Follow
Notes
Transcript
Follow means Serve
Follow means Serve
We have started a new series called FOLLOW and last week we wanted to lay the foundation that the way JESUS’ life intersects with ours is an invitation, not in a set of facts, but in a person who is the messiah....
We have fleshed hat out a bit....we talked for a bit about this....Die to self, it means sacrifice. It means WALKING IN NEW LIFE…it means picking our cross.... It’s remarkably hard…doesn't seem like if you were planting a church…thats’ where you start....?
THEY FOLLOW....
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Now we are so removed…but how would you react.... You’ve heard of Jesus.
You have heard, at least as a child....and maybe in the synagogue that there was a decedent of DAVID....a promised KING who would be a prince of peace, mighty God.
And so you…come. What are you thinking…you right now? If you take a moment and see that…that’s really at the heart of THE QUESTION WHY WOULD YOU FOLLOW?
I want you to see this...
Many, many people followed Jesus. These people were from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judea, and the area across the Jordan River, throughout SYRIA.
Why? I am going to come back to that… But I so misunderstood who JESUS is and what He is up to 20 years ago…
Because there is a tendency to miss what’s so amazing because all we know is what we know…and IS IT COMPELLING ENOUGH TO FOLLOW.... (know the truth and the truth will set you free).
I am not the first to acknowledge this....some call it TMD (its not a compelling vision of CHRIST)..
LET ME SHOW YOU… 20 years ago…I certainly fell into this understanding.
ILLUSTRATION.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
Look whats going on...
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them.
Here’s the message…I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THAT BY MY POWER and because of who I AM and what I do…I am healing, restoring, renewing EVERYTHING.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
SO here’s what JESUS SAYING.... The KINGDOM…is HERE.
Healing exists
Joy is the sentiment
Relationships are restored
The least of these are healed and brought into the KINGDOM
In essence, I AM RANSOMING YOU TO A NEW AND FREE LIFE
That’s why they follow HIM...
FOLLOWING MEANS a NEW LIFE....
All of these find there completion at the cross… So I want to talk about this....
CROSS, FOLLOWING = SERVING
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So I will start at the end and back into this text.
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1. He came to give his life a ransom
It’s extremely important. Usually when you see this Greek word translated in the New Testament, it’s usually translated redeemed. It’s the same word. It comes from the Greek word, lytron, lyō, which means to loosen, which always has meant throughout history to unchain somebody, but more specifically a ransom is buying a person out of captivity. Think about what a ransom is. If someone has been kidnapped and the kidnapper sent a note that says, “We will return your child if you give us $100,000 ransom,” what does that mean? It means the child is in captivity, and they will only be freed through a terribly costly exchange.
A. WE are in BONDAGE
B. He is going to pay the price… in order to rescue us...
FROM, FROM , TO, FOR...
That is a tough thing for people. Lots of people will say, “Yes, I know I’m not totally happy. I know I’m not very religious. I know I don’t believe what you believe,” but they would say, “I’m not in bondage. I’m a free person.” The Bible would retort no one is more a prisoner than the one who doesn’t even know he or she is a prisoner. To put it another way, anyone who doesn’t know he or she is a prisoner is the most complete prisoner of all.
The Bible says, regardless of what you think or how you feel, you’re in bondage. If you don’t know you’re in bondage, it proves you really are in bondage. I mean, it’s one thing for someone to have tied you up, and there you are struggling. You know you’re in bondage. You know you’re in bonds. It’s another thing for someone to have knocked you out and tied you up. You’re completely overcome. You don’t even know you’re in bonds. The person who doesn’t know they are in bondage is the most complete prisoner of all.
“I came to ransom you,” is he means we are captive to bad masters, to tyrants. We are under oppression to terrible masters. What are those masters? I can only name some of them very briefly. The Bible says one of them is that sin creates all these slaveries, these captivities. We’re all slaves to Self, capital “S.” It says in 2 Timothy 3, we are “… lovers of self …” That’s not talking about the healthy confidence. It’s talking about the terrible bondage that comes to one degree or another with all of us because we put the self in the center.
Do you know what kind of bondage comes from that? If you are always looking at yourself … The self is a terrible taskmaster because you’re always feeling hurt, because you’re always comparing yourself with other people, or because you always feel you’re being shunned. You always feel like someone is not treating you properly. You always feel you’re on the outside. These are the marks of the bondage of the self, because you’re looking at yourself. What ends up happening is the great business of your life, whether you know it or not, is the self-protection, protecting the hypersensitive self which is in the center. That’s a bondage.
There is another kind of bondage, the Bible says sin creates, and that is unless Jesus is your Master, your Supreme Lord, you’re not only in bondage to yourself; you’re in bondage to idols.
What are you out there doing, worried because somebody snubbed you, worried because somebody has ignored you, worried because somebody didn’t ask you out? Here is all the honor an ego could possibly want in a hundred lifetimes. The Father and the Son looked at you, and they said, “This is the only way. I will take the cup.”
You’re free from yourself if you understand the cross. You’re free from idols if you understand the cross, and you’re free ultimately and completely from the law and your conscience, because what he did was absolutely thoroughgoing. You’re accepted. Jesus is your friend, your King, your Shepherd, your brother, and the Father accepts you as perfect in him. Your sins are wiped out. If all this is true … If you really have been completely released from self, you’ve been ransomed, you’re out of that relationship …
The old relationship to yourself; it’s gone. Your old relationship to idols, things you used to have to have to be happy. You’re out of the old relationship with the Law. I mean, the Law is still there. You still obey the Law. Of course, you do. The Law says, “Don’t murder,” so you don’t murder. The Law says, “Love,” so you love. Of course, you still obey the Law, but your relationship to it is utterly changed forever. It can’t condemn you anymore. You know when you fall down you are in a relationship with a Father who accepts you.
Do you know what that does? It makes you servants. It changes your attitude toward yourself so you’re not selfish. You don’t need to be. It changes your attitude toward the world. No longer are you afraid of it; you now are able to serve it. That’s why Jesus says, “If you want to be the greatest be like me.” There is an interesting little two-step Jesus does, because in verse 38 he seems to say, “You can’t take my cup.” Right? He says, “The reason I’m going to be great in the kingdom is because I’m taking the cup. I’ve come not to be served but to serve and to take the wrath of God for you.”
In verse 38, he says, “You can’t do that. You can’t take the wrath of God.” That’s his rhetorical question, but in verse 39, he says, “You will take that.” What does that mean? It’s fairly simple, but so profound. He’s saying, “You can’t serve the way I served. You don’t suffer the wrath of God. You don’t take the big cup, but you will find if you let me serve you, infallibly you will become a servant. If you let me love you infallibly you become more loving than ever. You’ll go out in the world as a servant.” Why? It’s pretty simple. When you are bought out of captivity you’re still in bonds, but you’re in bonds of love.
So let me tell you what we are asking....
