Obey Regardless of the Consequences

Obey Regardless of the Consequences

Main idea: Jesus came that we would have abundant life. It is impossible to experience the abundant life without listening to Jesus and doing what he tells us to do. When we obey Jesus regardless of the consequences, we encounter hardship and suffering, but more importantly we experience God’s presence and provision.

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28

Introduction

Two things are true when we follow Jesus: we will encounter hardship and suffering AND we will experience God’s presence and provision.

They often go hand-in-hand. We typically opt-in and ask for God’s presence and provision only, and want to avoid the hardship and suffering. Who wouldn’t want to opt-out of that? We’re human! No one chooses hardship and suffering.

But, Jesus made clear that those who sincerely follow him would encounter hardships, suffering, obstacles, and challenges….with a daily experience of God’s presence and provision.

You were not made for comfort. Our culture values comfort and security, but you cannot become the person God created you to become if you’re comfortable and secure. You were made to face hardship and challenges. Even more, you were made to overcome hardship and challenges. You are hardwired to struggle and overcome obstacles and difficult people.

That’s actually good news! It means your life can count. It means your life can be redemptive. It means your life is strategic and valued in the kingdom of God. And, it means there might be even more to this Christian life than you’ve experienced.

Let’s go to our text and see what Jesus has to say about comfort and security vs. hardship and suffering.

Main Teaching

Read Matthew 16:21-28

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

I. Jesus faced suffering head-on

Jesus introduces the idea of his upcoming suffering, death, and resurrection. Jesus already taught that his disciples would be insulted, persecuted, and falsely accused of all kinds of evil (see Matthew 5:11) because of their association with him. This applies to both his disciples then and to those of us who follow him now.

Jesus takes it to a whole new level, explaining he Himself will suffer and be killed. Jesus did not avoid any of this, but faced it head-on.

“Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (16:21).

Peter could not get his mind around this. This was unthinkable. His mindset was, “The Messiah could not suffer. The Son of the living God would not be killed. This is not what happens to God Almighty. If anything, this is what God Almighty does to us. God is never on the receiving end of suffering and death, He only dishes it out as He sees fit to those who have turned their backs on Him….right?”

That Jesus would suffer and be killed was mind-blowing to Peter.

Jesus reveals a character and nature of God!

What Jesus is starting to do in these verses, which culminate with his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, is reveal the character and nature of God. The early church described God as “cruciform,” which meant that God’s core nature and character are revealed in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The word “cruciform” comes from the Latin word “crux,” which means cross, and “form” meaning shape or nature.

What does Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion reveal to us about God?

The cross reveals God’s self-giving, sacrificial love towards humanity. The cross reveals God’s identification with suffering and hardship. The cross reveals that God’s suffering is redemptive. The cross reveals that God is humble. He is a perfect example of humility.

Jesus gave others the power to hurt him.

Why was this so hard for Peter (and probably the other disciples, and possibly even you or me) to get his mind around? Possibly because we don’t see God as one who makes Himself vulnerable to humans. DIDN’T FULLY UNDERSTAND GOD’S MERCY, LOVE OR GRACE! WAS UNDER DELUSION AND DECEPTION FROM THE ENEMY! WE OFTEN ARE ALSO WHEN WE CAN PLAY AROUND WITH SIN, ENTERTAIN IT AND ENJOY IT WITH LITTLE TO NO THOUGHT, WE CHEAPEN THE GRACE OF GOD AND MAKE EXCUSES THAT GOD IS JUST ALL LOVE BUT WE FORGET HOLY HOLY HOLY!!!

What does it mean to be vulnerable? To be vulnerable means I give someone else the power to hurt me. This is what Jesus, “the Messiah and the Son of the living God,” is doing (Matthew 16:16).

He’s submitting to others, in vulnerability, giving “the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law” the ability to hurt him and make him suffer.

Jesus fully embraced vulnerability because it was necessary in order to redeem humanity at the cross. God’s core nature is self-giving love.

Anytime you see self-giving love you’ll find vulnerability.

Most of us are terrified of being vulnerable. Sociologist and researcher, Brené Brown, says, “We must come to a point where we fully embrace vulnerability. What makes us vulnerable is what makes us beautiful. Vulnerability is neither comfortable nor excruciating, it’s simply necessary. It’s the willingness to say, ‘I love you’ first. To do things where there are no guarantees. It’s the willingness to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. Vulnerability is fundamental.” THIS IS WHY WE ARE SO RELUCTANT TO OPENLY SHARE AND REQUEST GENUINE AND PERSONAL PRAYER REQUESTS THIS IS OFTEN WHY WE DON’T SEE THE POWER OF PRAYER MANIFESTED, WITH VULNERABILITY COMES HUMILITY AND GOD HEARS THE HUMBLE!

Psalm 10:17 (NKJV)

Psalm 10:17 NKJV

17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,

Jesus knows he’s going to suffer, be killed, and take on the sins of humanity. He HUMBLED HIMSELF made himself vulnerable to do this. He takes his vulnerability and he faces suffering head-on. If vulnerability makes us beautiful, Jesus is the most beautiful of all.

II. Deny myself, pick up my cross, and follow Jesus

Jesus starts teaching them that he must suffer, be killed, and then raised to life; and then, he says whoever wants to follow him must do the same: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (16:24).

A disciple does three things:

Denies themselves Picks up their cross Follows Jesus

1. Deny myself

To deny myself means I say NO. I say NO to my impulses, appetites, and desires that are selfish and destructive.

“Faith is the leaving of your way and your self and the taking up of His way and His self. It is the leaving of your trust in men or women, in money, in opinion, in character, in religious doctrines, and then simply doing whatever Christ tells you to do. The one terrible heresy of the church is that it has always presented faith as something other than obedience in Christ.” - George MacDonald, Scottish author and theologian, 1824-1905

2. Pick up my cross

To pick up my cross means to do whatever Jesus is telling me to do regardless of the consequences. The cross was a Roman instrument of death that man put on Jesus. Jesus obeyed the Father by going into Jerusalem. In fact, Jesus obeyed the Father all the time.

John 4:34 NKJV

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

Jesus obeyed the Father regardless of the consequences, even when the consequences he faced were suffering and death at the hands of mankind.

Jesus obeyed the Father, and mankind put the cross on Jesus. And what did Jesus do in response to that? He obeyed and endured. Jesus shows us that we must obey regardless of the consequences — and the consequences are always from mankind.

When Jesus says we must pick up our cross, he simply means we must obey regardless of the consequences, even if the consequences are suffering and death.

Most of us will not endure such harsh consequences in our obedience. We might face other consequences like rejection, criticism, and insults.

OUR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS WILL BE GREATLY REDUCED TO ONLY THOSE THAT POINT US TOWARDS JESUS- FRIENDS WITH WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD.

James 4:4–8 NKJV

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

THE WAY WE SPEND OUR TIME WILL ALSO CHANGE- WE WILL NOT BE PURSUING WORLDY ENTERTAINMENT AND THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD BUT INSTEAD WILL BE FOCUED ON BUILDING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST AND OTHERS AS WELL AS SERVING HIM AND OTHERS. WE WILL BE KINGDOM FOCUSED WITH A INTENTIONAL DESIRE TO ADVANCE THE GOSPEL!

Regardless of what the consequences actually are, our job is to listen to Jesus and do what He says. The rest is in his hands.

Remember, two things are true when we follow Jesus: we will encounter hardship and suffering AND we will experience God’s presence and provision.

He did not say, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE GO AND ENJOY LIFE

He did not say, DO WHAT YOU WANT AND JUST ASK FOR FORGIVENESS LATER, I LOVE YOU THAT MUCH

He did not say, BUILD UP A KINGDOM HERE ON EARTH

He said, “Pick up your cross.” And when we do that, when we obey Jesus regardless of the consequences, we encounter God’s presence and provision in ways we could never dream about had we stayed in comfort and security.

Many Christians will say that it’s “faith" Jesus wants from us, not “obedience.” Of course he wants our faith…but what does that really mean? Does that mean he wants us to have faith “in our doctrine,” or faith in Him personally? To have faith in Jesus means to have faith in who Jesus is and to have faith in what He says. Faith can have no existence except in obedience.

“To do what Jesus wishes is to put forth faith in him.” -George MacDonald. There is no such thing as faith in Christ without sincere attempts to put into practice what He tells us to do.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “It is a fatal misunderstanding to suppose the gospel of grace offers a general exemption from obedience to the commands of Jesus.” We cannot have the life Jesus promised without listening to Jesus and doing what he says.

3. Follow me

When Jesus says, “Follow me,” he’s inviting us into an ongoing relationship with him. He wants us to experience an abiding fellowship with him, and the Father, and the Holy Spirit each and every day.

Jesus is looking for disciples, not converts. He’s not looking for churchmen and churchwomen, but for people who will follow him by denying themselves and picking up their crosses to follow him.

And what happens when we do that?

If you lose your life, you will find it

Jesus says, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (16:25).

Here’s the promise: LIFE! Whoever loses their life — i.e. whoever denies themselves, picks up their cross, and follows Jesus — will find true life. This is good news!

What kind of life does Jesus promise us? How about eternal life, abundant life, joyful life, everlasting life, a full life, new life, and resurrected life! How do those sound to you?

Eternal life… “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Abundant life… “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

Joyful life… “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11

Everlasting life… “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:40

A full life… “…in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” Colossians 2:10

New life… “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Resurrected life… “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.“ Romans 6:4

Conclusion

Two things are true when we follow Jesus: we will encounter hardship and suffering AND we will experience God’s presence and provision. We will experience the life Jesus intends for us.

You were not made for comfort. Let us be a church of people who obey Jesus regardless of the consequences. May our lives look like Jesus’ life — cruciform. Let us have stories to tell of how God’s presence and provision shows up and changes everything.