What Does It Mean To Follow Jesus Today?
Before we get into today’s message, I want to celebrate a quick testimony I received from two people in our church. Here’s what they said...
“We moved to Orlando about two and half years ago. We relocated from everything we've ever known: our friends, our families, the pace of life. Moving to a big city proved difficult for us economically, socially, and relationally. But we found City Awakening within two months of relocating, and we immediately felt welcomed and loved. We still struggled finding a core group of people to do life with, and our first few years in Orlando were rattled with unemployment, missing our families, and adjusting to a very different culture. On many occasions, we thought we made a mistake moving to Florida and wanted to give up. But the Lord never ceased to provide!
At City Awakening, we saw God show up through people's kindness and generosity. He molded our hearts to ask not, ‘What can I gain here?’ but ‘How can I invest here?’ Through that molding, we found a group of true friends to enjoy life with, and who mutually sharpen us. We still have aspects of life that are different and challenging. But we trust that God can and will meet us where we're at, and one of the ways he’s done that, is through his people in this church.”
City Awakening, let’s praise God for this testimony!...This testimony is evidence that Jesus is still transforming lives and molding hearts through our church. They struggled with transitioning and building new relationships, but they were open to the Lord molding their hearts in the process. They start asking not what can I gain here, but how can I invest here? It’s a great reminder that your investment in our church matters too! When you volunteer, financially give, and invite people to come to our church, it’s having an impact on people’s lives like it did for this couple. So let’s keep volunteering, giving, and inviting to impact even more people’s lives in the future. Let’s keep Reaching People and Reaching The World, with the life-transformative message of Jesus.
Now as for today, it’s the last week in our Who is Jesus teaching series we’ve been doing. Next week we’ll be starting a new 5 week teaching series called The Lord’s Prayer. We’ll be studying a time when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, so we can learn how to pray like Jesus taught them to pray. But in this last week of our Who is Jesus series, we’re talking about what it means to follow Jesus today. We’re talking about what it means to follow Jesus today, because if Jesus really is our incarnate Lord, God, and Savior, then it means we need to follow what he says. It means we need to be his followers, not his fans, and that’s what we’re talking about today. So let’s turn to Luke 9 and get into it. We’ll be in Luke 9:18-23 and Matthew 28:16-20. The title of today’s message is What does it mean to follow Jesus today? The big idea of the message is Jesus wants us to be his followers, not his fans...Jesus wants us to be his followers, not his fans...
Here’s your context...In Luke Ch. 9 we’re circling back to a personal question we studied a few weeks ago. It’s where Jesus asks his disciples to make a personal decision about who he is. But he’s also teaching them what it means to be his followers, not his fans. So let’s check it out.
Luke 9:18-22 states, “While he was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ 19 They answered, ‘John the Baptist; others say Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets.’ 20 He asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘God’s Messiah.’ 21 He instructed them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, ‘It’s necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things...and be killed and raised on the third day.’” He’s talking about his death and resurrection here, but he’s also teaching them that following him entails...
#1 Making a personal decision to be his followers, not his fans. – Following Jesus entails making a personal decision to be his followers, not his fans. If you notice Jesus shifts the question from being general, “Who do the crowds say I am?” To being personal, “Who do you say I am?” It’s because faith in Jesus isn’t something you inherit from your parents or your culture. It’s a personal decision you need to make for yourself. It’s a personal decision to become his follower, not his fan. When Jesus asks this question, he’s separating his followers from his fans. The people in the crowds aren’t followers of Jesus; they’re fans of Jesus. They know him fanatically, but not personally. They’re fans hoping to see Jesus do another miracle. It’s what we’ll see later tonight with the Super Bowl. We’ll see a bunch of fans hoping to see their team win the Super Bowl. In fact there will be over 65,000 fans watching in the stadium, and over 100 million watching on TV. That’s a lot of fans, and some of them even know stats about the players on the field. But most of them don’t personally know the players on the field, or what it’s like to be a player on the field. They don’t know what it’s like to put on pads, to crack, to fight through the nerves, and run the plays, because they’re just fans of the game. They’re just spectators admiring from the sidelines.
In a book called “Not A Fan,” author Kyle Idleman states, “My concern is that many of our churches in America have gone from being sanctuaries to being stadiums. Every week all the fans come to the stadium where they cheer for Jesus, but have no interest in truly following him. The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians, but aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.” This is exactly what the crowds are doing in the text! They want to get close enough to Jesus to get the benefits, but not so close that they’ll have to make sacrifices. They’re just spectators admiring Jesus from the sidelines. City Awakening are you a follower of Jesus, or a spectator like the crowds?...Are you a follower of Jesus, putting on the pads with Jesus, sacrificing your life on the mission field with Jesus, or sitting on the sidelines like a spectator?...Jesus wants us to make a personal decision to be his followers, not his fans.
Vs. 23, “Jesus said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Okay the 2nd thing we’re learning about following Jesus is...
#2 Be willing to live a cross life, not a comfortable life. – Following Jesus entails being willing to live a cross life, not a comfortable life. The phrase follow me is an invitation to become more than a spectator, more than a fan of Jesus. It’s an invitation to become a follower of Jesus, to become a disciple of Jesus. But Jesus is clear that becoming a follower, becoming a disciple, entails living a cross life, not a comfortable life. Jesus says you need to deny yourself and take up your cross daily. In their culture the cross wasn’t a symbol of victory; it was a symbol of suffering. Jesus later turns it into a symbol of victory over suffering, sin, and death through his crucifixion and resurrection. But at this point he’s talking about the cross as a symbol of suffering. It’s a symbol of being willing to surrender your entire life to him, even if it means facing suffering, persecution, or death for following him. In other words, you need to be willing to follow him above everything else, even when you’re facing suffering in life. You need to be willing to live a cross life, not a comfortable life. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to be a follower of Jesus and live a cross life?...Are there areas in your life where you haven’t been willing to follow Jesus?... City Awakening are you following Jesus or expecting Jesus to follow you?...Are you following Jesus, or expecting Jesus to follow you and your demands, giving you whatever you want?...
This is one of the major differences between a follower of Jesus and a fan of Jesus. A follower is willing to follow Jesus even when life is hard, but a fan is only willing to follow Jesus as long as he’s giving into their demands. A follower will still follow Jesus even when they’re facing hardships and living a cross life, but a fan jumps off the fan wagon when they’re facing hardships and aren’t living a comfortable life. A follower sticks around for the entire journey, but a fan only sticks around for the highlights...It’s one of the major issues we face today with American Christianity. It’s that we developed an American Dream Christianity, not a Cross-Centered Christianity. We developed a comfort theology, not a cross theology. We developed fans, not followers...We developed fans of Jesus, instead of making disciples of Jesus...But Jesus wants us to be his disciples, his followers, not his fans. He wants us to be willing to live a cross life, not a comfortable life. He wants us to live sacrificial lives like him, so we can lead others to him. In Matthew 28, after he’s been crucified and resurrected, he tells his disciples to go and make more disciples, to go and make more followers. So let’s turn to Matthew 28:16-20 and check it out.
Matthew 28: 16-20 states, “The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.” When they saw him, when they saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, they worshiped him. It’s because they knew his resurrection proved he really is our incarnate Lord, God, and Savior. They knew it proved we can have full atonement for our sins through his sacrificial cross life, which allows us to enjoy an eternal relationship and resurrected life with him. But the text also says that some doubted. Some worshiped him, but some also doubted him. If you’re a skeptic of the resurrection you need to realize some of Jesus’ strongest followers were skeptics. Doubting Thomas was one of them, but he eventually saw Jesus resurrected and started worshiping Jesus too. So it’s true that some doubted, but it’s also equally true that in the end, they all worshiped. After seeing Jesus rise from the dead, they all eventually worshiped him, and were willing to live a cross-life for him.
Vs. 18, “Jesus came near and said to them, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I’ve commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” Jesus tells them to go and make disciples. He doesn’t tell them to make fans, he tells them to make disciples. But what is a disciple? We’ve been talking about what it means to follow Jesus, but what is an actual disciple of Jesus? A disciple of Jesus is someone who worships Jesus, but they also become a lifetime learner of Jesus. In fact the Greek word for disciple means a learner, a pupil, a follower. So when Jesus says go and make disciples, he’s saying go and make other worshipers of him. Go and make other lifetime learners, pupils, followers of him. The other thing he’s saying is we need to make disciples as we’re going. We miss this in our English translations of the Bible, which say go and make disciples. But a better translation of the original Greek manuscripts is to make disciples as you’re going. In other words, we’re to make disciples as we’re going about our daily lives. So instead of viewing your school as a place to get an education, view it as a place to make disciples as you get an education. Instead of viewing your work as a place to pay your bills, view it as a place to make disciples as you work to pay your bills. Instead of viewing your house as a place to live, view it as a place to make disciples as you live. Jesus is saying make disciples as you’re going about your daily lives, and when he says this it’s written in the imperative mood, which means it’s a command. So Jesus is essentially saying, “I command you to make disciples as you’re going.” This is the 3rd and last thing we’re learning about following Jesus, and it’s that you need to...
#3 Join the disciple making mission of Jesus. – Following Jesus entails joining the disciple making mission of Jesus, and it isn’t an option; it’s a command. Jesus commands us to make disciples, to make other followers of him, not fans of him. That can’t happen if you’re only building relationships with believers. You can’t make new disciples if you aren’t getting involved in the lives of people who aren’t disciples. I know a lot of believers who appear to be mature in their faith, but they’ve never made a new disciple. They focus heavily on teaching existing disciples in the church, but they neglect making new disciples outside the church. They’re following Jesus when it comes to teaching disciples, because that’s safer. But they aren’t following Jesus when it comes to making new disciples, because that’s riskier. They’re living a comfortable life, not a cross-life. You can’t fulfill the Great Commission without living on mission. To make new disciples, you have to get involved in the lives of people who aren’t disciples. It’s our code to love the few so we can love the many. We want to love a few people so well that they can’t ignore the love of Jesus for their lives. A great question to ask yourself is Who does Jesus want you to reach, and how does he want you to reach them?...Who does Jesus want you to reach, and how does he want you to reach them?...But we don’t just make new disciples, we also have to grow existing disciples, including ourselves. This happens best in smaller 1-on-1 relationships. We’re experts at covering up the brokenness in our lives, and that brokenness can’t be transformed if it isn’t revealed. That happens best in smaller 1-on-1 discipleship relationships, not in larger settings like this. That doesn’t mean we should neglect larger settings like this, because the larger community of believers can help further expand our growth in ways 1-on-1 relationships can’t. People say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community of believers to grow a disciple.
What Matthew 28 is teaching us, is that following Jesus entails joining the disciple making mission of Jesus. At City Awakening we’ve summarized this into something that’s called 3D discipleship, and it stands for Discover, Deepen, Display. We want to teach people to discover who Jesus is, deepen their walk with Jesus, and display their faith in Jesus in our city, so that others can learn to discover, deepen, and display their faith in Jesus too. It’s called 3D discipleship, and we’re currently working on a plan to teach this at a smaller 1-on-1 level. But until then, thing of ways you can discover, deepen, and display your faith in Jesus. Think of ways you can join the disciple making mission of Jesus. Jesus has uniquely placed you in this city to discover, deepen, and display your faith in him. He’s uniquely placed you in this city, your job, your school, your neighborhood, to make other disciples, to make other followers, not fans. But the question is, will you join his disciple making mission, or sit on the sidelines? Will you be his follower, or his fan?...
The big idea of the message is Jesus wants us to be his followers, not his fans...Jesus wants us to be his followers, not his fans...So what does it mean to follow Jesus today? It means 1st making a personal decision to be a follower of Jesus, 2nd being willing to live a cross life, and 3rd joining the disciple making mission of Jesus. It’s what separates his followers, from his fans.