Saved to Follow Jesus

Mark 8:34

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

No one could ever accuse Jesus of misrepresenting his call or his mission.

He never put the terms of discipleship in fine print in the contract.

Jesus never tried to bribe or lure men by offering them an easy way.

He rather called on people to rise to the level of his demands.

In these verses Jesus sets out the demands of what it costs to be his disciple.

Jesus had been speaking about the high price he would pay for their salvation. He must suffer many things; be rejected by the religious leaders of his day, be crucified, and after three days rise again.

Simon Peter, began to discourage Jesus for the very thought of it.

But turned, looked at his disciples and rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

That’s when Jesus said that those who would be his disciples must do the same thing. Jesus knew he would have to pay a high price to be our Savior and reminded us that we must pay a high price to be his disciples. This is not to suggest that we can buy our salvation or earn our way to heaven. It is, however, to suggest that there are demands for discipleship, serious demands.

A disciple must begin by saying no to himself

He must say no to his own natural love of comfort and ease or safety and security. And he must say no to the course of action that is based on self-seeking and self-will. He must say no to the instincts and drives which prompt him to do things forbidden by Christ. He must do it so he can unhesitatingly say yes to the voice and command of Jesus Christ.

Saying no has never been easy for me.

But most of all, I have a hard time saying no to myself.

I do want to do what I want to do.

I want my will to be done.

Yet that’s exactly what discipleship requires.

I must say no to myself so I can say yes to Jesus.

Before we can become a disciple, we must turn from the idolatry of self-centeredness.

There is not room for two on the throne of my life.

God and I can’t both rule. One of us has to move over.

So, I must once and for all dethrone self and enthrone God.

We must submit ourselves to a new king, to a new Lord who will replace self-interest.

It means personal ambition, time, leisure, pleasure all become secondary to Christ.

That’s what Jesus did. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed,

“O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).

So, in the Garden of Gethsemane there was a conflict of wills. Jesus did not want to go to the cross. If there was any other way he wanted that. Nevertheless, he yielded his will to God’s will. Jesus said no to self so he could say yes to God. That’s what we must do also.

This usually comes down to something very practical:

I want to be a physician, but the Lord calls me to be a missionary. Then I must say, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

I want to be one of the boys, to do what everybody else is doing. But the Lord says, “Come ye apart and be ye separate.” Then I must say, “Not my will but thine be done.”

If there is ever a clash of wills in our lives, our motto must be: “Thy will, O Lord. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.”

Many people want a crossless Christianity.

They want discipleship without death.

But true discipleship begins with a funeral. I must die to self. We must be able to say with the apostle Paul,

Galatians 2:20 “He sido crucificado con Cristo, y ya no vivo yo sino que Cristo vive en mí. Lo que ahora vivo en el cuerpo, lo vivo por la fe en el Hijo de Dios, quien me amó y dio su vida por mí.”

*A young man went to an old saint and asked him. “Father, what does it mean to be crucified?” The old man reflected and then answered, “To be crucified means three things: First, the man on the cross is facing only one direction. Second, he is not going back. Third he has no further plans of his own.”

Crucifixion does not mean self is dead but that we are dead to self.

*The late Clarence Jordan ran a thriving and innovative ministry in south Georgia called Koinonia Farms. Both interracial and controversial, this work was opposed by many. On one occasion Clarence went to his brother, who was a lawyer, for legal assistance. Knowing the problems it would cause, his brother refused to help. Clarence said, “Brother, when you and I were young, we walked down the aisle of that little Baptist Church together. I think you need to go back and clarify what you told the pastor that Sunday morning. You need to tell him and those people that what you really meant to say was that you admired Jesus not that you want to follow him.”

We must not forget who we are.

We are not tourists.

We are not vacationers.

We are soldiers.

Soldiers have to leave home.

Soldiers have to live in tents and foxholes.

Soldiers get shot at ... and sometimes they get killed.

We must deny ourselves to be his disciple.

Second, discipleship demands that we dedicate our- selves. Jesus said to be a disciple a person must “... Take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s the same shall save it” (verses 34b- 35). The key phrase is “lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s.”

There is no virtue in self-denial just for the sake of self- denial. The only reason to deny yourself is so you can dedicate yourself. The only reason to say no to self is so that we may say yes to something or someone greater than ourselves.

**Bach said there are only three great things in this world: an ocean, a mountain, and a dedicated man.

Do you admire Jesus or do you want to follow Him?

The paradox of the gospel is that “We find life by losing it” — not by hoarding it or grasping it — but by investing it.

Commitment gives meaning and purpose to life. It makes life worth living.

Water does not become steam until it’s heated to 212 degrees Farenheit.

Grain doesn’t become bread until it’s ground up.

Grapes don’t become wine until they are crushed.

So, we must die to self and dedicate ourselves in order to be useful and fulfilled. The simple truth is, real satisfaction is found in committing yourself to Christ and the gospel.

The only cause worthy of your highest and best is Jesus and his kingdom.