Follower or Fan?

Intro

If you have your bibles - open to Luke chapter 5

Well, when I was in college I studied German as a minor. and I remember one year, it was the first week of my 200 level german class - meaning I had already taken two semesters of german and so was starting a more advanced class.

Well it was the third day of our class meeting, and when we got in to class we all noticed a new face. Most of us were in the previous level german class and everyone else I recognized from our introductions the first day. But on this day there was a guy who hadnt been to class the first few days.

And so our teacher noticed and looks at him and says , “Hallo, Wie heiss du?” which means hello, what’s your name? a pretty basic question for someone in a 200 level german class. But the guy just looks at him. so the teacher repeats it “wie heiss du?” and the guy still just sits there for a second before he says “huh?” and someone in the class blurtted out, “whats your name” - “oh tyler” he says. then the teacher asks him” woher komst du” which means where are you from, but again no answer just this look of confusion. And I guess he kinda got fed up with being put on the spot like this - becuase he finally said - i’m sorry i dont know any itallian!

at that he quickly stood up, told us to have a good day and ran out of the room as fast as he could

Why do i tell that story? well I think its good to know where you are. Whether its your college classes, or in life - i think it can be easy sometimes to end up in the wrong place - to think you’re somehwere when you’re really not. This kid thought he was in itiallian, but through some examing questions from the professor we realized he wasnt where he thought he was. And it lead to his eventualy exodus from the class.

And what I want to do today during our time and through our texts is help us identify if we’re where we think we are - specifcally in relationship to following Jesus

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so if you’ve been with us the last few weeks you’ll know that we've been in a series examing the life of Jesus leading up to the beginning of his ministry - stories that really dont get taught very often in the pulpit - i havent heard many sermons on the geneology of Jesus. But Trae thank you for walking us through that and showing us that every part of scripture can reveal something about Jesus and the character of God.

So we’re coming off that series, and next week I beleive we’re gonna be starting a series on the 7 I am statements of Jesus - so for the next 7 weeks we’ll be looking at the ministry of Jesus, some of the things he did, and focusing on what he was teaching his followers about himself.

So we’re leaving the preminstiry of Jesus - and we’re about to be in the ministry of Jesus for several weeks - what I wanted to do today is kinda fill the gap.

And I want to do it by asking that question - where are we in relationship to Jesus.

Because, as we study Jesus’ ministry, we’re going to be introduced to a few groups that interact with Jesus while he does his ministry. Most of these groups are familiar to us, first we have the Pharasees. Most of us know them -we kinda picture them as the bad guys in the story right (although we probably resemble them more than we’d like to admit sometimes) - but they were the religious leaders of the days - and they dont always get along with Jesus. -

But theres two other groups of people that appear in our gospels that I want to focus on. And the first is what the gospel writers call “the crowds”

the crowds are people that are going to come hear Jesus speak, come seem him do are or recive healings and miricales and such - they’re checking out this Jesus guy

and the other are “disciples”

so like i said - what i want us to do today is we get ready to listen to the works of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus - I want us to help assess what group we fall in to. Both of these groups listened to Jesus and see his teachings - but their relattionship to Jesus is completely different

So the question I want to answer today is - what makes a disciple distinct from someone in the crowd?

What are the charcterisics or marks of a disciple? And i’ve got 4. So lets ready our primary texts and dive in. Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Luke 5:27–32 (ESV)

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

Marks of a disciple

A disciple has an encounter with Jesus

Luke 5:27 “After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.””

John 6:65 “And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.””

has there been a time where you’ve came face to face with the Son of God?

A disciple responds insurrender

Luke 5:11 “And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

Luke 5:28 “And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.”

Levi straight up quits his job lol

BUTT there are also two stories in Luke where this isnt the response of the people being called. Lets look at them.

Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Luke 18:18-23 “And a ruler 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 commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”

A true disciple bears fruit

Luke 5:10 “And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.””

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

A true disciple abides

John 6:66 “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

John 8:31 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”

John 6:66-69 “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.””