Pastor Brent challenges the conventional wisdom of the day that says you do you by examining what it really means to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.

Introduction

What do you prefer? Let’s learn a bit about you based on your brand preference: Zoom or MS Teams? This is the ultimate COVID option.Coke or Pepsi? The original question.Casey’s or Kim & Go? What about breakfast pizza?Levi’s or Wranglers?iPhone or the other device?Walmart or Target?Facebook or Snapchat?Jesus or Jesus? Jesus that looks like you, or Jesus that looks like the one we see in the Gospels?

Growing up, there were a few ways that companies might use to win you over to their product or at least get you to try to use what they were selling. Today we have social media influencers. Influencers – people who have a large social media following who are paid to endorse particular products or services.

I’ve seen the power of influencers when one of my children made a college selection based on where two influencers he or she followed attended. It didn’t matter how far away the college was or how much it would cost to attend. 

Those behind the programming of our social media accounts study us and know what we like or, more importantly, what they would like you to like. And the reason this is important, well there are many reasons, but the one we want to look at today is how if we aren’t careful, Jesus can become just another brand competing for our attention. 

In his book “Faith for Exiles,” authors David Kinnaman & Mark Matlock introduce the idea of Brand Jesus, an image of Jesus that fits neatly into our current perspective, never challenges our thoughts, beliefs, or lifestyles, and doesn’t ask too much of us.

It’s when our faith becomes “Me” centered. We hear this expressed in expressions like, “You do you,” or “Speak your truth.” Jesus is just one of the many “influencers” in our life. And often, what we try to do is pick and chose the items Jesus is selling that we like, leaving the other things behind. 

Today, I want to push back against the very self-focused, me-centric, speak my truth, what makes me happy, look inside to become the best version of me I can be culture, and discover what life can be when we go Beyond Me.

Who Goes Around Who?

To be fair, the me-centric framework seems to come very naturally to us. You only have to parent a toddler to know this is true. Ok, or parent an elementary-age kid or a teenager. No one has to teach us to assume or desire the world to revolve around me. 

It’s kind of like geocentrism, the idea that the sun, moon, and stars all orbit the earth because the earth was the center of the universe. This was accepted science until the 1500’s when Nicolas Copernicus first challenged it. A century later, Galileo supported it and had to go before the Roman Inquisition for charges of heresy, where he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was placed under indefinite house arrest until his death.

We become the center of our universe and everyone else, including Jesus, orbiting around me, my agenda, my desires.

And this isn’t an easy conversation to have because I believe it is something we all struggle with. After all, it is reinforced around us, and we believe that it is the way to fulfillment, satisfaction, purpose, and identity.

But as with many things Jesus said and did, he calls us to a different way. A paradoxical way, if you will. He says that if we buy into this idea of a me-centric universe, it won’t get us where we think it will. It won’t achieve the fulfillment and life we think it will bring, even though it may seem like the good and right way to get there. 

Jesus says the way to a fulfilling and abundant life is living beyond me.

Beyond Me

In three of the four gospels, we see an interaction between Jesus and his disciples and the crowd who had been following him around. Jesus is just beginning to tell them that he is going to die. They don’t quite understan