Why Follow Jesus

All of us have a concept of God

What he expects from us

What we can expect from him

What our life as Christians should be like

We emphasis the parts of God from scripture that we like and easily understand and create God around that.

Pentecostals have a high expectation of miracles and supernatural intervention in their life by God

Baptists maybe don’t expect miracles but more wisdom about how to live right

Catholics maybe have a far less intimate understanding of God, more separate from us

We all have different expectations around our concept of God

Life’s experiences gradually teach us what walking with God is really like....and often we do not like it

Everyone who has walked with Jesus for any length of time has experienced God not working like we expected

A prayer not being answered

A loss that was not expected

A change we did not expect

An experience we never expected to go through

In some cases it causes people to walk away from the faith

Jesus talking about the different kinds of faith experiences with God.....

Matthew 13:21–22 NLT

But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.

They fall away as soon as they have problems

Why?

2 reasons are possible:

1)As long as it was an “ I get” from God relationship, everything is fine

Once it starts costing:

Trust

Patience

Discomfort

Things change drastically

Marriages are suffering the same consequences of selfishness

2) A wrong understanding of God and the Christian life

Being taught that God promises:

All problems solved

All wants and desires met

Answers to all our questions

Christian preachers need to be very careful about the type of God they proclaim

I believe God heals…but he does not do it all the time

I believe God answers prayers…but not always the way we expect or when we expect

I believe God loves me.....but his idea of love may not be mine (discipline-character-teaching)

What makes me happy may not be what makes me better

Getting what we want may not be what is best for us.

Jesus faced people leaving him because he was not who THEY thought he would be

Jesus was describing how you had to drink his blood and eat his flesh

Alluding to his being the atoning sacrifice for sin in the world

John 6:66–69 NLT

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter said something very important here:

You have the words that give eternal life.

He did not say…The good life

The healthy wealthy life

Peter’s realized the most important element of Jesus’s message…eternal Life

Jesus’s purpose in coming was this:

John 3:16 NLT

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus did not come just to:

cure all our diseases

pay all our bills

provide all our comforts

Jesus came because all of humanity needed atonement for their sins....why?

Because though the world does not believe it, there is a judgement coming

(if this was not so - why did God send Jesus?)

God loves you and I and does not want you and I to face that judgement

When our devotion to Christ becomes more about what he does for us here instead of there....disappointment happens

The Jews wanted someone to come and restore Israel

Acts 1:6 NLT

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

Everyone had their own idea of what Jesus was here to do

But Isaiah prophesied Jesus’ purpose

Isaiah 53:5–6 NLT

But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

Most of our problems we suffer in life are not because of anything God is not doing for us

It is because we are living or responding to life in a manner contrary to scripture

Scripture is full of directions about how to live your best life..(not easiest life)

How to handle your enemy -

forgive and love and serve

How to handle your finances-

generous to others and don’t spend it all on yourself

How to handle your marriage

Love & respect

How to be a good citizen

Obey laws and don’t be gossips and work for a living

If we are not consuming scripture and learning from God’s word....when trouble comes we fall apart

Matthew 7:24–27 NLT

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

We need to listen to Jesus’s teachings........and follow what they say.

Scripture teaches us how to handle life’s trials