More Like Jesus

Living for Jesus means living like Jesus

[Scripture]

For today’s message, let us turn to the Gospel of 1)Matthew 16:24. Let us all rise and read the scripture together.

마태복음 16:24 NIV

2)24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

This is the word of the Lord.

[Welcome]

Good morning PW and welcome to today’s worship service. Let us turn to our neighbors and greet one another. Let’s say this. 3)“When I see you, I see Jesus.” That is right everyone. We are called to be like Jesus. Everyday, we need to strive to be more like him and through today’s message, let us find the way to be like Jesus.

[Sermon]

I want to start off today’s message with a little quiz. I am going to show you all a definition of an expression and I want you to guess the answer.

4)“Refusing to accept or admit the truth about something, even when the evidence is clear.”

The answer is 5)“in denial.”

For example when someone is in a state of being in denial, what they are doing is they are not only lying to others around them, but they are lying to themselves. You are not accepting the fact. Hear me out, I said facts not truth. For example. I am 5ft 5inc. 100% fact. But because I don’t want to be 5ft 5inc, I say, I am 5ft 9inc and I accept it to be true. This is in denial. If I say to you all I am 5ft 9, are you going to believe me? No! But if I choose to believe this like how I said, I am lying to you all and to myself as well. I am fooling myself. When I put it this way, it sounds terrible. It isn’t something that we should be doing. But sometimes in life we need to be in denial. We would not only need to lie to others but also lie to ourselves to get things done in life. Why? Because this kind of attitude effects our mentality.

I want to introduce to you all a famous book in Korea. It is called, 6)꿈꾸는 다락방. I could probably translate it to “The Dream Loft.” In this book the author introduces a formula to fulfill your dreams. 7)R=VD. Realization = Vivid Dream. So, if you dream and hope for things vivd, it is going to come true. It might sound a bit lame and iffy, but he became a best selling author through this book. I dreamt of how he was going to be successful writer. He had his own plan. Prior to writing this book he was a nobody but after he coined this formula and practiced it in his life, as he dreamt, he became a well know writer. I know this sounds crazy but he got married to the person he wanted to get married to by following this formula too. 8)He got married to a famous pocket ball player called 차유람.

9)I am not introducing this book to tell you all to dream a vivid dream. I am really against this to be honest. But like how I said earlier some things are in the head. If you could trick yourself into doing something diligently and with a big plan and hopes, you can fulfill great things in life. Because we have the potential to do anything God gives us the opportunity to do so. Reality might look different but when you truly put your mind to it, it is going to work out. This is me saying this, this isn’t really God’s message but this is me for I have the immigrant mentality. But today I want us to think what kind of mentality that we need to have to live as a disciple of Jesus.

For those who know God. For those who know the salvation that Jesus gave us, we know that we are called to live as the disciple of Christ Jesus. Meaning that we need to live according to his teachings and that teaching is to live a the life of Jesus. Loving God and loving others. This is what we need to do but. In todays scripture, Jesus tells us how we should approach this life. Jesus teaches us what kind of a mentality we need to live this life as a disciple. Let’s read today’s scripture one more time. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

마태복음 16:24 NIV

10)24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Jesus says, deny yourselves. Jesus isn’t telling us to be in denial. But to deny oneself means to forget about who you are. Forget but be this new person. Don’t stop there, but take up their cross and follow Jesus. This is simple but if I was to simplify what is already simple, forget about you and just follow Jesus.

But is it really simple? I know it sounds simple but then what does it really mean to deny ourselves? We all have some sort of identity that is going to stop us from carrying the cross. There is going to be some part of ourselves that is going to stop us from following Jesus. What is that identity? It is the identity that we are sinners. So what Jesus is claiming is that I know you are sinners but forget about it just as you are pick this cross up and follow me.

We see some examples of how Jesus’ disciples follow Jesus after he went up to the heavens. Acts 2:42-47 it says the following let’s read it together.

사도행전 2:42–47 NIV

11)42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 12)46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

They lived together. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. They worshipped together. This was the way to follow Jesus. Even though they had their own desires to own things and to keep for themselves, they loved others like they loved themselves. They loved God. Like the greatest commandment, they followed Jesus. This is what Jesus taught and Jesus did.

The scripture is not saying to you guys to live this life. Don’t go home and sell eveything in the house and give to others who are in need. It is what the bible writes but we aren’t in a stage in life where we could do so. But Jesus is telling us to live like him. Live according to Matthew 22:37-39.

마태복음 22:37–39 NIV

13)37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

I know today’s message has been all over the place. Definitions to books, scripture. Talking about mentality and practicality. Get your thoughts and mind straight and follow Jesus. Love God and Love others. This is what we need to do. There is so many things that is going to hinder you from following Jesus. Because you are a sinner. That itself is going to make it difficult to do so. So the mentality that we need is to be in denial of that identity. Deny your sinful Identity and follow Jesus. This is what we need to do and to do that you need to love God and love others. Amen?

I have these thoughts come to me once in a while. The thought that I am not enough to serve God. I am not good enough to be a pastor. I am not talented. I am just a small nerdy old bumb. It is a fact too. But today’s message is screaming out. Deny that fact and follow Jesus.

Who are you? IT doesn’t matter who you are but I declare through this scripture! Forget about it and just follow Jesus. Amen? Let this be our mentality. And with this mentality. Let us love God and love others. Let us pray.

[Response]

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