How to Follow Jesus

Feast of St. Matthew| Matthew 9:9-13| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| September 21, 2025

Today, September 21, the Church observes the Feast of St. Matthew. Matthew was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, who also went by the name Levi. He is the author of the Gospel known by his name, and so is one of the four Evangelists. Tradition also holds that he was a martyr, who was killed for proclaiming Christ in Asia. Our Gospel lesson records Matthew’s own account of Jesus calling him to follow Him.

Matthew was a tax-collector in Capernaum. That tells us two things about Matthew. He was hated by his fellow Jews, as is later affirmed by the Pharisees grumbling that Jesus ate with such tax-collectors and sinners. And it also tells us that Matthew was rich, which again is proved as Matthew throws a large feast in his home for Jesus, his disciples, and many other tax-collectors and sinners, who desired to follow Jesus. Yet, when Jesus walked by this rich man hated by his countrymen and said, “Follow Me,” Matthew immediately stood up and followed Jesus.

But what does it mean to follow Jesus? St. Matthew records Jesus’ words in chapter 16, which tell us exactly what it means. Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26) And so, St. Matthew, when he wrote down these words of Jesus, described his own life. He stood up and left his tax booth, the source of his great income. He forsook everything to follow Jesus, and for that he ultimately lost his life. Yet, in so doing, he found it for eternity.

To follow Jesus means to forsake anything that prevents you from following Him. Matthew records Jesus saying that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). And so, Matthew left the source of his great wealth to follow Jesus. Matthew records Jesus twice saying that if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, for it is better to enter eternal life with one eye than with two to be cast into hell (Matthew 5:29; 18:9). And so, those who would follow Jesus into eternal life should cut off whatever is in their life that would prevent them from following Jesus, from worshipping Him, from hearing His word, from praying to Him, from living according to His teaching.

So, the important question to ask is, “Are you following Jesus?” Yes, I know you are sitting in a pew at church. But not everyone who heard Jesus preach got up and followed Jesus. Have you forsaken that which keeps you from following Jesus? When you leave church, will you go and follow Jesus, pondering in your hearts His Word, forsaking sin, rejoicing in His forgiveness, and living according to His message? Will you pray daily to your Heavenly Father in Jesus’ name as Christ teaches and commands us to do? Will you teach the Gospel to your children and bring them to Jesus and not let anyone prevent them from coming to Jesus? Will you work to replace those sins of which you have repented with good works pleasing to our Lord as you seek to love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself? Do you intend to come to church again next week, so that you may receive forgiveness and strengthening of faith in Jesus’ Word and Sacraments? Are you actively abandoning those things in your life that would prevent you from following Jesus in this way?

There are many things in this world that prevent people from following Jesus. Pride causes people to be too arrogant to repent of their sins and believe the Gospel. Lust turns people into slaves of their passions, so that they will have no other master than their flesh. And of course, the love of money prevents many from worshipping Christ in their heart, as they care for nothing but acquiring and spending wealth. Like morbidly obese gluttons, who protest that they cannot go on a diet, because they’ll starve, so Americans devote their time to working and acquiring wealth and enjoying their wealth, so that they give no time to prayer or God’s Word, saying that a man’s got to work. But all their wealth cannot purchase their soul from hell.

As with money, there are many good things that God gives us, which people turn into gods by loving them more than God. Even children are dragged into this by the unbelief of adults. Sports directors and coaches schedule sporting events on Sunday mornings, when everyone knows Christians have gathered to worship Jesus for nearly two thousand years. Coaches who schedule sports on Sunday morning for children to go to instead of church should remember the words of Jesus, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) And “Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14) God did not give us the Third Commandment in jest, but He strictly commands us to gladly hears and learn His preaching and Word. God will not be mocked; a man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6:7) Christian parents should protect the faith of their children by telling such coaches that their children will go to church to worship Jesus instead of skipping church to attend sporting events. And then teach their children to thank God that they get to take up this cross for Jesus. This is what it means to follow Jesus. To forsake all things that prevent us from worshiping Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be complacent as you follow Jesus your Savior. That you are saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from your works does not mean that you can forsake the faith through which you are saved! Charlie Kirk was murdered just moments after defending the historical resurrection of Christ and confessing Jesus to be God. Then, without seeing it coming, he died to meet his Judge. You know this. Death may come at you at a moment when you do not expect. Jesus tells you this. Your experience tells you this. So, if you were to die at any given moment, when would have been the last time you confessed Christ as the risen Savior? When would have been the last time you prayed to God in Jesus’ name. When would have been the last time you came to church and received Christ’s forgiveness through Word and Sacrament? I was told years ago by someone who didn’t go to church, “I know I don’t go to church, but I am ready to die for Jesus.” But how can you be ready to die for Jesus if you are not ready to live for Him? To follow Jesus means to believe that He is your Savior and for that faith to guide you in the way you live. You cannot die for Jesus if you are not living for Him.

Now, perhaps this sermon has made you feel pretty crummy so far. Perhaps, you think I’m suggesting you are not following Jesus or at least, not well enough. But the truth is, we could all follow Jesus a lot better, including myself, and we should all make that our constant goal. But if you are feeling bad as you examine yourself and how you have failed to follow Jesus in your life, cheer up. Listen to what Jesus says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The reason you feel bad for how you have failed to follow Jesus is because you are a sinner. What good news! Jesus calls sinners! Because it is not the strong who need a physician, but the sick. And you are sick. And Jesus calls you, so that He might heal you. As Matthew recorded, Jesus took upon Himself all our diseases (Matthew 8:17), the greatest of these is our sin. And Christ Jesus died to wash away our sins in His blood. Jesus now offers you the medicine of immortality through His Word and Sacraments, which forgive your sins for the sake of His precious blood. This medicine is only for the sick, for sinners.

Jesus does not call the righteous. That does not mean that anyone is righteous. None is righteous of himself, except for Jesus. What Jesus means by righteous is those who think that they are righteous, and do not recognize their sin. Those who think they are righteous do not feel bad. At least, not about themselves. This sermon might upset them, but it does not make them reflect on their own sinful condition and their need for Jesus’ healing. So, they grumble like the Pharisees and refuse to follow Jesus. And so, the self-righteous will continue to refuse Jesus’ healing. But Jesus will continue to call sinners, those who have failed to follow Him, those who have let the riches and cares of this world detain them from worshiping Him. He calls them to break free of their shackles, to get up like Matthew and follow Him. And He forgives them their sins, healing their diseases.

When the Pharisees grumbled that Jesus received such sinners as Matthew and ate with them, Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” Why did Jesus say, “Go and learn what this means? Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6, which says, “For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” What this means is that God does not desire your faithless outward works and sacrifices, but rather that you would receive His mercy through faith and thus live by mercy, showing mercy to your neighbor as God has shown mercy to you. Well, why didn’t Jesus just say that? Why did He tell them to go and learn? Because to be a follower of Jesus means to be a disciple, that is a learner of God’s Word. In chapter 28 after Jesus’ resurrection, St. Matthew records Jesus’ Words in the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” He uses almost identical words to what Jesus says to the Pharisees in chapter 9, “Go and learn.” A disciple is a learner. Jesus tells His disciples to make learners of all nations by teaching them. Jesus told the Pharisees to become disciples of the Word by learning it.

And had the Pharisees done as Jesus said and read from Hosea 6, they would have also read these words, “Come, let us return to the LORD for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD…” Had the Pharisees studied these words of Scripture, they might have seen how Jesus fulfills them by calling sinners to repentance, and granting eternal life to those who formerly were dead in their sins.

Go and learn. That is what it means to follow Jesus. We learn from Him every day. Through His holy Word, we need to learn again that we are sinners. We need to daily and weekly learn the Gospel. We need to relearn God’s mercy for us through Jesus Christ over and over and over again as we battle our sins and weaknesses, which try to keep us from following Jesus. We need to learn how to show mercy to others, because our sinful flesh tries to make us forget.

My fellow sinners, today we commemorate St. Matthew, whom Jesus called to follow Him. Through Matthew’s account of the Gospel, countless souls have learned to follow Jesus. May we learn to follow Jesus again today and every day for He is calling us to repentance. Let us forsake everything that would keep us from following Jesus, until we finally attain the salvation He promises us. Amen.