and He said to them, “Follow me, . . .” Matthew 4:19

Follow – Although this passage about fishers of men is used frequently, it contains a few gems that aren’t usually uncovered. A closer look reveals God’s evangelism games.

First, the Greek verb used here is really two words, deute opiso. Literally, this means “come behind me.” So, the first game of God’s evangelism is Follow the Leader. Put your feet where I have put my feet. You want to walk out of the mind field of life. Step into my tracks. You want to experience the blessings God has in mind. Take the path I am traveling.

Notice that God does not play Tag. That’s a game where I run up to you, touch you momentarily and then run away, shouting, “You’re it!” The object of Tag is to make you responsible by passing “it” to you and then try to get as far from you as I can. It reminds me of evangelism techniques that do nothing more than pass something to the poor victim, making them responsible for life without a step-by-step guide. The question, “If you died today, where would you go?” as an introduction of evangelism is like Tag. “I got you! Now you’re on the spot.” How different it is to invite someone to come behind me. I must first be willing to go in front and I must clearly mark the way to travel.

There’s another game in deute opiso. It’s very Hebrew. It’s called Simon Says. The object of Simon Says is to have everyone who follows the leader do exactly what the leader instructs them to do as long as the code “Simon says” precedes the instruction. “Simon says touch your nose.” You touch your nose. But if you don’t hear the words, “Simon says,” you are supposed to do nothing. What great practice for learning to listen and obey only what the external word of the leader commands. This is the other evangelism game. Not only do I put my steps in the steps of the leader, I must also be trained to listen to him and do only what he commands. The Hebrew culture calls this discipleship.

Both games have this in common. There is a direct, immediate and continuing relationship between the leader and the follower. The follower is expected to look carefully at every action of the leader, to listen attentively to every word of the leader and follow suit. In other words, biblical evangelism is based on the “copy me” principle of life. I copy you. You copy Timothy. Timothy copies Paul. Paul copies Yeshua. We walk the same way and do the same things. We are all followers.

Oh yes, there’s one other thing about this verse that is hidden behind the translation. The actual Greek text doesn’t read, “. . . and He said to them.” It reads, “. . . and He says to them.” The verb is present tense. This is a linguistic device to emphasize the immediacy of the moment. It’s as if this scene is occurring right now, in front of you.

Is this your style of evangelism? Are you following someone and, at the same time, leading another? Have you invited someone to look at your every move and copy you? Is your life an example worthy of copying? Or is your evangelism more like Tag – just out to get someone. The church complains about the lack of transformation in the lives of the congregation. Humm? Maybe the congregation is just copying what they really see.

Topical Index: evangelism, follow, deute opiso, games, Matthew 4:19