Believe and Act

 I have a confession to make. I - believe - in vampires. I think all of the legends are completely true! Now, do I still go out after sundown? Yes... Have I stockpiled wooden stakes or garlic? Nope. Do I carry 'holy water' around with me? No, I do not. Does my belief really make any difference in my life? So do I really believe in vampires…?

There are a lot of people who say they believe in Jesus, who don't attend Church services, or read the Bible, or even pray much - but they believe in Jesus... There's a big difference between believing in Jesus and following Jesus. And I believe that's why our world is in such disarray. I want us to consider…

I. Jesus' call to follow

Being a 'Christian' is answering a call to follow Jesus. I want to look at the passage where we see the first two disciples that Jesus called. Let's look at Matthew 4:18-20 (NIV)...

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. (19) "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (20) At once they left their nets and followed him.

I'm still amazed by this passage – they just up and left their nets and followed Jesus. Now if we read the accounts in the other Gospels, there's a little more to the story that's not included here – but still, they just left their nets and followed. And notice that Jesus said, 'follow me'. It wasn't a call to follow a set of doctrines, or traditions, or a particular church, or a preacher, or a style of music, or anything else – Jesus said, 'follow me'.

It's easy to get caught up in a lot of 'religious things' but then almost forget Jesus in the whole mix. Yes, I teach doctrine every Sunday, I religiously attend Church services, Deep River is my Church home – but none of that is as important as Jesus! All of those 'things' should point me to Jesus – and if they don't, they need to be left behind just like a bunch of old fishing nets.

We are called to follow Jesus, and what many of us have found in scripture is that Jesus…

A. Demanded everything

And yes, 'demand' is rather strong language. I don't want to discourage anyone from following Jesus – but I also can't soft sell it simply to 'close the deal'. That's not the call that Jesus made. Jesus demanded everything in order to follow Him. And He still does.

There are plenty of scriptures that fall into the category of 'hard teachings of Jesus'. For instance, we just read from Matthew ch. 4 where Jesus called Peter and Andrew. Now let's look at Matthew 5:27-30 (NIV)...

You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' (28) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (29) If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

That's a pretty strong passage. And every time I've ever heard that passage taught - it's always followed by a quick explanation of what Jesus didn't mean. You always seem to hear, 'Jesus didn't really mean for us to gouge out our eyes or cut off our hands' – but what if, in our race to make passages like these easier to accept – we miss what Jesus was saying?

I'm not suggesting you pluck out your eye – but are we so quick with our 'rationalizations' of why we can't follow Jesus' 'hard teachings' that we just accept what's easy and ignore the hard stuff? Do we wrestle with what Jesus actually said? This passage is from what's called 'The Sermon on the Mount' where Jesus was publically establishing His teachings and still gathering disciples. This is what He told a crowd who was curious about following Him.

Jesus didn't 'lower the bar' to get them to follow; Jesus demanded everything! Jesus gave us 'hard teachings' out of love – to bring us closer to the Father. And as we try our hardest to follow them – we learn that we can't follow them without Jesus!

But what I see frequently, among those in many modern Churches: many still 'follow' - but on their own terms, hoping that perhaps Jesus either won't care,or notice. And if you continue in the Gospels, not only did Jesus demand everything - Jesus…

B. Didn't negotiate

It was a call to come to Him on His terms. You'll never find a passage where Jesus negotiated salvation or the 'terms' of following Him – He called people to follow completely. So let's skip ahead again to chapter 8 of Matthew. Jesus is still gathering His disciples, He hadn't even called Matthew, himself, yet - but we find this in Matthew 8:19-23 (NIV)...

Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." (20) Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (21) Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." (22) But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (23) Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him.

It sort of sounds like Jesus may have almost been discouraging people from following Him...? When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to leave their nets – they didn't get to negotiate. Jesus didn't negotiate then and He doesn't negotiate now. And it's not because He's mean or 'narrow minded'. Jesus doesn't negotiate because His ways are The best ways and He wants the best for everyone! He doesn't want to settle for anything less than perfection for His children! Jesus calls us to follow Him to save us – that's done out of love!

If Jesus didn't care – if there were many ways to get to Heaven – He'd say, "Sure, follow me however you want and believe whatever you want". But because Jesus knows The exact way to the Father, the only way to the Father – He says 'follow me'.

I've got a brief video I'd like to share – ***Video "IF"

The call to follow Jesus is…

II. A call to something better

Jesus calls us to something better, something much higher than our own personal plans and goals. It's completely for our own benefit – but it's still a dying to 'self'. And that's a commitment with which people have struggled for over two thousand years.

And here's something to think about - we have even more information than the people back then who struggled with following; the men Jesus told 'the Son of Man has no place to lay his head' and 'let the dead bury their own dead.' Those men didn't know that Jesus would die on a cross and rise from the dead! They didn't know that they would be given an opportunity to receive God's Holy Spirit through Jesus! They didn't know the rest of the story, the reason that Jesus didn't negotiate – because Jesus was God in the flesh! We do!

We know about the resurrection and the promise of Heaven for those who follow! But despite that knowledge – we still struggle with letting Jesus lead us completely.

There's a passage in Galatians that we like to read about the fruit of the Spirit – those things that will grow in the life of one who follows Jesus. But we can't ignore the few verses that come right before that passage. Let's read what Paul wrote in Galatians 5:19-23 (NIV)...

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; (20) idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions (21) and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
And then we come to the part we like to hear…
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Those things in the first part of that passage don't go together with the things in the second part. We can't cling to the things of the 'sinful nature' but yet expect to also have the things that come with God's Spirit.

And I want to be clear here – Paul said, 'those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.' He didn't say 'lived' like this, something in the past. Our salvation doesn't depend on our past – but in Whom we trust now – Jesus! Paul was talking about people who continue to choose to live that way. And there are those who may call themselves 'Christian' who still choose to allow many of those things into their lives.

"Well, as a believer – I of course I reject witchcraft and orgies – but a little immorality, a little impurity, envy or drunkenness can't be that big of a deal…right?"

We do live under grace – but that's never an excuse to get comfortable with any sin in our lives. Jesus doesn't negotiate; we are called to something better, so please…

A. Don't settle

And 'thank you' to those here, who are perhaps further down the 'road of faith' than others, who have made the hard choices and we can see how God has blessed you!

None of us can ever think that because we follow 'a lot' of what Jesus said that sin is no longer a big deal. Sin is always a big deal. And I know that teaching about sin isn't a popular thing in today's culture – but because we are called to a higher purpose – we can't settle for 'good enough'. We are saved by grace, but unchecked sin in your life will hurt you and it will stop you from serving God's purpose for you in your life.

And now let's jump ahead to another chapter from the passage we just read, this time from Galatians 6:7-10 (NIV)...

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (8) The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (9) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (10) Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Paul encourages us to 'do good' but not as a substitute for submitting completely to Jesus, for keeping the faith. In a discussion about 'doing things for Jesus' or 'submitting' to Jesus – Paul wrote earlier in that same letter in Galatians 5:6 (NIV)...

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Can you say that you have faith in Jesus if you don't try to follow what Jesus teaches? And we know He set an extremely high standard for those who choose to follow Him - a standard that we can only meet with His help. So what do we do when we don't always meet that standard? Some choose to bargain – to accept some sin as long as they act like a good person in the rest of their lives. - What should we do?…

B. Repent

Stop doing it! Fight against it! We live in a culture that wants to get rid of all right and wrong; a culture that calls God's standards and 'moral values' judgmental and even hateful. We live in a culture that celebrates a lot of things the Bible clearly says are 'sin'. Society wants to get rid of guilt because 'everything is just a choice – it's not right or wrong, good or evil'. That's not what Jesus says.

When we sin – we are called to be convicted in our hearts, to respond emotionally and then physically. When sin is pointed out in our lives – we should feel remorse – we should feel bad about it.

"Wait, Preacher – did you just say that you want me to 'feel bad'? Aren't you supposed to make me feel good? Why would I want to come to Church just so you can make me feel bad?"

Guilt is not a great long term motivator - but there are times when we ARE guilty – when we are guilty of sin, guilty of going against God's will. And when we ARE guilty, we should feel bad. Did Paul want the people to whom he wrote those harsh things to feel bad? Yes - but that wasn't his ultimate purpose. That 'bad feeling' was supposed to lead to something else. Let's look at Paul's writings in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 (NIV)...

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it - I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while - (9) yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. (10) Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

If you don't feel bad about sin – if you just accept it, if you bargain with Jesus and try to convince yourself that it's no big deal – you'll never feel the need to repent. A feeling of guilt is only any good if it leads you to turn away from sin. A 'guilt trip' is wrong, but encouraging you to feel bad about any sin in your life for the purpose of helping you follow Jesus more closely is a good thing!

Jesus didn't come just to make us feel bad or even to condemn us! Jesus came to save us! Jesus doesn't negotiate about sin because He knows how real the consequences of sin are. God in the flesh gave His life on a cross because of how awful sin is - in our lives and in the lives of those who don't yet know Him!

So What?

If I really believed that vampires existed - wouldn't I have an obligation to do something about it? If I really believed that vampires were an imminent threat to humanity - shouldn't I, at the very least, tell people about it?

The call to follow Jesus leads to life, and this life is not all there is! Please, don't make the same choices that the world makes and expect different results in the end... You – live radically different lives from the world; make radically different choices than the world! You – lead your families for Jesus! You - choose to follow Jesus – completely! And don't just settle for that – tell someone else about Jesus, and give them the opportunity to find eternal life in Jesus!

Talk to someone about Jesus! Telling someone about Jesus could change their life forever if they choose to follow, too!