I vividly remember when the thought first struck me. “We’ve been singing it all wrong… backward!” What song, you may be wondering? The Sunday School classic, I Will Make You Fishers of Men.
Okay, Okay…hear me out! The first verse is not what Jesus said to Simon and Andrew. His seaside words were, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Markk 1:17). Yet, we grew up singing, “I will make you fishers of men if you follow me.” It’s a subtle — perhaps eye-rolling — difference, and yet significant.
Now, I do not believe the authors of this song intentionally undermined Jesus’ words. It’s a good little song that gets really good in verse two! Even so, verse one misses the mark by using the conditional “if” and making “fishers of men” the focus instead of following Jesus. The altered words may fit the melody, but they upend Jesus’ command about followership by placing the focus on leadership.
This realization came after a great week at Momentum Youth Conference. Our youth group was transitioning into the school schedule, and I was beginning to refine our first Wednesday night series. Leadership was the topic, and given the number of students fired up from the #bestweekofsummer, I was excited about the possibilities ahead. However, what began to gnaw at me was how our leadership focus — my focus — did not include followership. Or, to say it another way, we looked at what to do with our hands (actions) or increasing the knowledge of our heads (comprehension), but we didn’t stop to consider the posture of our hearts (attitudes). Truth be told, this is often still a struggle.
Maybe it’s because we can quantify actions and knowledge more readily than attitudes. Perhaps we don’t like what we see when we evaluate our attitudes and default to the safer spaces of planning events, reading books, writing papers, sending emails, singing songs, playing games, etc. Sometimes, we may ignore following Jesus because there’s too much work to do for Jesus, and we have misunderstood what Jesus has called us to. Whatever the reason(s) — likely more than just the few offered here — the deeper places of the heart must never be overlooked for the actions of the hands and the knowledge of the head. Our actions and knowledge matter greatly, but they do not matter solely.
The worst examples of this elevate, and even exalt, actions and comprehension in such a way that persistently sinful attitudes and behaviors are rationalized away. “Yeah, we know they can be _____________, but look at all the good they’ve done.” “Yeah, I may have _____________, but I’m a good preacher!” Or even, “Yeah, we know the Bible says _____________ about ministry, but here are all the reasons our ways are better.”
Think about some of the most poignant moments of correction Jesus provided His first followers. Peter pulls Jesus aside for a one-on-one because death and resurrection didn’t fit into his [Peter’s] Messianic schema (Matt. 16:22). Jesus replies, “…you are not setting your mind on the things of God.” Paraphrase? “Pete, you’re not following well” (cf., vv. 24–28).
James and John ask Jesus if they should pray for fire to destroy a village of Samaritans who had not shown them hospitality. Jesus rebukes them (Luke 9:51–56). They were not following well.
Not long after this, James and John decided to stomp on and step over their fellow disciples, requesting prominent positions of power (Mark 10:35–41).[1] To them and all the indignant disciples, Jesus replied that they were thinking like Gentiles [unbelievers] (v. 42) and must not do so. They were not following well.
All too often, we can think we have a better plan or philosophy of ministry than the Bible reveals. We can be tempted by a desire to get rid of the people Jesus has called us to shepherd because we’ve decided they are standing in the way. Or we can even employ the power-grabbing, sole-crushing, image-bearer-stomping tactics of the world because we have a vision from the Lord to pursue.
Here’s the not-so-secret secret I need to remember: The ends never justify the means, and the means matter just as much as the ends.
As we abide in Jesus — follow Jesus — we bear fruit because that is what happens when vines remain connected to the branch (John 15:4). And lest we’re confused about the metaphor here, Jesus makes it abundantly clear one verse later, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
To be sure, we rarely set out to not follow, not abide, or not prioritize time to abide. Yet, the persistent drum of ministry life — the good, the bad, and the ugly — lures us into functional rhythms where following well often takes a backseat to leading well.
So, what does it look like to abide — to follow first? It’s spending time in the Word of God (John 17:17), walking worthy of the Gospel as empowered by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:16), and being built up by the people of God (Romans 1:11,12).
Following Christ is not a means to an end, however good, noble, or biblical that end may be. Following Christ is the end.
There is another song from my childhood that needs no tweaking or refinement: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Jesus first commands us to follow, and it is from this posture as followers that we find our lives repurposed for the glory of God and the good of His people, just as He repurposed Simon and Andrew’s.
Written by Timothy Clothier for the Year in Review 2024–2025. Timothy has served as senior pastor of Waynesboro Grace Church for almost ten years. He is a published author (To Each is Given) and a Charis Symposium contributor, and he recently completed a DMin. degree in pastoral leadership from Grace Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Carrie, have been married over eighteen years and have four children.
[1] Though we might be tempted to think “in your glory” (v. 37) refers to heavenly glory, it is likely the Sons of Thunder had an earthly restoration of Israel in mind (cf., Acts 1:6), and they wanted seats of positional power.