Will You Go With Jesus
A Fan or a Follower - #5 or 5
Jerry Watts
Luke 9:57-62
(Note: This series is inspired by Kyle Idleman’s book – “Not a Fan”)
* The Apostle Paul writes his final words to the carnal church at Corinth. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 he says, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith, examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?...Unless you fail the test.”
* In high school, I hated tests! The reason was, “I was always ill-prepared.” Sad to say, but I wasted my high school years. In my 4 years, I prepared little and out of a graduating class of 82, my number was probably 81!! (Perhaps not, just a guess) However, there was one test which I could not wait to take; it was my Senior Literature final exam. All my other grades and courses were pretty good, but this was THE ONE which decided if I would graduate or spend the summer in school. The teacher graciously gave us the material to study and I, in an uncharacteristic manner studied two days for this test. I found myself actually looking forward to this test because I intended to ‘ace’ it. Well, I didn’t get 100, but did score like 98.
* My attitude about the test was driven by my preparation for the test. Paul tells us to test ourselves! And this test is ‘big-stuff’. It’s not about graduating high school (so you can spend at least 4 more years in another school) this test is about life, death, hell, heaven, and eternity. Sometimes we don’t test ourselves because we know we’re ill-prepared.
* The question before is: “Are you a fan or a follower?” Jesus gives the test and He says, “If you love me you will keep my words, you will make me first, & you will surrender to me.”
* For 3 weeks we have run around this question, so today let’s get to the bottom line and ask the BIG QUESTION? Are you a fan or a follower? Will you go with Jesus? Luke 9.
* We have just read Dr. Luke’s account of Jesus having an encounter with three different men. Each of these men represents three types of people today, all of whom would be called fans. Two men came as volunteers and one was given a called by Christ. It seems that none of the 3 went the distance with Jesus. Each man poses a question for us.
1. Will you go with Jesus ‘wherever?’ – The man volunteered, “I’ll go with you wherever” will you be so brave as to say that to Jesus? Most of us ‘control freaks’ will ask, ‘where exactly does this mean?” The answer is simply, “Wherever.” Wherever Jesus says, leads, & guides. We used to sing, “Wherever He Lead, I’ll go. Wherever He leads, I’ll go. I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads, I’ll go.” When the Lord called Abraham, He simply said, “Take you family & go to a land that I WILL (not have already) show you.”
* Saying, “Wherever – sounds good until Jesus places His finger on you and says, “How about there?” To say it sounds like there are no boundaries, borders, or restrictions; it sounds like you’re all in! This is the kind of confession which gets great applause at the end of a service.
* But in practice what if He says, I want you to change your location, move out of Hueytown, and move to Alaska because there is a mission I have for you there? (How about Alabaster)
* How about “I want you to leave the comfort of your Sunday school class to start another class that can reach people your present class will never reach?
* What if God were to simply say, “I want you to change your schedule & priorities and be a part of God’s work on Sunday nights, Monday nights, or Wednesday nights?
* Did you notice the one commonality in all of these questions? It is that God calls us to ‘change’ something. Candidly, some have heard these questions and said, “So much for whatever.” The bad news is that to those who react this way, our Lord may well respond, “So much for your being a follower.” One of the things we have lost sight of is this: Jesus calls us and He knows our response at the ‘heart-level.’ If Jesus allowed the Rich Young ruler to walk away, He will allow anyone to walk away. His calling is without repentance.
2. Will you go with Jesus ‘whenever?’ – In verses 59-60 we hear Jesus extending the same call to a man that he gave to the disciples. It is the same calls that He gives to you and me. It is the call of “Follow Me.” When Jesus extends this call, He calls you now, today, and this minute. I cannot recall one instance when Jesus said, ‘Follow me–but wait until tomorrow.’ There is always a sense of urgency in the call of Christ because tomorrow is guaranteed to no one! A review of the last 6 years of our small community reveals that death & disability is no respecter of person. You can ‘think’ you have plenty of time, but you don’t.
* The words ‘follow me’ are simple to say and hear, but they can be difficult to do. Have you ever considered that we don’t know this man’s name because He didn’t follow Christ? Had he simply said, “yes” would we be reading about 13 disciples instead of 12? Jesus said to the fishermen, tax-collectors, and the rest “Follow Me” and scripture says they “immediately” left their boats and tables to follow Him. Will you or do you follow Him now?
* I don’t know what your reason (or excuse) is, but this man seemed to have a valid excuse for his delayed response. After all, what would have been wrong with going to the funeral, burying his dad, and then following Jesus? Grasp the good, the bad, and the ugly of this.
* The good would be his first word, “Lord.” He recognized who & what Jesus was.
* The bad is found in the second word, “First.” This is not the response that our Lord is pleased with or will accept. “Lord” – that’s good, but “First” (bad) which means before you I am going to do this. You may not like or want to hear this truth, but it is still the truth: God doesn’t request first place in the life of a follower, He requires. The 1st & 2nd commands are “You will have NO other gods BEFORE ME & you’ll not have an idol because I am the Lord your God and I am a jealous God.” Our Lord says, “First.” He says, “NOW.”
* The ugly of this man’s response is found in the fact that his dad was most likely not dead. As one preacher put it, “outside of a bum knee or aching back, his dad was probably healthy.” Here is the take-away, Jesus didn’t say, “I understand – do what you go to do – your family comes first.” Jesus’ response gives us an idea of what He really believes about our excuses.
* Fans generally believe that a half-hearted, lukewarm relationship to Jesus is okay today, because ‘one day’ or ‘tomorrow’ I’ll go all in. By the way, if you said ‘tomorrow’ or ‘one day’ yesterday or last week, in the words of scripture, “Today is the day.”
* For Years we have sung, “Jesus is tenderly calling thee home, calling today.” He calls today, about today, for today, and tomorrow is not in the conversation. His invitation has an RSVP on it – with the date of response being TODAY. Will you respond ‘whenever’, today?
* Today, not tomorrow – surrender your secret sin, be generous to someone in need, speak to your neighbor, be involved in your ministry or mission, Bible Study or come to Him in faith.
3. Will you go with Jesus ‘whatever?’ – The third man in our text resembles the second man except that he seems to be a volunteer. He wants to follow Jesus but he doesn’t want to go right now – he wants to say good-by to his family. While this seems harmless enough, in the culture, this could have been several months or parties and gatherings.
* To read Jesus’ response is to sense that He might be aggravated or annoyed by the man’s words. You see, the man wanted to follow and go – but Jesus wasn’t that top priority in his life. Jesus’ words are stern, “He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back isn’t fit for the Kingdom of God.” Jesus paints an agricultural picture which all could envision of the one plowing the ox, cows, or horses, and while plowing looks back. Here’s the deal; you do this, you have the ability to mess up the entire garden.
* Looking back always causes problems because it takes your attention away from what lies ahead of you. Try to drive a car, boat, plow, or your spiritual life forward while looking back and you’ll get in a mess. Thinking about this it occurs to me that we tend to go toward whatever we are ‘looking at’. When we look at something else other than Jesus, we are distracted. Most of the time we are distracted by things what we are putting above Him. We aren’t willing to go ‘all in’ with Him–because our ‘whatever’ is more important than him. Fans say to Jesus, “I’ll give you anything & everything.” So He points at that one thing which is your distraction and He asked, “What about that?” For the Rich Young Ruler, it was His wealth, for these last two men, it was their family; what is it for you?
* What is it that you refuse to give to Jesus? The story is told of the strange baptismal practices among the “Knights of Templar.” They would carry their swords into the water with them BUT when they were put UNDER the water, they would hold their sword up out of the water. Why? It was their way of saying, “Lord you can have all of me EXCEPT my sword. When on the battlefield, how I use this sword and what I do with it this sword is not under your control – I have it.” What are you holding on to and out of the baptismal waters? Your remote control, your laptop, your schedule, or your wallet?
* I remember a testimony (many years ago) about a man getting baptized – and forgot to take his wallet out of his pocket. His testimony was that while he forgot to remove his wallet, it was a great symbol that God got his wallet with his entire being.
* Do you why Jesus is so adamant about His followers ‘baptizing’ everything to Him? It is because ‘anything’ not given to Him has the power to replace Him in your life. When fans do this, they become like the Children of Israel who replaced God with a bronze calf and they worship and serve the created rather than the creator.
* These men chose family over Jesus. You might think this makes him a ‘great family man’, but what kind of family man dares to put his family where God belongs?
* William Borden was born in the late 1800 as an heir to a multi-million dollar inheritance which was made in the dairy business. He graduated from Yale and Princeton and was set to take his place in the family business. Yet, he chose to follow Christ. He left his millions & followed Christ’s call to an unreached Muslim people group. The story: upon graduating from H.S. his parents sent on a tour of the world. On this trip God call him to reach out to the lost people who had never heard the Good News of Jesus. He wrote home telling his parents he was giving his life to Jesus & mission. On that trip he wrote two words in his Bible: NO RESERVE! Before going, William’s dad insisted he enroll at Yale. During the course of 4 years, he began a Bible Study which saw 1,000 students involved by his senior year. His journal would read, “Say no to self & yes to Jesus every time.” During his Yale years, William’s dad died leaving him a significant fortune. Graduating from Yale, he wrote 2 more words in his Bible; NO RETREAT! Before going to China – he went to Egypt for language study and there he caught spinal meningitis. He died there one month later never arriving on the mission field. After his death three couplets were found in his bible; No Reserve, No Retreat, and No Regret. This is the life of a follower.
* The life of a fan is a life of ‘what-ifs.” What if I had sold out, done this, or responded there?
* So my last question is this:
4. Will you go with Jesus? – He is calling you. He is calling you to go with Him to a place you do not know. For some of you, He calls you to move from being a Fan to being a Follower. Being a ‘Fan’ is a sitting and a spectator position – a ‘Follower’ requires you to get up & take action. The action to which He calls you is different for every person.
* Some today need to get up and come to Jesus at the cross. You cannot follow Jesus if you refuse to come by the way of the cross. Jesus died on the cross in your place, for your sin, and for your soul’s salvation. The cross is a place of death & you may need a funeral.
* Some need to get up and come to Jesus at the altar. On the altar you can place your ‘whatever’. You whatever is this: whatever you are withholding from Him. It can be your family, your money, your schedule, your entertainment choices, your private life, your attitude, your talents, or _____ - you fill in the blank.
* Part of the reason many in this room will not ‘come’ has been seen in these three men. You are simply not willing to follow Him wherever, whenever, and no matter whatever. However, some will not make a decision to move from being a fan to a follower because your personal GPS is broken. What ?
* When I use my GPS, I put in the place that I want to go. The GPS asks an important question which, in essence says: “Do you want to go from your present location?”
* If we are to ever get to the place of being a ‘follower’ of Jesus from being a ‘fan’, we have to know where we are at present. This could be the most painful part of the journey.
* A closing story from Vance Havner. “As a boy, a friend used to go with his granddad on excursions. One day grand said, “You want to go with me?” And the boy said, “Where?” So granddad left & later said, “If you wanted to go with me, it wouldn’t have mattered?”
