#Follower

Intro - [thanks and short typical stuff]

Intro - [thanks and short typical stuff]

This week is a special one, because just like all of us - or at the very least - many of us, we are setting goals for this new year. Resolutions. Something that we are determined to get done, or to change about ourselves and our life.

You really don’t have to look far to see that either, do you? You see it on television, at the grocery store, I heard it this past week when I was getting my oil changed. In our homes, at work, there are countless people who have resolved to make some change in their life this year. Including me!

[pic of girl taking selfie at gym with shirt] But for those of you who don’t believe me, just log onto social media. If your feed is anything like mine you have more than ample evidence to show that people are not only making resolutions, some of them - just one week in - are already changed!

All joking aside, we all do that from time to time. We all want the world to know that we have started working out! Or that we are making a change! And listen, I am not only making that change with you, I support and laud you doing that this year! Take those gym selfies fearlessly!

You see, it isn’t about the fact that you want to change, that is a noble and worthwhile effort. No I am talking about the modern sensibility that appearing to change is far more important than ACTUALLY changing!

[toseemratherthantobe]

We desperately want the world to know that we are something, and sometimes we want them to know it whether we are that thing or not!

We live in a world that has long forgotten what it means to quietly work their way through life, becoming all they want to be with hard work and persistence - by the sweat of our brows, the strength of our backs, and the courage in our hearts. It seems like we have replaced that with selfies and status updates. Hastag fitlife...hashtag blessed.

We have forgotten what it means to be, and have settled on the ease that comes with seeming to be.

We advertise what we aren’t while hoping to become what we put little effort into being. After all, why would we? Everyone thinks we have made it, just look at all those likes!

[picofmodernworship] Unfortunately, it isn’t just exercise, or other lifestyle choices that we laud before others. No, our faith, it is on display as well. At least, the faith we want to have is put on display. The faith we think the world needs to see.

We wear the bracelets, and the jewelry. We might even have some Christian shirts that we roll with on weekends. We will say the right phrases, right? Bless your heart! I’m praying for you. God’s got this. Jesus take the wheel. And even on social media, we will present the world with this sort of gym selfie - an image of our faith and life that is at best hopefully expectant and at worst intentionally deceptive.

And either way you slice it - best case or worst - we sometimes convince ourselves that if we just say the right things, and post the right things, and present the world the right image of ourselves, we will be ok. Then we won’t actually have to follow in the footsteps of the Savior we lay claim to.

[picofbrownsfans] You know what that is called, though, don’t you? That is a fan. That is someone who roots for a team, but doesn’t know the players names. Someone who wants to be associated with a team, or an idea, or a social group, or the artist, or the show - whatever - but who doesn’t want to invest the time it takes to truly know whatever that thing is.

They know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to spur them on to try to know more. After all, who has the time for all of that?

[#Follower or Fan] But what about us? What about our faith? I mean, surely we should question our position all the time right? So, as we start together on this new year, dare we ask ourselves the question? Are we a follower of Jesus, or a fan? Do we live a life for Christ on social media, and socially say the right things, or do we lay that down and follow Him? That is our question this year - our theme, the central message in all that will do as a body - and it is one that I hope we will all answer together as we walk this path together.

It isn’t just a question for us today, though. It is the same question that faced those who surrounded Jesus, and those who were fans at the time. And today we read about a moment when Jesus tells His fans what they need to do to become followers.

Mark 10:17–22 ESV

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

-------

Pray

[picofrichyoungruler2] I know that we generally have a single big takeaway from this text today. And rightly so! But for me, and for us here at Faith in 2019, the obvious is less important than the heart of the matter. And that is this simple question:

What must we do?

It seems like an easy question when talking about our health, or other things we resolve to do every year, doesn’t it? I mean, I’m out of shape, so what must I do to get in shape? Exercise, and eat right obviously!

Well I have been exercising! I have been dieting! I have been drinking water and passing by the doughnuts...mostly. And I still don’t look like all those pictures I see in the checkout line at the grocery store!

I mean, I have done it all! So what must I do now to get what I want?

That is the question on the mind of our young ruler here. That is his situation. This man who had done everything that he had been taught to do! I mean, he never murdered anyone! He never stole anything! He didn’t commit adultery or lie about anyone! He did everything right!

[battle of the bulge] Sound familiar? I know it does in my house. When I can’t get the scales to budge I start complaining about how I count my calories and ride for hours on my bike. I mean, I have done everything right! Why am I the same weight?

I have done what I think I need to do, so why don’t I get what I want? Just why don’t I look like Hugh Jackman yet? Or more to the point for us today, when we think like that, when we say those things about our lives, do we ask what this young man asks? Just what does it take to have eternal life?

[socialmedia icons] I can see our rich ruler today. I see him in tweets, and status updates. I can see him settle his soul with his own salvation by proclaiming his fulfillment of the commandments of God to the world! And not just there, church, I can see it everywhere!

As I briefly mentioned earlier, just this past week I had to go to the mechanic to have some work done on my truck. And as I sat there listening to these delightful old men talking, I was struck with the irony of it all. Here they were talking about everything you would imagine: Budgets, Immigration, gun rights, rain, their neighbors that they have told that they would shoot on sight, and their family that they have told to stay away, how the homeless should be killed because they are, and I quote, “taking my air.” All of that, followed up with a heaping helping of, “Thank God I’m saved,” and “I count my blessings every day that Jesus gave me eternal life.”

I kid you not. And honestly, that isn’t even the worst of it. But it is the best version I can offer you without getting really angry.

I will say, though, it was funny to watch them retreat from their lofty perches when they found out I was a pastor.

But church, that is really a mirror for us all. There is truth in there for us! You see, they didn’t get there on their own. Just as our rich young ruler didn’t get there on his own either! Someone has told, or shown them, that if you just say the right things, and occasionally do the right things, you will be ok!

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

1 Sam

But church, this world reads us like a book. And if they can, what makes us think that God can’t? After all, I don’t think that God will be reading our status updates, or tweets when He brings us into His presence! I don’t think all of the good intentions we have in this life will ever be enough to outweigh the willful dismissiveness with which we handle our personal faith!

[] But church, this world reads us like a book. And if they can, what makes us think that God can’t? After all, I don’t think that God will be reading our status updates, or tweets when He brings us into His presence! I don’t think all of the good intentions we have in this life will ever be enough to outweigh the willful dismissiveness with which we handle our personal faith!

Are we a follower or not? Because if we follow God, we don’t need to seem like we follow Him! We don’t need to talk about all the commandments we keep, or show how devout we are online or at school or work! No, that is what fans do!

And, church, that is what Jesus needs for us to hear from this text, because that is what He needed this young man to hear!

[richyoungrulercar] Understand that then, just as now unfortunately, there was a perception that wealth, along with the appearance of devotion to God, meant that you were expressly blessed. A position, by the way, that Jesus constantly preached against throughout the Gospels and His ministry. It isn’t what you have, it isn’t what you say or even occasionally do! It is the absolute condition of your heart. It is those little moments that take your breath away. Those moments that fill your soul and remind you of God’s glory. Those quiet, often solitary moments when God speaks to us and guides us to the selfless truth of His Spirit.

It isn’t your ability to abide by a basic set of rules. It isn’t your attendance at church. It isn’t your fit within a broken society? It’s not the opinion of others! It’s not your wealth!

Mark 10:21 ESV

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Mark [verse 21] You see, you can have all of that, it turns out, and never even be close to God’s ideal for you. Just like this young man. You can have it all, and never even sniff the kingdom of God.

You see, you can have all of that, it turns out, and never even be close to God’s ideal for you. Just like this young man. You can have it all, and never even sniff the kingdom of God.

But there’s good news. He still loves you. Just as He loves this young man, and He knows there is a way to lay down those desires to appear to be Christian, and to instead actually begin to live like a true Christian - a follower and not a fan!

Sell it all! Give it all away!

Does money stop you from following God? Give it away. Does social media convince you that you have to pretend to live life a certain way instead of truly living God’s way? Give it up! Whatever it is that you allow to become the qualifiers and the filter for your faith apart from the words of Jesus Christ must be abolished! It has to be removed from our lives! It is rubbish - utterly worthless to us.

So sell it all. Stop faking it. Stop giving in to society’s idea of faith, and start living real faith!

[followmepic] “Follow Me!” Jesus says.

FOLLOW ME TO THE LAME. TO THE BROKEN. TO THE POOR. TO THE LONELY. FOLLOW ME TO THE WIDOWED AND THE LOST. FOLLOW ME TO THE WILDERNESS. FOLLOW ME AS THEY MOCK ME AND BEAT ME. FOLLOW ME AS THEY HANG ME FROM THE TREE! FOLLOW ME AS THE SIN OF ALL THE WORLD - YOURS AND MINE AND EVERYONE’S - IS LAID BARE AT THE FEET OF THE VERY GOD OF CREATION!

Follow me to the tomb. To my Father’s house. To true life - in this world and the next.

Church, you might look the part following others. You might get most of it right following the agendas of those who claim moral superiority over others. You might think that you are on the right track with the moral majority, but let me tell you, that is a highway to a place you never need go.

No, we have to ask ourselves, are we willing to be a true follower? A follower of Christ alone? Are we willing to sell all that stuff to gain our Savior, or will we bargain with ourselves in the hopes that God will honor a commitment lightly given?

[we are the bibles graham] We must answer that question church. If for no other reason, we must answer it because we are the bibles this world will read. We are the sermons that they need to know the Spirit that calls them, and us, to follow. And if we just fake it, well, we will never know the world as God wants us to know it. And the world will never know God as they need to know Him.

No, it is time to stop faking it, and to start living it. This is the time you have been given! This is your chance to get in the game and live out your call! This is your only opportunity to lay hold of the claim of Christ! The mantle of Christian! A follower of the most high God! This is the only chance, the only life, the only moment, you have been given and will EVER have!

Use it! Make it mean something! Be for this world the very thing needed for your children, and their children! Be a blessing to this world, and do it by simply becoming willing to follow!

Listen, He might call you to sell everything! He might call you to a third world country! But He might call you to the house your are in, and the job you are in! But understand, no matter what He is calling for you to give up, you must be willing to give it up if only to know Him, and the high calling He has in store for all those willing to take up their cross and follow.

Philippians 3:8 ESV

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

[] Count it all loss. And count whatever He offers to you, as gain - for you and this world. [seque to installation...that is the call on two among us today…]

Count it all loss. And count whatever He offers to you, as gain - for you and this world. [segue to installation...that is the call on two among us today…]

Installation

Communion