Not a Fan

We are launching out into a new series at LifeGate Church called follower. No, this not challenge to grow our twitter accounts, while we have used it to encourage tweeting in church.  It is a challenge for us to be true followers of Jesus.  Some of the language that has shaken out of this series is the statement that we have to "not just fans but followers".


I understand being a fan.  I have cheered and cried over life's simpler pleasures and treasures, namely athletic teams starting with C and from the Windy City.  But I digress... Being a fan is not difficult especially when times are good.  Being a fan is easy in the world of Charlie Sheen when you are always "WINNING".  But the test is being follower over a fan is if you stick with it once it gets hard.

There was a moment in the ministry of Jesus where he foreshadows the events of the cross with a challenge to fans and followers to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  The outcome a lot of those who had been following the show - feeding the 5000+, healing blind and sick, raising the dead - suddenly were no longer interested.  As a matter of fact the bible states that they deserted him.

This brings us to the question of our own faith: have we been fairweather fans?  Are we all good with Jesus as long as things are all good?  Or in the difficult moments of faith where God digs deep in us to uproot some things that we have not given over to Him do we keep following the one that tends to the garden of our soul?  It is easy to wear our Team Jesus apparel when life is winning.  But do you proudly clothe yourself in the things of God when everything feels like a loss?

Followers go past being a fan.  Followers respond as the disciples did that day "where else are we going to go?  You have the words of eternal life."  The challenge is to be "not a fan, but a follower."

(Thoughts bootlegged off Pastor Ashley Wilson - LifeGate Church)