Resolve to be a disciple.

Service Notes

Summit this week

Ordination for Justus on Thursday night

Many great opportunities in 2022.

Thankful for a good, hard look at discipleship as we end a year and start a new one.

Premise: Following Christ requires self-denial and daily taking up your cross.

Luke 9:18–27 (KJV 1900)

18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.

20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.

21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

Sermon Introduction

Video | False understanding of Jesus

Jesus is placed on a table with other gods in America. Especially this time of year.

This might be most scene in the self centered nature of our new years resolutions.

United under this same confession

Peter’s answer was representative of the group.

Matthew 16:17–18 (KJV 1900)

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Peter was not the first pope. He had a mother-in-law.

But he does often answer for the group.

Not just a pun

Consider the serious issues being discussed in this and the following pericope: God, man, heaven, hell, spiritual war, death, resurrection, Satan.

We need to recognize the doctrine of Peter that Jesus praised is reality of who Jesus is?

In one moment Christ has renamed Simon as Petros; in the next moment Christ has renamed Simon as Satana, the occupant of the pit.

In one moment Simon Peter is a powerful example of a disciples and in the next moment Peter is an example of a powerless failure.

Jesus is the rock upon which we must build our lives. (quoting from Psalm 118:22)

Matthew 21:42 (KJV 1900)

42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

The critical decision of life depends on one’s relation to the rock

Peter was making the greatest of all confessions

Matthew 10:32 (KJV 1900)

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

We often need a confrontation with our place in this world.

Jesus reminds the disciples of the reality of following Him.

Mark 10:35–38 (KJV 1900)

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.

36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?

37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.

38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

In many ways the world could not be any different then it was in the days of Christ. In other ways mankind could not be anymore the same.

We need this same confrontation today.

In that book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Robert Schuller writes – quote – “It is precisely at this point that classical theology has erred in its insistence that theology be God-centered and not man-centered.” End quote. He further writes, “If we follow God’s plan as faithfully as we can, we will feel good about ourselves.” That's the gospel of today. It's the feel-good gospel: feel good about yourself.”

Then he goes on to say – quote – “God needs you and me to help create a society of self-esteeming people.” Pardon me if I don't join. I can't think of a group I’d less like to associate with. “Once a person believes he’s an unworthy sinner, it is doubtful if he can really honestly accept the saving grace God offers in Christ.” End quote.

Self-Esteem Club in School.

Christian narcissism, self-love is characteristic of false teachers

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (KJV 1900)

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Abandoning your life to the honor of Christ has been replaced by Christ honoring you.

Let it not be said among us.

The confession that unites us today is that Jesus is the Christ. We all are called to follow Him.

Sujaya James first came to church and asked Jeff a question about following Jesus. They were studying the book of John. I learned that Sujaya was Dr. Sujuya and had written his doctoral dissertation on Salvation and Discipleship Continuum in Johannine Literature: Toward an Evaluation of the Faith Alone Doctrine. - Basically as a believer you will follow Jesus. If you do not. You are not His.

Who is still around when the party is over?

Acts 1:15 (KJV 1900)

15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Thousands of people had followed Him during His life here but only 120 people that are actually doing what He told them to do, committed life-long learners and followers.

This is the picture of a disciple that we find in the New Testament.

“In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Man’s soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility” (A.W. Tozer).

Reality of following Christ

Luke 9:21–22 (KJV 1900)

21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;

22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

Why would he not want them to know He was the messiah.

The common understanding of the Messiah was wrong.

It was not the time for His death.

A cross awaited Jesus.

What should we think of and feel when we consider the life of cross bearing?

Opposition: A cross was used to execute criminals who had the state of Rome in opposition to them.

Shame: This execution was reserved for the worst criminals, and the victim was usually naked on a cross for hours.

Suffering: This kind of execution was designed to prolong excruciating pain.

Death: The aim of crucifixion was death, not torture followed by release.

A cross awaits us.

Gospel enabled self-denial

Matthew Henry once said that “self denial is the first lesson in Christ's school.”

Message for all believers.

This is more than self-discipline that is inspirational even among unbelievers.

Man who won Iron Man strained his cottage cheese. / Quality is not an act it is a habit.

We are looking at the self-denial only possible because we have been freed by the Gospel

Luke 9:23 (KJV 1900)

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

We are to deny self. What does that mean?

It means to renounce anything that challenges or trumps our allegiance to the kingdom of God

To be ready to bear afflictions in this life knowing that God prepared them beforehand.

How do you respond to those afflictions?

Luke 9:23 (KJV 1900)

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Daily, not on the rare occasion.

This will not be a one time an event.

No martyr ever died who only faced opposition on a singular occasion.

This apparently is supposed to be part of our daily lives.

Example given.

Remember what Joseph said about his brothers? Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

Joseph was saying “I take this up because this is God's will in my life. He has a purpose for me even in this. The sin is not his. The sin is the one who has done it against me, but the purpose is God's. He has a purpose for me. I believe that He is working all things for good for me according to His own purposes.”

Take up your affliction and continue to follow Christ.

Forgiveness requires self-denial.

Story of an escaped slave before War Between the States. The slave owner was in the bed. The former slave stood at his bedside. The man who was his former master began to confess his sins to his former slave. His former slave interrupted him and said to him, “But I must ask you forgiveness for I have harbored bitterness and hate to you in my heart for the way you treated me.” And the two men actually argued with each other for a bit about who needed to be forgiven more and they were reconciled. But do you understand that that reconciliation required self-denial on the parts of both of those men? That former slave had to humble his pride to even grant forgiveness to one who had done him wrong. And that slave owner had to see in his pride what he had done wrong in order to seek forgiveness from this man. Forgiveness requires self-denial.

Four arguments for the great value of denying self.

When you hear deny self you probably hear.

be miserable,

Lose everything you love.

Take your little portion of happiness and trample on it.

This is exactly the way in which Satan would want you to interpret Scripture. As we learned in the garden.

#1: You must lose your life to save it!

Luke 9:24 (KJV 1900)

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

What does it mean to try to save your life.

Save would be living to avoid opposition, shame, suffering, and death.

The opposite of taking up a cross.

Why would we ever say yes to these hard things? Because we trust Christ.

It is given that we do not want to lose our soul.

We have just went all wrong in our approach to saving our lives.

When we work to keep our lives from His hands we are running toward our death.

What would be some great things to lose this year?

the constant need for human approval, and honor, and comfort.

Taking up our cross and dying to these things will bring a joy that most will never know.

Taking up our cross means that our old praise-craving self has died.

#2: The whole world is not sufficient to give what you need.

Luke 9:25 (KJV 1900)

25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

This is a rhetorical question.

The soul can’t be bought by all the wealth in the world.

The assumption Jesus is addressing is that the worldly effort to save your soul (verse 35) will succeed if you can just amass enough of this world’s provisions and protections.

Those who refuse to deny themselves and instead seek their own satisfaction will never find it.

Jesus is saying that when you deny yourself for Him you do not lose the satisfaction that you would have had, you gain a satisfaction that you couldn't have had except in Him.

There are people in this room have loved Jesus to the point their family felt unloved because the Gospel was of greater value than the false unity in their home.

Luke 14:26 (KJV 1900)

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Now they enjoy a bond between believing family members they could have never realized without trusting God.

Matthew 12:50 (KJV 1900)

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

#3: Nothing Can Buy Your Soul

Mark 8:37 (KJV 1900)

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

nothing — absolutely nothing in this created universe — can purchase the soul.

#4: Ashamed of Jesus

Luke 9:26 (KJV 1900)

26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Notice that the categories shift from being rich with this world to being ashamed of Jesus.

No amount of riches can save the soul at the day of judgment because Christ will be ashamed of people at the last day who were ashamed of him.

The unspoken assumption that makes it work is this.

The pursuit of riches in this world goes hand in hand with being ashamed of Jesus and his words.

Refusing the cross, and thus trying to save our lives in this world, is pursued mainly by amassing as much prosperity and protection as we can.

We think that by gaining a large hunk of “the whole world” we can save our lives from the opposition, shame, suffering, and death of the cross.

A deep desire to avoid being shamed in this world is a huge reason we try to accumulate wealth. Wealth no longer just means money. It also means influence. Ask a kid if he would rather have a million dollars of a million Youtube subscribers.

Cost of non-discipleship

Cost us personally

We we will miss out on the peace and the grace and the power and the mercy that God desires to show us, and that God desires for us to experience. We will miss out on His very presence,

Matthew 28:20 (KJV 1900)

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Cost our community.

Your friends, neighbors, and family need to see life lived according to a different standard.

Cost the world

Our ability to send and go into the world is highly dependent upon us teaching the next generation how and why to carry a cross.

Conclusion

Hymn: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone And all the world go free? No, there's a cross for every one, And there's a cross for me.”

You may have many resolutions for the new year. Are any of them with respect for the fact you have been called to follow Jesus.

This is a great time to examine how you primarily view your identity and need for growth.