I know we talk about the rich young ruler alot….. But his story is so good and there is so much we can pull from it.

Mark 10:17-27
17 As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do so that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 But Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not give false testimony, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.” 21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

If you have grown up in church then you have heard this story.

There is an interesting structure to the way Jesus talks through things with him.

The first commandments he gives him are all about how he treats people. And the ruler admits that he has done those things.

The rich young ruler shows he had subscribed to the standards of God.

I love what the text says next.
21 Looking at him, Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

He walked away sorrowfully.

He wanted eternal life without a surrendered life. He was willing to subscribe to the standard, but not follow the Savior. You can subscribe to everything Jesus teaches and still never follow Jesus.
How many of us have gone to Jesus asking for purpose or asking for more and he looked at us in love and said “Yes, but one thing you lack.”

Our response is the deciding factor if we are going to be a subscriber of Jesus or a follower of Jesus.

Religion asks, ‘What standards have I kept?’ Discipleship asks, ‘Where has following Jesus taken me?’ Because a disciple isn’t simply someone who agrees with Jesus—a disciple is someone whose life moves when Jesus says, ‘Follow Me.’

Are you following him? What does it mean to follow him?

This is what Jesus was getting at with the rich young ruler. He was trying to bring him into discipleship.

The rich young ruler had subscribed to the standards of God, but when Jesus invited him to actually follow God, he discovered that agreement and discipleship are not the same thing.

We talk alot about discipleship and development. Its a core part of who we are. We want you to be developed in the gifts, talents, and ability that God has given you.

We believe that a disciple is a productive follower of Jesus. What does it mean to be a productive follower of Jesus?
Luke 9:23
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

It means you are denying yourself and following Jesus.

This is the simple way you can gauge right now if you are a disciple, is there anything that I should be denying but I am giving into? Am I bearing spiritual fruit?

Have I had patience where anger used to be present? Am I more loving? Have I chosen to forgive? All of those are examples of bearing spiritual fruit. You can gauge the spiritual fruit you bear by the progess you have made to change your heart, mind, and actions.
Jesus gives us a simple pathway here, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him.

We can’t just be someone that is around his teachings. Thats not a follower, thats simply a subscriber.

A subscriber is someone that says “I choose what content I want from you.”

How many people in here subscribe to something on YouTube? Maybe you have some sort of streaming service? Netflix, Disney Plus, Prime Video?

Do you use each service every day? Probably not.

I know right now I am using different sevices each day because different shows are dropping that I want to watch. I am picking the service based on what I want. That is what we do.

So, are you subscribing to Jesus teachings or following them? Are you activly trying to walk them out in your life?

Pastor Jason talked about this a few weeks ago. Scrolling on social media, you have have access to all these spiritual appetizers to the point that you feel like you don’t need a meal. And you substitue time in God’s word for something that is adjacent to God’s word.

All this does is rob us of the ability to actually grow. We may be listening to sermons, but who is going to hold you accountable to the change? We can say “Man, thats good.” We might even say “I need to work on that.” But we don’t grab on to it. And walk away because there is no one there to help you hold the standard.

Too many of us want to subscribe to Jesus. The problem with this is that simply subscribing to him means we are treating him like an add on to our lives rather than the source of life.
Subscribers can unsubscribe when the content stops serving them. Is that you?

Followers keep following when the road gets costly.

We see this even when Jesus himself walked the earth.

John 6:66
After this many of the disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Jesus didn't call us to be an audience. He called us to be disciples. And discipleship always produces something. If I've been following Jesus for years, there should be evidence that I've actually gone somewhere with Him.
That movement is what shows you are being productive. This goes back to our Consumer series from a few months ago.
Subscribers consume. Disciples produce.
Subscribers agree. Disciples obey.
Subscribers fit Jesus into their lives. Disciples build their lives around Jesus.
Subscribers stay while Jesus is useful. Disciples stay because Jesus is Lord.

Colossians 1:9-10
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

This is discipleship. This is the growth of a Jesus follower.

10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

The requirement of discipleship is that you walk in a manor worthy of God, bearing fruit, and increasing in knowledge about him.

And this is the hard part for all of us. How do we balance spiritual growth with the fact that we are going to fail and sin every day. The hope that we get to cling to is the fact that God knows us. He remebers we are dust and that is why His mercy and grace are sufficient for us.

This is why I want to give you some steps you can take to be a productive follower of Jesus:

1. Make Jesus Lord.

There is a difference between treating Jesus as a good teacher and the king of the universe.
There is no requirement to follow a good teachers message. But if a king gives us a decree, you have to follow it.

Too many of us treat conviction as an optional observation.

When God is bringing conviction he is showing you an area you lack in. Are you going to walk away sorrowfully or be obedient?

1 Peter 1:13-16
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

There is an expectation that once you come into the kingdom that you walk differently, talk differently, and act differently.

We are now representing the King of Kings. Is your current representation accurate of the God you claim you serve?

This is our first step in productivity. Submitting to his lordship often reveals the parts of our character that need the most work.

Productivity isnt necessarily doing more church stuff. It’s becoming more like Jesus and participating in what Jesus is doing. But how can we participate if we keep telling Jesus no.

To make Jesus Lord means to recognize and submit to His rightful authority over your life.

There’s an important theological nuance: we don't actually make Jesus Lord in the sense of giving Him lordship. He already is Lord.

Philippians 2:9–11 sums this up and says every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

What we do is acknowledge His lordship and surrender ourselves to it.

Luke 6:46
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

We are the one choosing to make him lord of our life through our obedience to him.

Where are you calling him lord with your mouth but you life says different? This is an area of lack that you need to submit to Christ.

What we are really saying is:
Jesus, I'll obey You as long as Your authority doesn't cross the boundary of what I'm unwilling to surrender.

Jesus isn't Lord of my life because I agree with Him. He's Lord of my life when His word has greater authority than my will.
This is the first step in becoming productive because without making him lord, you won’t ever move.

2. You have to move where He wants you.

This is why submitting to his lordship is important, because not all movement is productive.

How many people know, you can be busy and still not get anything done?

Matthew 28:19
Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The first word is go. Shelby talked about this several weeks ago. Will you go?
The issue though is that movement comes at a cost. Time, energy, money, and many other things.

Are you willing to pay? Because the right movement is the fruit of obedience.

Luke 14:16-21
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

There is something important that I want to note here: The banquet was planned, the master knew his guest, but the guest prioritized other things.

Busyness becomes dangerous when what occupies me keeps me from obeying the One who called me.

This is why subscribers can’t walk in obedience because obedience will often cross the line of what you want and challenge you to prioritize what God is requiring.

What did the master do? He moved on to people who would respond to the invitation.

Our response to God’s invitations matter. Our movement matters. But how do you know that you are stepping into the right thing instead of just busyness?

There are two types of decisions we make. God decisions or Good ones.

The good thing often feels manageable. It makes sense on paper. You can see how to accomplish it, measure it, schedule it, and control it. It may even be successful, but it can fill your calendar without requiring much dependence on God.

The God thing often feels different.

It can feel like peace and fear occupying the same space. There is something inside you saying, “This is where I'm supposed to go,” while another part of you is very aware that you don't have everything necessary to pull it off.

It stretches you beyond competence into dependence.


This feeling is normal. I wish that more christians would understand this. You are going to look at the situation and feel like you can’t do it. If you could do it on your own then you wouldn’t need God.

When we step into a situation that have to have God to make it happen, then he gets the glory. And thats the point. All of the good things and good works of our lives should point back to him, otherwise we are simply building ourselves up and not his kingdom.

Even Paul had to work through what he called a “thorn in my flesh” and he acknowledges that it was given to him so he wouldn’t be exalted above measure. And Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

If we want to experience his strength, we then have to be weak. And the wrong movement is us trying to prove our strength.

Busyness is doing everything I can do for God. Obedience is doing what God actually asked me to do.

The goal isn't to get somewhere impressive and ask God to bless it. The goal is to recognize where His presence is leading and refuse to go anywhere without Him.

You have to make sure your movement is a God movement not just a good movement.

We need to pray a prayer like Moses:
God, if You don’t go with me, I don’t want to go. But if You’re in it, I’ll follow You even when I don’t know how it’s going to work.

And once you get your movement down, you can finally start reproducing Jesus in others.

3. Reproduce Jesus

I left out a part of the great commision.

Matthew 28:20
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…

The finale step in being a productive follower of Jesus is reproducing that in other people. This is where things usually fall of for most christians and churches.

This is the command he gave the disciples. Its not enough to go and bring people into the kingdom, we then have to teach them.

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 11:1
11 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

Teaching people isn’t about placing ourselves in a position of authority, its about walking with them and showing them who Jesus is.
It’s being authentic and living life. In the highs and the lows with people.

Success in the kingdom isn’t about when something happens in me, its about when what happened to me is now translated to help others.

Who is imitating your walk with Christ?

Just like God designed fruit to carry the capacity for reproduction, so do you!

You carry the ability to help people realize that the same potential that God placed in you, is in them as well. You can help people see that they were created in the image of the almighty God, that they aren’t junk. You get to be a part of that but you have to make sure that the spiritual fruit in your life doesnt die before you have the opportunity to plant it somewhere else.
This is the process:
Jesus produces something in me → what He produces in me becomes something He can use through me → what He does through me begins producing something in someone else.
Reproducing disciples isn't reproducing ourselves. It's reproducing our devotion to Jesus.

Is your devotion to Jesus worth reproducing?

Paul doesn't ultimately want another Paul. He wants another person who imitates Christ.

So the goal isn't:
“Believe everything I believe, talk like me, lead like me, become like me.”

It's:
“Come close enough to my life that I can teach you how to follow Jesus, and then go teach somebody else.
Let me ask you a question?
“Who is closer to Jesus because I've been following Jesus?”

Because the goal isn't simply to be a subscriber who consumes, or even a follower who grows. Jesus wants to develop disciples who make disciples.

Let me simplify it:
A reproducing disciple doesn't just follow Jesus; they intentionally help someone else follow Jesus until that person can help someone else follow Jesus.

Maybe today you’ve realized, I’ve been subscribed to Jesus, but I haven’t actually been following Him.

You believe in Him. You know His Word. You come to church. But there’s an area where Jesus has been saying, “Follow Me,” and you’ve been saying, “Not there.”

The rich young ruler walked away when Jesus touched the one thing he wouldn't surrender. Today, you don't have to walk away.

Maybe you need to make Jesus Lord again, not just with your mouth, but with your obedience.
Maybe you’ve been busy doing good things, but you know God is calling you into His thing.

Or maybe you’ve been following Jesus for years, but everything God has done in you has stopped with you. It’s time to reproduce. It’s time to bring somebody with you.

So here’s the question:
Are you subscribed to Jesus or are you following Jesus?

If today your answer is, “Jesus, I’m done watching from a distance. Whatever You ask me to surrender, wherever You ask me to go, whoever You ask me to reach—my answer is yes.”
Then I want you to respond.

Jesus, I will follow You.