Fan or Follower?

With the football hysteria in Seattle, there are "fans" everywhere.  You can not even get on a bus without someone screaming "Seahawks!", usually in your face and then surprised when you - oh say, tell them you are a Broncos fan.  I am not a fan of any sport, nor any team and Satan's hold on this culture through distractions such as sporting events is most worrisome ... because ALL of my Christian friends are insane in this area as well ...

So, this brought up the question of what does it mean to be a fan, much less a follower of Jesus?  Which just happens to follow along with where I am in my readings!

Mark 3:7 - 12

So, we have this crowd of people chasing after Jesus, some from as far away as 90 miles from their homes, all over the wilderness areas of Galilee.  But, not all of them were there for the same reason nor were of the same quality.  Some were fans of Jesus, while others were followers ...

1.  The crowds came to healing and to see miracles.  The came from all over the greater area.  They heard about him, they came to see him, they were fans.

But, the follower of Jesus were seekers of truth.  They sought life.

So, yes, the crowd was following Jesus, but they were not followers of Jesus.

2.  Fans will want what they want, what they can get.  They can not change themselves, it seems most could not provide for themselves.

Followers want what Jesus gives.  And He has asked you to do a few things in life:

• Deny yourself
• Take up your cross daily

Yeah, there is no "cheap grace" if you want to be a follower of Jesus!  You have a purpose, you have a mission, Jesus expects you to succeed - by his standard, not your own!

What has Jesus asked you to do?????

3.  Fans have a problem.  They came for the excitement of the events - healings, miracles.  I am sure it was quite the circus in an age without TV!  But, they were completely missing point of whom Jesus is -and even demons understood that one!

Jesus had to tell the demons to shut up because they were proclaiming whom He is and it was not His time!

The fans saw someone whom only provided what they needed but he was not something "more" to them.

Of course, you need to remember that Jesus had the twelve but there were 120 followers.  But we really only know about the twelve main ones.  So, he did have a solid crowd with him, eager to learn what he had to teach......