Fan vs. Follower

Tomorrow I begin a series of messages entitled 'Not a Fan.'  It is an often overlooked question, but one that must be asked by any person claiming the name Christian...are you a fan of Jesus or a follower of Jesus?  To some this question seems to be nothing more than an issue of semantics, but it is so much more.  Fan is simply defined as 'an enthusiastic admirer.'  A fan goes to the games, wears the gear, quotes the stats...but being a fan does not require sacrifice, service or surrender.  Fans of Jesus want to get close enough to receive the benefits, but not close enough that would require any kind of sacrifice.  Sadly, when you study personal morality statistics and lifestyles patterns it seems that church buildings every Sunday morning are full of 'Jesus fans.'  Many polls would indicate that when it comes to personal morality there is no distinguishable difference between those who claim Christ as Lord and Savior and those who do not.  A George Barna study found that only 3% of proclaimed Christians live with a Biblical world view.  For many of us it seems that it is time to get out of the stands and get on to the field.  

My hope for New Day Christian Church is that when God looks down on us he does not see an auditorium full of fans, but he sees a group of people covered in a thin layer of dust because we have been following Jesus so closely.