Who Are You Following?

Throughout the time of the priest Jehoiada, Joash did what was right in the LORD’s sight. – 2 Chronicles 24.2, CSB

Joash was seven years old when he became king of Judah. Seven. I think I was in the second grade when I was seven, with the only responsibility daily to make sure that I stopped riding my bike and went inside when it got dark. Not Joash. At seven he was the king of the nation of Judah. But Jehoiada, the priest, was there with him in everything. And because of Jehoiada’s influence on Joash, the king did what was right in the Lord’s sight. He even “took it to heart to renovate the LORD’s temple” (2 Chronicles 24.4, CSB). He looked and played the part of a king who followed the Lord.

However, after Jehoiada died, the rulers of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them, and they abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and served the Asherah poles and the idols. So there was wrath against Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. – 2 Chronicles 24.17-18, CSB

After his mentor’s death, Joash moved so far away from the Lord that when Zechariah the priest, and son of Jehoiada, confronted the people of Israel for their rebellion against the Lord, the people of Judah “conspired against him and stoned him at the king’s command in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple” (2 Chronicles 24.21, CSB, emphasis added). He “honored” his long-time mentor by killing his son. Joash may have looked the part, but his heart was far from the Lord. Joash didn’t follow the Lord. Instead, he followed Jehoiada who followed the Lord.

Today, people work hard to get followers. I know I did when I had social media. Social media has caused us to become obsessed with this. “Click the subscribe button below and turn on notifications to receive an update when a new video is posted.” “Follow me on…” and pick your favorite social media platform. But in the end, why do we need and want more followers? What are we leading others toward? What are we hoping people will experience by following us? And have we become more passionate and dependent on people following us instead of following Jesus? Even though Paul invited people to “follow” him, he had a different motivation behind his invitation. “Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11.1, CSB, emphasis added). Paul invited people to follow him as he also followed Jesus. Ultimately, he wanted people to follow Jesus, to be reliant on no one else but Christ. He had left the need for followers of himself in his former life when he was a Pharisee and religious juggernaut in exchange for knowing Christ. Listen to what he told the Christians in Philippi:

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. – Philippians 3.7-11, CSB, emphasis added

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to follow him, he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Matthew 4.19, CSB). He did not point them to the Law or to Moses. He did not point them to one of the many prophets of old. He didn’t point them to follow other rabbis or religious leaders of their day. Instead, he invited them to follow him.

Jesus’ invitation to us is the same. It’s not an invitation to follow someone else but to follow him. And while he places people in our lives as guides and shepherds, especially when we first start out following Jesus, we are invited to walk with our Lord and Rabbi personally. To love him and learn from him. To trust and obey him. To ask him questions and listen to his response. To personally engage with him out of our love and devotion to him. 

My heart’s desire as a shepherd of God’s people is not to be the first person people go to. Instead, I want to see those entrusted by the Lord to my care go to Jesus first. Of course, I will be there to celebrate with them on the mountaintop experiences and walk with, help, and guide them toward Jesus as they face the valley lows. That’s what shepherds are supposed to do. But my heart’s desire is for people to walk with Jesus. I want to see people passionately and intimately walk with him, regardless of whether I am in the picture. I want people’s faith to be solely in Christ so that their faith in him carries them for the long haul. And while I am willing to walk side-by-side with someone, I want to see them walk with Jesus so deeply that they forget I’m even there.