Fine Print of Following Jesus

Intro

The name of this series is follow, and we’ve been asking the question: what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus, and we’ve been looking at narratives in M M L J, where Jesus invited people to follow him or talked to people about what it meant to follow. We’ve answered the question: if you’re going to follow Jesus where does it lead? Last week we asked the question what are you supposed to wear. And so, today, I want to give you the fine print. In every contract there’s always the fine print and as we talked about throughout this series, there are a lot of advantages to following Jesus, that’s what tis has been a bout, but as everyone discovers at some point along the way, there’s a price to pay. It’s gonna cost you something to follow Jesus. And that’s where we discover who’s we really are. In that moment where we discover am I really a follower, or am I simply a consumer. And so today, I’m gonna take you to a passage of scripture, it’s mark chapter 8. In , Jesus realizes that the people who’ve been following him have kinda just been along for the ride. They’re not really followers, they’re just consumers, and he does a little teaching where he opens the door to some big life questions that I want us to wrestle with this morning. As we look at the fine print and realize there’s benefits to following Jesus, I mean huge benefits to following Jesus, there’s you’re gonna be a better student, better people, more loving, more forgiving, more others oriented, you’ll be fearless, and you’ll have a foundation that can’t fall apart.

Last week we talked about if you’re going to be a jesus follower, what should you wear?

The name of this series is follow, and we’ve been asking the question: what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus, and we’ve been looking at narratives in M M L J, where Jesus invited people to follow him or talked to people about what it meant to follow. We’ve answered the question: if you’re going to follow Jesus where does it lead? Last week we asked the question what are you supposed to wear. And so, today, I want to give you the fine print. Sin every contract there’s always the fine print and as we talked about throughout this series, there are a lot of advantages to following Jesus, that’s what tis has been a bout, but as everyone discovers at some point along the way, there’s a price to pay. It’s gonna cost you something to follow Jesus. And that’s where we discover who’s we really are. In that moment where we discover am I really a follower, or am I simply a consumer. And so today, I’m gonna take you to a passage of scripture, it’s mark chapter 8. In , Jesus realizes that the people who’ve been following him have kinda just been along for the ride. They’re not really followers, they’re just consumers, and he does a little teaching where he opens the door to some big life questions that I want us to wrestle with this morning. As we look at the fine print and realize there’s benefits to following Jesus, I mean huge benefits to following Jesus, there’s you’re gonna be a better student, better people, more loving, more forgiving, more others oriented, you’ll be fearless, and you’ll have a foundation that can’t fall apart.

Jesus even said, if you obey what I teach, you’re like a person who builds their house on a rock, if you don’t obey what I teach you’re like a person who builds their house on the sand. And you’ve seen this. You’ve most likely seen people who have extraordinary faith in jesus, people who really follow jesus, and because they have such firm faith and a firm foundation, they’re able to withstand all kinds of things. And so, there’s huge benefits to following Jesus, but, at some point a long they way, there’s a price to pay. And it’s this point in Jesus explains to his followers what this is kinda going to look like.

So, starting in verse 27; Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked them “Who do people say I am?” I asked this question one time. I was like, hey, what do people think about me, and immediately everyone got kind of quiet.. i was like, hmmm, this was not a good questions…. then they went in “John, you’re too sarcastic, John you avoid serious conversations and you hide behind your humor, they went on and on and I was like damn, I really shouldn’t have asked this. So, if you’re ever brave enough to ask this question, be ready for the response.

But Jesus knew there was a buzz about what ’s going on, so he says hey what are people saying about me, who do they say I am?

They replied, some say John the Baptist - now at this point JTB had been beheaded and people thought he might have come back to life in the form of Jesus - others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets. Then Jesus says, but what about you? Who do you say that I am? And immediately Peter raises his hand, “Oh I know I know, pick me Jesus.” And Peter says “You are the Messiah.” Now Messiah is a Jewish term, the greek term is Christ, some of you though Christ was Jesus’ last name, not true, you should know that, if you didn’t now you can tell your parents you learned something this morning, Christ and messiah mean anointed one, and the ancient Jewish people were waiting for God to send his anointed one, and Peter goes I know who you are, , you’re the one we’ve been waiting for, you’re the anointed one. Like Peter is pumped. He’s getting to see everything unfold right in front of him, and he’s some random dude that Jesus picked to follow him, and he’s probably thinking, Here we go, messiah is here, I’m mad close with him, like lets do this thing. And then, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. In other words, you got it right peter, now hush. It’s not the right time to tell everyone exactly who I am.

So once he identified himself with this closest followers, he begins to tell them, hey there may be a price to pay for following me.

He then began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many thins and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and worse, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter, who just recognized Jesus as the messiah and the son of the living god, peter, took him aside and began to rebuke him. Now, get a look at this picture, so he’s telling his closest followers: here’s what’s gonna happen, things are going to get tough, you’re falling me now, I hope you’ll continue following me, and Peter’s like Jesus, hold on a second, he pulls him out of the crowd, Jesus come here: Look man, don’t start going negative on us. Things are good, look at the crowd, you’re famous, I’m kind of famous, and look at John, he’s not quite as famous as me, but look, things are going well, you’re not gonna get killed. You’re the Messiah. Hey, remember that storm, and you said hey storm chill out and the wind and the waves listen to you, the weather obeyed you, how are you going be killed? Now, let’s go back and talk about prayer or love, yeah, bring up love again, we like that Jesus, but no more of this negative death and dying stuff.

But, When Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he did what peter did, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me Satan?” he said. Yikes. Those are some harsh words. Listen to why he was so harsh -He says “you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Now this is a big verse for a lot of us. He kind of calls Peter out and he says “Peter let’s just be honest, you’ve enjoyed following me, right? Everyone knows Peter the fisherman, it’s good to follow me, but Peter, you’re acting like a consumer, not a follower, I want you to be my follower, which means when I go somewhere that’s not as pleasurable, or when I go somewhere that might cost you something, I want to know that you’re with me, and the reason I’m rebuking you is because you just exposed something. You’re not concerned about what’s going to happen to me, you’re concerned about what’s going to happen to you. because of what might happen to me. And then Jesus decided to use this as a teaching moment, not just for he apostles, but for everyone. Here he reveals the fine print:

Then he called the crowd (remember there’s a crowd following him) to him along with his disciples and then he began to teach:

Alright everyone, y’all join us, everyone sit down. Apostles come up front, y’all really need this, Peter front and center you definitely need to hear this.

And then he reveals to them what it’s gonna mean from this point on what it means to follow him. This is a literal physical, eyeball to eyeball conversation with Jesus. What Jesus says to them is absolutely literal because what is literally about to happen to him: he’s about to go to Jerusalem, be literally tried, then convicted and then literally crucified, and if you follow too closely behind the person, you might be arrested tried and crucified as well, you might be seen as someone who’s a part fo that group. Now, here’s the good news for you and for me. That won’t happen to us. No matter how closely you follow Jesus, you won’t be crucified. You might have to make some difficult decisions, but nothing like what these guys were about to have to face. So listen to what Jesus has to say:

Whoever wants to be my disciple (which means follower) must deny themselves and take up their ( and this scared them to death ) and take up their cross and there’s our word, and follow me. In other words, iwhoever wants to really be my disciple, who ever wants to really be a follower, not be a consumer ( i like to follow Jesus cause it’s cool, i like to follow jesus because I’m a better person), that’s good, there are huge benefits to following Jesus. He says if you really want to be my disciple, my follower, from time to time you’re going to have to deny yourself. Now, that’s not like some big theological scary thing. You do this all the time. You get home form school, there’s an exam tomorrow, and you sit down on the couch, open up your lap top and go to that new anime show or that new K drama and you’re about to hit play, but you think wait, I’ve got an exam tomorrow, I’m going to deny myself, and you close the lap to and go study. or, if you’re me, you watch ten episodes in a row and panic. But that’s what it means, to deny yourself means you say no to you. There’s something I want but I don’t think that’s bet for me so I say no to me. I have two options 1 would be fun, but the other is more beneficial or healthy, so I say no to me.

So we know what it means to deny ourselves. And Jesus says there’s going to be a time, there’s going to be moments, crossroads, intersections, points of tension, where what I want for you and what you want for you are different. And in that moment you’re going to have to decide if you’re going to be a consumer or a follower. And in that moment you’re going to have to deny yourself, you’re going to have to say no to you in order to follow me.

And then he looks at this crowd and goes, I want you to know where this is going. I don’t want you to be surprised. If you follow me form this point forward, you better mentally strap on the idea that you’re going to have to take up a cross. Now, when we think cross we think jewelry, or a filtered picture, or a movie where yeah it’s kind of gory, but you can watch it. You’ve never smelled it, or seen it, and If I gave graphic descriptions of what happens to a body, some of you’d have to leave the room. But it’s all kind of glorified or romanticized in church today, but the group sitting there in front of Jesus that day had passed by many crosses because Rome left them there for a long time to terrify people into submission. It was a horrible way to die. And Jesus says “you need to understand. If you’re going to follow me from this point on, it may cost you something.” You are going to have to deny yourself. Now, you can imagine:they are scared to death. Some people in the crowd are probably okay, this is where I say goodby. This has been great, the whole miracle things were cool, and you fed everyone, and you walked on water which was neat, like this has been a wild time Jesus, but now you’re saying it’s gonna cost us something and I’m not so sure following you is gonna be worth it from now on. And Jesus knows their hearts. He knows my heart and your heart. I mean you’re middle and high school students. You’ve got your whole lives ahead of you and so you might be thinking, Okay, maybe I should start following Jesus when I’m 60. What kind of trouble could I get into then. Those are logical thoughts. I get that. Shoot, I thought that for a while. It costs a lot to follow Jesus. It’s not that you don’t believe. It’s just you don’t want to say no to you. I get it. Jesus gets it. And so he’s looking at this crowd who’s just like us. And Jesus is like “Okay, before you leave, before you get all freaked out and worried, let me put the invitation to follow me in a broader context. And this next thing he says is so brilliant. Like, I would never think of this. I would never think of a saying so deep and rich and powerful.

Here’s what Jesus says to this crowd who’s wondering if it’s really worth it to follow him. Look at what he says:

For whoever wants to save their life…

That’s me. Would you like to save your life? Like, this is all of us. It’s why you work so hard, study so hard, it’s why you take care of yourself and eat healthy and work out. Do you want to save your life? Yes! Of course.

Jesus is brilliant here, he says something that everyone in the audience is like yep, I’m with you.

Whoever wants to save their lives will lose it. hmmmm. that’s right. No matter what I eat. No matter how hard I work, no matter where I go to college, not matter what career I end up in, no matter how many bad habits I break, no matter how hard I work to save my life, one day I’m gonna lose it. Okay, Jesus, we’re with you. And he continues

but, whoever loses their life for me, whoever loses their life (that’s everybody) but whoever chooses to follow me and in the process of following me loses their life that their gonna lose any way, loses something of value that they’re gonna lose anyway, loses a relationship that’s gonna end any way, loses anything in life that they embrace and think this is what life’s all about, Jesus says anyone who loses what they consider life because they chose to follow me, and for the sake fo the gospel, will save it. Whaaat?? He goes yeah, I know I’m scaring you, i just need you to know the end game: the life you’re trying to save you’re gonna to lose, but wow if you follow me, and you lose your life, or whatever life is to you, if you follow me and you lose that opportunity, if you follow me and you lose that relationship, if you follow me and you lose something that you consider valuable, I just want you to know, you were going to lose it anyway, but if you lose it for me, if you lose it because you decided to follow me and there was a fork in the rode and you had to say no to you and yes to me, I’m telling you, you’re saving your life. What seems like a loss is no loss at all bec whatever it is you lose you’re going to lose it anyway, I’m giving you an opportunity to lose it with a purpose and meaning attached to it. wow.

And he’s not even done look at this:

What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit (means have to pay, give up, trade in, lose) your soul?

He’s saying, let’s imagine you have everything, everything, every opportunity, every person, everything that we think we want and need, imagine iyou had everything and think about this: What good it be if you had whatever the whole world is for you, what good is it for you to gain the whole world, and then at the end of the life your trying to save that we all lose, what if at the end, and you had a good life, the best life, the greatest awesomest hugest life, but what if at the end of that life you can’t hold on to, you forfeited, gave up, traded in , your soul?

Now, if you don’t believe that there’s a soul, that’s okay, most people Jesus was speaking to in his Jewish community probably believed that too. There was a group called the Saduccees, and they believed that once you died, that’s it. You’re here for the pleasure of God, and once you die, that’s it. All over. Nothing else. That’s why they were Sad You See. aiiiieee

So, the Sad taught that there was no resurrection and no life after death, and the reason they believe the is because if you take the Old Testament, you don’t find anything about heaven. There no teaching about, there’s no explanation of how to get there, the whole OT was written as if once you died, that was it. Then this group of people came along and they started thinking and teaching that there might be and after life, and then Jesus came along, and said, you’re right. There is a heaven. And your soul, and interestingly, 97% of americans believe in the soul, so most people believe there’s an afterlife, Jesus beloved there’s an afterlife, and he says, what if, at the end of the most awesome life imaginable, you realized that by living this incredible life, you forfeited eternity. You forfeited your soul. Now what does it mean to forfeit your soul? He doesn’t tell us, but I think its not good to forfeit your should. maybe it means you’re out of business, you just go out of existence, maybe it means hell, idk he doesn’t tell us, but what if you knew that holding on to this idea of this most amazing life that you’re going to lose means that you forfeit your soul, how would you respond? and as they’re think gin bout it, he continues

Or what can (or what would) you give in exchange for your soul?

He’s saying let’s think about it this way: What if you’re at the end of your awesome life, and you’ve got massive possessions, everything you could possible want, but you’re at the end of your life, and it all of a sudden dawns on you, and you realize omg I’m about to go into an eternity where I’ve forfeited my soul, and Jesus asks, what would you trade so that you don’t have to forfeit your soul? What would you trade so that you can get your soul back? And everyone knows the answer to that question You would trade EVERYTHING. You’d trade all, you wouldn’t negotiate. You’d give everthing away because you’re doing to lose it anyway.

And in that moment Jesus answers both questions: What good is it for you to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul? it’s not good, and what would you exchange for your soul? Everything

To which Jesus says, look what you’ve just discovered about yourself.

My Soul > My Things

You just discovered that you consider your soul of greater worth than all your posessions. You consider your soul of greater value than anyone you might ever know or have a relationship with. You consider your soul of such great value that there are scenarios under which you would trade all of your things and potential things in order to save your soul.

That’s a remarkable life changing discovery.

And so the people are hearing this and they’re saying oh my gosh, so youre telling us, even if we have to deny ourself to follow you, that even if we have to deny ourselves in order to be your follower, that whatever we give up to follow you we were gonna have to give it up anyway cause you can’t take it with you and we’re all gonna have to give it up eventually, but you’re saying we have an opportunity to five it up in such a way that impact the destination and shape and future of our souls? You’re saying that this isn’t as big of a sacrifice as you made it sound like to begin with? And Jesus says exactly. If you recognize that you value the future of your soul more than anything or anyone on this planet.

But he’s not done. Remember he’s taking to literal people who are about to go in a direction where there lives will be threatened but that not going to happen to us, he says

If any of you are ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation - in other words, as we go forward and someone says to you, hey you’re one of those Jesus followers and you go “na na na, not me, I’m just walking by, I was just there for the miracles, he says if any of you claim to be my follower and then it gets tough and you’re ashamed to be associated with me, the son of man will be ashamed of you, when he comes in his father’s glory and with the holy angels.”

What is that? The bible talks about this, it’s one of those future things where we give an account for our lives, and here’s the encouraging thing: The guys front and center, the guy who heard this and thought, “I’m never gonna be ashamed of you,” who was that?

Peter. I’m not gonna be ashamed of you Jesus!!

Not too long after that, a little girl, you know this, “aren’t you one of those that was with Jesus” Peter: I’ve never heard of him!

He denies Jesus, and you know what Jesus did:

He says Peter, I forgive you, Now, I’m gonna put you in charge of all of it. And Peter died for what he said he saw: A risen savior.

So, what’s the moral of this story? Salvation is free; it costs us nothing

That you become a child of God and it costs you nothing because at the cross Jesus paid that ultimate price for your salvation. Salvation, becoming a Christian, becoming a member of the household of God is absolutely free, you can’t do anything to earn it, salvation is free it costs you’re nothing.

But following Christ in your lifestyle, following Christ in this generous, in this sinful and adulterous generation, following Christ will eventually cost us something.

In other words, at some point in the journey, there’s going to be a conflict of interest and you’re going to have a decision to make, and in that moment you will know that this is the moment we’re talking about today. Because that thing that you feel like you need to do or not do is going to feel like a moral imperative. In other words, it’s not gonna be something that everyone else has to do or not do that everyone around you agrees needs to be done or not done,

it’s that at some point in this journey your conscious will come alive and you’re just gonna know, If I’m gonna be a Jesus follower, I can’t go, I can’t participate, I need to stay, I need to leave, I need not to text back, you’re just gonna no. Its not gonna be a verse or a sermon, you’re just gonna know, OMG this is that moment. This is that moment where eI have to decide if I’m a Jesus consumer or a Jesus follower because yo follow Jesus from this point forward is just gonna cost me something. It’s going to feel like a right or wrong issue for you.

It’s also going to feel like a death.

Because some cases it’ll be a part of your dream. “I always dreamed that some day I would, and you get to that moment and you realize, I have to die to my dream. We get to the place where we finally have the opportunity or the thing that we’ve always wanted, and in your conscious you feel that if you go forward with it, you’ll be turning your back on following Jesus. It’s gonna feel like a death.

But, in the long run, it’s gonna be a defining moment for you. Because if in the long run you decide to say no to you and yes to your savior, you will discover something that you can’t discover any other way. You will discover that in that defining moment, Whose you really are. You’ll discover you’re not just a consumer you’re a follower because you said not to you and yes to him.

And as difficult as this is, as agonizing as it is, as emotional as it is, I wish that, I pray that or all of you. Because in that moment you’ll never be the same.

And, it’s at this point in a sermon like this where the pastor is supposed to tell some encouraging story about how they said no to themselves and yes to Jesus, and it was really hard but really worth it. But, I don’t have this part of the message. Because for so much of my life, I’ve said yes to me and no to Jesus. I’ve been in that moment, I’ve been in that situation where I know that next step is going to be denying myself or deny Jesus, and I’ve usually chosen me. And in that moment, I really enjoyed choosing me. But the aftermath of those moments ruined so many other things in my life. I know what it’s like to choose my own life and what I want in the moment rather than choosing Jesus. It’s great for a time, but that time ends and you’re left picking up the broken pieces of whatever’s left.

When the moment comes you’ll know. You’ll know when the I can’t say yes to me and yes to Jesus, you’ll know. It feels like a death but you’re about to discover whose you really are.

When the moment comes you’ll know and I think you’ll do the right thing.

Salvation is fee and doest cost you antigen

but following Christ will eventually cost you something.

refusing to follow Jesus i think will cost you a lot more.