Fan or Follower?
Scott Bayles, inspired by Kyle Idleman
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 8/10/2014
How many of you know what the letters DTR stand for? I didn’t know what DTR stood for until this week. Now I’m familiar with LOL, OMG, YOLO, and ROFL. But I hadn’t heard DTR before. I actually looked it up on urbandictionary.com. But for a young man in a relationship, these letters strike fear in their hearts. They dread the DTR talk. It makes single men so uncomfortable they will only use the initials DTR. The objective is to postpone, run away, and put off DTR for as long as possible. In fact many men are so afraid of the DTR, they will self-destruct the relationship when they sense the DTR talk is imminent. Now do you want to guess what DTR stands for? D.T.R. stands for Define the Relationship. This is an official talk that takes place at some point in a romantic relationship to determine the level of commitment. You define the relationship and decide where things stand. Is it casual or is it committed? How serious is this relationship and where is it going? And how you feel about the DTR talk is determined by how committed you are to the relationship. If the relationship is one of convenience that you want to keep casual, then you will feel uncomfortable. You might feel anxious, shift in your seat a little bit, or you may even have a fight or flight response.
Some of you may have those same feelings this morning, because we’re going to have a little DTR talk. I want you to define the relationship between you and Jesus. What exactly is your commitment level? Now I’ll warn you that some of you are going to get a little uncomfortable, a little anxious…you may even have a fight or flight response because you kind of like the current arrangement you have with Jesus. He seems like a good guy and you like having something to do on the weekends. For some of you it comes down to this—you want to have a relationship with Jesus with all the benefits but none of the commitment. A no-strings-attached arrangement where you can connect with him from time to time but it doesn’t really mess with your life.
In other words, you want to be a fan of Jesus but not a follower. Kyle Idelman produced a small group Bible study a few years back called Not A Fan. In it, he says a fan is simply defined as an enthusiastic admirer, but not a committed follower. A concern I have with our churches today is that when we gather together I think there is the possibility that instead of a community of followers we are nothing more than a stadium full of fans. We may wear a cross, but we don’t bear the cross. You can come to church, know all the songs, open your Bible and take notes, walk out to your car with a Jesus fish on the bumper and say grace before lunch, but that doesn’t necessarily make you a follower of Christ.
In the first century, Jesus was more popular than the Beetles. Throngs of fervent fans followed him everywhere he went. From town to town, from shore to shore, they would walk miles just to catch a glimpse of him. And Jesus loved them. He showed them compassion and kindness. Luke 9 tells of the time Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 men with just five loaves and two fish. Of course, that’s not counting the women and children. There may have been ten, fifteen, even twenty thousand people stretched across the Galilean beach that night. Jesus had to slip quietly away just to get a few minutes alone to pray. So every so often Jesus would say or do something to thin the herd a little, to determine who in the crowd were followers and who were fans.
In Luke 9 Jesus did that with one simple statement. Jesus said to the crowd, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23 NIV). Jesus was never impressed by the size of the crowd; it’s the commitment level that he cares about. So the question is this: Are you a fan or a follower? I want you to measure your commitment level against this statement to find out. In this challenging verse Jesus gives us three marks or signs of a fully sold out follower. The first one is denial.
• DENIAL
If we focus on just the first part of this challenge, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves…” (Luke 9:23 NIV). Another translation says, “you must turn from your selfish ways” (NLT). Many of us are not genuinely following Christ because we’re too busy looking out for ourselves.
Toward the end of this chapter, Jesus meets some potential followers, who turn out to be nothing more than fans. The first one comes up to Jesus and says, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57 NLT). This guy sure sounds committed. He talks a good game. But Jesus replies, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head” (Luke 9:58 NLT).
Jesus demonstrates that this would-be follower loved comfort more than Christ. And maybe that’s what’s keeping you. The call of Jesus to deny ourselves is in direct conflict with our desire to be comfortable. We are by nature comfort seekers. Have you seen the infomercials on TV for the Snuggie? It’s a blanket with sleeves! Because you can’t be expected to take the blanket off every time you reach for the remote, right? We just keep coming up with stuff to make our lives easier and more comfortable. Many of us are not following Jesus; we’re following comfort. We’ve made comfort our God. It’s what we live for, work for, and sacrifice for. But there’s nothing comfortable about the call to follow Christ.
Jesus challenges us to deny ourselves, to realize it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s all about him! Jesus wants us to stop living self-centered, self-focused lives. He wants us to stop making a big deal about ourselves and start making a big deal about him!
For centuries—millennia even—the prevailing scientific theory was that we earthlings enjoyed center stage. On a clear summer night, a father could place his arm around his son, point to the heavens and proclaim, “The whole universe revolves around us.” But then came Nicholas Copernicus with his maps, drawing, star charts, Polish accent and pesky theories. He pointed a long finger toward the Sun and said, “Behold the center of our solar system.” People denied it for over half a century. When like-minded Galileo came along, they locked him up and kicked him out of the church. People didn’t take well to being demoted back then.
They still don’t.
What Copernicus did for the earth, God does for humanity. Tapping the collective shoulder of mankind, he points to the Son—his Son—and proclaims, “Behold the center of it all.” Life makes so much more sense when Jesus is at the center. So DTR question #1 is this: Are you the center of your world or is Jesus the center of your world? Only one of you can hold that spot. Denial is the first mark of a genuine follower. The second is dedication.
• DEDICATION
Returning to Luke 9:23, Jesus continues, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must… take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23 NLT).
The cross. Can you turn any direction without seeing one? Perched atop a chapel. Carved into a graveyard headstone. Engraved in a ring or suspended on a chain. But Jesus isn’t talking about something you wear, carry in your pocket, or stick on the bumper of your car. In Jesus’ day, the only reason a person picked up a cross is so that they can die on it. Jesus explains in the next verse: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Luke 9:24 NLT). Jesus is saying, “If you want to follow me, you’ve got to be all in.” You don’t take up your cross for an hour on Sunday mornings. You take up your cross daily. It takes complete commitment, total dedication, 100%. Jesus doesn’t want just some of your life; he wants all of your life!
MSNBC recently did a report on the new Vegetarians. Christy Pug, age 28 captured the report, when she said, “I usually eat vegetarian. But I really like Bacon.” She represents a growing number of people who refer to themselves as flexitarians. Most of the time they will refuse to eat meat, but once in a while they make an exception. Christy explains it this way, “I really like vegetarian food, but I’m not 100 percent committed.” Flexitarian is a good way to describe how many people today view their commitments. Flexitarians are committed until it becomes inconvenient and uncomfortable. So when the special is Filet Mignon then our commitments can be adjusted. And that’s the way many Christians approach their commitment to Jesus and Bible. And so they will say, I want to follow Jesus but don’t ask me to forgive the person who hurt me. Don’t ask me to release that bitterness and resentment, I’m not going to let that go. I want to follow Jesus but don’t ask me to give a percentage of my money. I worked hard for that. I’ll follow Jesus but don’t talking to me about my sex life. I love Jesus but this area of my life…when I’m with these friends…when I am at this place…I’m not 100 % committed.
We wear the name Christian and then we pick and choose the teachings of Jesus that we’re going to follow as if the teachings of Scripture were a buffet, where you just take what looks good to you and leave the rest.
Jesus isn’t looking for half-hearted followers. He has no interest in Sunday Christians. Jesus explains that following him is not something you do part-time or half-way. Jesus says it’s all or nothing. Paul knows all about that.
Paul’s life was dramatically changed when he decided to follow Jesus. He describes his life, saying, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT). Now there’s somebody who is all in. Jesus said, “take up your cross daily,” and Paul said, “I’ve been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” That’s the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with you and me. When I die to myself and live for him I find a life that that is truly worth living.
So the second DTR question you’ve got to ask yourself is—who am I living for? The first difference between a fan and a follower is denial, the second is dedication, and the third is direction.
• DIRECTION
Again going back to Jesus’ statement, He concludes, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must… follow me” (Luke 9:23 NLT). This may be the most obvious part of Jesus’ challenge, but it can also be the most difficult. The NIV translates the word follower differently: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must… follow me” (Luke 9:23 NIV).
Outside of a church context we don’t use the word disciple. It’s not a part of our culture and customs. But discipleship was very common in Jesus’ day. Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi, with Jewish disciples, living in a first century Jewish world.
Most Jewish boys or girls around the age of 6 would go to school to learn the Torah and if they excelled as young scholars, they would graduate around the age of 14 or 15. If the student felt called into ministry they would go to a Rabbi and essentially apply to be one of his disciples. Most kids would get turned away. The Rabbi would tell them to return to their family. But a select few would hear the Rabbi say, “Come, follow me.”
So at the age of 14 or 15 you would leave your family, your friends, your village, your synagogue (church), and you would devote your entire life to literally following in the footsteps of your Rabbi, to being like your Rabbi and doing what your Rabbi does. Being a disciple meant not only learning what the Rabbi knows, but learning to do what the Rabbi does—to replicate your Rabbi. That is what it means to be a disciple. The family had a traditional blessing that they would say whenever their son set off to be a disciple; they would say, “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” In other words, “May you follow in the footsteps of your Rabbi so closely that you are covered in the sand kicked up by his sandals.” May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
That is exactly what Jesus is challenging us to do—to follow in his steps, to teach what he taught, to do what he did. Now, obviously Jesus isn’t standing in front of us. We can’t physically follow him the way his early disciples did. That’s why Peter explains “Christ himself... left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21 TEV). That’s why God gave us the Gospels, so we could read them, study them, and discover how Jesus lived and how he loved.
So the last DTR question is—whose footsteps are you following in? When was the last time you were covered in the dust of Jesus’ feet? When was the last time you even asked yourself “What would Jesus do?” Real followers of Christ don’t just love Jesus and talk about Jesus, they learn from Jesus. They live their lives the way he lived his life.
Conclusion
Jesus says that these three things delineate the difference between a fan and a follower: denial, dedication, and direction. Of course, that leaves us with a decision to make. Remember, Jesus started off saying, “If any of you wants to be my follower…” (Luke 9:23 NLT). Right off the bat, before Jesus even finishes his sentence, we’ve got a decision to make.
Do you want to follow Jesus?
In two thousand years, the invitation hasn’t changed. Jesus still says, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” My favorite word in that invitation is ANYONE. No matter what your story, no matter what you’ve done, this is the relationship Jesus wants to have with you. Anyone… Anyone who has ever laid awake in bed and thought I would give anything to undo what I’ve done. Anyone who has looked at themselves in the mirror and said I can’t believe what I have become. Anyone is an all-inclusive term. Anyone means everyone. Anyone means me and anyone means you.
So what’s your decision?
Invitation
Are you ready to have that DTR talk with Jesus now? If so I want to encourage you to do that today. Don’t put it off. Don’t run from it. Talk to Jesus. You can have that talk in the privacy of your own bedroom, or in the car on your way home, or even right here. While the rest of us are standing and singing, you can be sitting and praying. For all of us, following Jesus means following one step at a time. If you need help taking the next step in your relationship with Jesus, whatever step that may be, let me know. Let’s take that next step together.
