Why do we follow Jesus?

If going to heaven or hell was not the issue, is Jesus still worth following?  Sounds like a trick question, but I assure you that it is not.  Basically what I am asking is, "Why do you follow Him?"  You may think that I'm asking some personal, tough questions.  If it rubs you the wrong way, turn around.  At that point it'll rub you the right way.  As always, if at any point you feel condemnation from what I say, then stop reading.  If you feel conviction,,that something needs to change, that can come only from God.

Why do we follow Jesus?  I'll be honest with you, I am pretty fed up with so many people sitting in a building on Sunday morning, listening to the messages from the divinely inspired Word of God and that being the end of it, but when they have a problem, "I'm just giving that to Jesus."  Will He help them? Yes.  Does He want more for them? Of course He does.  He desires to give you the best gifts possible.  He submitted Himself as a servant to be beaten and killed so that we could be provided the best gift of all, FREEDOM!  So is it the difference between heaven and hell that gets us to follow Him?  If that's it, then we've missed something.  

One of my favorite places that God deals with this is in Isaiah 49.  God says that He has delivered us from slavery to freedom, but it doesn't stop there.  The very same crap that we just came out of, somebody else is going through at this very moment.  We can strengthen them, encourage them, and show them the path to freedom through Jesus Christ.  

And it's not to bring guilt and condemnation on them, its to show them the best life that Jesus came to show us.  I'll give you an example.  Matthew chapter 5 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.  This is Jesus' first sermon.  Jesus had just come about as the new rabbi with authority (see Follow Me).  That's why He had to climb a mountain because there were 5,000 coming to hear about this new way of living that was easier.  In His first sermon, Jesus answers the major question in life: How can I be happy?  In this particular passage, the word that He used that got translated blessed was pronounced "asheri".  That meant happiness as a result of right decisions. "Blessed (happy) are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy. Blessed (happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." He didn't come out immediately and tell everyone that they had to follow Him or they were going to hell!  He was retelling them stuff from the Law about how God had set up an easier life for them.  

The Church is so focused on who's right, or who's wrong, who's saved and who's going to hell.  First off, its not our call on any of that.  Second of all, that is WAY above our pay grade.  What is with in our pay grade, and of utmost importance is helping the poor/abandoned/rejected, encouraging others towards the best life, and (the most difficult one of all) BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER!!!!  That is what the Kingdom of God is all about.  People talk about revival.  You wanna see a true revival?  Have an entire church body to be kind to each other and those around them, even if they've done wrong.  When people ask why they are like that, then you have a leg to stand on when you say, "That is the Kingdom of God".
I sincerely hope, that somewhere besides the tiny town that I go to church in, there is a all consuming fire burning.  I hope that this fire is beginning to spread through everyone that steps into the door of their congregation hits them and never lets go of them.  I'm talking about complete life changing revelation here!
Go and be blessed my friends!  Help someone who's helpless, feed someone who's hungry, and be kind.

Grace and peace be with you Always!