Did
any of you ever have a lemonade stand when you were younger? Did any of your
children have lemonade stand when they were younger?
ILLUSTRATION- I tried this type of thing….once.
It
was a hot day in Silverwood, and I was bored out of my mind, and I decided that
I would like to earn a little money, so I went inside and collected the
necessary supplies and set up an orange Kool-Aid stand at the edge of my
driveway.
Because
we didn’t live in a high-traffic area, I ended up drinking most, if not all, of
my profit away.
I
think I clued into the fact that I could never make it in the business of
selling drinks at the side of the road, and quickly moved on to something else
to end the summer boredom.
These
kind of ah-ha- moments aren’t unique to the business world. A much more common
experience lies in the realm of relationships.
Over
the next several weeks, I want all of us to examine our relationship with Jesus.
I
understand that for some of you this is kind of like a first date; you have
started coming to the Ridge and you are still not quite sure what to think of
all that goes on here, but examining your relationship with Jesus, as casual as
it may be, will still be of great benefit to you.
I
say that because all of us in this room need to have the DTR talk with Jesus.
We need to find out where we stand with Jesus.
To
find that out, we will be using a verse that clearly lays out what it means to
be a follower of Christ.
It’s found in Luke 9:23 and it says: “If anyone would
come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (NIV)
Most
of you will welcome this DTR talk, because you are ready to move to a different
level of commitment.
You’re ready to
move past the casual and past the convenient into something more devoted,
something more committed, so you are already looking forward to the next 6
weeks…
But
some of you are not.
Some
of you don’t want to DTR, because you like the set up that you’ve got going on
with Jesus.
To you, He’s a
nice guy who did some nice things, and you like coming to church because it
gets you out of doing chores for an hour.
You
like what you have going on, and this idea of being more committed, the idea of
taking your relationship with Jesus to a different level is a little
frightening.
I
want to encourage those who feel like this to not tune me out, because doing a
DTR with Jesus will literally save your life.
So
here’s a question I’d like all of us to consider. This is the key thought of
the entire series: Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus?
You
may be wondering why I would ask a question like that; after all we’re all
followers of Jesus, right? Why else would we be here?
The
word fan is defined as “an enthusiastic admirer”, and most, if not all
of us are fans of different things.
ILLUSTRATION- Some of you know that I am a
Third Day fan. If you don’t know who Third Day is, they are the best Christian
Rock band on planet earth.
I
have been a Third Day fan since 1996 and I have seen them in concert 4 times.
I have every CD they've ever put out.
I’ve had my picture taken with them 3 times, I have 6 Third Day shirts,
3 Third Day hats, one Third Day tour jacket, 2 guitar Picks, and their
autograph on just about everything imaginable, including an electric guitar.
I
know a lot about Third day, because I am one of their fans.
If we are not careful, our
church has the potential to become a building full of fans: people who know
about Jesus, but don’t actually know Jesus.
Jesus
never really cared about having fans, especially if our definition of a fan is “an enthusiastic
admirer”, fans weren’t all that important to Jesus.
But
we in the church tend to gravitate toward fans. We come to church, sit down in
“our” seat, evaluate the sermon and give the song service a thumbs up or a
thumbs down—and we do this week after week!
Being
a fan feels pretty good, but Jesus never wanted fans, He wanted—and still wants
today—followers.
As
we Define The Relationship with Jesus, there are three questions for us to
consider, and the first is: Why are you here?
If
you read through the Gospels, Jesus, at different points in His ministry would
draw a line in the sand and He would separate the fans and the followers.
One
such instance is John chapter 6.
Jesus is at the
height of His ministry, and we read that large crowds were following Him.
Jesus
was very popular. He was preforming miracles, He was healing people and feeding
people with 5 loaves of bread and two small fish, and a lot of people in the
crowd were following Jesus.
But
Jesus, in verse 2, realizes why the people were coming to Him: “a great crowd of
people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on
the sick.” (John 6:2, NIV)
The
main reason the people were showing up was because of the spectacle; they
didn’t care much about the teaching as much as they did for the performance.
So,
why are you here? Is it because you think our seats are really comfortable, or
you really like the music, or the preachers are a little better here…?
All
of these reasons are awesome, but eventually you will have to DTR with Jesus.
Eventually you will be asked to go deeper with Jesus.
This
is what Jesus did in John chapter 6. He challenged the fans into a deeper life
with Him; into a more intimate relationship with Him and in verse 66 we read:
“From
this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
(John 6:66, NIV)
A
lot of the people when home because Jesus defined the relationship and what He
offered was not what they wanted.
So,
to answer the Why Are You Here question—you’re here right now because Jesus
wants to have a relationship with you.
You’re not here
today by mistake or because you had nothing else to do, you’re here because
someone prayed for you, because that someone wants you to be more than a fan of
Jesus.
Please
don’t turn your back on Jesus, instead turn to Him, turn to Him and allow Him
to define your relationship.
The
second question we need to consider is: Are you all in?
Being
a follower of Jesus requires complete commitment. A follower of Jesus will do whatever it takes to follow
Jesus. They are absolutely loyal; completely committed.
Sometimes
we don’t do well with this kind of absolute commitment. Sometimes we customize
our Christianity.
We
tend to look at our relationship with Jesus and say: “I’m going to follow Jesus, but I’m going to
pick and choose the areas that I want to follow Him in.”
For
example:
We
say that we follow Jesus, but don’t ask me to forgive that person who wronged
me—no sirie! O, I love Jesus but I’m not going to forgive that person…
Or:
I
love Jesus, but don’t talk to me about money! It’s MY MONEY, and I earned it,
and I’ll spend it how I want to spend it!
Or:
I
love Jesus but I’m going to talk about you behind your back. I love Jesus but
I’m going to tell the world what you did. To that person. 15 years ago.
A customized Christianity says:
I follow Jesus but only in the areas that I agree with; only in the areas that
I’m comfortable with. I’m a Christian, but I’m not all in.
Friends,
this is not being a follower of Jesus; this is being a fan.
To follow Jesus means to follow
Jesus; there is no bargaining, no bartering, and no backing up.
When
you decide to become a follower of Jesus, you’ve got to go all in. Fans don’t
like the idea of going all in, but followers know that it’s the only way to
live.
Jesus
said: "No
one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the
kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62, NIV)
Are
you all in? Are you a completely committed follower of Jesus, or are you just a
fan?
This
brings us to our last question to consider: Have you made it your own?
In
order to move from fan to follower, you’ve got to make this faith your own. You
can’t buy this faith at Estyes. You can’t work for it at the Mill. You can only
become a follower of Jesus by faith.
The
Bible tells us in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.” (NIV)
To
move from fan to follower means accepting the work of Jesus on the cross for
yourself.
Your spouse,
friend, co-worker or seat-mate can’t accept Jesus for you, only you can move
from fan to follower.
Have
you made Jesus your very own?
As
we begin this series, I want to encourage those who are followers of Jesus to
keep following Jesus!
Just because you’ve surrendered your
life to Him doesn’t mean that He’s finished with you.
You are still a
work in progress; there are still areas in your life that need the transforming
power of Jesus Christ.
So, commit again
to being a fully devoted follower of Jesus, and take up your cross and follow
Jesus, don’t look back, keep on the narrow path that leads to life.
If there are
fans of Jesus in our midst today, (and I pray there is) I want to encourage you
to truly consider your relationship with Jesus.
He can and wants
to radically change your life if you will only commit to move away from being a
fan of Jesus to becoming a follower of Jesus.
Jesus said to
the crowd: “If
any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take
up your cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke
9:23, NLT2)
Jesus isn’t
looking for a fan club; He’s looking for completely devoted followers.
If you would
like to move from being a fan of Jesus, to being a follower of Jesus, today is
your grace-filled day. Moving from fan to follower begins by:
Admitting that
you have sinned. (Romans 3:23)
By believing
that Jesus Christ died for you. (John 1:12)
Confessing that
Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. (Romans 10:9-10)
(BAND TO COME)
If you want to
move from fan to follower today, as we prepare to sing our last song, I want to
invite you to stand where you are, or to raise your hand, or even find a friend
and come to the front of the church…
Jesus isn’t
looking for fans; He’s looking for followers, and if you want to become a
follower of Jesus, know that “Today is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2, NLT2)
As we sing this
song, I want to encourage you to respond to the invitation of moving from Fan
to Follower as you'd like.
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