January 18, 2012–Danny Sadler

Have you ever had to pick a team or a group that you wanted to support? How did you decide which group you wanted to be part of? Have you ever secretly supported a group or a team, but you were afraid to let others know what you thought?  I have cheered for teams in the Superbowl before, but because “my team” hadn’t made it, I really didn’t care who won.  I was a fan of the moment, but I was not sold out for them.

In a way, that’s what it is like when we decide to follow Christ. Some people have no issues in deciding to follow Christ. Others refuse to follow Christ altogether, for a whole host of reasons. And there is the group in the middle. They don’t want to give up anything in order to follow Christ. But they want the fire insurance, so to speak. Still, others want to follow Christ–for right or wrong reasons, but they have difficulty expressing their faith to anyone. Some are shy about expressing anything, others are afraid of being laughed at or being ostracized because they are a believer. Which group are you part of?

So, just how important is it to proclaim which team we’re part of? How important is it to let people know that Jesus Christ is our Lord? Well, if you want to be a secret fan of the Green Bay Packers, that’s probably advisable, but if you’re wanting to follow Christ in the privacy of your own world, you might want to hear what Jesus says about it:

23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

–Jesus, (Luke 9:23-26, NIV, ‘84)

• In order to follow Christ, we must die to ourselves.
• This does not mean that we physically die, but we must die to our own will, even to the point of death if we are called to that.
• Without Christ, we are free to do what we want now, but we will lose our souls for eternity.
• If we choose to follow Christ, we cannot do so secretly. It’s not an option!

  Look at the three pictures below. The first is a life with Christ on the outside, wanting in. The second is a life that has Christ in it, but the person is still in charge. It’s as if the person has simply added Christ to their life, but hasn’t cleaned anything out.  The third is a life with Christ in the center and the individual allowing Christ to rule over them and through them.

  

   Which life represents yours?

  Look at this:

   9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

  –Jesus, (Matthew 24:9-13, NIV, ‘84)

   When it is easy to follow Christ, there are many “shallow” followers. Many who play the game and “look” like Christians. But whenever it becomes “hard” to follow Christ, the true believer continues to follow. The “shallow” or false believers begin to drop out. When it begins to get too difficult, they even begin to turn away from the faith. They join the enemy camp.

  Where do you stand?