Take Up Your Cross

Luke 9:23-27,

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

“23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Context:

Before Jesus tells his disciples to ‘Take up Your Cross and Follow Me”, I want to point out that the disciples have experienced Jesus do miraculous things…

For example:

1.) Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (Luke 8)

2.) Jesus Heals a Man with Demon (Luke 8)

3.) Jesus Calms a Storm (Luke 8)

4.) Jesus Providing Parables & Teachings (Luke 8)

5.) Jesus Forgiving Sins (Luke 7)

6.) Jesus Raising a Widow’s Son back to life (Luke 7)

7.) Jesus Healing a Centurions Servant (Luke 7)

8.) Jesus Healing a Man with a Withered Hand (Luke 6)

9.) Jesus Providing the Beatitudes (Luke 6)

10.) Jesus Healing a Leper and Healing a Paralytic (Luke 5)

I share these things with you because the disciples have seen the wonders, power, glory, love, majesty, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, and grace of Jesus with their own eyes!

And surely they can be nothing too difficult for Jesus, no task to great, no assignment too difficult, no job that he can not handle… so the disciples are realizing and seeing that Jesus truly is the Son of God - The Christ that they have been waiting for!

They want to follow him! They are excited about What Jesus has done and the things he will do!

My point is this - If you choose to follow Jesus, you like the disciples will see Jesus do miraculous things… First he will completely transform you and your heart… He will radically change your heart, how you think, how you view your life, this world, and those who are lost… He will give you compassion for those who do not Jesus as Savior and a craving to learn more about God and be more like Gods Son - Jesus…

Then you will see Jesus work in lives of others and you will get to be an instrument a mouth piece that gets to speak about how Good and glorious God is and how merciful, wonderful, glorious, and gracious he has been to you…

You will get to tell others about this love that is like no other that you experienced when Jesus saved you, showed you that you needed a savior and that your only hope is Jesus and you are so overwhelmed and overjoyed that you can not help it but to live for Jesus and tells others about him…

But what Jesus Does next - and what we see in Luke 9 is that Jesus completely and radically flips the disciples world upside down when they think about what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus

POINT #1) Jesus is HONEST about what it COST to follow HIM

“23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

There is always a cost with every decision that you make…

For example:

Take An Olympic Athlete in Gymnastics…

To be an Olympic Athlete requires incredible discipline, focus, drive, and dedication…

To be an Olympic Athlete you were blessed with a gift and talent to perform a sport at the highest level…

To be an Olympic Athlete is an opportunity to represent something that is bigger than yourself… so the world could see the nation that you represent and are competing for…

To be an Olympic Athlete would come with great credibility, adoration, and honor…

But to be an Olympic Athlete would cost you greatly…

How so?

You would have to prioritize Gymnastics above all else… It would be the main priority in your life… It would be what you think about, dream about, and live for…

Your time would be dedicated to practice, perfecting your craft, and nailing routines flawlessly…

Your social life would to a back seat… you do not have as much time to socialize, spend the night, go to social gatherings, or hangout with friends bc your schedule works around Gymnastics…

Your money would go into training, travel, and nutrition expenses…

Your diet and food would be based off of what would allow you to recovery, develop strength, and perform gymnastics at the highest level…

To be an Olympic Athlete, to an athlete at the highest level and to represent an entire country requires the athlete to completely and utterly deny themselves of what they want to do whenever they want to do it…

My point is it Cost an Olympic Athlete in Gymnastics to deny anything and everything they desire in order to compete and represent themselves and their nation at the highest level…

In the same way it Cost and Olympic Athlete, it Cost you & me to be a follower of Jesus…

How So:

1.) I prioritize God over everything

2.) I make an effort and have a desire to talk to him daily

3.) I make an effort and have a desire to read his Word daily

4.) I am so in love with what Jesus has done for me that I can not help but to tell others about him

5.) I go to church not bc I have to but bc I want to Jesus

6.) I go to Youth group not bc I have to but bc I want to learn more about Jesus

7.) I do not talk behind other peoples back and make fun of them bc Jesus calls me to love them

8.) I do not take advantage of others bc Jesus calls me to love them

9.) I treat others with compassion bc Jesus treated me with compassion

10.) I look to bless other people with my time, effort, energy, and money bc God never stops giving me time, always gives me his best effort daily, never stops chasing after me, and provides me with what I need daily

11.) I love others bc he first loved me...

12.) I do not view myself as better than anyone else bc God tells me that “All have fallen short of the Glory of God” meaning that I am not better than anyone else so why would I treat others as if they are not cool or mean nothing…

13.) I make an effort to kill the sin in my life and not allow it rule my life

14.) I chose what God wants for my life and his plans over my plans…

15.) I think about Jesus and helping other people more than I think about myself and all the things I want…

Bc Following Jesus will cost you always…

Under-line the word DENY…

VS 23) uses the word “DENY” = “To refuse to recognize or acknowledge…”

In other words Jesus is saying to be a follower of him, to be a disciple of him, one must refuse to recognize or acknowledge themselves…

In other words Jesus is saying one must choose to lay aside and set aside their own interests, desires, thoughts, and plans to follow him…

You may be thinking… well Tanner if I lay aside what I want to do what is left for me? To pick up your cross and submit to what God has for you… his plans, his desires, his thoughts, and his ways for your life… not your own…

Question: What describes you? Do you give you your thoughts, plans, and desires up for the thoughts, plans, and desires that God has for?

Has following Jesus Cost you something? Your time, effort, energy, social status, plans, or friends? Or has your life not changed at all since following Jesus?

POINT # 2) You must give up this LIFE, or you will lose your LIFE…

“VS) 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

In other words if you cling to this life, this world and what it has to offer… and refuse to let go of the here and now… if you refuse to let go of the experiences of this life and do not look forward to the experience of being with Jesus Christ in heaven for eternity… then you will lose your life… meaning the life to come the eternity to come will be lost forever…

Instead of experiencing Gods grace you will feel his wrath…

instead of experiencing Gods mercy you will feel and face his judgment…

Instead of experiencing the love and comfort of God… you will experience anguish, tournament, and punishment…

BC you were to worried about this life, the here and now, what you want, instead of the next life, eternity, and what God wants…

Friends do not hold fast to this world… hold fast to God…

Proverbs 4:4, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.”

Hold Fast = “To Stick to Firmly”

Stick Firmly to God. stick firmly to how he calls you to live, stick firmly to reading your bible, to praying to God, to going to church!

Question: Do you stick firmly to God and how he calls you to live or do you stick firmly to what you want and how you want to live?

3.) To be a FOLLOWER of Jesus is to not be ASHAMED of Jesus

26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

ASHAMED = “to be or become characterized by feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment or remorse”

I remember when I was in high school and it was senior year… I was in an English class that was not very difficult… I should have been in a more challenging English Class, but I was lazy and wanted an easy grade and really did not care I just wanted to graduate… so I went for the Easy English class…

And I remember there was an assignment to write a paper and then we would have to read it out loud in front of the entire class...

I will never forget this… I come to class the next day, my paper written and in hand ready to go…

Come to find out, I was one of like 3 or 4 students who actually did the assignment…

The teacher calls on me and asks me to read my paper out loud first in front of the class…

Guys I am not kidding I was mortified… terrified… and completely embarrassed bc I and 3 other kids wrote a paper and the rest of the class did not… so I felt like I missed the memo, like everyone else knew something that I didn’t…

So when I went up to read my paper the room all the sudden felt like it was 110 degrees… I begin to sweat… my face turns 8 shades of red… I feel like the class can look through my soul… I was humiliated… I was ashamed at the fact the I wrote this paper and looked like an idiot when the rest of the class didn't…

In this moment I had become characterized by feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment and remorse”.

Question: When Jesus comes up with friends or other people, are you ashamed of him? are you embarrassed to talk about him?

Would you have remorse (thinking/feeling) that you wish you did not tell someone about Jesus bc of how they might think of you or perceive you…

I do not know about you, but on the day the LORD returns I do not want to be ashamed of him… I want to be over joyed that he has returned… I want to celebrate and tell others yes that is my LORD that is my KING that is my GOD!

Can you say the same?

HOW DOES JESUS CALL US TO LIVE:

To Pick up are cross daily and to follow him:

1.) Jesus is Honest about what it COST to follow Him

2.) You must give up this life or you will lose life…

3.) To be a follower of JESUS is to not be ashamed of Jesus…

PRAY WITH ME

QUESTIONS:

1.) What does it mean to Deny yourself?

Answer: “To refuse to recognize or acknowledge…”

(In other words, In other words Jesus is saying one must choose to lay aside and set aside their own interests, desires, thoughts, and plans to follow him…)

2.) Has following Jesus Cost you anything? In other words, how has your life changed since following Jesus?

(this could be time, effort, energy, friendships, priorities)

3.) Why is it so difficult to let go of and give up things to follow Jesus?

4.) Proverbs 4:4 says, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.”

What does it mean to HOLD FAST to the word of GOD?

Answer: “To Stick to Firmly”

5.) Do you “Stick Firmly” to Gods Word and the way he calls you to live? Is it something you strive after? If not, why not?

6.) What does ASHAMED mean?

Answer: “to be or become characterized by feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment or remorse”

7.) Have you ever been ashamed of the Jesus? or being a Christian?

8.) Is this something you struggle with? Is it difficult for you to tell others about Jesus? If so, why do you think it is?

FILL-IN

1.) Jesus is __________ about what it __________ to follow HIM

2.) You must give up this __________, or you will lose your __________

3.) To be a __________ of Jesus is to not be __________ of Jesus