It’s a package deal. You either embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or the wrath of God remains on you. Real faith always brings the real fruit of obedience. Faith always bears fruit.

I’ve seen too many parents who say, “I know my child is a Christian.” “How do you know?” I ask. “I remember when she prayed and asked Jesus into her heart.” “Where is she now?” I ask. “Well, she doesn’t go to church. She doesn’t obey God. She lives for money or sex or the weekend. She demonstrates zero fruit of conversion. But I know she’s saved.” Now, I understand why we want to think that, but that thinking doesn’t come from the Bible. Whoever believes, obeys. If they don’t obey, then they never believed. All they did was profess.

Those who hold on to their sin and refuse to follow Jesus are condemned already (John 3:18), and “the wrath of God remains on” them (v. 36). From the moment we’re born as sinners, as rebels against God, the wrath of God—the awesome and fearful justice of God on our sin—is placed on us. By rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior, by refusing to submit to his authority, we ensure that his wrath remains on us for the day of judgment. But those who believe are granted eternal life. Jesus gives us a gift that cannot be matched. Eternal life has a future perspective. After our bodies perish, we will live forever in heaven with Jesus and the Father. But eternal life also has a present perspective. Eternal life refers to a certain quality of life. John says those who don’t believe “will not see life”—they won’t experience or enjoy life. The life Jesus gives us makes a difference now. We’re made alive in him immediately. We can experience and enjoy true, spiritual life right now.

In the next chapter Jesus describes the life he offers as a fountain of water that springs up inside us and never runs dry. In chapter 6 Jesus gives the bread of life so that we will never hunger. In chapter 8 he gives us the light of life so that we won’t stumble in the darkness. In chapter 10 he promises we will have life and have it abundantly. If you’re a Christian, you should have a different quality of life now than you had before following Jesus. I don’t mean luxury cars, yachts, and hot tubs. Those don’t matter. What does matter is an attitude and perspective on life that only comes from an intimate relationship with the life giver.

Do you realize Jesus created laughter? If you’re following him, laughter should be a part of your life. Jesus created adventure and beauty, everything from sunsets to sailboats; his people should not be bored. We’re told in Scripture that God rejoices over us with singing (Zeph 3:17). He loves us and enjoys us so much that he can’t keep from singing about us. Since that’s true, how do you explain all the people in church with their arms folded across their chests who look like they ate some bad guacamole? God thinks you’re special enough to sing over, but you don’t think he’s special enough to sing about? Christians should be the most exuberant, excited, joyful people on the block. After all, we have an intimate relationship with the Creator of exuberance, excitement, and joy. We are partners with the infinitely happy God, whose Spirit has taken up residence inside us. Our joy at being alive to God should be contagious! We should be like bottles of Pepsi that have just been shaken—ready to burst, unable to contain what’s going on inside.

Believing in Jesus should make a difference now, not just on the day of judgment. When we choose to follow Jesus, we instantly become partakers of his life, and we can for the first time live as God created us to live in joyful communion with him. We can experience in Jesus the satisfaction that’s impossible apart from him. We can be in sync with God and his world. Like starving men, we can run to Jesus and be satisfied forever. For the first time, we can have confidence not in ourselves but in the one who has been given all things by his Father. We don’t need to worry because we are in Christ. We’re no longer dominated by the darkness of sin. We can live in the light of Jesus Christ—abundant life to the glory of God!

In AD 354 one of the great Christian leaders was born. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, has influenced believers for the last sixteen hundred years. You might be surprised to hear the conversion story of this noteworthy Christian leader. Here’s how he describes his life as a young adult:

As I grew to manhood, I was inflamed with desire . . . for hell’s pleasures.

I went to Carthage, where I found myself in the midst of a hissing cauldron of lust.

I was willing to steal, and steal I did, although I was not compelled by any lack.

I was at the top of the school of rhetoric. I was pleased with my superior status and swollen with conceit . . . it was my ambition to be a good speaker, for the unhallowed and inane purpose of gratifying human vanity. (Cited in Piper, Legacy, 47)

Sin dominated Augustine. Lust and sensual pleasure held him captive. Though by all outward accounts he had everything together, his soul was empty and unsatisfied. In his heart he was dead. But one day God opened Augustine’s eyes to his own sin and disobedience, and Augustine turned from his sin and followed Jesus—he rejected his disobedience and called out to Jesus to save him. Here’s how he described the moment:

How sweet it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! You drove them from me, you who are the true, sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place . . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, my Salvation. (Ibid., 57)

Listen to Augustine and to John the Baptist before him. Don’t try to find joy yourself, but come to Jesus. Don’t follow your own empty desires, but turn and follow the one who can make you alive! Follow Jesus.