Follow: A Lamb?

Who do you follow? 

It’s interesting because thanks to Social Media, it is now very easy to see who you follow on Twitter or Instagram. If you looked at my profile, you’d find out that I follow a bunch of famous pastors, Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Randall Cobb (there's a lot of Packers), and like 17 versions of Jesus.

But the most followed people on Social Media? Kim Kardashian – probably because people like to see her fashion and learn what’s hip and in.  Lebron James – because people like to get insights into the life of such an incredible baller. Taylor Swift-- millions of followers aiming to see what her latest music is.

And here’s something interesting – you can now advertise to get more people to follow you. For instance, you might be scrolling through Facebook and an ad will pop up of a delicious looking cup of coffee “Follow Sola Coffee and get a free coffee NOW,” or there might be a cute cat video, “To see more cute cat videos, follow cutecatvideos.com.” 

Of course, what goes on in Social Media is just a minuscule version of what happens to each of us – spiritually. Lots of voices – each day – calling to us “Follow me. Follow us. Follow our way of thinking.” 

And while following the wrong person on Social Media might mean a few months of lame jokes and some of your friends thinking you aren’t as cool as they thought you were, following the wrong one spiritually has much worse consequences:

It determines your relationship with God.
It determines the peace you have in your life.
It determines where you spend eternity. 

Today we are going to begin a sermon series called FOLLOW. We’re going to discuss what it means to follow Jesus as a 21st century, millennial, Raleighian. Today, we want to start by sifting through the voices that call us to follow them. We want to (1) become wary of voices (even religious voices) that point us in the wrong direction and (2) hear Jesus’ voices – and the incredible results of following him.

Before we do that, join me in a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear what you want us to hear. Open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.

I. Be Wary of the Voices
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Our lesson today takes place in John 1: 29. A bit of background on John 1 – This takes place around 30 AD. At the time, the Roman Empire is in control of large portions of Europe, Asia, Northern Africa – and even Israel. But while the government was controlled by these foreigners, the day-to-day religious life was governed by the reflections and suggestions of the religious leaders – a group of men called the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were zealots. They loved God’s law. They loved it so much that they couldn’t help but improve upon it. God’s law said to wear a prayer shawl which were giant, jewel studded aprons. God’s law said to rest on Saturday; they made sure to not take more than 500 steps. God’s law said to give 10% of your income; they gave up 10% of their salt shaker – measuring it, funneling it, and taking it to the temple for all to see: “Here’s my ten percent of salt. Did you remember your 10% of salt? I’m just 10% of salt better than you at connecting with God.” 

They sound like wonderful guys, right? 

But honestly – they were viewed that way. The people at the time looked up to them. From the outward perspective, these guys seemed to have it all together. They had money. They had religious things to say. They looked like they knew just what it took to get to God and to heaven. So many followed them. They listened to them. They learned from them. They hoped to be them. 

Until John. 

John was different. 

John ditched the long flowing robes and prayer shawls for camel skin clothing. 
He ditched the bread baked for the holy show bread table for locusts and grasshoppers. 
He ditched the decadence of the temple for the desert.
He ditched the quiet argumentation of the wise at the synagogue for the loud, hellfire and brimstone of a sports fan who's had too much to drink! 

John was different. Compared to the Pharisees he looked like a perennial homeless guy complete with wily hair and a pungent odor. You wouldn’t expect that many people to follow him on spiritual matters.

But people did. In fact, the Gospel of Luke says that there were “crowds of people coming to him.” (3:7) The word, in the singular, gives you a picture of a church full. A crowd. But it’s in the plural – crowds of people. Like a group gathering downtown at the amphitheater to listen to Taylor Swift – that’s the kind of crowds that John was drawing to him. 

More importantly – that’s the kind of crowd that the Pharisees were losing to him. 

So they went to investigate. Take a look at John 1:19. “The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John who he was.” Follow that question – Who are you? Who in the world do you think you are? Knowing what we know about the Pharisees in every other part of Scripture, you almost expect an element of "What gives you a right to take all these followers away from us?" 

And if you’re John – looking around at all these people – seeing how they hang on your every word -realizing that so many of them had left the flock of Pharisees to come and hear you – wouldn’t you expect a bit of pride to swell in his heart? Maybe a sarcastic answer:

I’m everything you guys aren’t. 
I’m a better leader than you. 
I’m the guy these people are following. Who are you? 

But instead look at how John replies – He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” (1:20)

Let’s talk about that. Messiah is a Hebrew word. It means “Anointed One.” The Anointed One was a part of the Jewish faith. Thousands of years earlier God had promised Abraham – the man from whom the entire genealogy of Israel was based – that one day someone would come from his family – one anointed to bless all people. That promise was repeated by God, “The Anointed One is coming! The Anointed One is coming!” 

Prophet after prophet came.
Prophet after prophet spoke about the Anointed One. 
Prophet after prophet was not the Anointed One. 

Now a group of people was convinced that John might be the Messiah. He spoke so powerfully and his message was so intriguing. Maybe he was the Messiah. Maybe he was the one to lead them away from Roman power. Maybe he was the one to save them. 

John could have said, “Yes, I am. Give me your money. Get me a hammock. Get me some of those big bunches of dark purple grapes and a few beautiful ladies to feed me – and I’ll tell you what to do next.” 

But he doesn’t. He confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” (1:20) 

Ok. But he still seemed pretty important and they still wanted to follow him. Follow their train of thought, “Then, who are you? Are you Elijah? He’s a really famous prophet from ancient Israel. He’s dead, but…maybe you are him come back from the dead? We’ll follow you!"

Nope. (v.21a) 

Are you the Prophet? A prophecy about Moses – arguably the most famous prophet of ancient Israel and how a prophet would come that was greater than him! Are you that prophet? 

Nah.  (v.21b)

Then, who are you? We give up. Tell us who you are and we can start your fan club. 

John said this, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” (v.23) 

Do any of you have a GPS? What’s pretty neat about a GPS is it tells you everywhere you want to go. It tells you step by step, turn by turn directions on how to get to Cameron for a Duke game or PNC for a State game or how to get to Asheville to go skiing. 

What’s also cool about a GPS is that you can change the voice of the one talking to you. You can have it speak with a pleasant Southern accent, “Ya’ll turn right.” A Northern Wisconsin accent, “You betcha that’s a left turn there.” OR you can even have it speak as Mr. T. “I pity the fool who don’t make a U-turn right now!”

But Mr. T doesn’t really know what all these directions. He’s not sitting in some suite in downtown Raleigh with a headset on, Google maps pulled up and giving you directions where to go. He’s simply a voice – telling you what he’s been told to say. 

That’s what John was. He was a voice. A voice that had been prophesied about by another voice – but a voice nonetheless. 
A voice who would come before the Messiah. 
A voice who would point people to the Messiah.
A voice who was not the Messiah. 
A voice who told people – I’m not the Messiah.

Of course, that’s not always how it goes, is it? People don’t always say, “Don’t follow me. I’m not the answer.”  Oftentimes people give you the impression that they are the Messiah – or at least that they’ll fix all of your problems. 

Be careful. 

And I think there are three areas of society where this is especially true: 

(1) Politics

We just got done with a political season in which people put all their hopes and dreams on various political candidates. He’s my Messiah. No, she’s my Messiah. He’s going to make my life better. No, she’s going to change my world. 

People follow them. People put their hopes in him. People think they are the one who are going to fix things for them and are horribly disappointed when they don’t. 

Understand this when politicians are running for office they need to do everything possible to explain why they are the best person for the job and why they will be your personal Messiah – even if they know they can’t be. 

What I mean is – it wouldn’t be a very good political campaign if I said, “Vote for Kiecker. I’m ok – not terrible, but not great either. I’ll try hard…most of the time. I probably won’t make that much change in your personal life anyways.” 

In the end, politicians have voices. Their voices elevate themselves. But be careful. Political candidates are not the Messiah.

(2) Pastors

This is interesting. Because pastors are supposed to be voices pointing people to the Messiah. But sometimes it becomes all about them. 

Sometimes, it might not even be their fault. Listen to that pastor. He has it all together. He’ll turn your life around and if he ever leaves, it’ll be a disaster again!

Sometimes, it is their fault. Here’s what I did in my life. Here’s why it worked. Here’s why you need to follow me and do what I did (and send some money my way in the process.)

But here’s the problem: The pastor is not the Messiah. I’m not the Messiah. Joel Osteen is not the Messiah. Joyce Meyers is not the Messiah. 

There is not a pastor right now who is the Messiah. 

Be careful. 

If a pastoral voice tells you to follow the Lord, awesome. 
If a pastoral voice tells you to follow himself, be careful. Be very careful. 

And if I ever start doing that – somebody slap me. 

(3) Ourselves 

And then, there’s probably the trickiest voice to deal with. It’s one that you’ve heard before. It’s one that has influenced you throughout your life. It’s one that I guarantee you struggle with.

Your own voice. 

We are so cleverly, stupid: 

• I can do this on my own. I’ll get out of this jam all by myself. 
• I know I need to get closer to God. I’ll just do better and fix it. 
• I don’t need a pastor or a friend or the Bible to tell me what to do – I’m pretty spiritual. I’ll handle this on my own. 
• I’ll follow my heart. I’ll follow my own lead. I’ll figure it out . 

ON. MY. OWN. 

Here’s the reality that John the Baptist realized – he was not the Messiah  (and he had crowds of people following him!) You don’t have crowds of people following you. You might have hundreds of people following you on Instagram, but guess what – none of them think you can fix their life!

You are not the Messiah. 
So stop trusting yourself as the Messiah. 
It will have eternal consequences. 

II. Follow the Lamb

Who is the Messiah then? Who should we put our trust in? 

Read a bit farther with me. In fact, it’s the very next day. The crowds have returned. Some are disappointed. John isn’t the one. They have to keep searching, keep looking, and keep hoping to find the Messiah one day. John sense their frustration. John himself has that same frustration. 

But then…he sees him. Walking slowly. Head down. Covered up in a tunic. Unassuming and unimpressive.

But John knows him and John points:  John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” 

Look at the Lamb.
See the Lamb.
Follow the Lamb. 

That’s a really interesting name for the Savior. Because Lambs are not really that intimidating. 
There aren’t any NFL teams calls the Lambs. 
There isn’t any professional wrestler called “Lonnie, the Lamb.” 
Where you hear that word – it doesn’t strike me with fear. I’m not suddenly concerned that the Lamb is going to suffocate me with his wool. 

Why would you follow a lamb? Wouldn’t you just be counting him jumping over the same gate over and over until you fall asleep? 

Don’t tune out just yet. John gives three awesome reasons to follow the man referred to as the Lamb. 

(1)  He Takes Away the Sin of the World.

This one has a lot to do with the culture of Ancient Israel. In the Old Testament, God had people sacrifice animals. Sometimes out of thanks. Sometimes out of trust. And sometimes for the forgiveness of sins. 

When it was for the forgiveness of sins, God was making something clear to the Israelites: I hate sin. I hate it because it wrongs your fellow brothers and sisters. I hate it because it wrongs my children. I hate so much that I must punish it with death!  

When lambs were sacrificed for sins, it was a constant reminder to the people of the divine, eternal consequence of their sins.  

The only problem? If you were an Old Testament Israelite you probably saw lots of lambs killed. A lamb for my morning sin. A lamb for my 2 pm sin. A lamb for my evening sins. Lambs for the sins that I missed last week. Lambs for your sins and my sins and lambs for Uncle John’s sins. Lambs here, there, everywhere, up, down and in between. Lambs everywhere that Dr. Seuss could think of to describe it! 

The sad reality? 
Animal blood cannot take away sin. 

But Jesus wasn’t an animal. 
He wasn’t an cute, fluffy lamb. 
He wasn’t even a man. 

He was God’s Son. 
Divine. 
Perfect.
Infinite.

With his death, he would take away the sins of the world.  
Change that. 
With his death, he took away the sins of the world.

That means this: When you follow Jesus, your sins are forgiven. 

The sin that can’t seem to leave your mind? Forgiven.
That sin your friends won’t let your forget on Facebook? Forgiven.
That sin that cost you your job? Forgiven.
That sin you struggled with for the past twelve years of your life? Forgiven. 

Forgiven because the Lamb of God gave his blood for you.  

(2)  He’s Been Around Awhile. 

One of the key talking points in a political race is experience. How many years have they been in government? How much experience do they have serving people? How many years of tenure do they have under their belt? 

Look at what John says about Jesus, "The one who comes after me (Jesus) was before me.” Literally, he existed long before me!

This doesn’t mean John was bad at math. Because if you follow the story of Jesus, John’s birth was announced about six months before Jesus’. John was ½ a year older than Jesus. 

But Jesus was not just human.
Jesus was also God. 

It means he’s been around the block. He’s been around since the beginning. He’s been around since the formation of the earth. He’s been around since an eternity and half before there was an earth. 

Talk about experience. He’s seen it all. He’s been through it all. 

Making him the perfect one to follow.

Think about what you’re going through. Jesus gets it. 
Financial struggles? He’s seen that and helped people through it. 
Relationship struggles? He’s seen it before and comforted through it. 
Struggles with guilt and shame? 
Nervousness about a sickness?
Problems at school? 
Doubts about the direction of your life?

Jesus has seen it. Jesus has helped people through it. Jesus will help you through it. 

Follow Him.  

(3) Awesome stuff happens around Him. 

In fact, John lets us in on a secret - the reason he was so confident that Jesus was the Lamb of God and the one to follow. 

He says this “I saw the heavens open up.” And can you imagine that? We’re not talking about the clouds parting and there being a sunny day. We’re talking about some incredible, divine, never before seen moment – the sky is rendered. There’s a glimpse into heaven. There’s a brilliant light that even sunglasses won’t allow you to look into. 

And a silhouette – a divine dove – starts hovering down from the split in the sky. It hovers to the right. It hovers to the left. All eyes are on it. Until it comes to rest right on Jesus’ shoulder. 

And then,  a voice – not John’s voice – a voice – a booming voice – a voice – not coming from some microphone system because microphone systems didn’t exist yet! 

A voice from God himself says this, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

It was a moment that made John go “wow.”
It was a moment that made everyone else who saw it go, “That was incredible.”
It was a moment that made people stop and think – This guy is worth following. 

My prayer is that it makes you stop and think the same – This guy, this God, this Lamb is worth following. 

Recommit yourself to following Jesus in 2017. Amen.