Jesus Unfiltered-Follow Series: What Does it Mean to Follow Jesus?, Part 2 | Chip Ingram

what does it really mean to follow Jesus does it mean a life following a rigid set of rules and regulations uh 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 Chip's our Bible teacher for this International teaching and discipleship Ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians and as he just teased in this program we're picking up in our series Jesus unfiltered by continuing to look at what it means to follow after Jesus wholeheartedly there's a lot to get to so let's join chip in John 8 as the Pharisees are 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 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 man 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 everpresent 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 HD himself slipping away from the temple grounds now notice can can you just look at chapter nine 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 s 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 and view of the world does it 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 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 should follow Jesus as the light of the world you ready get your pen out cuz I want you to jot down a couple things I think could 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 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 you 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 First John it's 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 a 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 first 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 and notice this idea of light picking up at verse five this is the message we've heard from him and declare to you 1 John 1: 5 God is light in him there is no Darkness at all 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 so what's it mean it means that you'll have the light of life it means that you never have to walk in darkness it means you'll have the very light in the presence like sometimes you know we read the Bible and you think wouldn't it be great if if you know there was a light like over our house or like over my car or maybe over my head that I could only see and when I you know and whenever it moved I would move and you know this decision go here and you 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 First 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 first John he goes if I say I love God 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 uh when I was uh 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 uh dad was a veteran um and on the outside we look good we got good grades we played Sports I got a scholarship we lived in you know little culde-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 motion sit Neil Stan 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 as my dad would say later he says even when I was drunk I went to church my dad was was a 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 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 Quint and when she died the the I mean the the strings were gone my older sister in typical fash passion with a deeply Disturbed man with unresolved pain and anger issues and a loving and caring but enabling she rebelled and man she 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 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 we were this dysfunctional family but we look good parents had Advanced degrees we lived in a nice house all went to college we 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 a 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 you're just chains on you so how do you walk in the light I'll tell you cuz I've experienced it and I've seen it happen to 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 as a 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 no it's not intellectual knowledge there's o day intellectual knowledge factual in Greek uh other word ganoso you even hear the word Gnostic in that ganoso 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 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 to 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 my 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 as she rebelled my mother later in her life she always wanted to travel she always wanted to do this she always wanted 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 prisoner of his anger and then my sister with the eating disorder met a friend named Tammy and tamy said there was a person named Jesus and 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 have relationships like never before and he'll CLA you and he'll forgive you and my and my sister took that offer up and 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 you know 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 and I can't you know a lot of people they came from drugs they came from alcohol alol 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-personality Comm milliion who had no idea who I was I didn't even like me let alone even know I remember the freedom of feeling like I don't have to pretend any anymore this is who I am it's 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 then my dad 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 yipp yipp yipp y y y okay it was 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 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 is 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 five 00 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 have 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 you listen to God word you know as 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 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 into 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 in dependence 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 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 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 you're listening to living on the edge with Chip Ingram and he'll be back to continue the second volume of our Jesus unfiltered series follow in just a minute but let me quickly tell you that we are more than a broadcast Ministry we're supporting pastors globally developing helpful resources and sharing the gospel with this next Generation so if you'd like to join us in these efforts become a monthly partner by going to livingontheedge.org thanks for your support well here again is Chip and so he 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 they can come a day well 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 wonderful quote experiences that I think I'm having with God Jesus said here's the AET 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 till I felt like obeying I I'm not sure i' to be but 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 was wasn't there an Agony going oh Father this was a 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 is 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 you'll know by experience the truth and you experience God's love and then you'll be free and so uh one by one that dysfunctional crazy family Punky than me then Mom then Dad then Genie very imperfectly over a span of about 15 years started walking light instead of walking in darkness and and you know it just it changes the whole teory 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 uh Romans in your notes I think it says John little misprint you at Romans chap uh 4: 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 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 him 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 but 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 do you trus in 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 bad way to go ask Hagar ask ishmail that was Abraham trying to do God's will his way has produced a lot of problems finally he surrenders remember he finally believe to the point you want to follow Abraham's example with 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 on your notes will you here's the question when you are struggling that you should ask yourself because it changes the equation from I got to fix this or what about this or how 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 question 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 Lo he loves you he's for you he wants to bless you as you uh 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 n is because all these religious leaders with all their religion were completely blind to who he really was so John 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 Pharisees said he's a sinner and Jesus ends afterwards he finds the man and he says do you know who I am he goes what I don't know but I want to know and he tells him who he really is and he the man believes and the Pharisees come to him and say so you think we're blind and Jesus ends chapter n with this with the big question he said says um if you were blind your sin wouldn't be held against you be because you think you see and you're blind you'll die in your sins most dangerous place to be in all the world is really thinking where you're at and 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 you're listening to living on the edge with Chip Ingram and the message you just heard what's it mean to follow Jesus is from the second volume of our Jesus unfiltered series follow chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in in just a minute when Jesus called his disciples he used two simple words follow me so what does it look like to follow Jesus today well join us as we uncover the answer as chip opens his Bible to a section in the Gospel of John learn what chapters 6-10 tell us about being content humble bold and in awe of Christ's power and how all of those ideas tie into our decision to follow Jesus you're not going to want to miss a single program well chips here in studio with me now to share a quick word with all of you chip thanks Dave I want to share an important request with you if living on the edge is ministering to you would you consider returning the favor if you've been listening but haven't yet become a financial partner with living on the edge would you prayerfully consider uh sending a gift today and if you've given but could do it monthly I can't tell you it would make a huge difference if we all pitched in it would just make an incredible difference in in terms of what we can do here to reach and care for more people so thanks so much for all that you do and thanks for just praying and doing whatever God shows you to do and we will receive it with great gratitude thanks chip yeah it takes a team to do what God's called us to do so we invite you to join us as we encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians send in your gift or learn how to become a monthly partner by going to livingontheedge.org or by calling 83 3363 that's 8333 6003 or visit living on the edge.org app listeners tap donate and please know how much we appreciate your support well with that here again is Chip with his application as we close today's program today I talked about Jesus interaction with the blind beggar in John chapter 8 it's a familiar story it's a great story it has that classic classic line right you know this beggar says to these theological heavyweights you know I you guys are the heavyweights but all I know was I was blind but now I see and I think part of that story that we don't usually talk too much about is the commentary that Jesus gives to the Pharisees they're religious they're moral uh they're in God's word regularly he says to them because you think you can see you think you're right with God and I've revealed these things and you still don't see you are going to die in your sins the most dangerous place you can be spiritually for all eternity is thinking that everything is right with God when in fact it's not now hear me I'm not trying to poke around and produce some sort of false guilt what I'm trying to warn some of you is that you need to do what the Apostle Paul said to a church examine yourself carefully to see if you're in the faith Jesus was very clear that we could inspect our lives and that where there's fruit it would tell us what's real the fruit of the Christian Life this isn't a work hard be moral to get God to love you this is if you have a genuine transformational New Birth relationship with Jesus you will have a desire to be holy you will have a desire to be more loving you have a desire to connect with fellow Believers and you'll have a desire to get in God's word it doesn't mean that you won't slip occasionally it doesn't mean that you'll be perfect it doesn't mean that you're never going to miss reading your Bible etc etc but what I'm saying if in general those things are not a part of your thinking and your life pause because the most dangerous place you can ever be is thinking I'm really okay with God and then not be and so pray today almighty God would you reveal to me whether I'm genuinely a born again follower and have a relationship with you or not and sit quietly and wherever you're coming from can I encourage you to get into God's word that will be the most important thing you can do thanks chip and if you're looking for a practical way to get into God's word more regularly let me encourage you to sign up for daily discipleship with chip this free video resource was created so you can learn the basics of personal Bible study for the entire course you'll spend no more than 10 minutes with chip in a particular passage of scripture then he'll challenge you to spend 10 more minutes by yourself it's so easy you'll be blown away by how much you'll learn about God and His word sign up for any of our daily discipleship sessions today just go to livingontheedge.org app listeners tap discipleship well from all of here I'm Dave drwy thanking you for listening to this edition of living on the edge and I hope you'll join us next [Music] time thanks so much for watching this video if you'd like to watch more content like this click and subscribe here to our Channel and by the way if you'd like to know more about living on the edge find out about more resources maybe get on the mailing list go to livingontheedge.org see you next time