1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,966 Dear friends in Christ, in the name of Jesus. Amen. 2 00:00:08,966 --> 00:00:16,600 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and 3 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:21,633 he said to him, follow me. 4 00:00:21,633 --> 00:00:28,766 And he rose and followed him. 5 00:00:28,766 --> 00:00:34,666 Yesterday we wrapped up our 33rd annual Theological Symposium here at Concordia Seminary. 6 00:00:34,666 --> 00:00:39,166 I hope many of you enjoyed the event. 7 00:00:39,166 --> 00:00:45,266 On the first day, one of our presenters invited us to reflect on the First Article of the 8 00:00:45,266 --> 00:00:49,666 Apostles Creed and how doing so might help us live by hope. 9 00:00:49,666 --> 00:00:54,566 That was the theme of the symposium in case you missed it, Living by Hope in a Secular 10 00:00:54,566 --> 00:00:55,733 Age. 11 00:00:55,733 --> 00:00:58,633 And so we thought about what it means to be creatures. 12 00:00:58,633 --> 00:01:00,833 Creatures of the Creator. 13 00:01:00,833 --> 00:01:06,633 We thought about what it means to be dependent on someone else. 14 00:01:06,633 --> 00:01:13,366 We considered the fact that all people, all creatures live by faith, by dependence on 15 00:01:13,366 --> 00:01:16,166 someone else. 16 00:01:16,166 --> 00:01:21,466 And along those lines we thought about what it means to hope, to live by hope. 17 00:01:21,466 --> 00:01:26,033 We reflected on the fact that all people, just like all people believe something, all 18 00:01:26,033 --> 00:01:33,333 people hope in something, all people are made to hope. 19 00:01:33,333 --> 00:01:38,533 Well in light of our reading for this morning, I would like to add one more thing to the 20 00:01:38,533 --> 00:01:44,366 list of what it means to be a human creature. 21 00:01:44,366 --> 00:01:54,433 We are made to trust, we are made to hope, we are made to follow. 22 00:01:54,433 --> 00:01:58,333 Following comes quite naturally actually. 23 00:01:58,333 --> 00:02:05,200 Watch any little child with their parents and they will follow right behind. 24 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:10,033 Watch the children at the children's messages, the older kids go and their younger siblings 25 00:02:10,033 --> 00:02:14,100 follow right up to the chancel. 26 00:02:14,100 --> 00:02:18,066 Of course as kids get a little bit older they start following their peers and so they follow 27 00:02:18,066 --> 00:02:24,700 trends on TikTok and they follow patterns of speech, new words that come up and they 28 00:02:24,700 --> 00:02:27,166 follow fashion trends. 29 00:02:27,166 --> 00:02:31,233 Just a couple of weeks ago my two high school boys came downstairs, they were getting ready 30 00:02:31,233 --> 00:02:38,166 I think to go to the Jambalaya Fest and they came down wearing jorts. 31 00:02:38,166 --> 00:02:41,433 Now for those of you who don't follow the lingo, that's jeans that have been cut off 32 00:02:41,433 --> 00:02:48,666 to make shorts, usually pretty tight. 33 00:02:48,666 --> 00:02:53,633 We do it here at the seminary too, we're all followers. 34 00:02:53,633 --> 00:02:57,433 You students, you follow your favorite professors right? 35 00:02:57,433 --> 00:03:02,433 I follow Kolb, I follow Voelz, I follow Schmitt, apparently someone around here is following 36 00:03:02,433 --> 00:03:09,333 Bode. 37 00:03:09,333 --> 00:03:13,733 And of course the professors, well they follow, well, the professors actually kind of prefer 38 00:03:13,733 --> 00:03:16,533 to lead. 39 00:03:16,533 --> 00:03:20,833 But when they lead they're simply following. 40 00:03:20,833 --> 00:03:26,166 They're following Chemnitz, they're following Chrysostom, they're following Cyril, we're 41 00:03:26,166 --> 00:03:31,633 all followers all the way down. 42 00:03:31,633 --> 00:03:33,866 It's simply part of who we are. 43 00:03:33,866 --> 00:03:38,133 I'm not making a judgment on it, it's neither good nor bad, we just follow, that's who we 44 00:03:38,133 --> 00:03:41,833 are as humans. 45 00:03:41,833 --> 00:03:46,666 But jorts? 46 00:03:46,666 --> 00:03:53,433 Robert Kelly is a business professor at Carnegie Mellon University and he wrote a book a couple 47 00:03:53,433 --> 00:03:58,833 decades ago called The Power of Followership. 48 00:03:58,833 --> 00:04:02,633 Apparently he was tired of reading books about leadership. 49 00:04:02,633 --> 00:04:09,366 And he reflected on the importance and the skill and the ability to follow. 50 00:04:09,366 --> 00:04:13,600 And in this book he lists all sorts of types of followers, there are passive followers 51 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,000 and active followers, there are dependent followers and there are independent followers, 52 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:23,433 there are loyalist followers and pragmatist followers and alienated followers, there are 53 00:04:23,433 --> 00:04:30,766 yes men and sheep and apprentices and conformists, followers, all of us in our own special way 54 00:04:30,766 --> 00:04:38,666 we are followers. 55 00:04:38,666 --> 00:04:50,766 He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and he said to him, follow Me. 56 00:04:50,766 --> 00:04:55,666 And he rose and followed Him. 57 00:04:55,666 --> 00:05:02,233 Dramatically speaking it was an imperative, a command. 58 00:05:02,233 --> 00:05:05,633 Jesus was commanding Matthew, follow me. 59 00:05:05,633 --> 00:05:09,566 Now this doesn't mean that Matthew necessarily had to follow. 60 00:05:09,566 --> 00:05:14,433 The rich young man in Matthew chapter 19, he unfortunately did not follow, he went away 61 00:05:14,433 --> 00:05:17,566 sad. 62 00:05:17,566 --> 00:05:22,066 Which makes me think that Matthew read that command a little differently. 63 00:05:22,066 --> 00:05:28,066 He heard that command as something that was good for him. 64 00:05:28,066 --> 00:05:32,600 He heard that command in some way as gracious. 65 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:40,000 It was almost as if the command were more like an invitation. 66 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:47,666 Last year I got an invitation with my family to a special meal. 67 00:05:47,666 --> 00:05:53,066 This was no run of the mill invitation, it was an invitation to an event downtown St. 68 00:05:53,066 --> 00:05:59,033 Louis in one of the most impressive venues in the city catered by one of the swankiest 69 00:05:59,033 --> 00:06:01,733 caterers in town. 70 00:06:01,733 --> 00:06:07,266 The honor of your presence is requested, the invitation said. 71 00:06:07,266 --> 00:06:11,966 And I was happy to oblige. 72 00:06:11,966 --> 00:06:15,133 You've gotten an invitation like that before. 73 00:06:15,133 --> 00:06:20,066 The kind of invitation that you don't normally get, that stands out, the kind of invitation 74 00:06:20,066 --> 00:06:25,166 that makes you rearrange your schedule, cancel an appointment, restate what you're going 75 00:06:25,166 --> 00:06:27,066 to do the rest of the week. 76 00:06:27,066 --> 00:06:35,733 This kind of invitation, you do whatever it takes to accept. 77 00:06:35,733 --> 00:06:45,766 Jesus commanded, invited Matthew to follow Him. 78 00:06:45,766 --> 00:06:53,733 And He's done the same for you. 79 00:06:53,733 --> 00:06:55,366 And it's good for you. 80 00:06:55,366 --> 00:06:58,900 It's good for you because you're bound to follow someone. 81 00:06:58,900 --> 00:07:00,566 So am I. 82 00:07:00,566 --> 00:07:03,000 That's how we're wired. 83 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:13,933 And what's more, because of our sin, we are bound to follow someone else. 84 00:07:13,933 --> 00:07:19,033 Someone other than our creator. 85 00:07:19,033 --> 00:07:23,000 That's how we're miswired. 86 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,866 And that's a serious problem. 87 00:07:24,866 --> 00:07:34,233 It's a serious problem because following anyone other than the maker of life is to wind up 88 00:07:34,233 --> 00:07:38,200 dead. 89 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:45,133 Just ask Adam and Eve. 90 00:07:45,133 --> 00:07:54,533 Now if we're going to be precise, it wasn't actually the serpent that they followed. 91 00:07:54,533 --> 00:07:58,033 The serpent was just a middle man. 92 00:07:58,033 --> 00:08:04,566 The serpent was a seducer, a prodder, an encourager that they would follow something, someone 93 00:08:04,566 --> 00:08:09,533 else and that something else was a desire. 94 00:08:09,533 --> 00:08:14,600 A desire to be like God. 95 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:19,200 To be in charge. 96 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:31,433 A desire to shed their creatureliness, to stop following and to take the lead. 97 00:08:31,433 --> 00:08:37,766 Have you ever thought about the people that you choose to follow? 98 00:08:37,766 --> 00:08:40,733 I'm not talking about the people that you have to follow. 99 00:08:40,733 --> 00:08:42,633 That's a different issue. 100 00:08:42,633 --> 00:08:47,066 I'm talking about the people that you choose to follow. 101 00:08:47,066 --> 00:08:53,533 Who are the people you choose to follow? 102 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:57,833 Well I prefer to follow people who are very wise. 103 00:08:57,833 --> 00:09:04,233 Who have a lot of insights, who are faithful, who are courageous. 104 00:09:04,233 --> 00:09:08,933 I like to follow people who are right. 105 00:09:08,933 --> 00:09:10,133 And who are those people? 106 00:09:10,133 --> 00:09:20,633 Those are the people who happen to agree with me. 107 00:09:20,633 --> 00:09:26,866 And so who do I really want to follow? 108 00:09:26,866 --> 00:09:37,566 Who do you really want to follow? 109 00:09:37,566 --> 00:09:51,933 He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth and He said to him, follow Me. 110 00:09:51,933 --> 00:09:58,533 And he rose and followed Him. 111 00:09:58,533 --> 00:10:02,933 When Matthew got up to follow Jesus, he stopped following everyone else. 112 00:10:02,933 --> 00:10:06,733 He stopped following his tax gathering superiors. 113 00:10:06,733 --> 00:10:08,466 He stopped following Rome. 114 00:10:08,466 --> 00:10:10,333 He stopped following the money. 115 00:10:10,333 --> 00:10:12,533 He stopped following himself. 116 00:10:12,533 --> 00:10:17,433 He followed Jesus. 117 00:10:17,433 --> 00:10:22,800 Now Matthew's call, his self-reported call here in chapter 9 leaves all sorts of unanswered 118 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:24,033 questions if you ask me. 119 00:10:24,033 --> 00:10:28,133 I've been thinking about these questions all week. 120 00:10:28,133 --> 00:10:30,866 He leaves us curious about a lot of things. 121 00:10:30,866 --> 00:10:33,600 But there are two things that Matthew is very clear about. 122 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:39,433 Two questions that he answers about what it means to follow him, to follow Jesus. 123 00:10:39,433 --> 00:10:43,333 What it means for Matthew to follow Jesus and what it means for us to follow Jesus. 124 00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:46,966 And I want to reflect on those two questions with you with the rest of the time we have 125 00:10:46,966 --> 00:10:48,266 here this morning. 126 00:10:48,266 --> 00:10:50,000 And the first question is this. 127 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,866 Where do we follow Jesus? 128 00:10:53,866 --> 00:10:59,433 Where does Jesus lead us? 129 00:10:59,433 --> 00:11:02,600 Now there's no secret here. 130 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:08,866 Matthew tells us in the next chapter, in Matthew chapter 10 verse 38, Jesus says this, whoever 131 00:11:08,866 --> 00:11:15,966 does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 132 00:11:15,966 --> 00:11:21,466 And then in Matthew 16, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up 133 00:11:21,466 --> 00:11:24,366 his cross and follow me. 134 00:11:24,366 --> 00:11:29,766 Jesus was going to die. 135 00:11:29,766 --> 00:11:33,266 He told them that three times explicitly. 136 00:11:33,266 --> 00:11:36,533 Matthew 16, Matthew 17, Matthew 20. 137 00:11:36,533 --> 00:11:38,266 I'm going to Jerusalem. 138 00:11:38,266 --> 00:11:39,800 They're going to reject me. 139 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:41,366 I'm going to suffer. 140 00:11:41,366 --> 00:11:45,133 I'm going to die on a cross. 141 00:11:45,133 --> 00:11:53,666 Follow me, Matthew. 142 00:11:53,666 --> 00:12:01,433 That image from Shawshank Redemption, did you go to the, I want to ask you to raise 143 00:12:01,433 --> 00:12:03,533 your hand if you went to the symposium or not. 144 00:12:03,533 --> 00:12:07,366 I trust that you all did. 145 00:12:07,366 --> 00:12:09,033 But have you seen Shawshank Redemption? 146 00:12:09,033 --> 00:12:10,800 You seen that? 147 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,433 A lot of you have. 148 00:12:14,433 --> 00:12:21,533 That image that one of the presenters put on the screen of Andy Dufresne crawling through 149 00:12:21,533 --> 00:12:28,466 that pipe. 150 00:12:28,466 --> 00:12:45,366 That foul, unimaginable, operable sewer line with the worst stuff you can possibly imagine. 151 00:12:45,366 --> 00:12:48,266 Talk about fortitude. 152 00:12:48,266 --> 00:12:49,633 Talk about resolve. 153 00:12:49,633 --> 00:12:52,633 Talk about endurance. 154 00:12:52,633 --> 00:12:57,966 It made me think of Jesus. 155 00:12:57,966 --> 00:13:04,966 It made me think of the indignity he suffered. 156 00:13:04,966 --> 00:13:14,833 The disgrace, the degradation, the shame, the filth, the humiliation. 157 00:13:14,833 --> 00:13:18,333 He endured it. 158 00:13:18,333 --> 00:13:23,433 For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. 159 00:13:23,433 --> 00:13:25,033 And he scorned it's shame. 160 00:13:25,033 --> 00:13:26,033 He laughed at it. 161 00:13:26,033 --> 00:13:27,033 He ridiculed it. 162 00:13:27,033 --> 00:13:28,133 He looked down on it. 163 00:13:28,133 --> 00:13:33,933 He dismissed the shame. 164 00:13:33,933 --> 00:13:37,833 And then he called Matthew to follow Him. 165 00:13:37,833 --> 00:13:38,866 To suffer with Him. 166 00:13:38,866 --> 00:13:40,833 To deny himself. 167 00:13:40,833 --> 00:13:45,000 To pick up his cross. 168 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:46,733 And to die. 169 00:13:46,733 --> 00:13:50,066 No wonder that rich young man went away sad. 170 00:13:50,066 --> 00:13:51,766 Who would follow? 171 00:13:51,766 --> 00:13:53,866 Who would follow that? 172 00:13:53,866 --> 00:14:01,166 Who would follow him into such disgrace and debasement? 173 00:14:01,166 --> 00:14:05,933 Well apparently you. 174 00:14:05,933 --> 00:14:08,466 You will. 175 00:14:08,466 --> 00:14:13,700 You are. 176 00:14:13,700 --> 00:14:23,733 He said to him, follow Me, and he arose and followed Him. 177 00:14:23,733 --> 00:14:27,166 God has said it to you too. 178 00:14:27,166 --> 00:14:30,000 Follow me. 179 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:35,533 And by God's grace, you actually got up and followed Him. 180 00:14:35,533 --> 00:14:39,166 Now I'm not talking about coming to the seminary. 181 00:14:39,166 --> 00:14:42,366 I'm talking about your baptism. 182 00:14:42,366 --> 00:14:48,200 I'm talking about when Jesus says to you graciously, follow Me. 183 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:59,933 And miracle of miracles you did and you have and incredibly you still are. 184 00:14:59,933 --> 00:15:06,933 Now in case you're keeping track, the fact that you're following Jesus is not the good 185 00:15:06,933 --> 00:15:09,566 news. 186 00:15:09,566 --> 00:15:10,800 It's good for you. 187 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,633 Make no mistake. 188 00:15:14,633 --> 00:15:20,366 But our following is not the object of our faith. 189 00:15:20,366 --> 00:15:27,233 No the good news, the promise I have for you this morning is that the one who has called 190 00:15:27,233 --> 00:15:35,966 you to follow him is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. 191 00:15:35,966 --> 00:15:44,133 He has endured patiently the faithless following of His people for generations. 192 00:15:44,133 --> 00:15:49,800 He has endured suffering at their own hands, suffering all the way to the cross. 193 00:15:49,800 --> 00:16:03,166 He has endured your faithfulness up until now and He remains faithful to His promises. 194 00:16:03,166 --> 00:16:12,933 You may not have to crawl through 500 yards of unimaginable foulness. 195 00:16:12,933 --> 00:16:19,100 It might be more. 196 00:16:19,100 --> 00:16:30,000 But even if it's less, even if it's just a few feet, it's awful all the same. 197 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:37,800 But the promise for you this morning is that there is an end to your suffering. 198 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,233 There is an end to your endurance. 199 00:16:40,233 --> 00:16:45,633 There was an end to Jesus' suffering three days later, risen from the dead, victorious 200 00:16:45,633 --> 00:16:49,733 over all that would hold him down. 201 00:16:49,733 --> 00:16:54,933 The promise is he has shared his resurrection life with you. 202 00:16:54,933 --> 00:16:58,266 His forgiveness with you. 203 00:16:58,266 --> 00:17:06,466 His new life, his eternal life with you. 204 00:17:06,466 --> 00:17:11,133 Now it's your life. 205 00:17:11,133 --> 00:17:12,833 Where do you follow Jesus? 206 00:17:12,833 --> 00:17:18,066 You follow him through suffering into life. 207 00:17:18,066 --> 00:17:21,566 That's the first question, which leads to the second question and don't worry, it's 208 00:17:21,566 --> 00:17:25,266 going to be a shorter answer. 209 00:17:25,266 --> 00:17:33,233 The second question is this, how do we follow Jesus? 210 00:17:33,233 --> 00:17:34,533 How ought we to follow him? 211 00:17:34,533 --> 00:17:36,800 There's many ways to answer that question. 212 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,933 We could pick up on the theme of our symposium and talk about following him with hope. 213 00:17:41,933 --> 00:17:47,400 We could pick up on your studies here and talk about we follow him by reading his word, 214 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:49,600 the scriptures. 215 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:54,666 We could think about the difference between subjective and objective theology and think 216 00:17:54,666 --> 00:18:01,266 about that we follow Him with a humble disposition and a willingness and a capacity to learn. 217 00:18:01,266 --> 00:18:08,466 We could simply think and rejoice on his forgiveness and talk about following Him with a clear 218 00:18:08,466 --> 00:18:11,466 conscience. 219 00:18:11,466 --> 00:18:15,400 But that's not how I want to answer it today. 220 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:21,166 This morning I want to pick up on the only other time in Matthew's gospel that he wrote 221 00:18:21,166 --> 00:18:22,566 his own name. 222 00:18:22,566 --> 00:18:28,800 Do you know what, he only wrote his name twice in 28 chapters. 223 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,166 The first time he wrote it was in chapter 9. 224 00:18:32,166 --> 00:18:41,266 The second time he wrote it was in chapter 10 when he listed the disciples. 225 00:18:41,266 --> 00:18:49,033 There right after his call, Matthew decided to list the people that were called with him. 226 00:18:49,033 --> 00:18:54,266 To list the people whose names had also been called by Jesus. 227 00:18:54,266 --> 00:19:03,733 And so Matthew names all 12 of them and then he names himself among them. 228 00:19:03,733 --> 00:19:07,633 How do we follow Jesus? 229 00:19:07,633 --> 00:19:11,200 Not perfectly. 230 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,233 But not alone. 231 00:19:14,233 --> 00:19:18,366 We follow him together. 232 00:19:18,366 --> 00:19:29,000 As sisters and brothers, we follow Jesus. 233 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,033 Amen. 234 00:19:33,033 --> 00:19:58,566 We rise to sing.