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Lady Astor was the first woman member of Parliament.  Noted for her biting wit, she occasionally got into verbal spats with Winston Churchill.  On her deathbed in 1964, she momentarily awoke to find herself surrounded by her entire family.- her last words were:-  "Am I dying or is this my birthday?"  

Bing Crosby, in 1977, had just sunk his final put during a game of golf near Madrid, Spain, when he turned to the spectators and acknowledged their applause with his last  words - "It was a great game." 

When  Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton hotel empire, on his deathbed, was asked if he had any last words of wisdom for the world  exclaimed - "Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub."

Last words have a way of telling us a lot about the Person, and also about their Priorities. Jesus last words also tell us a lot about his Person and His Priorities. Often we think of Jesus last words as those which were spoken from the Cross – in which case his last words were  “It is Finished” – meaning, He had completed the mission which he came into the world to fulfill. But those aren’t the last words of Jesus – they aren’t the last that we hear of him.  You may remember that after the Crucifixion, Jesus was raised to life on the first Easter Day, and for the following 40 days he appeared to His followers, he met and spoke with them, frequently- hundreds of them in fact. But then on that 40^th day after the crucifixion, on what we call Ascension Day, (which was last Thursday) Jesus gathered his eleven disciples together ( because by that time Judas had taken his own life) and there, on that mountain in Galilee, gave them his last and final words, spoken in this world.

Like the famous last words of others, the famous last words of Jesus also tell us a lot about Himself. They tell us about His Person, - who he is; they tell us about His Priorities – what is important to Him; and thirdly – and this is something which the famous last words of other humans don’t tell us – they tell us about Jesus Promise – what He offers us.

These three nouns can form the basis for our considering Why follow Jesus? 

Now perhaps you have been a long time follower of Jesus and you would like a reminder this morning, just to help bring back into focus, the reasons WHY you have chosen to be a Christ follower. Or perhaps you are thinking about who Jesus is, and you want some more information,  some more substance as to why you would want to follow Jesus. Well this morning I hope I can be of help to you as we look at that question of “Why follow Jesus” from the perspective of His Person, His Priorities and His Promise.

1/ His Person.   Who is Jesus?  Some say a good man; others say a prophet, a holy man, others say he was the most moral man that ever lived. And all those are true – but they don’t go far enough. Christians believe that Jesus was much more than that! In fact, none other than God! The Christian faith declares that  Jesus was God who came and dwelt among us as a human being  – born about the year 4B.C. – died about the year 33 A.D., but then was raised to life, and later ascended – or taken up into heaven.   When questioned about his identity, Jesus simply said  “I am” – which to the Jewish people of his time was a term to describe God. It means – “I am the Lord God, the One who never changes.”  In the reading today, when Jesus, alive and well, 40 days after his crucifixion, met with his disciples on the mountain in Galilee,  his last words were ..”All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  (Mtt.28:18)   Now we each need to decide whether we believe that or not – and that’s our choice, but that’s what Jesus said about himself. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” I don’t think any of us would make that claim about ourselves. – but Jesus did! So Why would we want to follow Jesus? – because, on the evidence of what is written about Him in scripture, and of the change we see in peoples lives who choose to follow Him,  we believe that what He said about Himself is true.  His life demonstrated that he had the authority of God to forgive sins, to heal the sick, to raise the dead. No-one else I know of has that authority or power. Jesus is worth following because there is no better one to follow!  (( When some of Jesus’ disciples were finding the way tough and began to leave him, Jesus asked his remaining followers “Will you leave also?” to which they replied  - “Where will we go? – you have the words of eternal life!” )) So  Why follow Jesus?   Well,  Firstly - Because of WHO he is! His authority is the greatest.

2/ We would want to follow Jesus because of  His Priorities, -because of what He did and does,  and what  he calls us to Do.

Bing Crosby’s priority was to sink a good putt before he died.  Jesus had a far greater priority for His life – which was to do the Father’s will – and for our lives – which is to welcome others into the community of people who also want to follow Jesus. Jesus called that “making disciples”.

We become followers or disciples of Jesus by joining a community called the church ( and we join that community by baptism)  and it is as we take our place and serve God and one another in this community that we discover and learn God’s will and purpose for our lives. We choose to  follow Jesus  because those are the best priorities we can have for our lives.  Conrad Hilton may have thought that leaving the shower curtain inside the tub was a top priority for his hotel workers, but it is woefully inadequate as a purpose for my life – and I’m sure the same goes for you too.

So, we choose to follow Jesus because of  a) Who He is,( His Person)  and because of b)What he calls us to do;  ( His Priorities) and then,

Thirdly – because of His Promise.    Jesus last words – recorded by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles were about equipping us for our discipleship.   He said – “You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… and you will be my witnesses ..unto the ends of the earth” ( Acts 1:8)

At the end of Matthews gospel we have the words – Go… and I am with you always , to the end of the age.”  Jesus Promised His Power and His Presence would be with his followers – forever.

So we choose to follow Jesus Christ because we know that there is a greater power available at work in us than we have without Him.

What better last words could we have to live our lives by, than words which point us to the Person, the Priorities and the Power of the One person – Jesus Christ -who can change our lives and make them count for eternity.  Why follow Jesus ?   Because of Who He is; Because of What He calls us to do; and Because of His equipping us with the Holy Spirit. This is the purpose for which God has called and chosen us this day.