Following Jesus was underwhelming when compared to previous reads. However, it would be a great book to read for a new believer. The book is simple to read and understand and lays a thorough foundation of what it means to follow Jesus
During my time in The Fellowship Residency Program, I will be reading a long list of powerful books. To read more about my residency experience click here. One aspect of my assignments is to summarize and write key takeaways from each of the books. This is a summary of "Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship" by N.T. Wright.
If I am being honest, this book was not my favorite. The book is essentially a compilation of sermons by the author N.T. Wright. The book opens us up by describing how the book of Hebrews points out that Jesus’s crucifixion was the final sacrifice. Wright describes Hebrews as a “new reading” of the OT that points to Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice and fulfillment of the covenant. Hebrews is described as a summon to follow Jesus and a reminder that our debts accumulated by sin have been dealt with and wiped clean. Wright’s next chapter covers Colossians and the idea that the battle over evil is already won. The letter of Colossians is about giving thanks to God for “rescuing them from the power of darkness and transferring them into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (p. 17).
One of of the major takeaways from Wright’s collection was the idea that “the same God made the world, loves the world, is in the business of rescuing the world, and calls us to follow His Son as rescued rescuers” (p.18). God desires to rescue us from our sins just as he rescued the Israelites from slavery. We then are to share the gospel and help others be rescued. Unfortunately, we try to take the power away from Jesus and give the power to the “powers” of the world such as food, sex, race, fear, money. etc. Each of these “powers” are things that were created for God’s glory but have been manipulated to be used for evil. Since the battle over evil has been won, we are to celebrate it by worshiping the God who won it for us.
Wright then takes us through the book of Matthew which describes the Kingdom of the Son. We see the connection to the OT through the listed family tree of unlikely people with dubious backgrounds who played a role in the plan of bringing us Jesus. We see Jesus is many things to us. He is to be the royal King of the Jews, the savior of our sins, the warrior who defeats evil, and the divine Lord who achieves the victory by bringing God to us. The cross and resurrection are the evidence to us that the power of evil had been defeated. Wright then discusses how the Gospel of John focuses on the glory of God. John is pointing us towards the ultimate moment of glorification when there will be a new heaven and a new earth by highlighting the glory of the crucifixion and the resurrection. Finally, he reminds us that we are not to worry about the call or requirements of the person standing next to us, we are simply reminded to follow Jesus.
Wright walks us through the Gospel of Mark and describes Jesus as a Servant King. The second takeaway I received from Wright came from identifying Jesus’s options in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus could have planned a sneak attack on his enemies and won, or he could have retreated and disappeared. No matter what he chose, he had the divine power to be successful. Instead, Jesus chose to take the projected evil of the world and put it on himself to experience the immense suffering and agony that was necessary for redemption of our sins. The book of Mark should inspire us to quit projecting our shame onto the world and, instead, take up our own cross and follow Jesus. We do this by abandoning our imperialistic dreams and passive non-involvement and be to our world what Jesus was for us. Finally, Wright walks us through Revelation to discuss the world reborn. He says that we as humans are not able to cope well when terror and joy are coming at us. Revelation is a book full of both terror and joy, and therefore we are unable to handle its content well. However, when we zoom out, we see that the main message is that the Lion as King has become the sacrificial Lamb and conquered the powers of evil so that the plan of God can be fulfilled for all of us.
The second part of the book outlines themes that build the context for Biblical discipleship. He begins by helping us understand the “God who raises the dead.” Wright discusses how the command, “do not be afraid” is the most common commandment seen in scriptures, and yet one of the hardest to follow. My third and largest takeaway came from this chapter. Wright says, “the message that the true God is the God who raises the dead, can and does go that deep; and that wherever you may be, and whenever you may hit that rock-bottom sense of despair, the gospel can reach you there too. Indeed, that is where it specializes in reaching people,” (p. 73). Those moments of despair are best at encouraging people to fully rely on God and move from fear to faith by the power of God.
Chapter 8 is about the mind renewed and talks about how we must correct and understand our views of God before we can look inward. The renewal of our mind is a process that requires patience, prayer, and worship of God. He is not on our timeline, plan, or mindset, but he does tell us to “go in peace” as we follow him. Chapter nine dives into temptation. He discusses our tendencies to either ignore the truth that our sin is a problem or to recognize the problem but struggle to remove it from our life. Another interesting concept Wright discussed was the idea of Satan as a rebellious servant of God. Many sins and temptations were things that God initially created for good but was twisted into something bad. We must know that God’s love can never be tainted. To know that and respond to Him in love is a key component to being a disciple of Jesus.
Finally, Chapters 10-12 cover Hell, Heaven and Power, and New Life and the New World. With regards to Hell, Wright reminds us that desiring people to rot in Hell is a dangerous mindset. We should do everything we can to encourage every person to feel a longing for God’s kingdom and obtain salvation. He also reminds us that though Hell is an eternal punishment and separation from God, there is also a Hell on Earth that is felt living a life separated from God. As he moved to discussion on Heaven, he reminds us that ultimately Heaven will be God’s space intersecting with our space and transcending beyond it. “As we open up to the idea of Jesus’s love, we lose our powerless fear, and we begin to become people through whom the power of that love can flow into the world around us that desperately needs it.” With regards to the New World, we must realize that there will be a New Earth and bodily resurrection through the process of glorification. God views his creation and humanness as precious and so precious that he plans on restoring them to their original glory. Rather than focusing on “what Heaven will look like,” we should be focused on restoring creation to its original glory and building for the kingdom of God. This idea, along with the overarching theme of the book, commands us to simply follow Jesus in our desires, actions, and intentions for the glory of God.