There was a time when I dreaded the
calendar. I hated it. Each day that ticked over meant another
deadline…a deadline to pay a bill, to deliver a project, to update the registration
on my car, file my taxes, etc. I often
did not have the money for everything either making those kind of deadlines the
worst.
Now I have learned to appreciate the
calendar. It is a great time to put
things behind me and look forward to new things, new opportunities, new time
for the things that I want and need to do.
The calendar allows a natural barrier to let us review what we have done
before and decide how well that worked for us.
It also allows us to be optimistic about the future. Whether we are speaking about a new day or
a new week or a new year, each one shouts new opportunity.
In our thinking about the new year we
must also review our last year with the Lord and make decisions how we will
follow Him going forward. For many, you
may not know how to do this or even what this means.
The new year gives us a new opportunity
to look at our walk with Jesus. There are many ways in which we skip over
parts of scripture that make us feel uncomfortable or that we simply don’t
understand. Still one of the reasons we
gather with other Christians is to encourage each other in the Words of
scripture. We believe at our church that
the Bible is God’s Word, God speaking to us through these authors across the
centuries in a bold and glorious plan to bring us into relationship eternally
with Him. That means that the whole
Bible is God’s Word and profitable for teaching and correcting and encouraging
people in their walk with God. We cannot disregard what we do not like and
still claim to follow Jesus.
Follow Me
Matthew 4:18-22
Now as Jesus was
walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was 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. 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.
Matthew 10:37-39
"He who loves father or mother
more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me
is not worthy of Me. "And he who does not take his cross and follow after
Me is not worthy of Me. "He who has found his life will lose it, and he
who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 16:21-26
From that time Jesus began to show
His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the
third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God
forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."
But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me,
Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on
God's interests, but man's." Then
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must
deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to
save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find
it. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits
his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matthew 19:20-29
The young man *said to Him, "All these things I have kept; what
am I still lacking?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete,
go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this
statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And
Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of heaven. "Again I say to you, it is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said,
"Then who can be saved?" And looking at them Jesus said to them,
"With people this is impossible, but with God all things are
possible." Then Peter said to Him,
"Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be
for us?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who
have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His
glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel. "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many
times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
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, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." And He said to
another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go
and bury my father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury
their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of
God." Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit
me to say good-bye to those at home." But Jesus said to him, "No one,
after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of
God."
What does it mean to Follow Jesus?
John 5:19
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the
Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in
like manner.
Luke 19:10
"For the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Following Jesus means
doing what He did. Jesus’ number one priority is saving the lost from eternal
destruction into eternal life with Him. He
does this by seeing what the Father is doing and joining into that. We do that by joining into what Jesus is
doing.
Paul said that We are ambassadors
for Christ pleading with people to be reconciled with the Father. (2 Cor 5)
Just as the Fishermen
left their businesses to follow Jesus, following Jesus for us also means
subjecting everything in our lives to His agenda, His plans, His mission.
They came for the food. – The First Jesus
Festival
John 6:22-69
Jesus has fed the
5000 and then taken a boat over to Capernaum.
22
The next day the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that
there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered
with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone.
23 There came other small boats from
Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given
thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that
Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small
boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25
When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him,
"Rabbi, when did You get here?" 26
Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek
Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were
filled.
47 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
48
"I am the bread of life. 49
"Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 "This is the bread which comes
down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 "I am the living bread that came down out
of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread
also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh."
52
Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can
this man give us His flesh to eat?"
53
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
yourselves. 54 "He who eats My
flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last
day. 55 "For My flesh is true food,
and My blood is true drink. 56 "He
who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I
live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.
58 "This is the bread which came
down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread
will live forever."
59
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they
heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to
it?" 61 But Jesus, conscious that
His disciples grumbled at this, said
to them, "Does this cause you to stumble? 62 "What then if you see the Son of Man
ascending to where He was before? 63
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the
words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 "But there are some of you who do not
believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not
believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
65
And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one
can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." 66
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking
with Him anymore.
67
So Jesus said to the twelve,
"You do not want to go away also, do you?" 68
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69
"We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One
of God."
The 12 were ALL In
What did Jesus mean by eating my flesh and drinking my blood? That’s a weird thing to say if he wanted to
attract followers. Don’t you think that
He should try to make it as easy as possible?
Maybe they could bow their heads and raise their hands. Maybe He could ask them to walk the aisle
down to the front or simply pray a prayer.
Instead Jesus made it more difficult.
How? He basically told them that they
must join Him in dying. By eating His
flesh and drinking His Blood, He is calling them to participate in His death
and resurrection. He was cluing them
into the fact that following Him means dying to themselves and living again for
Him. Its extremely radical. He wants His followers to go “All In”.
Have you ever known someone who walked away from Jesus because His words
were too difficult to hear?
Do you know people who continue coming to church and claiming to be a
Christian but who intentionally ignore parts of scripture that they don’t
like?
Does Jesus mean something more when He says “Believe”?
When we say “I believe” don’t we really mean that we agree with certain
information? Some people believe in
global warming. Some do not. Some
believe that abortion is wrong. Others
do not. Some people believe in
evolution. Others not so much.
Some people believe that they will have
another piece of pie.
What does Jesus mean when He says that we should believe?
In the last section we read:
John 6:47 "Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who believes has eternal
life.
Then we have
this in Matthew.
Mat 7:21-27
"Not
everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he
who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter.
"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy
in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many
miracles?' "And then I will
declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.'
"Therefore
everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts
on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the
rock. "And the rain fell, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet
it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. "Everyone who hears these words of Mine
and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the
sand. "The rain fell, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it
fell--and great was its fall."
James 2:17-23
Even so faith, if it has no works, is
dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I
have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith
by my works." You believe that God
is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you
willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son
on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of
the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
"AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.
James is not saying that we are saved by works and neither am I. However, what is being said here is that
agreeing to the information that Jesus is God, is Lord, died for our sins, rose
from the dead and return is not the complete story on believing.
We have this written by Paul
Eph 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a
result of works, so that no one may boast.
James adds that faith is proven
by obedience. Abraham obeys God by
offering his son up on the altar. But Paul also writes in Romans 4 that Abraham
was reckoned as righteous by believing God that he would father a nation through
Him who would bless the world but also by obeying God to move to another land
that God would give to his descendants. If
Abraham had not obeyed that would be proof that he had no faith, that he did
not trust God.
In God’s economy, simply agreeing to information without the obedience
that comes with that is not faith.
Isaiah 29:13
And so the Lord says, "These people say they are Mine. They honor
Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And their worship of Me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”
Doing is
believing. Agreeing in your mind to the
facts of Jesus’ sacrifice and Lordship does not align with what Jesus calls
“belief”. That does not align with what
Jesus means by “Follow Me”.
Believing is doing as
Abraham did…putting everything that you love and value on the altar in favor of
loving God. Believing may be
moving. Believing may be changing jobs.
Believing may be as simple as serving others in a way that God calls you.
Philippians
3:8
More than that, I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but
rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
Jesus powers the “Yes”
We cannot follow Jesus
using our own power or talent or abilities or experience. We are not wired that way to obey and
serve. Jesus gives us the power. Our job is to stay connected, to abide, to
dwell with Him constantly. We get
nourishment and power and wisdom and our
calling from Him when we say "Yes" to Him when we give our lives to Him completely.
John 15:1-8
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every
branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. "You
are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "Abide
in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides
in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine,
you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,
for apart from Me you can do nothing. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he
is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them
into the fire and they are burned. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide
in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. "My Father is
glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
Hard Discipleship Works – “Crossfit”
for The Soul
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
For the love of Christ
controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
and He died for all, so that they who
live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again
on their behalf.
Galatians
2:20
"I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.
Radical….Extreme….no reservations…holding
nothing back
Is it possible that churches everywhere have been
making the decision to follow Christ to be too simple? Is it possible that we have not been
communicating the full cost of becoming a follower of Jesus? Jesus gave it all and asks us to give Him our
complete lives to die to ourselves and live for Him. Belief is action. Faith in God is putting all of God’s
priorities before our own, before our families, before our careers, before our
comfort and leisure. It is not simply
agreeing to a set of facts.
