Our World Is Obsessed With Power...

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Morning, Awakening Church.

Great to be with you.

Welcome.

You can go ahead and have a seat.

Absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

Today we're kicking off a brand new series called Unfollow.

Would you say that with me?

Very good, very good.

Now think about this.

What if what if the life you're longing for is actually found in unfollowing?

You know, today there's no sorta of voices telling you how to achieve the life you want.

Influencers, podcasters, self-help gurus, entrepreneurs, spiritual mystics, all promising a better life.

Everyone's telling you how to live, what to believe, what will make you happy, and what will finally satisfy.

And yet, despite it all, all that we have, we're still exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, lonely.

In the midst of all the noise, all the voices vying for your attention, there's still one invitation.

Jesus has still been giving the same invitation for two thousand years.

Follow me.

Follow me.

Notice it's not just believe in me, which is important.

But follow me, learn from me, learn my way of living.

Listen actually to his invitation to you this morning.

He says this, come to me.

Which, by the way, to come to him means you have to leave something.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened.

If you came in weary and burdened, Jesus says, You're welcome to me.

And I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

For I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your soul.

Jesus offers rest for weary souls.

Peace in an anxious, chaotic world.

A life rooted in something deeper than success, achievement, or approval.

And Jesus says this very clearly.

He says, Come to me.

And then he says, learn from me.

Like the life of Jesus is found in the ways of Jesus.

And here's what I didn't realize when I first started following Jesus, that I've come to realize is a really big part of following Jesus.

A really big part of following Jesus is unlearning.

A really big part of following Jesus is unlearning.

Because the reality is most of us don't realize, we think we come to Jesus as this blank slate.

But the truth is, is we're all carrying stuff in our relationship with Jesus.

We all have a backpack filled with expectations, with dreams, with what it means to be successful, with our desires.

We have things that we're placing upon Jesus that we hope that He wants, we hope He does for us.

We have vision of what we think the very best life for us is.

And we can bring all of this into our relationship with Him: ideas of happiness and power and significance.

Stories we've been told, values we've embraced, assumptions we've inherited.

Now listen, to learn the way of Jesus, we have to unlearn some stories we've believed, values we've embraced, definitions of success we've inherited, and even assumptions we've projected onto him.

In order to learn the way of Jesus, we have to unlearn some of the stuff that we've been carrying.

Some things that we bring in that we didn't even realize we were bringing it.

In fact, um, I just gotta be totally honest here.

First service, I didn't forget this.

Second service, this service, I forgot I was wearing the back uh backpack while I was preaching.

I was like, and that's what we do.

We don't even realize we're carrying so much of this around.

And then we and in this moment we have to learn, okay, how do we begin to put it down?

To follow Jesus and said another way, is we have to do some unfollowing.

We have to do some unfollowing.

This is not a new problem, by the way.

It's a human problem.

Even Jesus' first followers had to do this.

It's all over the Gospels.

In fact, when you read the Gospels, you discover that following Jesus was often a process of unlearning for the disciples.

They had to unlearn what they thought uh they thought power was, unlearn what success was.

They had to unlearn what the Messiah was, their idea of what the Messiah was and what greatness looked like.

Now, today in our time, I actually want to return to a passage.

I've never done this before, that I taught in January.

A little dangerous to teach a passage six months after you just taught it.

Our theme this year is the theme of pursue.

What does it look like to passionately pursue the heart of God?

Now, I'm not gonna unpack everything in this passage.

If you want to go back and listen to that sermon, you can.

But this passage is a perfect and powerful example of exactly what we're talking about of his disciples having to unlearn, unfollow some things in order to truly follow Jesus.

If you got your Bibles, can you open up to Mark chapter 10?

Mark 10 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 10, verse 35.

Mark 10:35

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him.

Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

Wow, that's bold.

Hey, Jesus, we want you to say yes before you even know the question.

Okay, alright.

But the truth be told, is you know what?

I think I come to Jesus that way.

I think we kind of approach God that way at times, don't we?

If we're honest, we say, Jesus, bless my plans, bless my ambition, bless my timeline, my definition of success, bless the life I've already decided I want.

We want Jesus on our terms to fulfill our dreams.

And I love Jesus' response.

Because it wasn't condemnation, it wasn't even correction.

He led with curiosity.

This is, by the way, a great parenting thing that my wife does.

Amazing.

Um, the minute you know one of your kids does something that you normally would react to, instead of reacting to it, ask a question to it.

Now, not the kind of question I'm really good at asking, which is, what were you thinking?

That's not the question, but curiosity.

It's so powerful.

Jesus leans into this, and instead of going, like, what were you thinking?

Notice what he says.

He says, What do you want me to do for you?

There's something that you're getting at, and something important to you, and I want to know what that is so that I can lead you well, so I can show you what's best.

What do you want me to do for you?

That's a powerful question, by the way.

Let me ask you.

What do you really want?

I mean, like, what do you really want?

Not the church answer, not the right answer, but when it gets down to it, like, what do you really want?

Because when you answer that well, what you realize is there's some things that you go, like, that's what I'm following for a good life that I think will make my life better.

This is what I think success really looks like.

This is what I'm holding on to that I think actually makes life good.

If you were to answer it honestly, maybe you'd say it's to be important.

To be able to do what you want whenever you want.

Maybe you're like, I just want to be rich, Ryan.

Forget it.

Desirable to be chosen, to be respected, to be accepted, to have control, to be approved, to be powerful.

James and John, they answered it honestly.

Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left hand in glory.

Ooh, okay.

All right, you go, guys.

Okay.

Let one of us sit at your right hand, the other at your left in glory.

Well, we want, we want glory, baby.

We want power, we want importance, we want honor, we want greatness, we want influence.

That's what makes life truly great.

What do you think makes life truly great?

Or a truly great life.

The disciples expected Jesus to be king who would conquer Rome, restore Israel to superpower status.

They thought, sure, it's gonna be tough, but we're gonna get through.

Jesus is gonna conquer, and he's gonna be a king, and I wanna be at his right and his left.

Now, here's the fascinating part.

Uh, Mark 10 is the end of like three uh pictures of Jesus sharing with his disciples.

Mark 8, Mark 9, Mark 10.

Three times Jesus tells his disciples, I'm going to Jerusalem to suffer and die.

And three times they do not get it.

He's headed to Jerusalem not to be crowned, but to be crucified.

We find the disciples are hearing Jesus, but they're filtering him through their own expectations.

It's not, the problem isn't that they're not listening, it's they're interpreting everything Jesus said through pre-existing visions of greatness.

First thing we need to unfollow in order to follow Jesus.

So we need to unfollow a consumer mindset towards Jesus.

A consumer mindset towards Jesus.

A consumer asks, what's in it for me?

Approaches Jesus primarily for what he can provide rather than who he is.

It treats Jesus as a means to an end rather than the end itself.

The assumption underneath this is Jesus exists to help me get what I want.

Jesus, we want you to do whatever we ask.

And what ends up happening is rather than following Jesus, we try to fit Jesus into our lives and into our backpack.

We go, like, okay, you know what?

If I can just get a little bit of Jesus, put him in here, and I'm gonna carry him around and may he bless everything that I'm a part of.

May he go after and do that.

That would be wonderful.

Maybe he's this genie or this guru or this self-help guy, and I'm just gonna fit him into my life.

Because if we're honest, we don't want Jesus to lead our lives, we want him to endorse our lives.

We want him to bless our plans, accelerate our dreams, and help us become the person we've already decided we want to be.

First, unfollow.

Unfollow a consumer mindset towards Jesus.

Now, notice Jesus' response to their request.

And here's what I love.

I love his response because um you we don't see this today anymore.

Um, first, remember, how did Jesus respond to their their requests at the beginning?

Curiosity, right?

Curiosity.

He responded with curiosity.

Um, and now you're what you're gonna see is he is then gonna give them clarity, right?

So often we can end on one side or the other.

Curiosity and compassion in the moment, but we never get to clarity, or we can be all clarity, but we don't have any curiosity.

Jesus held those in beautiful tension.

But listen to what he says to them.

You don't know what you're asking.

Woo, oh boy.

Can you imagine being them in that moment?

Like, uh, okay.

What do you mean?

What like, no, we we know what we're at with Jesus, we know what we're asking.

We want to be on your right and your left.

We have visions of glory.

You're the coming king.

Let's go.

And see, they're only seeing a crown where Jesus says, No, there's a cup.

It's a cup of suffering.

Can you drink the cup I drank or be baptized with the baptism I'm being baptized?

They're like, sure, we can.

And they're like, well, obviously, you don't know what you're asking, but you will drink the cup and I will uh and be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized.

But to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant.

These places belong to those whom they've been prepared.

Jesus exposes the second uh assumption hiding in our backpack.

Unfollow the consumeristic mindset, and then we have to unfollow the belief that you know best.

The belief that you know best.

I got it.

The belief Jesus is telling to them, you don't know what you're asking.

They're thinking about thrones, they're thinking about importance and power, and Jesus sees a cup.

See, the assumption underneath it is I know what will make me happy.

I know if I marry the right person, if I get that job, if I make this amount of money, if I'm able to retire young, if I can travel the world, if I can drive that car, afford those vacations, own that house, have those kids, get rid of those kids, get that degree, then I'll be happy.

I know.

And here's what I found.

And if you've lived any length of time, you found this too.

One of the biggest barriers to knowing is thinking you already know.

One of the biggest barriers to truly knowing something is assuming or thinking you already know.

Any of you who have ever had teenagers or have taught teenagers, you understand this.

You know, in high school they have four classes, right?

Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior.

It's so interesting the name sophomore and why they named it sophomore.

It's this age, you know, coming of age year.

Um, and do you know what sophomore means?

Probably you do.

Many of you do.

No, okay.

Well, let me tell you, sophomore comes from the Greek word sophia or wisdom, right?

So why you're like, okay, man, sophomore, they're wise.

More, um, you well, you can think about it, it's where we get our word moronic.

Um literally, it means wise fool.

That when you think you know everything, you have cut yourself off to wisdom.

You are a fool.

Thinking you know is one of the biggest barriers to truly knowing.

And I'm so grateful.

I'm so grateful for the prayers that God didn't answer.

How many things that I thought would make me happy, fulfill me, or complete me, and he looking back, gosh, I had no idea.

The disciples thought a throne would lead to life.

Jesus knew only a cross would lead to life.

See, the challenge in following Jesus is that he often leads us somewhere we wouldn't choose ourselves.

That's where we have our dreams, our desires, our backpack, and that's one of the things that we hold back.

It's we think we know best, and we're like, Jesus trying to lead us in the direction.

I don't really want to go there, I know.

Um so for my wife and I, maybe you know this, I've shared this before, but um we never wanted to plan a church.

We we never wanted to lead a church.

And after we got to never wanting to plan a church and never wanting to lead a church, we got past that.

We never wanted to meet in the high school.

Fourteen years later, I'm so glad that God didn't let me get that.

Because I never would have wanted to miss out on what he's doing now.

So we have to unfollow the idea that we know what's best for our lives and begin to embrace that Jesus knows what you need better than you do.

A disciple eventually learns Jesus is smarter than me, wiser than me, has better vision than me, and his definition of the good life is better than mine.

And so following Jesus requires trusting him more than I trust myself.

And follow the consumer mindset towards Jesus.

He's just exist for me.

And follow that I know what's best.

Conversation continues.

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant that James and with James and John.

Now they were upset with James and John, not because they asked Jesus, but because they asked Jesus first.

They wanted to have the glory and the power and the renown.

And so Jesus called them together.

He had a little staff meeting.

He said, You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over you, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

There's a picture in our world of what it means to be great, of what it means to be significant, of what it means to really matter and to have importance.

In their day, it's how many people report to you, how many people you influence, have authority over, who uh gets to do whatever they want whenever they want.

You have the power, you have the wealth, you show it off.

People serve you, and so you're important.

People listen when you speak, and when you enter a room, people notice.

And then Jesus says this in that moment, in that time, to those people, his followers not so with you.

In fact, when we preached this six months ago, I had you say that with me.

Would you say that with me?

Not so with you.

Try it again.

Not so with you.

Like there's a vision of what the good life, what it means to be truly great, to have importance really looks like.

And Jesus is saying, it's not so with you.

It's antithetical to the ways to the kingdom of God.

Instead, whoever wants to become great must be your servant.

And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all, for even the Son of Man did not come to serve but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

To follow Jesus.

We must unfollow Silicon Valley's vision of greatness.

Silicon Valley doesn't settle for average.

We live in a place obsessed with greatness, achievement, influence, innovation, and impact.

It's the home of startups, high-tech, build your brand, hustle, and overnight success stories.

What I want you to notice is that Jesus isn't down on the desire to be great.

He doesn't say, yes, stop desiring that.

No, desire to have an impact with your life.

Dream, a big dream.

Just make sure you're headed in the right direction.

Like whoever wants to be great, you want to be great, you want to have significance, you want to have impact, you want to leave a mark that lasts.

Let me tell you how to do that.

Because it's not building up your wealth.

See, the assumption here is significance is found in status, power, and achievement.

In the valley, you are an important person because of what you built, what you have, what you drive, what you wear, where you are educated, what you're able to do, where you're able to go.

And the problem then is we tend to confuse success, at least this definition of success, with significance.

We've trade those.

We live packed lives to the full, and yet are strangely empty.

Network with everyone, but never feel truly known.

And in the midst of it, have you thought in all the hurry, the hustle, the pressure, the deadlines, all the comparison, am I missing it?

Is this it?

Chasing something that you can never fully grasp.

Jesus says, the kingdom of God turns the world's idea of power, glory, and success upside down.

The path to a great life is found in laying down your life.

And then he goes and says this.

For even the Son of Man, God Himself took on flesh, stepped into creation, his creation that he made.

Didn't come to be worshipped, didn't demand service, but came to serve and give his life a ransom for many.

You gotta unfollow Silicon Valley's version of success, of greatness.

The question is, would you let Jesus redefine what you believe makes a great life?

Because we're all carrying this.

And it's filled with so much in here.

Hopes, dreams, values, beliefs, convictions.

Some stuff we're aware of, some stuff we're not.

But it gets heavy, doesn't it?

And the invitation of Jesus is simple.

Come to me.

Come to me.

Learn from me.

To follow Jesus, you got to do some unfollowing.

You got to take some of those things and you just begin to go, you know what?

Jesus, I'm just gonna open this up and let you see in there.

And um would you would you just begin to unpack some of this?

Because honestly, I'm holding on tight, and I'm a little nervous even to bring this to you.

And maybe just the starting point for you today is just to be some, be honest about some of the stuff that you've been carrying.

But the truth is, too, what I know because of the conversations I've had, is gosh, it gets heavy.

And we walk around tired and weary and exhausted.

Jesus is like, come on, guys.

And we listen to so many voices and run after so many things.

So this moment, just now, for one moment, would you take the backpack you're carrying?

Just set it down.

In fact, we're gonna partake in communion in just a second.

And what I want you to do is as we move to worship, to have a moment where you visualize what are the things that I'm carrying, my vision of success, my hopes, my dreams, my values, the things that I'm holding on tighter than I am to Jesus, the things that I actually trust myself more than I trust Jesus.

And just for this moment, would you set it down and experience the great exchange?

His body broken for you.

His blood poured out for you.

And in this moment, he wants to bring rest and peace.

And I know, I know.

I know when you walk out of here and you step into the car, the bag's coming with you.

And I know on Monday morning when you head out to work or whatever, school or whatever you're gonna do, gosh, just you just throw it on because that's what we do.

We're in that habit.

And what I want you to do is just visualize that backpack on Monday, on Tuesday, and you're like, oh yeah, I'm bringing it back.

And here's the amazing part about Jesus: He's not down on you when you pick the bag back up.

He just doesn't want that for you.

So whether it's the first time you come to him or the thousandth time, his response is to say, Come to me.

Come to me.

Drop it off.

What are you carrying?

What are you needing to leave at the foot of Jesus?

Jesus, I pray for our time, my friends.

The truth is, is we live such hurried, rushed lives that it's only in moments like these that we even just kind of come up for air or even stop to pause to realize some things.

And I just asked that you would um you would meet us right here, right in this moment.

Maybe just answer the question real honestly, what is it that you really want?

And even the honest confession of Jesus, I would love to say I really want you, but I'm not there yet.

Help me to.

Bring to him your hopes, your dreams, your hurts, your wins.

In Jesus' name.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakening church.com slash card.