1/8/23 - Don’t Follow The Crowd - Matthew 4:19 - Pastor Jason Fritz

Jim Rohn famously said that you are a composite of the five people you hang out with the most. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” Well that might have been true 50 years ago but the age of social media has completely changed this. Today, we are influenced by algorithms based on our preferences. Consequently, we imitate people we have never met. The breadth of influence upon us is enormous and yet we are influenced most by the company we keep.

For example, Christakis and Fowler conducted a survey and found that if you have friends who smoke, then you are 61 percent more likely to be a smoker yourself. If a friend of a friend smokes you are still 29 times more likely to smoke. This can be applied to most every metric including happiness and depression. Your friends really are your future and this is why the concept of friend auditing has become pervasive. The implication is that you need to examine your entire social network and its influence on your life. If not, you might become the person you don’t want to be.

What’s particularly devastating is when people follow the crowd for no other reason than to gain an identity. I heard a prominent philosopher say that in his opinion the biggest threat society faces is from the narcissistic virtue signaler. These are people who adopt opinions and postures solely to garner praise and sympathy or whose good deeds are tainted by their need for everyone to see just how selfless they are. If virtue signaling can be tied to victimhood it makes for a very powerful voice. This is what makes much of social media a firestorm. If only victimhood gives a person the right to comment then there’s tremendous motivation to be a victim if you want to be heard. This isn’t to say there aren't legitimate victims who have reasonable voices, but for many, the temptation is all too common.

So whose voice is most important to you? In other words, who are you following? Can I give you an alternative voice? It’s a far better calling and it comes from Jesus himself. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

When Jesus wanted to recruit world changers he chose people who were not highly qualified or influential in society. These guys are simple fishermen. It reminds me of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26, "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth."

This should be encouraging to everyone. I have heard people say things like, “I am not qualified”, ”I do not have the skills to talk about Jesus”, ”I haven’t gone to Bible College”, ”I'm afraid I will make mistakes”, “I don’t have what it takes” and so on. It is not our qualification that makes us worthy to be a follower of Jesus, it is his calling. Jesus said this in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit.”

I love this  quote: "No one is destroyed by obeying Jesus and there is no one who has prospered by disobeying Him." Jesus is calling you right now to follow him. Will you do it?