Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends, on this Thursday,
Do you know anyone who has worked very hard to develop a particular skill which they use in athletics or art or music or their vocation? Have you ever thought about what was being developed in the lives of the disciples during those months they spent with Jesus?
Jesus had told at least four of them that if they would follow Him, He would make them ‘fishers of men’ according to Mark 1:17. I doubt any of them knew what Jesus meant, but in the past few days we’ve spent at Caesarea Philippi with them we’ve seen Jesus beginning to clarify His objective.
In fact, Matthew tells us Jesus put it very straightforward when Jesus said to them: “Whoever wants to BE My disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world but lose their own soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26)
Ok my friends, I pass to you the microphone. What did Jesus want the 12 men He had selected to understand about following Him? And what do you suppose Jesus was now expecting from these men? Does it feel to you that in these hours they had spent with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus had raised the bar considerably in terms of their discipleship?
Ok, so Jesus made three very brief, powerful, challenging, criteria statements if someone was going to consider themself a disciple of Jesus Christ. You heard it right? Jesus said, “Whoever wants to BE My disciple must deny themself and take up their cross and follow Me.” It’s not too complex, is it my friends?
1. Deny myself means I lay down my agenda, my priorities, my personal goals and objectives in my life, even my dreams of what I’d like to accomplish with my life… and I make it my FULL TIME, everyday purpose to deny my wants and desires for anything that advances me or draws attention to me or elevates me. Why? Because as a true disciple of Jesus, everything in my life must be about elevating Jesus, honoring Jesus, celebrating Jesus.
My life will have value only as my life points people to Jesus…always and only.
Pause, let that sink in. It is totally contrary to every natural instinct I have in my, what about you? I will ONLY be a God honoring disciple of Jesus when I can see in me anything and everything that draws the attention of people AWAY from Jesus and toward ME! And when I see my pride rising up, I confront it! Deny myself, it’s not easy or fun but it’s a daily choice. But I can’t have it both ways. I cannot be a true, authentic disciple of Jesus and advancing myself at the same time!
2. Take up their cross is the second phrase Jesus spoke in defining His true disciples. What does it mean? Do you remember in those days of Roman crucifixion the condemned carried the cross beam of their cross PUBLICALLY to the execution point? It was a public acknowledgment of his crime, a public walk of accountability.
Do you remember that one of the thieves crucified alongside Jesus said, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.”? (Luke 23:41) As a good disciple, excuses or blame or dishonesty are not in my heart or vocabulary. I live accountable to God’s highest standards for me at all times, for all things in my life. When I fall short, I admit it, I confess it, I repent of it and in so doing I take up my cross. And when I am wronged, I do as Jesus, I forgive! (Luke 23:34) Oh my, now that’s not easy, is it my friends?
3. Follow Me is the last phrase Jesus used to define His true disciples. He has used this same phrase with each of these 12 men He had invited to come and be with Him full time. When Jesus said “follow Me” it was far more than simply leaving fishing nets and walking the shoreline with Jesus. When Jesus uses that phrase, it means come and BE with Me and absorb into yourself who I am. Come and learn from Me, come and become like Me!
You see my friends, following Jesus is a transformational experience. With each step, each day, I leave behind the selfish, self-focused, self-advancing person I was, and I become enamored with Jesus, I become preoccupied with Jesus, I become determined to know and understand Jesus. I am determined to be as much like Jesus, in every way, as I can possibly learn to be!
So, now can you see my friends, that if all three of these powerful statements become my life purpose, my daily, all consuming, passionate pursuit, it will totally transform me and it will affect every relationship in my life, every life objective and value and priority?
That is one of the key roles of the Holy Spirit of God in my life, but the big question is simple: will I joyfully participate, will I endorse this, will I embrace this outrageous life purpose enthusiastically? Or will I resist it, will I fight it?
And that’s why Jesus said the remainder of that powerful statement: “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world but lose their own soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Have you seen anyone wasting their life in pursuit of something that is killing them or sucking the life out of them? Pause right now and imagine yourself standing at the end of your life journey, in the final hours of your earthly life. Looking back over your lifetime, what do you see? What do you want to see? What will be MOST valuable to you in that end-of-life moment? And then imagine yourself standing with Jesus looking back over your lifetime…what do you see and what will be important to you then?
Oh my, some very powerful ‘life lessons learned’ notes below are well worth your time for more study, and a great worship song will draw us to Jesus and believe it or not yes, Jesus has even more to say to us in Matthew 16, so I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Matt. 16:24-26.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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