Live Anew

Evan Koons

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Day 4 – Thursday – Live Anew

Focus: Jesus is worth my everything. I will follow him anywhere. Following Jesus means that He is always with you.

Intro

1. Have you ever had to restrict yourself from enjoying something you really wanted?

a. (Maybe today at the shepherd shop you had to limit what you bought yourself because you wanted to have some money left for tomorrow..)

b. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled I wasn’t supposed to eat solid foods for a couple days or something like that. But all I craved was pizza, because pizza is amazing. I snuck a frozen pizza when my family wasn’t home, the day after and my mouth hurt really bad as a consequence.

c. Sometimes we have to restrict ourselves from things we really want for a greater purpose.

2. Opener

a. In our lives we often find ourselves face to face with circumstances that require a decision to be made. And when we follow Jesus with our lives, he calls us into a different and new way of living than before.

b. Tonight, we are going to be looking at this very idea of what it means to deny ourselves, pick-up our cross, and follow Jesus. To do this we are going to be reading from…

3. Scripture

a. Matthew 16:24-26

b. 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. 28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

c. As we look into how we follow Jesus, we are going to reflect on three things that Jesus commands for us to do if we truly consider ourselves to be followers of Him.

The first thing we see out of this is this, to….

Point 1: Deny Yourself

1. To deny yourself is to reject or restrict your most natural desires. It is to look at something in your life that you could very well like and enjoy and no longer practice it because it is detrimental to your health. It’s like if I had a habit of drinking a red bull energy drink whilel I am getting ready for bed. I get used to it and I love drinking my red bull before bed. So, after I brush my teeth and as I’m putting on my spiderman PJ’s, I’m downing 8 ounces of pure energy and alertness in liquid form. And what do I notice? I have a really hard time falling asleep. And if I do fall asleep, when I wake up in the morning, I have giant dark bags under my eyes and I can’t keep from yawning. Though I love my nightly red bull, it is slowly destroying my health and my body’s ability to get the sleep that I need. So, now when I start to get ready for bed, I’m going to deny myself of what I want. As good as a red bull sounds, I am not going to have one because I want to know what it feels like to be well rested again. In perhaps its most basic form, this is what the idea of denying yourself looks like.

a. What this meant then and to who Jesus was speaking. (Hook back to Bible story really quick) So, I am sure as the disciples of Jesus are hearing this, they are almost wincing. Going, “I was afraid He might say that.” Why? Because denying ourselves is not easy. I guess it could mean that you reconsider your red bull drinking habits… But I think what Jesus is getting at here are those things that are damaging your relationship with him. It’s those secret sins that you think no one else knows about. It’s your unwillingness to practice habits that Jesus is calling you too. (EXPOUND) Denying yourself in relation to what Jesus is talking about means that we look inwardly at our hearts and desires and look for where sin has silently or maybe even loudly creeped in. (Expound) Where we do the difficult and painful work of identifying the sin in our lives, and we deny it.

b. We make changes to how we are living. Where once I would say a lie without thinking about it, now I deny that desire and I tell the truth even when it is embarrassing or may get me in trouble.

1. (Clarify further if Possible)

c. And very important here is that denying yourself is for the glory and goodness of God to be revealed through you. There is intentional purpose in this act of denying yourself. It’s not for the sake of being miserable just for misery’s sake or for not having fun because somehow fun is bad. But, instead it is denying the sin that reveals itself in your life and your desires because you know the goodness of God revealed to you, through Jesus.

1. It is reframing and taking into practice changing how we think, that our lives would be focused on God and His mission being at work through us. This often means we deny what is taking the top prioritization in our lives over God.

2. Clarify Questions after Tuesday night.

3. Jesus isn’t telling us to never dream or set goals in anything. But what the call to follow Jesus is, is to set our dreams and goals in the direction of Jesus.

4. So instead of playing basketball to make myself look cool, I play basketball because it’s a fun game and I have an opportunity to lead the people around me by how I treat them. I have opportunity to be an encouragement to them.

5. I don’t play video games to become a streamer for the rest of my life, or to trash talk others like the rest of the world, I play them because they are fun, and I have opportunity maybe to talk to my friends about why I don’t trash talk like them.

6. I don’t participate in theater and perform in plays so that I can be recognized as some terrific actor. Maybe I perform because I think that there are some really interesting, fun, or even powerful stories that I can be a part of helping people think deeply about their lives and look towards Jesus.

7. Set goals, have dreams. Those are really good things. Aim them towards Jesus. Set the direction of those goals and dreams you are following in a way that you live out what it means and looks like to follow Jesus.

8. Why? Because by this you are sharing in the very mission of God, that all would see and know him, choosing to follow Him.

9. You are denying yourself of the temptation and desire of this world to make yourself great, and instead use those things you enjoy for His good purposes.

2. This command Jesus makes to deny yourself; it falls within a fancy Bible word that you may have heard before: Repentance.

a. Much like denying yourself, repentance is to do a complete 180 degree turn in your life. (Expound)

b. Living in repentance is literally going, “where I would once live in sin moving in this direction, I now choose to follow Jesus, moving in the opposite direction.”

c. At the heart of repentance is more than just adding following Jesus to our lives. It is following Jesus and while you do, you are living in repentance. You are rejecting sinful practices that you participate in. You are denying yourself. (Expound)

3. When Jesus talks about denying yourself, He means looking at your life and stopping things that hurt your relationship with Him. In denying ourselves our focus is rooted in our dependance upon Christ as we seek to make choices that show God’s goodness through us.

The second thing Jesus tells His disciples to do in Matthew 16 is to….

Point 2: Pick Up Your Cross (Daily)

1. What this meant then and to who Jesus was speaking. As Jesus’ disciples heard this, they were likely jaw dropped with their mouths to the ground at His words. They were probably filled with confusion… questioning if they really had what it took to follow Jesus.

a. Explain crosses in their culture. Crosses were well known tools during this time. Obviously, Jesus hadn’t been hung on one yet, but crosses were not a foreign concept. (talk about the crosses leading into cities)

b. So, what Jesus is telling His disciples here is to pick up this tool that is used for a cruel way of torture and follow Him. In other words, accept the fact that you may die brutally, for the sake of following me. Recognize and understand fully that when you choose to follow Jesus it does not equate to physical, earthly well-being.

2. What this means for us today is that we see a very real challenge at work.

a. Taking up your cross while following Jesus is an often-forgotten part of the journey amongst Christians. Far too often we allow ourselves to drift into our own comforts.

i. We fill our lives with distractions and luxuries to avoid at all costs any hint of discomfort or irritation. (Expound)

b. Or worse yet, we look to follow Jesus in our pursuit of earthly comfort, wrongfully thinking that it will take away the difficulties of life. We fall victim to thinking, “well if I call myself a Christian and I do these things He says, then that is one less thing I have to worry about because I’ll be in heaven someday.” But I think we may be missing the point if we think like this. Because what Jesus says here is that if you follow Him on this earth, pick-up your cross, or in other words know that you will likely face suffering on earth. (Expand)

i. Within this, it is important to note that picking up your cross isn’t just a one-time occurrence. It’s not a “phew, I faced a moment of suffering or persecution and so now I no longer have to worry about enduring it again for the rest of my life… Instead, what Jesus is saying is that picking up your cross is a daily reality of our lives being made new in Christ.

c. To take up our cross is to accept that we are not living for ourselves but instead to offer the glory and praise to God as He is the only one deserving of all honor. So, taking up your cross in a sense is a way to communicate putting to death your past and your lifestyle of sin, and taking on something entirely new that is only given to us through Jesus. (It’s like Jesus is looking at his disciple’s going, “Alright, you once lived one way, but now you are going to live and look completely different. So, take up your cross and follow me”.)

d. It’s important that we understand following Jesus does not mean life becomes easy. Or that somehow bad things won’t happen to us or people we love anymore. We know that a consequence of this sin-filled and broken world is that suffering and bad things happening to us will remain. But what does change is our hope.

3. Through Jesus our hope is rooted in something that is established, promised, and lived in.

a. Paul writes in Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

b. As we place our trust in Jesus and not in the things of this world, we are filled with hope. Not just a hope that we wonder if it will actually happen someday. But instead, our hope in Jesus is something that is promised that we look towards with expectance.

i. Our hope in Jesus is that one day we will be in full and right relationship with Him. That we will live in His fullness. In His goodness. Without the burden of sin knocking on our doors. Instead, our hope is that we will one day no longer be contributors of or living in this sin plagued earth. We will be in the restored and full presence of our Savior and King. That’s our hope. And in believing in Jesus, it is promised to us so that we may have full confidence in it taking place.

4. Picking up your cross is no small image. It has great weight in our lives. Knowing and understanding that following Jesus means repeatedly choosing to put our ways of sin to death, moving forward where God is leading us.

This leads us to the final thing Jesus tells His disciples, which is to Follow Him.

Point 3: Follow Jesus

1. For the disciples this meant two things.

a. First, that no matter what they faced, they would be with Jesus as they are identified in Him.

b. Second, that they would share in a purpose far greater than themselves, being outwardly focused on the opportunity for all people to choose to follow Jesus too.

2. For us, the same two things are at work.

a. Following Jesus means that we are identified with Him. Our identity is no longer rooted in the things of this world, but in the completed work of Christ for us on the cross.

i. Paul Writes in Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

ii. Being identified with Christ, we share in his crucifixion, that we would no longer be the definers of our lives, but instead, follow Jesus. (Expound)

b. Though following Jesus on this earth will be difficult as it means we have to deny ourselves and pick up our crosses, facing suffering, it suddenly all becomes worth it. Because following Jesus means that He is always with you. The one who conquered death itself promises that we are His and that He will be with us. So though life might be really painful, have confidence that Jesus is with you, and hold hope that one day this all will pass.

c. Along with this, we partner in the mission of God where we get to invite people into living exactly how they were designed to live. Which is living in relationship with their creator. (Expound)

3. To follow Jesus is to hold to His teaching. Meaning we do not go to ourselves. We do not go to our friends. We do not go to the internet. We do not go to our feelings. We go to Jesus. Where has Jesus been revealed for us to learn and hold to His teachings? Scripture.

a. John writes in John 8:31–32

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

b. What does he say? If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. To hold to Jesus’ teaching is not to do more, because Jesus doesn’t teach this. Instead, he teaches to believe, to follow Him, and then out of this belief as you follow Him, live as He did.

i. We can know what Jesus teaches through the Bible. We all have access to it! If you don’t, ask your youth pastor, or your counselor. They’ll get you connected.

c. In our lives it is essential that we do not rely on ourselves or even on others as we understand what it looks like to follow Jesus. We all have the same access and ability to learn from the teachings of Jesus.

i. We live in an age of a lot of voices trying to tell us things. There are a lot of tik tokkers and youtubers making videos with a lot of false teaching. With a lot of things, that put simply are lies and are dangerous for us to believe, because they are not truth. When we here something we are unsure about, or haven’t heard before, we have to be able to go back to the Bible says. And if you aren’t sure where to start to find what the Bible says about your questions, that is why it is so important to be involved with a church family. Because I know a lot Youth Pastors and leaders that would be a great place for you to go when you have questions. They are trained to help you find what the Bible is truthfully teaching for how to follow Jesus and what is true.

Tonight, I want to encourage you to…

Application: ‘Receive in Accordance to what you have done’

1. Let’s go back and read that passage from Matthew we started with

a. Matthew 16:24-26

2. Jesus says something interesting here in verse 27. That someday, when He returns and we receive judgement for our sins based upon our standing before God, that we each will receive a reward in accordance with what we have done. Now before we get big heads and start to think that we can disregard what I’ve shared the last couple of nights and that we can somehow now work our way to heaven, I think when we understand these words of Jesus in their context, we find something amazing. Because what is Jesus talking about in this entire passage? Following Him. And so receiving a reward according to what you have done is really just asking the question, have you followed Jesus with your life? Do you believe that He is who He says He is? Do you place your life in His and will you follow Him wherever He leads you?

a. See the focus here isn’t on you or what you’ve done. Because the reality is, that we have done nothing to earn salvation. So, by ourselves, we receive nothing. But, Jesus, he has done everything. He has completed and fulfilled all that is required for true and full life to be lived in. So through Jesus you receive the full blessing of inheritance as a child of God.

b. What Jesus is saying here is a similar thing to what we have reflected upon the past few nights… You can gain the whole world, you can do everything your way, you can create your own plans and follow your own desires and passions and feelings, but in the end, you’ll lose your soul. You’ll lose the only thing of lasting relevance, really the only thing that matters in the scope of eternity.

c. Or you can give up everything in this world. Seeing that we so easily fill our lives with distractions and fruitless comforts. Instead, choosing to follow Jesus, making Him our top priority and focus of our lives. And what do we receive? Exactly what we need.

3. In our lives, we find our worth by following Jesus.

a. Our worth is not rooted in ourselves, but instead in our given identity through the work of Jesus on the cross.

4. So as you follow Jesus, allow him to transform your life and live anew.

a. Paul writes in Rom. 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

5. Paul’s encouragement here is to live differently than you did before Christ. To be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

a. This is to think differently than you did before you followed Jesus. Our minds are powerful things, and so we must intentionally change the ways we think. This doesn’t just happen without much thought or consideration. Instead, this is to stop and genuinely consider, how does Jesus think of these things of I am thinking of. Does he think the same way I am thinking? Or do I need to change how I think to better reflect sharing the same attitude as Christ?

b. Really what this means is that you look differently than you did before. That your entire way of life is flipped upside down by what Jesus has done in you.

i. SO live like this. When you make decisions allow them to be—force them to be in light of your faith. Your decisions must be out of the heart and desire to live transformed by the renewing of your mind because of what Jesus has done for you.

6. In Jesus, a transforming work begins. In Him we are strengthened so that we are able to cope with and press on through this broken world we live in.

a. It’s easy for us to disregard our need for spiritual growth and health. The call to follow Jesus is not about getting to a point of coasting in life. (Expound) It is about continually growing and being challenged towards renewed thinking and living.

b. Christian teacher and writer John Mark Comer in his book, Practicing the Way, asserts that there are “3 Goals of a disciple, (3 goals of a follower of Jesus): Be with Jesus. Become like Him. Do as He did.”

i. Following through with these three goals allows for us to live in alignment with how Jesus has called us to live.

ii. His point here is that following Jesus and growing in our Faith doesn’t work if we just make it another line on our Instagram Bio and another thing we look to manipulate for our benefit. Spiritual growth happens when we set diligent practices in our lives, and take action when opportunity is set before as God leads us forward.

iii. It is in our daily practices that we plan for growth to take place. We bring intention and decision to our life with God, allowing for following where He is leading you.

Conclusion:

1. Tonight, I want to ask you this question: What is one thing that you can do tonight to Follow Jesus more clearly in your life? What is one commitment you can make or one thing you can do.? Is there an active sin that you know you need to deny? (Expound) Is there something really painful, challenging, or difficult going on in your life that you need to confess to Jesus and ask Him to walk with you through? (Expound) Or do you need to take that first step of actually following Jesus. Where you go, “you know, I have seen that my way of living isn’t going to do anything for me eternally, and I just need to choose to follow Jesus, setting my faith in him and receiving forgiveness for my sin.”

2. No matter where you are in your life or your faith, I would ask you to at the very least consider this question: What is one thing you can begin tonight, to follow Jesus more clearly with your life?

3. Closing Statement: We are daily making decisions of how we are living in response to Jesus, whether positive or negative. When it comes to choosing to place our faith in Him, the call is clear for each one of us, to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him.