L07 – "If You Want to Follow Me, You Must..."
Mat_16:13-28 ; Mar_8:27-38 ; Luk_9:18-27
Matthew 16:24-26 (NASB)
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
[25] "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
[26] "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
We are at a point of decision in our pursuit to discipleship . Jesus has told us that we "must" "deny" ourselves, and "take up" our cross if we are going to continue to follow Him.
Jesus said to Peter in Mar_8:33 ,"you are not setting your minds on God's interests, but man's.", just before He makes the statement about the need to make a decision to "deny" and "take up".
If we want to be His disciples, we MUST. There is no option here. If we don't, we cannot be like Jesus, be His disciples, and following in His footsteps.
Denying ourselves is choosing God's will over our own at every point in our lives when the Will of God and our will take us down two different paths. Whenever our will is contrary to God's will.
To take up our cross is to take up God's will even when it means death to our will. We are willingly taking up the very instrument (cross=God's will) that is going to be used to kill us (death on the cross=the death of our will).
That is exactly what Jesus was doing as He was speaking to His disciples. He was choosing to deny Himself and He was taking up His cross. The consequences of that meant the offering of salvation for all who would choose.
Our choosing God's will instead of ours and following through to see it all the way to it's completion, means that God can accomplish His will through us, just as He did through Jesus. Others will benefit from our obedience, just like we did from His. We will also, but that can't be our motive. Our motive must be to follow Jesus in obedience to God's will, and to choose His will over our own.
God's will and plan for our lives is that we follow Jesus and bear fruit Joh_15:8 . ( See also Joh_15:1-14 )
Life here on earth, as "permanent" as is seems to be at times, is only an instant compared to eternity.
With all our efforts to get and to acquire things for ourselves in this world, we will leave them to another and not not take anything with us out of this world. ( 1Ti_6:3-21 )
When we are restored into God's family, we have a new life ( 2Co_5:17 ; Gal_6:15 ) and we must live out of the eternal mind of God and not according to the world. ( Rom_12:1-2 )
This change and and transformation is not optional to those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus.
We are now pilgrims and strangers in this world looking for a new world to come. ( Tit_2:11-15 ; 1Pe_2:1-12 )
Our life no longer centers around this world, but the world to come. ( Joh_18:36 ; Rev_21:1-8 )
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