I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

October 15, 2023 homily on 1 Kings 19:19-21 and Luke 9:57-62 by Pastor Galen

One of the things I appreciate about the songs we sing in church is that many of these songs express the faith of not just an individual, but a whole community of people, sometimes spread across hundreds of years and thousands of miles. There were those who spoke or wrote the words, others who translated them into various languages, and others who composed or arranged the music. Some of their stories are known, some are not known.

The hymn we learned about last week, “All Creatures of our God and King,” was based on a poem by Italian mystic and friar St. Francis of Assisi in the year 1225. It was translated into English and set to music by British clergyman William Henry Draper in 1925, who set it to a German tune that had been written in the 1600s. What an amazing and diverse spiritual legacy we have represented in the songs of our faith!

The story behind “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”

The hymn “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” found in The Faith We Sing, has an even more storied history, often obscured by the attribution “anonymous” for both the words and music in our hymnal. In truth, the authors are not “anonymous” because we have no clue who wrote the words or who composed the music, but rather they are anonymous because multiple theories exist as to the origins of this song. While there is no conclusive evidence to verify which (if any) of the theories are correct, today we are going to explore the most popular origin story of this song.

The words of this hymn are commonly thought to have been the last words of an Indian Christian who lived in the mid-1800s in the Assam region of India, who was martyred for his faith in Christ. When it was discovered that he and his family had converted to Christianity, the family was dragged into the village square, where the chief demanded that they renounce their faith in Jesus. Moved by the Holy Spirit, the father cried out in his native tongue, “I have decided to follow Jesus, and I will not turn back!” Even when the lives of his family were threatened, he said, “Though none go with me, still I will follow!” And when he was given one more opportunity to deny his faith even at the point of death, he proclaimed, “The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.”

The man and his family were martyred for their faith in Christ, but their courage and commitment to Jesus sparked a revival in the village. 

The chief who had ordered the killings was moved by the faith of the man. He wondered, “Why should this man, his wife and two children die for a Man who lived in a far-away land on another continent some 2,000 years ago? There must be some remarkable power behind the family’s faith, and I too want to taste that faith.” In a spontaneous confession of faith, he declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour.¹

Indian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh, who was himself a Hindu convert to Christianity who lived from 1889 to 1929, was inspired by the dying words of this Indian Christian martyr and set the words to music, to the tune of a traditional Indian folk melody. The words were eventually translated into English, giving us the version of the hymn that we know and sing today.

I have decided to follow Jesus (x3), No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me (x3),No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow (x3), No turning back, no turning back.

Elijah and Elisha

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah was looking for someone to whom he could pass along his mantle of responsibility. Literally. Back then, the way a leader would show someone that they were going train them up to take their place by taking their mantle—a sleeveless cloak or shawl—that they wore around their shoulders and putting it around the shoulders of the person they were going to disciple. (I guess back then, if you really wanted to avoid a leadership role, you had to make sure not to get too close to a leader, lest they try to sneak up behind you and throw their mantle around you!)

In 1 Kings 19, God told the prophet Elijah to anoint Elisha as a prophet in his place. Elijah went and found Elisha plowing his fields, for he was a farmer, and Elijah passed by Elisha and threw his mantle around him. It must have taken Elijah a few seconds to realize what happened because the Bible says that Elisha “left the oxen, [and] ran after Elijah” (1 Kings 19:20). Elisha asked if he could go home and say goodbye to his parents first, and Elijah gave him permission to do so. Elisha took the two oxen that he had been using to plow his fields, butchered them, cooked them, and he and his family had a big old-fashioned barbecue before he went and followed Elijah. Not a bad way to say goodbye to one’s family! It was celebratory, but it also made a statement—that he had a new vocation as a prophet—and that he would never be returning to farming again. Elisha was going to follow Elijah, and he would not be turning back.

No Turning Back

Fast forward about 900 years to the time of Jesus. In Luke chapter 9, verse 51, the Bible tells us that “When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). Several verses earlier, Jesus had told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). As Jesus was traveling along, someone said to Jesus, “‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ And Jesus said to him, “‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:61-62).

Here we see that the command of Jesus is even more radical than the most radical of prophets, Elijah. Elijah allowed Elisha to at least go home and say goodbye to his family. But Jesus did not want his would-be followers to look back at all. Using the analogy of a farmer plowing their field who tries to look back over their shoulder while plowing, he said that “no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” A farmer cannot plow in a straight line while looking back over his shoulder, just like when I was a kid and my school bus driver could not drive in a straight line when he constantly needed to look in the mirror to make sure we weren’t misbehaving. So too, if we want to follow Jesus and not swerve off in every direction, then we have to keep our eyes on Jesus. We cannot turn back.

Surely these words of Jesus must have been ringing in the ears of the Indian family who willingly faced death rather than renounce their faith in Christ. Surely they must have remembered the words of Jesus, “Those who lose their life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:24). Surely they knew that by looking to Jesus, and by not turning back, they would experience the joy of eternal life with Christ.

The Apostle with Bleeding Feet

Sadhu Sundar Singh, the Indian Christian missionary who is believed to have put the Indian martyr’s words to the music of a traditional Indian melody, also knew firsthand what it was like to lose his life for Christ’s sake. Although he was not killed for his faith, he did experience persecution from friends and loved ones when he converted from Hinduism to Christianity. And, as someone who renounced worldly wealth and traveled far and wide proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, Sundar Singh knew what it was like to suffer for the Gospel.

Sundar was baptized as a Christian at the age of 16 after Jesus appeared to him in a vision, and at the age of just 17, he set out as a missionary,

“Wearing a saffron turban and the saffron robe of a sadhu, an ascetic devoted to spiritual practice. [Sundar] Singh [referred to] himself as a sadhu…because he realized Indians could not be converted unless it was in an Indian way. ‘I am not worthy to follow in the steps of my Lord,’ he said, ‘but, like Him, I want no home, no possessions. Like Him I will belong to the road, sharing the suffering of my people, eating with those who will give me shelter, and telling all [people] of the love of God.‘”²

Sundar Singh was often referred to as the “Apostle with Bleeding Feet” because his feet were often blistered by the dirt roads on which he walked barefoot. But for Sadhu Sundar Singh, following Jesus was worth it, because of the peace and joy that Christ brings, both in this life, and in the life of eternity. In his book, Vision of the Spiritual World, Sundar Singh wrote,

“Heaven, or the Kingdom of God, begins in the lives of all true believers in this world. Their hearts are always filled with peace and joy, no matter what persecutions and troubles they may have to endure; for God, Who is the source of all peace and life, dwells in them. Death is no death for them, but a door by which they enter forever into their eternal home. Or we may say that though they have already been born again into their eternal kingdom, yet when they leave the body, it is for them, not the day of their death, but their day of birth into the spiritual world, and it is for them a time of superlative joy.“

Have You Decided to Follow Jesus?

Both Sadhu Sundar Singh and the Indian Christian family who refused to renounce their faith in Christ had to make a decision to follow Christ, no matter the consequences. For them, following Jesus was not an easy or safe option. They very much knew that following Jesus might cost them their lives. And yet they decided to follow Jesus, and refused to turn back, even if no one else went with them. They put the world behind them, and the cross before them, and did not turn back.

Not surprisingly, when Sadhu Sundar Singh traveled to the West, he was rather disillusioned by the version of Christianity that he found here. In Europe and America, following Jesus has frequently been seen as the easier option. Even today, 63% of Americans and Europeans describe themselves as Christians. And yet, so often we take the freedom that we have to follow Christ for granted. 

Sadhu Sundar Singh wrote the following reflection about the version of Christianity he found in the West:

“While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a solid round stone from the water and broke it open. It was perfectly dry in spite of the fact that it had been immersed in water for centuries. The same is true of many people in the Western world. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity; they live immersed in the waters of its benefits. And yet it has not penetrated their hearts; they do not love it. The fault is not in Christianity, but in [people’s] hearts, which have been hardened by materialism and intellectualism.“³

My challenge to us today is that we would let the river of Christ’s love penetrate our hearts. May we not allow the materialism and intellectualism around us to harden our hearts, but may we truly decide to follow Jesus: to learn from him, to love him, and to not look back, no matter what may come our way. 

Will you decide today to follow Jesus, no turning back? Will you set the world behind you, and the cross before you? And even if no one goes with you, will you still follow Christ? No turning back. No turning back.

Amen!

1.  https://renewaljournal.com/2017/11/29/the-true-story-behind-the-song-i-have-decided-to-follow-jesus/ ↩︎
2.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh ↩︎
3. https://www.academia.edu/43359140/Sadhu_Sundar_Singh_VISIONS_OF_THE_SPIRITUAL_WORLD
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