Fan, Player, Trainer, or Assistant…Which Role to Choose?

Behind those folks. And we could see a lot and hear a lot, get engaged a lot. And the fans around us were just as enthusiastic down there as they were up in the stands. It didn’t make any difference. It was a lot of fun.

So you see the title of my sermon today is something about that. Anyway, we’re looking today at Jesus’ second recorded command. And that was follow me. And we see that in Matthew 4, 18 to 22. And walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers.

Simon, who was called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting in that end of the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they immediately 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, and they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.

OK, so this is Jesus’ second recorded command. Follow me. For folks. Now, Jesus had been teaching and preaching in that area and actually all around for quite a while. And he was not infamous.

He was well known. He’d been preaching in the synagogues. So these guys weren’t following some stranger. They were following someone that they saw and they knew. And we see in John 1 that there was some interaction that they had with Jesus prior to this point, because they were actually listening and following John the Baptist as well.

Jesus’ baptism, they interacted with him there. So this wasn’t someone knew that they were following him, because after all, you don’t just follow anybody. And as I look at these guys, Jesus was saying, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now, my first thought was, they likely didn’t go, woo-hoo, fishers of men, count me in. They probably had no clue what that meant.

And they probably didn’t pay attention to that part of this command. So I’m trying to envision myself or any of us today in this world who we would follow like that. There are people and there are people who accomplish things. And most of us would follow someone who was either successful in some venture that we admired them for, whether it be athletics or they were an actor or they were successful in business. Or whatever.

And if they said to us, follow me, come with me and I will make you just like me, give you the success that I’ve had, most people today would follow them to get the results that following them would bring. They probably wouldn’t follow that person because of the character of that person or who that person was. I think it’s just the opposite for Peter and Andrew and James and John. They didn’t know what fishers of men would mean. And they didn’t know Jesus was going to be crucified, but they did think he was the Messiah.

And their ideas about the Messiah was there’s going to be a kingdom set up and they might have some role in that, whatever. So they were following him partly out of curiosity and diversity. And I think that’s important. So I was looking at these verses and as I prepare for these sermons, these messages, I usually go through and I study a lot. And God brings a message and I develop that.

And then he says, wait a minute, not so much on Wednesday, usually. And then I have to come revise it on Sunday. Saturday and put what he really wants. But anyway, I started this study and my first thought was, Jesus said, come follow me and the verse said, follow. And so I thought, well, maybe, maybe there’s something there in the Greek.

Maybe the words are different or whatever. So I began to look at the Greek. So let’s pause here. Whenever you hear me say, I don’t want to go look at the Greek. I want you to think about, remember the movie Toby Tyler 1960s?

Oh, okay. Well, Toby Tyler was a young kid. This was a Disney movie. And in the movie, he ran away to follow the circus. And in so doing, he befriended a chimp.

And in that movie, that chimp escaped from the circus and got out and ran a muck and ended up in the sheriff’s office where he got ahold of a six-shooter. And so there’s this big scene. You can look this up. Toby Tyler chimp on Google and you’ll see these scenes where he’s sitting in the sheriff’s chair rotating round and firing off this gun and the guys in the jail. Or cowering in the sheriff ran outside and dove under a wagon.

Anyway, it’s rather humorous. So whenever you hear me talk about getting into the Greek, I want you to think, chimp with a handgun. Okay? Because I’m not a Greek scholar. And I know just enough to get in there and muck around and make a mess and come up with something.

But sometimes there’s stuff there for me. And even I can find it. So my question was, were these words different? Did Jesus say, follow me with one spirit and they follow me? So I looked at him with another.

So I looked at that really closely and I came up with absolutely nothing. Chimp with a handgun. But in doing something, I did see that there were five Greek words used throughout the gospels that Jesus used that had some sense of come along, follow me, if you wish to follow me, if you’re going to be tagging along with me, whatever, there’s five Greek words they used. And so kind of like last week, I wanted to go through those and study them. Like last week, you don’t have it because it’s complex and doesn’t really tell you much.

Unlike last week’s chart. But it helped me figure through some of these things as to where Jesus gave this command, how he gave it and to whom and what criteria were attached to it when he gave it. Because all of that is meshed into this command to follow me. Because we see him giving it in a number of places, a dozen or two in the government. And some of them were spoken to a single person and some were spoken to the 12.

And a couple of times it was spoken to the multitudes. And the flavor of the message or the command that was given seemed to differ, whether it was in the beginning or the middle or later part of his ministry. So I was teasing all these things out from the verses of the verse. But I found there to come up with it. So here’s what I learned by building my fancy little table, studying it all through and looking at it.

Vicki, here’s the first list. Vicki likes list. First, in all places, this command was not issued lightly. Following him and the spirit in which he calls was made with no income. Was an consequential thing.

It came at a cost every time. Second, in no place where this was issued as a command was it issued to the multitudes. We’ll talk later about how Jesus had his 12. And there were some people that followed along closely and they were the outer circle of the 12. And then there was the people on the hillside that followed the thousands, the hundreds that followed him there.

So what did I see him delivering this as a command to the multitudes? He was not like the command to repent, which was given to everybody. It’s not like the commands or the teachings we see in the Sermon on the Mount that were delivered to everybody. Whenever it was a command, he was delivered to his select person or group. So I found interesting.

Usually in those cases, it was issued conditionally with something that went along with it. Third, I never found it issued as a command anywhere outside of the gospels. Those of you who are new to this multi-pampered thing, the gospels are where we learn about the story of Jesus, what he did, what he said. And following that, there’s another book of history called the book of Acts, which is the church. And after that is the epistles, which are simply a collection of letters from the apostles that followed.

Nowhere outside of those gospels, the story of Jesus, do I see this command stated? Don’t make too much of that, but that was what I found. Fourth, the cost of following him, you’ll get into these in a minute, things like denying yourself, take up the cross, kind of thing. We only find later in the ministry, not up front, it’s later in the ministry, when things begin to get dicey and some costs are going to be incurred. That’s where we begin to see those things.

So let’s focus on the cost a little bit. What were those costs? You come after me, you have to deny yourself, hate your family, things like this. You’ve seen these, you’ve heard these in the scriptures before. These are like repentance.

These are the kinds of things that if you’re gonna follow after me, he’s saying, you gotta leave these things behind. This is a new life you’re coming into, you have no time to room for those. Another one of the costs he talks about was taking up your cross. I mean, I’ve heard sermons about this, generally the idea of taking up your cross is you’re giving up one life and embracing another. In other words, if you’re taking a cross, you’re on the way to the hill to be crucified.

This life is ending, a new one’s coming and this is a kind of commitment Jesus was calling them to have. Take up your cross and follow me. It’s a leaving behind, it’s embracing the total sacrifice that it would involve. And we see also in the verses that at two points he talks about selling your possessions. This often makes Christians uncomfortable, is selling your possessions to follow him.

But in those situations where this command was given, selling the possessions was delivered to one person and to his inner circle of 12. For that one person, it was delivered prescriptively, prescriptively. That was one of my columns in my spreadsheet here. You know, what type of command was it? Was it exclusive?

Was it prescriptive? Was it general? In this case, it was prescriptive. There was a rich young ruler that came to him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to gain eternal life?” And Jesus said, “The first two commandments, love Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and let your neighbor yourself.”

And he goes, “I’m doing that.” And Jesus looked at him lovingly so that the Bible says and said, “Well, then you have one thing, give up all your possessions, sell them and follow me.” That was a prescriptive application of the command because Jesus saw in this person’s heart, saw where his treasure lies and knew that he couldn’t follow him unless he gave up that treasure. He wouldn’t put Jesus above that. So it was a prescriptive application of this command to follow him, to give up his possessions.

The other time we see him teaching about giving up all your possessions, it was to the 12th. And it was just before he was sending them out to do their ministry. That was a time when they couldn’t take possessions. And of course, they were with them anyway and they already made this sacrifice. They were already giving up everything and followed him.

So anyway, he was laying that down as a requirement for this sending them out. Those are the times when it was issued as a command. Now we see it elsewhere in scripture where it’s issued not as a command, but as a requirement if anyone wishes to come. If anyone wishes to come after me, you must sell all the possessions. It was in the list of things Jesus was saying.

If anyone wishes to come after me, that’s not the phraseology you hear in a command. And the command is like, go do this, go do that. This was in the sense of if you want to do this, then this is the cost, this is a requirement. I find that interesting. Luke 14, 26, we read, if anyone comes to me and does not hate, his father and brother and sister uses the word hate in there, which is interesting, one of these requirements.

If he wishes anyone comes to me and does not hate, if you were to hate your father or your mother, you’d be in violation of one of the primary commands and the 10 commandments, right? So obviously this isn’t something Jesus meant literally. So we see that in the margins of our Bibles, if you have one like John and I, New American Standard, reference edition, you’ll see that it says, in comparison to Jesus, if your love for them is greater than your love for me or if your devotion to them is greater than your devotion to me, then you really can’t be my disciple. It’s not that you hate them, not that you don’t love them, not just don’t care about them, but you care about these things to a higher priority. That’s what he’s saying there.

So these things weren’t literal. But these costs of following Jesus, at least in my life as I was growing up, made me uncomfortable for a long time because I was young and jealous and taught to be young and jealous and I didn’t know how to discern where reality or where a literal reality started and stopped. When is it literal to do this and when is it figurative or when is it whatever? I didn’t really know that and what bothered me about these things was that they really, you know, some of them really couldn’t be applied practically. I mean, what if every follower sold all their possessions?

Also, I didn’t see Jesus require that of everybody that followed him. I think Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He didn’t require that of them. They loved him, he loved them, close relationship, but he didn’t require them to sell all that they had. When I was younger in the 70s, and a lot of you may remember this, there were these people that dressed only in robes, hung out at airports, had tambourines, and baskets for us to give them money to.

Hari Krishna’s. Hari Krishna’s. Remember those folks? That’s what I envisioned. If I were to give up all that I had, that would put me in that state of having to constantly be dependent or seeking for the funding of my lifestyle or my ministry from other people.

Not bad, but if everybody in the church did that, that’s how my thinking went. Something wasn’t right there. It just didn’t work. It didn’t pencil out. It wasn’t gonna happen.

I don’t know because in that state, at least with a Hari Krishna’s, their financial wellbeing was dependent upon them getting new people to come in to continue to give all their possessions. Financially, that’s called a Ponzi scheme. It didn’t pencil out for me. It didn’t work. But it took a while in my Christian life to realize that not everything in this scriptures was meant to be literal, taken just exactly as the English language put it forth.

So how do you discern what’s literal and what’s not? Well, you study the context, you build charts, you read the history, and you look at, like Ed likes to say, the totality of scriptures. What does it say overall, which is why I build charts? Put it all in front of my face. So where do we go from here?

The command to follow me was only issued by Jesus to those who could accompany him in his physical presence. Why is that important? Well, his call to personal discipleship during his ministry was dependent on that physical proximity. Where they could see, they could hear, they could relate and ask questions and so forth. And therefore, it was dependent practically for them to give up everything else so they could follow and be with him on that.

They couldn’t tag along their belongings. They couldn’t tag along their families. They couldn’t keep going back and forth. So they had to give those things up to be with him constantly for that period of time. It only made sense.

And it was required that they abandoned that former lifestyle, their occupation, their family, and so forth. Carrying their cross literally meant for them to leave it all behind and move into this new way of life in that point in time. And the fact that it wasn’t repeated as the command in the epistles struck me. There’s no call in the letters of Paul or Peter or James for us to sell everything. For us to leave behind, carry across, leave behind the entire lifestyle that we had.

I didn’t find it there. So I began to wonder why. Why? We didn’t see that. Don’t see that there.

I mean, is the commitment any less? I’m going to say no. It’s just as great, but the practical need to do that no longer exists. First, Jesus is not physically present to follow. His voice isn’t limited to a room like this or a hillside or whatever.

He’s not around like that for us to sit around a campfire and ask questions and talk. We don’t have to live itinerantly to be with him after his death burial and resurrection. Secondly, and more importantly, this is what I want you to make a note of. We may not have his physical presence, but what do we have? It’s Holy Spirit, which gives us his presence everywhere all the time, right?

And we don’t need to change our lifestyle to achieve that intimacy and that closeness there with him. We have the same benefits of that relationship and perhaps even more because with the Spirit, we’re taught that he lives inside of us and he leads us into understanding of Jesus’ truth. And importantly on that, from the inside, he works in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure. He creates in us a desire to do what he wants. He gives us the power and capability to do it.

And that’s something the disciples didn’t have. They needed to get that second hand and biosmosis somehow. We have that benefit stemming up from the inside of us when we live with him. And here’s I think what’s really important for us to understand. When Jesus was walking physically with folks, he commanded some to follow.

He said to the others, “If you want to follow, here’s the cost.” But for all of us in this room, if you have come to Christ, if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you’ve already been called. How do we know this? Jesus said it. John 644, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

So if you’ve come to him, you’ve been drawn. You’ve been called. And when you responded, you left your nets and you followed. And as part of that regeneration, Doug. Regenerated.

Got the Holy Spirit in you. We’re living in his presence day and night. So he called us. We responded by receiving him. He placed his spirit in us.

So we’re always around the campus. We’re in a campfire with Jesus asking for insights and information and for details about how he works. So where do we go from here? What do we do practically with that? In Jesus’ ministry, I already mentioned that we have, I see three tiers of followers.

All were fully obedient within their tier. None were greater than the other, I don’t think. There was a 12 that he called to be close around him. And there were others that self-selected to be along with the 12. So you get this inner ring of 12 and you get this secondary ring of people.

Think about the women that followed along with Jesus’ ministry that served and helped and so forth. And there were others, men and women that closely followed, that may have paid that same price of giving of all and followed him. That way, but they weren’t among the 12. But there were those, I’m going to call them the self-selected to be among the inner circle or that circle. And then there were those hundreds and thousands of people on the hillsides.

We see him feeding 4,000, seeing him feeding 5,000. Sermon on the mountain. He preached the thousands. We presume. Were they any less because they weren’t called?

These are people who were following Jesus to hear what he had to say to embrace the lifestyle he was giving them and so forth. These weren’t slouches because they were on the hillsides. These were followers of Jesus. So he didn’t judge them for staying on the hillside. You should be coming down here closer.

You should be elbowing your weight at the front. No, he didn’t judge them for that. He embraced them where they were. He didn’t judge them for not self-selecting to be closer to those who he did choose. And in reality, all those people were drawn and all were called and all were responding by following him in some fashion, just like us here today.

So the Sermon’s title is, what is it? Fan, player, trainer, assistant. Now I’m just thinking of football. But, you know, you’ve got Daytona 500 going on today. You’ve got the driver.

You’ve got the pit crew and you’ve got the fans in the stands. Fans, right? You’ve got the driver, the pit crew, and the fans. So if you’re into that, you can choose that analogy. I’m going to use football because that’s what I’ve written this for.

I didn’t know about the Daytona until this morning. Anyway, I left out the coach for obvious reasons. Okay. God’s our coach. Jesus is our coach.

I’m thinking of the football game and how we can self-select in whatever capacity we wish to participate in this Christian life as a response to following him. Do you want to be actively engaged as a driver with the helmet or on the football field all suited up in hand-to-hand competition in the field? You want to be one of those 12? In football, there’s only 11. Okay.

On the field at one time, even though there’s quite a few people on the sidelines. Anyway, there’s only 11. Do you want to be one of those folks in the pit crew that provides this practical support or the trainers in the, whatever they call them on the sidelines in football? Okay. Be self-selected as one of those.

Or do you want to wear the jersey with the number 12? How many of you are Seahawks fans in here? Oh, not very many. Works going on. I don’t know.

I don’t know. Okay. All right. The Seahawks fans wear jerseys with the number 12. Remember I said there’s only 11 people on the team?

Okay. Well, they consider themselves part of the team. They’re the 12th person. Now, the Seahawks stadium, I don’t know if it was intended to be this way, but the result of how it was constructed is that the fans can be very, very loud to the point that they impact the play on the field. And the fans know this, the team knows this.

And the people that come into play against that team know this and the fans use this, the team uses this very strategically. Whenever the other team has the football and it’s their offense, the crowd just goes loud and they roar so that they can’t hear themselves on the field. Okay. And the fans embrace this role as being vital part of the game in the play. Okay.

Don’t dismiss fans. Don’t dismiss the people sitting on the hillside. We may be in the bleachers, but we’re vital to the outcome, vital to the effect. Fans are incredibly important to the game or to the cars racing around. How is that?

Well, first of all, fans create the electric atmosphere that energizes players and energizes other fans. Fans. Players often talk about how the support of fans motivates them on the field. They hear it. Crowd can be the 12th man, acts 28, 15.

The brothers there had heard about us and traveled as far as the form of players in the three taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged to give thanks to God. Fans are important. Supporters are important. It’s not just the players in the field.

Fans are a crucial source of financial support for the game, for the sport, for whatever. The worker is worth his keep. We see in Matthew 10, 10. When we get a new pastor, will pay him. Right?

We’re critical to that. Here’s the key thing. Fans form a strong sense of community, creating a bond that transcends social and cultural barriers. It meets the sense of belonging. Fans.

Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. And let us consider how to spur up one another toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. And fans play a vital role in preserving the traditions and heritage of the game, keeping the history of the game alive. When I talked about the Great Commission a few messages back, I mentioned the word observe.

And the Greek, how it has the sense of preserving and carrying along and passing along so that doesn’t die on the vine somewhere. Keeping Jesus’s commandments, observing them means holding them fast and passing them on. That’s what fans do. Now, here’s the key. Lest you think, well, I’m a fan.

I’m on the hillside. I’m not down in the field. I’m not in the pit crew. I’m up in the stands. I’m OK.

There’s two kinds of people in the stands. There’s fans wearing the number 12. And there’s spectators. Spectators. And that’s where the application of this sermon comes in this morning.

Spectators really don’t have a lot of concern about the game. They’re not paying attention. They’re talking among their friends. They’re there maybe for the environment and the atmosphere. And sometimes they’re talking just interrupts the fans.

They’re out of sync. Now, I’ve heard a lot of messages growing up in the church of my Christian life. That’s kind of like goes along the idea of you shouldn’t be in the stands. Get out of the stands and get down on the field. OK?

Well, that may be appropriate if you’re a spectator. Stop being a spectator. But you don’t have to go down in the field. You can stay in the stands and you can be a fan. Nowhere do we see God accepting us as being mere spectators?

No point whatsoever. Wherever we are, whether we’re right around Jesus with the 12, whether we’re behind the 12, whether we’re on the hillside, we’re not to be simple. Spectators are supposed to be engaged and involved in applying what we’re looking for. And that doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a role for us. And that doesn’t mean we’re not valued.

And that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a plan or design or something he wants you to do. Folks who were standing up here this morning because they stepped forward. They self-selected. They said, yeah, I’m willing to be considered. And they were chosen.

And here they are. OK? A lot of you out there did not. And that’s just fine. Because God has a role for you out there as well.

Not all of us can be in that small circle. Not all of us can be on the field plane. Not all of us can be in the– driver’s seat. I was going to call it a cockpit, but that’s an airplane. Driver’s seat on Daytona 500.

Our choice in following him has to be wherever we happen to be at the time. OK? We’re going to follow him there. But not as a spectator. We’re going to be a fan, a fanatical cheering faithful fan true to our colors on that.

So we’re going to follow Jesus. Just where we are. Most of us are in the stands or around the hillsides. That’s where most Christians are. Whether we’re right behind the team at the 50-yard line in the stands or whether we’re up into cheap seats, the fervor is the same for all of us.

It’s not about up in your game and getting closer to the team. It’s not about changing gears, going faster. It’s about being the best fan wherever you happen to be sitting. So my message for you here today is don’t allow anyone, especially yourself, to make you feel less than because you don’t feel like you’re in the inner circle or in some inner circle somewhere. OK?

And don’t– don’t worry about that. Don’t worry if you’re not among who you might define as being a mover and a shaker out there in whatever little corner of Christendom we happen to find ourselves. OK? Don’t feel guilty about seeing other people get the grass stains or the glory, whatever that means. Whatever that’s worth.

There’s a Christ-following role for fans in the stands. That’s most of us. Think about the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was speaking to everybody, the fans. Think about what was written in the epistles following the Book of Acts.

That was written for all the church members. OK? Everybody, all of us. It wasn’t just written for those few 12, select few. It’s our role to follow Jesus where we are, wherever that happens to be in the stands.

And most importantly, that’s where you’re supposed to be. Comfortable there. I want you all to feel comfortable right where you’re sitting because you can follow Jesus fully right where you are. Now, I’m not saying be lazy. I’m not saying slack back.

I’m not saying be a spectator, be a fan wherever you’re sitting. Because it’s from there that we minister and support and encourage other fans. And it’s there that we challenge the spectators among us to become fans. And it’s from there that we can bring others to the game and to the stands. And it’s from there that we can financially and spiritually support those on the field.

And it’s here where I’m going to expand this metaphor, this football metaphor a bit. Because as Jesus’s fans in the stands, we have His Holy Spirit. I want you to envision the Holy Spirit as being like having your own headset in direct communication with the coach on the field or the driver in the car. All right? Holy Spirit is your headset.

We have that direct link and we can seek to influence how the plays are called or how the engines, whatever they do in the driver’s seat. You can influence that. And then the coach can direct us and how we’re to behave and what we’re to do at the right time in the stands. We have that direct link. So how do we follow Jesus as fans in the stands?

Step number one. Put on the headset. Ephesians 518 be filled with the spirit. Number two, use it. Share your thoughts with the coach.

Of course, follow his instructions when he come back at you. First Thessalonians 517, pray without ceasing. Always in there. Number three. Apply yourself to the rule book.

So you can take action in the right way and at the right time. For some of the 215, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Study that rule book. Number four, be involved. Follow the game closely.

Cheer and sing enthusiastically at the right times. Know what’s going on. Be engaged. You’re not a spectator after all. Ephesians 515 to 17, be very careful then how you live.

Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Number five, how do we follow Jesus in the stands? Number five, never boo the players on the field or be one of those negative fans. Don’t be one of those.

Ephesians 429, let know on wholesome word, proceed from your mouth, but only such a word is as good for edification according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. Number six, join in and encourage other fans. That’s who we are. Hebrews 313, encourage one another daily as long as it’s still called today so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So here’s my challenge for you.

Relax in the stands, embrace where you are, self-select to be Jesus’s disciple as an alive, vibrant, attractive and enthusiastic fan and don’t just be a tag along spectator. Boring, lifeless, distracting, tasteless and underfoot, what’s underfoot? Salt that’s lost, it’s flavor. I was driving with my family once and through Seattle and I was listening to the Seahawks football game and I happened to be driving right by the stadium at a time when they made a touchdown. And the roar came through the radio and through the windows of the car and it was amazing, the enthusiasm and that’s the church.

Fans, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for selecting and choosing us and calling us to follow and giving us your Holy Spirit so that we can live for you. Father, let us embrace that role with all of our hearts and all of our minds. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,799 words.