Jesus Unfiltered - Follow - What's it Mean to Follow Jesus?, Part 2

What does it really mean to follow Jesus? Does it mean a life following a rigid set of rules and regulations? Is it about doing this and not doing that? Or could it be a catalyst for the most fulfilling, peace-filled life that you could ever imagine? Could following Jesus be about a deep relationship that transforms how you think and how you live?

That's today. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. In this program, Chip continues his series, Jesus Unfiltered, by specifically addressing what it means to follow Jesus. But before we get started, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or just want to learn more about what we do, go to livingonthedge.org.

There you'll find tons of resources on a wide range of topics and countless programs for you to enjoy. Well, to wrap up this message, we're jumping right back into John chapter 9 as the Pharisees were scrambling to respond to Jesus's claim, before Abraham was born, I am. Well, here's Chip. This is the climax. Do you remember in Exodus chapter 3, when Moses was asking God, he says, you know, I don't think I'm up to the job and I can't deliver Egypt and boy, if I go, they're going to ask who sent you and who am I going to say? And God's name, Elohim, the great creator, the general word for God, but his covenant name he'd never shared with anyone. And God says, take off your shoes. It's holy ground.

And then, I mean, he's there and then the bush is flaming, but not consumed. And then God speaks out of it and says, tell them I am that I am sent you. I am the ever present one. I'm the ever existing one. I have no beginning and I have no end.

Tell them I am sent you. And Jesus now is saying, the I am of Exodus 3 is me. I am one with the father. And by the way, they did not miss his point. At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself slipping away from the temple grounds. Now notice, can you just look at chapter 9? We won't get into it, but notice the very next line because it may be shocking, but these numbers are actually not in the original text.

So some of these stories actually go beyond the chapters. As he went along, so the idea right after this, he saw a blind man from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?

And you've heard the story. And what he's now going to do after being with blind, intelligent people who think they can see, he's going to take a man physically and heal him from birth miraculously so he can see. And this man will have more spiritual knowledge than any of the religious leaders because he follows the light of the world, not their own personal light in view of the world. Does that make sense? So you have the context, Feast of Tabernacles.

You have this heated debate with these outrageous claims. You have the climax where Jesus says, for sure, I'm God. I'm the only hope of the world.

We now know what happened then for that group. If we would ask the question, why should anyone follow Jesus? One, he's the light of the world. Two, you'll die in your sins. Three, he's one with the Father. Four, the Father testifies with him. Five, he's never sinned. Six, he'll be the judge.

Seven, he's one with God. I mean, if you were there on that day, you either believe that, and that is the light and the truth, testified by miracles and fulfillment of prophecy, or you reject it. Here's my question. What's it mean to us?

I mean, that's what it meant to them. If we dip back into the text and said, why should we follow Jesus in the 21st century, not the first century? How would God whisper from this passage to us? And I want to suggest that there is a powerful, powerful promise to claim from this passage. There is a important command to obey, and there's an amazing example to follow. And if we will kind of look at that, we're going to say, oh, this is why I should follow Jesus as the light of the world.

You ready? Get your pen out, because I want you to jot down a couple of things I think would really help you. The promise to claim is from verse 12. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. You might circle the word follows, if you will, in your notes. It's a present participle. It means whoever continues to follow me. It means there's a relationship.

It means it's ongoing. Notice there's a negative. You'll never walk in darkness, but there's a positive. You'll have the light of life. If you would, and I'll just ask you if you would, turn, if you will, to 1 John. It's by the same author. Go all the way to the back of your Bible. In fact, if you get to Revelation, very last book, turn left. And there's three short little epistles.

Same author. Sometimes, especially when the same author addresses the same subject, he gives us much more clarity, because he's telling Jesus' story, but now in 1 John, he's actually writing to them about what it means to be a follower and how to know if you're a genuine follower of Christ. Notice this idea of light. Picking it up at verse 5, this is the message we've heard from him and declare to you.

1 John chapter 1 verse 5. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all.

And then notice the premise. If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son purifies us, or literally it's keep on cleansing us from all sin. So what's it mean? It means that you have the light of life. It means that you never have to walk in darkness. It means you have the very light in the presence, like sometimes we read the Bible and we think, wouldn't it be great if there was a light over our house or over my car or maybe over my head that I could only see? And whenever it moved, I would move. And this decision, go here.

Wouldn't that be great? Jesus is saying, I'm that. It's not over your head, and it's not over a tabernacle.

It's inside the temple, and you're it. And I will come, and I will not just forgive you, but I will live in you, and I'll direct your life. And as you walk in the light, as you would read all of 1 John, he's going to say walking in the light has two primary, one is a vertical relationship and the other is horizontal. Walking in the light is walking in holiness before God.

Walking in the light horizontally is walking in love. And he'll give you five or six tests throughout the first 1 John. He goes, if I say I love God and hate my brother, I'm a liar and the truth's not in me.

If I say I love God and habitually continue to sin, I'm a liar and the truth's not in me. When I was growing up, I was a typical American family, both mom and dad, school teachers, both with advanced degrees, both good, smart people, both from good homes. Dad was a veteran. And on the outside, we looked good. We got good grades. We played sports.

I got a scholarship. We lived in, you know, little cul-de-sac communities. But we were walking in darkness. We actually went to church regularly. I mean, no one believed the Bible and no one believed it was really true, but we went to church, went through the motions, sit in the old stand. You say this, I say that, repeat after me.

Glad we got that done. But that's what good people do. But we walked in darkness. As my dad would say later, he says, even when I was drunk, I went to church. My dad was just an absolute alcoholic, three and a half packs a day of cigarettes.

He had wounds and pain so deep in his life. My mom was like, in the dictionary where it says codependent, she was like the enabler of all enablers who explained my father and worked all of life so that everything kept looking good on the outside. When we were grown children, every conversation went through my mom.

We didn't triangulate, we quintupulated. And when she died, I mean, the strings were gone. My older sister in typical fashion with a deeply disturbed band with unresolved pain and anger issues and a loving and caring but enabling, she rebelled and then she went off the deep end for a season. My middle sister had an eating disorder because she could never measure up and she got lost in the fray. So she thought if she could be more and more and more beautiful.

I remember when she just eat these wheat puffs all the time and she got where she was just skin and bones. And then the young son became the performance workaholic. You know, get good grades, get a scholarship, be good in sports, try, try, try, try, try to be.

My light was success. Somehow get approval, but no matter how much you got, the bar always raised. And we were this dysfunctional family. But we look good.

Parents had advanced degrees, we lived in a nice house, all went to college. We're religious. If you ask me, do you believe in Jesus?

Well, sure, I'm an American, you know. Right? Read the Bible. Is he the light of your life?

No. I had a formula that was the light of my life. I had the fear of failure that was the light of my life. I was an absolute chameleon.

I learned to be different people to different groups all the time. See, you walk in darkness, you always bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. And there's chains on you. So how do you walk in the light? I'll tell you, because I've experienced it.

And I've seen it happen to thousands and thousands of people. The command he gives us tells us how to walk in the light. He says, if you hold to my teaching, or literally if you abide in my word, you are really my disciples. Acid test.

It's a condition. You might or you might not. Here's though, if you do, if you abide in my word, then you will know. Circle the word know. It's not intellectual knowledge. There's oide, intellectual knowledge, factual in Greek. Other word, gnosko, you even hear the word gnostic in that.

Gnosko is knowing by experience. Then you'll know by experience the truth. And the word for truth here is very interesting. The truth, it's something that was sealed, gets unsealed, and then is open.

It's something that you don't really get, but it gets unsealed, and then it's open. And then literally it'll set you free. And the word free here means you can do what you want. But the do what you want isn't just crazy stuff. The do what you want, you can actually do what's right. See, I couldn't do what I wanted. I was living to fulfill, who knows, trying to please my father, or trying to impress people I didn't know. My sister wasn't doing what she wanted. She was starving herself to try and look pretty. My other sister wasn't doing what she wanted.

She became a slave to her sin, and she rebelled. My mother, later in her life, she always wanted to travel. She always wanted to do this. She always wanted to do this.

She never did any of that. Because her whole life was consumed, making everybody else's life work out. And I felt so sad for her. And my dad, he was a prisoner of his alcoholism, a prisoner of his fear, a prisoner of his anger. And then my sister with the eating disorder met a friend named Tammy.

And Tammy said there was a person named Jesus, and Punky said, well, I heard about him. No, no, no, he's real. He brings light to your life. He wants to forgive your sins. He thinks you're beautiful just the way you are. He wants to come and live in your life, and he wants to give you what light does. Perspective, and direction, and perception, and awareness, and life. And he promises that as you walk in the light, even as he is in the light, you'll have fellowship with people.

You'll have relationships like never before, and he'll cleanse you, and he'll forgive you. And my sister took that offer up. And I remember watching her life.

I didn't know what it was. She was so different. And little by little, she whispered to me, and I went to a couple meetings, and I heard the gospel.

I didn't respond, but it was planted. And then toward the end of my senior year, I heard the gospel with a group of athletes, and the light entered my life. You know, a lot of people, they came from drugs, they came from alcohol, they came out of prostitution, they came out of this and came out of that. You know what I came out of? I came out of being like a multi-personalityed chameleon who had no idea who I was. I didn't even like me, let alone even know.

And I remember the freedom of feeling like I don't have to pretend anymore. This is who I am. This is who God made me. I have these strengths, I have these weaknesses, I'm desperately insecure, I struggle with this, and I'm loved. And all I need to do is, and little by little, follow.

And then my older sister, and then my dad, and then my mom. And then I watched a revolution. And it wasn't just some experience, it wasn't, oh, have you heard about Jesus? Oh yeah, yippy yippy yippy, yah yah yah.

Okay? It was stepping into the light, and then what's he say? If you hold to my teaching, if you abide in my word. So I'd never read this.

I had no idea what this book was about. And because of my philosophical background, and I'm a skeptic, oh man, I had to study all these religions and all this apologetics, and I had to go through all, I was not going to throw my brains in the trash to be a follower of Christ. And so I studied and I dug, and I tell you, I didn't throw my brains in the trash. And I follow Jesus because it's the most intellectually feasible, best answers to all the big questions of life on the planet. And the only one that has died verifiably, risen from the dead, 500 witnesses, and all of life and all of history revolves around him. You're going to bet your life, and everyone's going to bet your life on some philosophy, some light, some system, some formula, some spiritual leader, some inner something.

But I'm going to bet mine on the one who died, came back, and put together a supernatural book that has promises in it that I've trusted and has transformed my life and millions of people. And that's God's desire for all of us. But notice he says, then you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. But he says, if you continue, if you abide in my word, well how do you do that? You listen. You listen to God's word in the car. You listen to God's word, you know, as you listen to messages. You listen to God's word as you get in it every single day, just like you eat food.

And you don't just read it and say, oh, wow, I'm glad I got two, chapter day, devil away, woo. It's I read it to say, oh, living God who loves me, take your written word and make it alive as the living word and speak to my heart and to my mind and to my soul and speak to me relationally and intimately. I want to abide in you because, see, I want to follow. If I follow him, it doesn't say reading the Bible makes you never walking in darkness. The Jews were reading the Bible like crazy. It's following Jesus.

I want to follow the Jesus of the Bible. So what's his light say about relationships? What's his light say about pride? What's his light say about sex? What's his light say about priorities? What's his light say? And then I want to follow that.

What's it mean to walk in the light? Just live my life the way Jesus lived his life. How did he independence upon the father? He would get up a great while before dawn, not because he had to. He wanted to talk to his father. He wanted to get instructions for the day. He wanted to clear his mind. And what was his goal in life to please the father? What was his aim in life to fulfill God's agenda?

See, that was his light. And you know what the word follow means? It means to proceed behind. It means to do as the person in front of you.

It means to passionately pursue. And so he says, if you abide in my word, you hear it, you read it, you think on it. But here's the acid test, you obey it. You obey it.

See, you don't think your way to life. You obey your way to get light. Jesus said if you respond to the truth or the light that I give you, I'll give you more. If you don't respond to the truth or the light that I give you, there can come a day where he'll take the light away. See, loving God is not about an ooey-gooey feeling or a great worship time and putting my hands up in the air.

I mean, all this is wonderful, I'm glad. I can do all that and be cheating people at business. I can do all that and be sleeping around.

I can do all that and be addicted to sex or food or shopping or whatever. And I can have emotional and wonderful quote experiences that I think I'm having with God. Jesus said, here's the acid test.

He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. Obedience is the organ of spiritual growth, not intellect. Now, our intellect is used. And then as I obey, and by the way, the hardest obedience is when you don't feel like it. If I waited until I felt like obeying, I'm not sure I'd obey 10%. I guess I'm just weak, you know, not very smart.

And so it's a choice. Jesus did not want to go to the cross emotionally. Have you ever thought about that? You know, he wasn't there in agony going, Oh, Father, this was the plan, it's going to be great. I'm going to be completely rejected, cut off from you, they're going to beat me to a pulp.

What was he, remember his prayer? If there's any other way, let's choose that one. Nevertheless, not my. So you don't have to like what he says about money. You don't have to like what he says about sex. You don't have to like what he says about priorities.

You don't have to like it, but you can just do your light and watch the consequences. Or you can actually do it his way, and then you'll know by experience the truth. And you'll experience God's love, and then you'll be free. And so, one by one, that dysfunctional, crazy family, punky, then me, then mom, then dad, then genie, very imperfectly, over a span of about 15 years, instead of walking in the light, instead of walking in darkness.

And you know, it changes the whole trajectory of your world. There's an example to follow, and he quoted Abraham. He said, if Abraham's children, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the things Abraham did.

And I think to myself, like what did Abraham do? Romans in your notes, I think it says John, a little misprint, Romans chapter 4 verses 20 and 21. Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded or assured that what God has promised, he was able to perform. I memorize that verse as a very, very young Christian, and I think it's in the old King James. He staggered not at the promises of God.

I love that. He didn't trip over them. He staggered not at the promises of God, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform. So God says to Abraham, leave this comfort, go where I will show you. And that's for some of us, that's what faith looks like. You're in a relationship, you're in a situation, you need to leave. You need to step out for some, you need to step out and do what God's called you to do.

I don't know about this, I don't know how, I don't know about... Follow the example of Abraham. The second big thing he did is he waited. Now he waited imperfectly, which gives me a lot of hope. But God made some big promises, but a decade goes by, nothing happens.

Another decade goes by, nothing happens. But he waited on God, and God gave him what he promised. What are you trusting God for? What are you really trusting God for? What promises are you claiming? God wants to come through. And so many of us, we want to help God make his promises come true.

And that usually is a very bad way to go. Ask Hagar. Ask Ishmael. That was Abraham trying to do God's will his way.

It's produced a lot of problems. Finally he surrenders, remember? He finally believed to the point, you want to follow Abraham's example? God, this little boy that you gave me, you're telling me you want me to take him up on this mountain and sacrifice him.

And I believe because that little boy became an idol in his heart. And what idols do is two really bad things. Number one, it separates us from God.

Number two, we put our hope in them, and they can never deliver. And out of mercy, God says give up your idol, whether it's education or success, or your kids, or your business, or going public, or your body, or whatever it is. Surrender that to me and walk in the light. I'll bless those things, but they can't be the object of your life. So what do you need to surrender?

What a great example. What do you need to trust God with? Maybe it's your money. Maybe it's your marriage.

Maybe it's your singleness. Maybe it's for one of your kids. Write this on your notes, will you? Here's the question when you're struggling that you should ask yourself, because it changes the equation from I've got to fix this, or what about this, or here's the question. What does it look like to trust God in this situation? What does it look like to trust God in this situation? That's different than will you fix my marriage? Would you change my kid? Would you make this business go?

Would you get me? What does it look like to trust God? Because it's faith is what brings the Father joy, and He's a rewarder of faith. He loves you. He's for you. He wants to bless you. As you turn to the very back page, I gave you a little assignment, and the title of this message is, so what does it really mean to follow Jesus?

It means, are you ready for this? He's your light. He's your source. He's your direction. He's your priority. His will is number one.

Pleasing Him becomes your number one desire. And the reason that He healed that blind man, as your assignment is to read John chapter 9, is because all these religious leaders with all their religion were completely blind to who He really was. So John 9 opens up, as we've already heard, and as He was going by, there was a man born blind, and the issue is, well, what's the source of it? He heals him, and if you know the story, then no one can believe it was really him.

Well, they get his parents to come in. He gives his testimony, and finally he talks with the religious leaders, and they say, well, it can't be, and he says, Jesus did it, and then he, are you sure, you know, what really happened? He goes, look, I've told you twice, and then the blind beggar says, we know that only God can do a miracle like this, and the Pharisee said He's a sinner, and Jesus ends afterwards, He finds the man, and He says, do you know who I am? He goes, I don't know, but I want to know, and He tells him who He really is, and the man believes, and the Pharisees come to Him and say, so do you think we're blind? And Jesus ends chapter 9 with this, with the big question. He says, if you were blind, your sin wouldn't be held against you, because you think you see, and you're blind.

You'll die in your sins. The most dangerous place to be in all the world is really thinking where you're at in your life is kind of okay, and you're really blind, and I just see this compassionate Jesus taking a beggar and letting him see, and because he stepped into the light and simply trusted, God said, oh, the future for you, my love for you, that's what God wants for all of us. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, What's It Mean to Follow Jesus?, which is from the second volume of his Jesus Unfiltered series titled Follow. Whether we realize it or not, we all want to be in control. Control of our finances, our relationships, our work, but that desire conflicts with our relationship with God, so how do we change that? Well, in volume two of Chip's series, Jesus Unfiltered, he tackles the practice of following, which begins with humbly allowing someone else to lead. Chip explains that when we decide to follow Jesus, we agree to believe, trust, and obey him no matter what, and in turn, he's responsible for leading, providing, protecting, and loving us. Discover how you can experience the freedom that comes with following Jesus wholeheartedly. Now, if you miss any part of this series, Jesus Unfiltered Volume Two, or want to learn more about our resources, the Chip Ingram app is a great way to get plugged in.

Well, now with some final thoughts, here's Chip. As we close today's program, I have to tell you, I love that story about the blind man, and I am convicted and challenged by the content of Jesus' teaching that the most dangerous place in the world is when you think you can see and you're really blind. And what I would tell you is, I think the greatest thing that God is doing in the life of Living on the Edge through our partnership together is often helping people who think they see that they're actually blind.

We're living in a world where, what is it, seven or eight out of ten people claim to be followers of Jesus, and yet their priorities, their sexuality, their money, their parenting, those things don't even come close to lining up with what the teaching of Jesus is. In fact, that's why I'm teaching right through the Gospel of John. And what I have to tell you is that when people hear the truth, great things happen.

People, I believe, want to respond to the truth, but often they don't even know what Jesus taught. And so Living on the Edge, we're seeing people's eyes open, and there's no pun intended there, but I just wish you could read the emails of people who write us and say, I just never got it before. I did that small group with you all, and I had no idea that I had resentment toward my husband, or I had no idea that we needed to be in the Bible as a family, or I had no idea I had a spiritual gift and that God could use me. And so what I want you to know is that as we partner together, as we create these resources, God is really using them to transform lives that bring about major change. And I don't know about you, but when I look at the world around us, now is a time for that like never before. And so here is my request in view of God working through Living on the Edge. We need you to pray, and we need people to partner with us financially so that we can continue to do what He's called us to do.

Less than one percent of all the people who listen to Living on the Edge or benefit from Living on the Edge become financial partners, some because they can't. A great majority is I think we don't do a good job of telling you what we do, the results of it, and then how God is using it. And so I'm taking today to let you know a lot of people that are spiritually blind are seeing the light. They're coming to Christ.

They're growing. They're leading small groups. Pastors take our sermons and modify them and use them.

It's going all around the world. And what I would ask you to do, would you help us? Would you, I mean, pray seriously right now, today, and then would you give financially and help us do what God's called us to do?

Thanks, Chip. Well, as you prayerfully consider your role with this ministry, I want to remind you that every gift is significant. When you partner with Living on the Edge, you multiply our efforts and resources in ways that only God can do. To send a gift, call us at 888-333-6003 or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. That's 888-333-6003 or LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Donate. Until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.