Fan Or Follower - The Specifics Of Following - Part 2 Series

The Specifics of Following - Part 2

Mark 2:13-3:6; Matthew 7:21-23

Pharisees say following is about following the rules

Following the rules leads to pride

Following the rules leads to death

Jesus says following is about following in Relationship

Following in Relationship leads to Humility

Following in Relationship leads to Life

Intro

Slide

Good morning.

We are in the midst of a series we have been calling not a fan.

We have been talking about the difference between being a fan or being a follower of Jesus.

Every one of us will have areas that the Lord is still growing us in, but we have been going over some specifics of who can be a follower and what it looks like to be a follower of Christ.

We saw last week that, unlike most rabbis and teachers of Jesus’ day, Jesus invitation to follow Him was open and available to anyone and everyone and it is still is.

No matter how you have lived in the past, you are invited to follow Christ.

And we saw that it costs nothing in terms of payment for the privilege to follow Christ, but it will cost everything in terms of our life to actually follow.

So there is definitely cost and we have to count that cost.

Transition

This week, we want to ask, What does following look like?

Are their rules? Is that what we follow? How does it look like to actually follow?

To begin to answer that, we are going to turn to

Mark 2:13-3:6.

Slide

We are going to read this section of Scripture and look at how the Pharisees thought following should look like and we will then talk about what Jesus tells us following will look like.

So let’s read begin in Mark 2:13.

Mark 2:13-3:6

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and ’sinners’?"

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"

19 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

3 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.