Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Most Important Question: Who Do You Follow? | Learning to Follow Jesus | Luke 6.39-40

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

"So the most important question you can ask is this, and you have to know this answer. And if you don't know it, you're in trouble." Some people seem to be natural-born leaders, don't they? Maybe you're one of them. You're team captain, you're class president, you're CEO. But no one starts out at the top. Listen to this episode to hear about https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/patrick-miller/ (Patrick's) existential crisis about being a follower and the crucial question he derived from it as he continues our series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/how-to-follow-jesus/ (Learning to Follow Jesus). To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/TheCrossingCOMO (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're learning what it looks like to follow Jesus by working our way through the Gospel of Luke. When I was a kid, I remember playing this computer game called Lemmings. I have no idea if it's still around, but the concept of the game was simple. A bunch of lemmings are all following each other in a straight line, and your goal is to create a path for them to get to the finish line without too many lemmings dying because they followed the leader off a cliff and perish. So one day I'm playing this game and as I'm playing it, it leads me into an existential

crisis, or at least as close to an existential crisis as a 13-year-old can experience because it made me ask this deep and profound question, was I a lemming? Was I a lemming? I realized suddenly watching these lemmings falling off the cliff that I was just like them. I wore the same clothes as my friends. I talked the same way as my friends. I laughed at the same things as my friends. I liked the same things as my friends. I wanted to do the same things my friends wanted to do. I defined right and wrong, good and bad the same way my friends did. Was I a lemming? I had decided at the time that the answer was yes. And so I committed myself to becoming a nonconformist. I would cut my own path, make my own way, define my own self. It probably took me another 10 years to realize a second, it may be more

important truth. There's no such thing as a nonconformist. Even the most nonconforming, nonconformists are conforming to some group out there. You see, the simple reality is that we as humans are tribal animals. We're hardwired to be a part of a group, to think with a group. However much we might or might not like it, we are all lemmings, which means that the wisest question we can ask is not, how can I be a nonconformist? How can I be true to myself? Don't kid yourself. The wise person asks a far better question. Who will I follow? What group will I conform my life to? In Jesus's sermon on the plane, he tells his disciples a short parable. Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? Now, those words, that tiny little story tell us that Jesus would have been great at playing lemmings, because he

understood that everyone is a follower. The great problem that humans face is not that we are blind ourselves, but that we follow blind people who blindly lead us into a pit. Why do we follow blind people? Because we're blind to their blindness. You see, our friends or the public figures that we trust, they don't really seem to be blind at all. Today it's common for people to speak as though they know everything about everything. For example, certain people claim that by virtue of their experience, everything there is to know about sex, sexuality, and gender. And if you disagree with them, you must be blind yourself. But Jesus would shock today's crowds by looking at exactly those people and saying, can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? Okay, there's other

people today who claim that by virtue of their success, they know everything there is to know about how to make money, about how to be a leader, about how to be successful and powerful. But Jesus would shocked today's elite, today's wealthy, today's leaders by saying this, can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? There are bloggers, influencers who claim that by virtue of their purchases and lifestyle choices, they know everything there is to know about being happy and fulfilled in life. But I think Jesus again would shock today's online shoppers, foodies, exercise gurus, whatever, by saying, can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? Jesus continues his tiny little story by making an important observation. He says,

the student is not about the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. He's saying, we are all students. We aren't the teachers. We aren't the ones in charge. And you're going to become like whoever you follow. And again, there's no choice here. You, me, we all follow someone. We will all be the student of some community. Or we can reframe the entire point. You are an apprentice. You are an apprentice of someone, or perhaps someone's. And there is some community, some group of people that's apprenticing you, teaching you how to live, what to love, what to value, what to buy, how to work, how to parent, how to friend, what to believe, what to see when you look out at the world. Jesus is making a point we don't

like to admit, but that we all really need to. We are all lemmings, all followers, all students, all apprentices. And the quickest way to end up in a pit is to deny this fact. To pretend that you're just doing it on your own, or to pretend that you can see, or to pretend that your gurus can see. No, Jesus says, can the blind lead the blind? Will they both not fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, i.e. is saying, look, you are not the one in charge, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. So the most important question you can ask is this, and you have to know this answer. If you don't know it, you're in trouble.

Whose apprentice will I become? Who will I follow? There's only one teacher out there who is not blind. Apprenticing him is the only way that we can learn to see, becoming a part of his community of apprentices, of students, of, could I put it this way, Lemmings, is the only way to avoid the pit. And we all know who that teacher is. It's Jesus.

Do you know who you're following today? Is it really Jesus? What would it look like for you to begin apprenticing Jesus? To let him teach you how to live, teach you what to love, what to value, what to buy, how to work, how to parent, how to friend, what to believe, what to see when you look out at the world. Who are you following? Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. that helps other people find this podcast more easily.

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