Sermon for October 17th (Abraham-Follow)

There is an old Far Side cartoon where a flock of sheep is pictured. In the middle of the flock, one sheep is standing up with his hands in the air and his mouth open yelling to the rest. The caption says, “Wait! Wait! Listen to me! We don’t have to be just sheep!” We don’t have to be just sheep. Nobody wants to just be a sheep. Not even a sheep! Sheep are notorious for being followers whether it is to the feeding trough, to the shearers or to the slaughterhouse. Most of us fear being labeled “a follower”, being labeled a sheep, because we want to be seen as leaders—as movers and shakers. But Jesus says, “Follow me.” Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice.” “My sheep follow me.” What do you think about that? To be a follower. Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Perhaps another important question is to ask: Well, if I am to follow Jesus, where would he lead me? That answer is very simple: to the cross. To death. And then. To life. To follow Jesus is to follow him through suffering, even persecution, and then to be led to eternal life. Are you going to follow Jesus? Not just with your heart, not just with your words, but with your actions? Jesus loves you and he is calling you. Will you follow Him?

This morning, you witnessed what following Jesus can mean. This morning, a new child of God was redeemed. Karen was baptized this morning. Her sins were washed away in the flood of God’s forgiveness and that promise is hers to believe in, to trust in, forever. Even the very gates of hell cannot hold a candle to God’s Holy Spirit poured out upon this woman. Today is a celebration of faith. A faith that follows.

Faith means to trust. Faith means to listen. Faith also means to follow. In Acts, chapter 2, the apostle Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Jesus said, “God therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” To follow Jesus by faith alone, is to stand up and confess your faith and to believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised to give you a new life with God. Just as God called Abram to leave his old life and enter a new land, in the waters of baptism, we are called to follow Jesus from our old life to a new life.

But what if you have already been baptized? Some Christians believe that in order to follow Jesus you must wait until a certain age to be baptized. Baptism, for them, is an opportunity to show your commitment (something that a infant could not do). I would agree that baptism is wonderful way to show commitment to Christ, but it is much more than that.

In the waters of baptism, you die, the old you dies, that is. There is now a new you. One that already has one foot out of the grave and with God in heaven. A new you that, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, trusts in God for life. To follow Jesus means to follow him to death, just as he died on the cross, we die in the waters of baptism. Age isn’t the issue here—God’s promise and power is the same. But to follow Jesus also means to live, for just as he was raised from the dead, by faith in his promises we too are able to walk with a new life. The apostle Paul says in Romans, “For if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his!”

What if you’ve already been baptized? How do you follow Jesus? How do you show your commitment if not through a “believer’s baptism” as it is sometimes called? Well, that depends on how God calls. One example, from my life, was that I had to leave my calling in music that I loved to go to seminary and be a pastor. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian, it meant working against Hitler and the Nazis and risking his life, family and future. Following God often means trading in one thing for another. One job for a new one. One and for another. An old way of living for a new way of life. God may have called you to eternal life long ago, but listen . . . listen. How is God calling you back into your life today? I was asked multiple times to go to seminary before I ever went. It’s taken a few months of deliberation before this baptism took place today, right? And Bohoeffer didn’t face the Nazis without much soul searching and trepidation beforehand. So what has God called you to do . . . that you haven’t followed yet? Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Faith means to follow. It’s the natural action for faith to take. Over internship in Harvey, North Dakota, I heard a story that reminds me a lot about how faith involves following. There was a pastor there who asked a little girl after the service one week, “What are you going to do today. “I don’t know!” She answered, “What!?” Little children understand that faith means to follow. This girl didn’t know what was going on that day, she just knew that she could trust her parents and when they led her into the day, she would gladly follow. We cannot forget the importance of following to our faith. Do you trust God enough to follow where he leads? To follow ALL of the commandments? To follow him and forgive? Even the person you do not want to forgive? Even your enemy?

The Lord said to the man Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land that I will show you.” Abram was called to follow. He was told by God, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Abram could have simply listened to God and trusted him, but that wouldn’t even make sense without following! Do you understand this? The only way to truly listen to God, the only way to trust God would be for Abram to follow. But in our Christian life we’ve almost made following into an extracurricular activity, rather than a necessary part of our faith lives.


As a musician in a symphony, you must follow. First, you had to be excellent at what you did. But, no matter how good you were, you had to follow the conductor. The good of the piece was more important than the virtuosity of the player. We must follow God’s commandments, yes, but the goal of the commandments is love. Without following Jesus, we become lost in our self-righteousness. In fact, it is our tendency to get lost in making ourselves look good at the expense of others. That’s why the word “follow” is so wonderful.

Faith means to follow. But God has also promised that, for him, faith means to follow. “My sheep hear my voice.” Jesus says, “I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Nothing will snatch them out of my hand.” Or as Psalm 23 puts it, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” This morning, Karen, you followed Jesus and surrendered yourself to his mercy. He forgave your sins once and for all. But in that promise of God, there is so much more he gives. He promises that as you follow him, he will follow you. For all those of you who have been baptized, this is the same promise that you each have. Wherever you go, he will never leave you or forsake you. He is always watching over you. Faith means to follow. God knows this. And just as all of us here are called to follow God, he promises to follow us to the ends of the earth, even through death itself, so that he might bring us to be with him.

Faith means to follow. There are so many times in our lives when we are called to follow into the unknown and simply trust in God to see us through. At the birth of a child, when those labor pains become overwhelming, you are called to follow God through the pain and into the face of a screaming newborn baby. At confirmation, you stand up here at probably the most awkward stage of your life and confess our faith not knowing exactly where that faith will take us. Not knowing all the details, but trusting in God’s grace. In marriage, you promise to love and cherish another person till death do you part, trusting in God’s strength to help you keep that promise even when that other person no longer deserves your love. You find a way to follow God and keep on loving.

At death, you are called to trust in God and fall asleep in the arms of your precious Savior. We cannot know the way, we can only know Jesus who IS the way, the truth and the life. We follow Him to a place we cannot find without Him. He follows us into the grave and then into eternal life. God calls you to trust and listen and follow Him by faith alone, knowing that wherever he leads you, he will follow you there. Jesus says, “Follow me. I will follow you.” Amen.