How to Follow Christ

December 3, 1946

Look at how few people in Simferopol need to hear the word of God. So many thousands live in this town, and only a tiny handful has come to hear me.

Well, does that mean I ought to stop preaching? No, the apostle Paul used to preach to only a few people, he even used to preach to one person, he would teach one single person. And I don’t know what’s more important: to preach to a multitude, or to a tiny little group. Because it’s very possible that in this little group there is one person who really needs to hear what I have to say.

It is our responsibility to save all, to take care of the souls of all.

Great is the joy in heaven at the repentance of one sinner. Great is our joy to find out that what we have said to the tiny little group has made its way deep into their souls.

And that is why I will not cease to preach to you.

‘And it came to pass that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

‘And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

‘And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

‘Jesus said to him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

‘And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home in my house.

‘And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:57-62).

The Lord had nowhere to lay His head. He said that foxes had holes, and birds had nests, but He had nowhere to lay His head.

It is difficult to follow Christ, because to do so you have to be prepared to give things up, and to be persecuted; you have to be prepared to have nowhere to lay your head, and to have nothing to eat.

And even so many people turned up, not intimidated by the fact that there wouldn’t be a place to lay their heads, not thinking about how they were going to live, and what they were going to eat. There were a lot of people who, thinking and worrying about nothing, left for wild and solitary forests, where there wasn’t another human soul, built themselves a hut, and lived there. And the Lord forsook none, none starved to death – all were lead by the Lord down a difficult, thorny path, but lead to the kingdom of God. The Lord ordered that they be fed: and people found out that someone had come to live in the forest, someone who had given himself to the Lord; hunters accidentally stumbled upon this person and – out came people who made it their concern to take care of these who had given themselves to the Lord.

But at the same time there were others who lived in frightening circumstances, in wild places, and about which not a soul knew. Others who, like Antony Siiski, ate only grass and roots and didn’t die – and living for many years received gifts of grace from the Holy Spirit.

If you’re going to follow Christ you have to be ready for hardship and abuse. The apostle Paul says that, ‘all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2 Tim. 3:12), because the number of those that hate Christ is so large – it is endless. In our day and age it is especially difficult to follow this thorny path.

First the Gospel recounts the story of a man who, desiring to follow Christ, first seeks to bury his father. ‘Let the dead bury their dead,’ answers the Lord, ‘you go and preach the gospel.’

Such cruel words - or so it would seem. How could a man not see to his father’s burial? But these words were spoken by the Lord, and that means they are not cruel – no, they are full of truth.

We have to look at these words spiritually: of course the Lord was not so cruel as to forbid a man burying his father - these words needed to be looked at spiritually. How? Just like this: if you want to follow Me, forget about everything dead and dying, forget about everything that can perish - and turn your thoughts to God; leave this sinful world behind, raise your heart upwards, and forget about everything dead and dying.

And go preach the Gospel.

And this lesson is for us – ministers of the Church. We must leave all dead things far, far behind, raise our mind and heart upwards to heaven, to the spiritual, and think about the heavenly and not the earthly, as the apostle Paul demanded. We need to leave the dead and the dying to be buried by the dead and the dying. There are so many spiritually dead, so endlessly many – let us leave to them the tasks of the dead. This is the Christians’ responsibility – to walk away from the tasks of the dead.

Another man asked to follow the Lord, and asked permission to bid his family farewell. His heart drew him to the Lord, but worries for his household, and his attachment to his family caused him to look back. ‘No man looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

He who has put his hand to the plough, the plough that is to till God’s fields, where holy seeds grow, seeds of truth, must never look back. Let him speed onwards, with all thoughts and designs directed straight to God. And let him not look back, or feel regret for that which he has left behind, or think about the way he used to live – never feel regret for that which has been left behind. Once you’ve left the world – forget about it.

Love the Lord with all your heart and destroy any love for the world that remains; don’t look back, and don’t think about the past, where all you thought about was how to live well and happily, and your thoughts rarely came to God. Forget about your former life, but without forgetting to give up the things of your former life.

Never say: today I’m going to live like I used to, do what I used to do, and then tomorrow I’ll give it all up. If you think like that you’ll never follow the Lord. You’ll just say the same thing tomorrow. Tomorrow will come and you’ll start thinking about everything you have to leave behind - and you’ll put it off till the next day. Then your conscience will remind you: leave it now, give it up right now. Your conscience will keep on with its own, it’ll go on reminding you, and if you don’t listen to it: it’ll stop completely. And then that which you had been putting off until tomorrow, will be put off for good. And that which should have been forgotten, never will be.

Quite correctly is it said that he who looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. He who puts his hand to the plough should not look back. Let us look only forward, forward, always forward and, raising our heart to God, follow Christ.

Make haste, make haste - make haste to follow Christ.

Life is so short that we must make haste to follow Christ.