What is that to you? You follow Me. (John 21:22b)
I spent 8 years sitting under the teaching and leadership of my pastor, Jeff Johnson. I was saved at the church (Calvary Chapel Downey, California) where he pastored and discipled me, alongside many others in the ministry. From the nursery to serving adult singles, the Lord used the church there to help me grow in grace and learn how to better serve Jesus through serving others.
One of the many things I admired about Pastor Jeff was his steady, constant focus on the Lord, not on others. He taught us the Word of God week after week. He faithfully pointed us to Jesus and the need to stay close to Him. His teaching was simple yet powerful, leaving you at the foot of the cross, dependent on the Lord. There was very little, if any, deviation from His call to shepherd the flock of God that was among him.
If someone around Pastor Jeff did something he disagreed with, didn’t like, or that stirred up his flesh, we wouldn’t know, because he didn’t make a big deal out of things that would take the focus off following Christ. I really can’t remember a time when he told me to be mad at someone or look at someone and criticize them. I do remember a time in the early days of the church here in Colorado when I called Pastor Jeff and had a thought about another brother here, and he quickly stopped it and got my focus back on what I was called to do here! It was great, if a little humbling. He left me a good example.
Literally, a couple of days ago, I woke up with a man’s name on my mind. He hurt me deeply, and it’s been hard to shake it. I hadn’t even made it down my stairs to the kitchen yet, and I’m already battling my flesh. As I was making my first cup of coffee, that man kept popping into my mind. The enemy of our souls is relentless! I can’t even make a cup of coffee without being tempted in the flesh to wrap my mind around pain, sorrow, and just the injustice of it all. The temptation was clear: take my eyes off Jesus and put them on a man and a painful situation. What a ripoff. Maybe you’re been there too. We all have!
It takes about a minute or two for the Nespresso machine to pump out a fresh cup of coffee. As I push the button to start, it seemed like it took the Holy Spirit who lives in me about a millisecond to remind me of a passage of Scripture, the words of Jesus to Peter in John 21. He didn’t give me the entire verse, just the conclusion he wanted Peter to know then, and me to know now:
What is that to you? You follow Me. (John 21:22b)
You follow me, Ed. Yes, that’s it, isn’t it? Before I even sat down for my morning devotions, the Lord worked it out in my heart and mind, and I took that thought captive and got on with the day following Jesus. No need to sinfully stir up and stumble my wife with that thought, or my kids, or my friends. No need to write a blog post trying to convince you of all his wrongs or all my hurts. No need to record a video making sure I document for the “world” all that I’m thinking and feeling.
What is done to me shouldn’t matter to you that way. You have your own issues that you need to learn to keep your eyes on Jesus through. What has happened to me or you has no bearing on our choice to follow Jesus. Just make the choice and go. What a relief! What should matter to us is our mutual commitment to walk together in Christ.
It’s true and profoundly simple: I follow Jesus. You follow Jesus. Why are you so fixed on what he is doing over there, or what she is doing right here, or what that church is doing, or that pastor, or whomever? What is that to you?
Well, unfortunately, it’s a lot to us. That’s our problem, and it’s an issue of the flesh. It’s not the Spirit life, that’s for sure. The Spirit will never lead you to be so obsessed with what they are doing that you invite others to obsess over “them” too. The Spirit will never lead you to gossip or slander. It’s all sinful.
The temptation to get our eyes off of Jesus is always before us. Let’s resist it, stay steadfast in the faith, and go forth, making heaven crowded by making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 16:24 (NKJV) “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.””
John 13:12–15 (NKJV) “So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.””
John 13:34–35 (NKJV) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Romans 6:10–12 (NKJV) “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Romans 12:10–13 (NKJV) “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.”
1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV) “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”
Ephesians 4:22–24 (NKJV) “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 5:1–2 (NKJV) “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Philippians 2:3–8 (NKJV) “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
Colossians 3:13 (NKJV) “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
1 Peter 2:21 (NKJV) “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:”
1 John 2:6 (NKJV) “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
