What Did Jesus Really Mean When He Said Follow Me?

by David Platt

Peter, one of the four fishermen Jesus called, later said of Jesus, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Jesus did not claim to be one dish on the buffet line of spirituality from which we can pick and choose the elements that best suit our taste. And if his claims are true, then his call demands everything, and we have no other choice—like those fishermen before us—but to drop everything and follow him.

Ultimately the call to follow Jesus is a call to die—to die to ourselves and to die to the things of this world. But at the same time, it is a call to live—to experience unbridled joy as we follow Jesus wherever he leads in this world. The four fishermen knew this, and they gave their lives to follow him.

“And what if I went to the king of this country and slapped him in the face? What would happen to me then?” The driver looked at Azeem and awkwardly laughed. He told Azeem, “You would die.”

Fourteen times in the first fifty psalms alone we read of God’s hatred toward the sinner, his wrath toward the liar, and so on.

At the cross of Christ, God shows the full expression of both his wrath and his love as Jesus is stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, crushed, and chastised for the sake of sinners.

Faith is the anti-work. It’s the realization that there is nothing you can do but trust in what has been done for you in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

So how does a person become a follower of Jesus? How does this salvation become a reality in someone’s life? The very first word out of Jesus’ mouth in his ministry is clear: repent.

When people repent, they turn from walking in one direction to running in the opposite direction. From that point forward, they think differently, believe differently, feel differently, love differently, and live differently.

Jesus’ predominantly Jewish audience believed that their family heritage, social status, knowledge of specific rules, and obedience to certain regulations were sufficient to make them right before God.

When you come to Jesus, he not only forgives you of your sin, but he also fills you with his Spirit. God has promised his people, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. . . . I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” The meaning behind these words is mind-blowing. When you come to Jesus, he puts the source of his life in the center of your life.

This is the stunning message of Christianity: Jesus died for you so that he might live in you. Jesus doesn’t merely improve your old nature; he imparts to you an entirely new nature—one that is completely united with his.

The Christian life thus becomes nothing less than the outliving of the indwelling Christ. This is the essence of what it means to be a Christian—a follower of Christ.

In a world where everything revolves around self—protect yourself, promote yourself, preserve yourself, entertain yourself, comfort yourself, take care of yourself—Jesus said, “Slay yourself.”

Scores of men, women, and children have been told that becoming a follower of Jesus simply involves acknowledging certain facts or saying certain words. But this is not true.

Disciples like Peter, Andrew, James, and John show us that the call to follow Jesus is not simply an invitation to pray a prayer; it is a summons to lose our lives.

The way of Jesus is hard to follow, and it’s hated by many.

Jesus is not customizable. He has not left himself open to interpretation, adaptation, innovation, or alteration. He has revealed himself clearly through his Word, and we have no right to personalize him.

we trust in Christ, he transforms our tastes in such a way that we begin to love the things of God that we once hated, and we begin to hate the things of this world that we once loved.

Instead of trying to conquer sin by working hard to change our actions, we can conquer sin by trusting Christ to change our affections.

This is how we overcome the pleasures of sin: by letting Christ overcome us with the power of his satisfaction.

The way to conquer sin is not by working hard to change our deeds but by trusting Jesus to change our desires.

quest for pleasure in this world reflects a lack of contentment in Christ.

The more Christ fulfills the cravings of our souls, the more he changes our taste capacities from the inside out. The more we walk with him, the more we want him. The more we taste of him, the more we enjoy him. And this transforms how we live and what we live for.

Possessions and position are no longer our priorities. Comfort and security are no longer our concerns. Safety is no longer our goal because self is no longer our god. We now want God’s glory more than we want our own lives.

the message of God’s Word is that God’s glory is most majestically displayed not through you or through me, but through us.

It is biblically, spiritually, and practically impossible to be a disciple of Christ apart from total devotion to a family of Christians.

The overflow of transformation in these disciples was multiplication through these disciples.

Making disciples of Jesus is the overflow of delight in being a disciple of Jesus.

As we model the character of Christ, speak the truth of Christ, and show the love of Christ, we commend the life of Christ to people all around us in the process of disciple making.

teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded every follower of Jesus to teach his Word relationally.