Part 2
following Jesus
Fearless
A valid question for all of us is, “what’s the payoff
for following Jesus”?
Things that following
Jesus didn’t promise
·
Being a better
person
o It won’t necessarily make you a better husband, or
father, or wife or mother
o It should be a byproduct
o But it’s not a guarantee
·
It doesn’t
guarantee heaven
o Living your life good or bad doesn’t mean heaven
o The man on the cross never followed Jesus, and went
to heaven
o You can live without him right up to the last minute
and still have a chance for heaven
·
It doesn’t
guarantee your life will be pain free and problem free
o Don’t let magic thinking get mixed up with Jesus
thinking
o Magic always works some of the time!
o There is no magic prayer
o There is no magic cross or bible verse
o Jesus did not come to be your magician
So where will following Jesus lead you?
·
Jesus is about
to give his disciples a glimpse into the future
·
And there soon
to be mission
·
And explain
what following Jesus is and what the payoff is for following him
·
And the good
news is this will not be the same outcome for us!
Matthew
10:16–31 (NLT)
16“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among
wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
·
Trouble is
brewing
·
It doesn’t
sound good
17But beware! For you will be handed over to
the courts and will be flogged with
whips in the synagogues.
18You will stand trial before governors and
kings because you are my followers.
But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers
about me.
·
Excuse me
·
Everyone loves
us because of you
·
Everyone wants
to be around us because of you
·
FLOGGED???
o Really
o Things just got real
19When you are arrested, don’t worry about how
to respond or what to say. God
will give you the right words at the right time.
·
Don’t think
that is what I would be worried about
·
If I got arrested,
I would be worrying about bail money
·
So not to
worried about what I will say, worried about the arrest and flogging
20For it is not you who will be speaking—it
will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
·
So, if God
knows about this
·
How about he
just gets me un-arrested??
·
Or better yet,
makes it not happen at all?
21“A brother will betray his brother to
death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against
their parents and cause them to be killed.
22And all nations will hate you because you
are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end will be saved.
Then Jesus says this in verse 28
28“Don’t
be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.
Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
·
Don’t be
afraid, really?!?
·
Jesus says don’t
be afraid of what this earth can do to you
·
Because your
soul rest with Jesus
·
Only God can
destroy the soul, can condemn your soul for eternity!
29What is the price of two sparrows—one
copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your
Father knowing it.
30And the very hairs on your head are all
numbered.
31So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a
whole flock of sparrows.
·
And that’s when
he explains the whole reason the payoff for following Jesus
·
That when our
faith in God is so strong, so deep
·
When our
relationship and trust in Jesus is in place
·
We begin to not
fear what this world can throw at us
·
And I’ll tell
you this will be something that we will wrestle with as long as we walk this
earth
o Jesus never promises prosperity
o Jesus never promises health
o Jesus never promises that bad things or pain won’t
happen
·
He does promise that if we build this relationship
o We trust him
o We follow him
o That we will be able to cast our fears of what this
world can do aside
o And truly love others
o Truly serve others
o And find grace and hope and mercy in the severest of
storms
This is Jesus message to those who follow is:
“Don’t be afraid when
bad things happen”
·
Jesus wants you
to have a faith that is
o So big
o So strong
o So deep
o So intimate
o That it overwhelms your fear
The question you need to ask yourself everyday
What
would my decision be if I had the confidence that God was with me always?
·
What would my
decision be when I meet the attorney?
·
What would my decision
be when my ex is demanding something of me?
·
What would my
decision be when people at work are talking about me?
·
What would my
decision be when I meet with the Dr?
·
What would my
decision be if I were confident that God was with me always??
Two more examples:
Matthew
6:31–32 (NIV)
31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we
eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32For the pagans run after all these things,
and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
·
Even when there
is not enough to eat or drink or where you going to sleep
·
We have faith
in a God that he will protect our soul, because he knows that’s what matters
most!
·
That what
following Jesus is all about
·
It changes how
we see things
·
It changes how
we react to circumstance
·
It chances how
we interact with people
·
Because we don’t
worry, we don’t fear what this world can do
·
And it frees us
to be all God have for us
Mark 4:38–41
(NIV)
38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The
disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was
completely calm.
40He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no
faith?”
41They were
terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves
obey him!”
·
They feared for
their lives
·
And Jesus ask,
why are you afraid
·
Do you still
not have faith
·
Are you still
not confident that God, the one who created you, the one who knows every hair
on your head
·
Knows what you
need
·
That there is
nothing that world can do to you
·
That God
protects you soul!
·
Right here is
where Jesus wants to take you
o They feared him
o They feared the one that can destroy not just their
body, but there soul as well
o They saw his mighty power at work
o They saw Jesus for who he truly was
o And they did that by following him
·
The only way
you can Gods might power, His deep unconditional love for you is to follow him
o To be in relationship with him
This is where Jesus wants to take you
·
He wants to
take you to a place that you don’t fear this world
·
Where you can
be free from the debilitating fear of others
·
Of circumstance
·
And be the
image bearer that he knows you can be
·
To love without
fear
·
To give without
fear
·
To hope without fear
How amazing would life
be without fear????
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