Not A Fan: Becoming A Completely Committed Follower of Jesus

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3 Sentence Summary

Are you a true follower of Jesus, or just an enthusiastic admirer? Jesus called his disciples to leave their jobs, abandon their families, forfeit their wealth, deny themselves, and take up their cross to follow him. Pastor Kyle Idleman challenges Christians to stop cheering for Jesus and get in the game—to pursue an intimate, fully-committed relationship with Jesus with everything we have.

5 Key Takeaways

1. Fans want all the benefits of Jesus without any of the sacrifices.
2. By faith we are saved, yet faith without works is dead. Becoming a follower of Jesus isn’t just a matter of belief. It also requires movement.
3. Jesus doesn’t just want us to know about him. He wants us to know him. He desires to have an intimate relationship with us.
4. Christians are not called to be perfect, but they are called to be authentic.
5. Following Jesus is a pursuit that requires everything you have, but it’s the best investment you could ever make.

Not A Fan Summary

Fan or Follower? An Honest Diagnosis

1) DTR

• Fas are enthusiastic admirers, but never in the game.
• My concern is that many of our churches in America have gone from being sanctuaries to becoming stadiums.
• The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren’t actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them.
• Fans are happy to follow Jesus as long as that doesn’t require any significant changes or have negative implications.
• Fans want Jesus to inspire them, but Jesus wants to interfere with their lives.
• Fans often confuse their admiration for devotion. They mistake their knowledge of Jesus for intimacy with Jesus. Fans assume their good intentions make up for their apathetic faith.

2) A Decision or A Commitment?

Question #1: Have You Made a Decision for Jesus or Have You Committed to Jesus?

• Many have made a decision to believe in Jesus without making a commitment to follow Jesus.
• Following by definition requires more than mental assent, it calls for movement.
• Following is part of believing. To truly believe is to follow.
• There is no forgiveness without repentance. There is no salvation without surrender. There is no life without death. There is no believing without committing.

3) Knowledge About Him or Intimacy with Him?

• Like the Pharisees, many fans have given their minds to the study of God, but they never surrendered their hearts.
• This is what often separates the fans from the followers. It’s the difference between knowledge and intimacy.

Question #2: Do You Just Know about Jesus, or Do You Really Know Him?

• The same word, the same connection used to describe a man and a wife is used to describe how God knows you and how he wants to be known by you.
• When is the last time demonstrated you your love for him with reckless abandonment?

4) One of Many or Your One and Only?

• Fans are not willing to follow Jesus if it means disappointing their family.
• Jesus isn’t just saying, “I want to be first place in your life.” He is saying, “I don’t even want there to be a second place.”

Question #3: Is Jesus One of Many or Is He Your One and Only?

1. For what do you sacrifice your money?
2. When you’re hurt, where do you go for comfort?
3. What disappoints or frustrates you the most?
4. What is it that really gets you excited?

• If you follow him, he is to be your one and only. You’re so committed to him that by comparison, you hate everyone else.
• If following Jesus cost you everything, would it still be worth it?

5) Following Jesus or Following the Rules?

• Some fans are like the Sadducees. Their faith was something they were born into.
• Some fans are like the Pharisees. They would measure their faith by their hard work at learning and following the law.

Question #4: Are You More Focused on the Outside Than the Inside?

• Jesus doesn’t expect followers to be perfect, but he does call them to be authentic.
• That’s what Christ wants in a follower-someone who isn’t pretending on the outside to have it all together.
• Jesus spoke so strongly to these rule-loving religious leaders because he knows that when following him becomes about following the rules, people end up walking away from both.
• Obedience to God comes from the inside out.
• When the relationship on the inside is right, the outside will follow.
• When laws become more important than love, and rules take precedent over relationships, it’s a good sign that we have become fans who are aiming at the wrong target.
• The church must constantly fight the tendency to make rules and policies more important than people because when that happens we are no longer following Jesus.

6) Self-Empowered or Spirit-Filled?

Question #5: Are You a Self-Empowered Fan or a Spirit-Filled Follower?

• Fans may try to follow Jesus out of their own strength, but followers are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
• They [the disciples] were filled with the power of the Spirit and these ordinary, unschooled followers of Jesus changed the world.
• The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now lives in his followers.
• You can’t live by the Spirit if you only acknowledge his presence one day a week when you come to church.
• Fans foolishly think that with enough hard work they can follow Jesus.
• Fans eventually get burned out from trying to live the Christian life out of their own efforts.

7) The Relationship Defined

• There will be a day when we stand before God, and on that day many who thought themselves followers will be identified as nothing more than fans.
• “The Sermon on the Mount.” It’s a sermon that has been all about raising the bar of the commitment for those who would follow him. It’s a narrow road, but it’s a road that leads to life.

Question #1: Does Your Life Reflect What You Say You Believe?

• We live at a time when we have become increasingly comfortable with separating what we say we believe with how we live. We have convinced ourselves that our beliefs are sincere even if they have no impact on how we live.
• A belief, no matter how sincere, if not reflected in reality isn’t a belief; it’s a delusion.

Question #2: Do You Think You’re on the Right Road Because of What You’ve Done?

• No matter how much good you do, no matter what you accomplish for the kingdom, that’s not what makes you a true follower.

Question #3: Do I Know Jesus and Does He Know Me?

• Jesus is not interested in enthusiastic admirers who practice everything in moderation and don’t get carried away. He wants completely committed followers.

An Invitation to Follow (The Unedited Version)

8) Anyone – An Open Invitation

• John 3:16 emphasizes believing.
• Luke 9:23 focuses on following.
• Those two things must necessarily go together. There is no believing without following.
• Anyone can follow but not without giving up everything.

9) Come After Me – A Passionate Pursuit

• Jesus wants us to understand that following him is a pursuit that requires everything we have.
• Fans will be careful not to get carried away.
• Followers understand that following Jesus is a pursuit that may cost them everything, but it is the best investment they could ever make.

10) Deny – A Total Surrender

• A follower makes a decision every day to deny himself and choose Jesus … even if it costs everything.
• One way fans try to follow Jesus without denying themselves is by compartmentalizing the areas of their lives they don’t want him to have access to.
• You don’t have to have your life together to become a Christian or be a part of the church, but you must be willing to repent of your sins.
• It’s only by becoming a slave to Jesus that we ever truly find freedom.

11) Take Up Your Cross Daily – An Everyday Death

• The slogan for followers of Christ could accurately be captured this way: Come and Die.
• The cross was a symbol of humiliation.
• The cross was a symbol of suffering.
• Am I really carrying a cross if there is no suffering and sacrifice? Has your faith cost you anything?
• We are by nature comfort seekers, not cross bearers.
• Dying to ourselves is not a one-time decision. It’s a daily decision.

Following Jesus – Wherever. Whenever. Whatever.

12) Wherever. What About There?

• Instead of submitting, you stand up for your rights. Instead of serving, you sit around.
• Instead of being patient, you are demanding. Instead of being encouraging, you are constantly critical.
• Instead of being a spiritual leader, you are passive and apathetic in your own home.
• You justify greed by calling it ambition.
• You rationalize dishonesty by calling it shrewd business.
• You stay quiet about your faith at work and call it being tolerant.

Now, a consultant is someone whose wisdom we highly value and listen to, but at the end of the day, we make the final decision. That’s why they’re called consultants. Here’s the problem: God doesn’t do consulting. Never has. Never will. He does God. When we treat him as a consultant, he simply stops showing up for the meetings.

Larry Osborne

• Fear always asks the question, “What if?”
• Psychologists tell us that the number-one way people deal with fear is avoidance.
• Saying yes to following Jesus means saying no to comfort.

13) Whenever. What About Now?

• When fans are asked about when they will get serious about their commitment to follow Jesus, the most common answer is tomorrow.
• When Jesus calls us to follow, he means right now. He means today.
• The longer you put Him off, the more likely it is that following him will never happen.

14) Whatever. What About That?

• Jesus doesn’t want followers who have a divided affection or a split allegiance.
• When you accept the invitation of Jesus to follow him, you are not just saying that he is a top priority in your life; you are making him the only priority in your life.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

• The most common reason people give for not following Jesus is they want to get their lives together first. It sounds noble, like you are taking the invitation of Jesus so seriously you want to wait to start following him until you get your life turned around and going in the right direction. But when Jesus invites you to follow him, his invitation comes to you right where you are.

15) Follower: My True Identity

• Don’t be surprised when you discover that what God does in you, he will want to do through you.
• Our behavior is determined by our identity. In other words, when we understand who we are, then we will know what to do.
• When you understand that your identity is not about being a fan and instead embrace who you are as a follower, your life will gain incredible clarity and direction.
• The truest thing about you is who you are in Christ.
• You are adopted (Ephesians 2:19).
• You are chosen (Colossians 3:12).
• You are called (Ephesians 4:1).
• You are a follower (Luke 9:23).

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