The Jesus We Follow
Luke 9:23
October 28, 2018
You are familiar that we are now in a segment in Luke’s gospel
Which we have called “Messianic Misconceptions”
They now know that He is the Messiah, but because they have a distorted doctrine on the Messiah they don’t yet fully understand what Jesus came to do.
Jesus started correcting those misconceptions in verse 21
When He emphatically warned His disciples
NOT to go out and preach that He is the King.
Jesus knew that this message would only further cause the people
To seek Him as the source of their happiness and political deliverance
And provision and healing.
INSTEAD Jesus revealed to the 12 exactly what the message would be that they would preach.
Luke 9:22 “saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
They were told not to preach about Him being the King
But where to preach His suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.
BUT JESUS WAS HARDLY DONE.
SEE THERE IS A REASON
We preach a suffering and rejected and dying and rising Jesus.
AND THAT REASON IS BECAUSE THIS IS ALSO
WHERE THOSE WHO FOLLOW JESUS WILL BE ASKED TO GO.
AND THAT IS WHAT JESUS IS ABOUT TO REVEAL.
If you remember from Matthew’s gospel,
After Jesus made this statement about His necessary suffering and rejection and death and resurrection it did not immediately set well with the 12.
Matthew 16:22-23 “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
That only further solidifies the point that
• Even the 12 weren’t looking for a Jesus who could save them from sin.
• Even they wanted a Jesus that would give them their “Best Life Now”.
And since they had signed up to follow Jesus,
All of this talk about suffering and dying really needed to be corrected.
So Peter took it upon Himself to rebuke Jesus.
To which Jesus called him Satan and told Peter “you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
Peter wanted Jesus for selfish reasons, not legitimate ones.
And so it was yet another misconception that Jesus must set straight.
Jesus must reveal to His disciples what is required in order to follow Him.
• I have referenced these verses more times than I can count.
• I refer to them continually while counseling people in my office.
And yet, I told Carrie this week,
I’m not sure that any of us actually grasp what Jesus said here.
IN SHORT, WE NEED THIS REMINDER
This is the very heart of what it means to be Christian.
This is as direct a statement as you will ever see regarding what Jesus demands of His followers.
And if I may clarify.
• He doesn’t say anything about walking an aisle…
• He doesn’t say anything about signing a card…
• He doesn’t say anything about giving up a couple of hours a week to go to
church…
The requirements that Jesus set forth are for more intense than that.
And yet, these are Christ’s requirements.
• This is not what I think a Christian should be…
• This is not what FBC Spur has decided a Christian should be…
• THIS IS WHAT JESUS SAYS A CHRISTIAN MUST BE
YOU HAVE TO GET THAT.
After looking at “The Jesus We Preach”
Now we want to look at “The Jesus We Follow”
And before I give you the actual criteria let me first make sure
You understand who Jesus is addressing here.
(23) “And He was saying to them all”
• Who is this message for? “all”
• In fact even the next statement begins with “If anyone…”
This is the criteria for “all” people.
If “anyone” wants to be a Christian, this is what is demanded.
Can we see that?
I don’t want you reading this passage and passing it off as though
Jesus is just talking about those who really want to be fanatical here.
Sometimes I think people think there are DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CHRISTIANITY that you can choose to sign up for.
Like, you walk the aisle and on the card they give you there are options.
1) Full blown, self-sacrificing, wholly devoted, in the ministry, Jesus fanatic
• And if you take that option then your whole life is gonna be about Jesus.
• You’re gonna serve Him, you’re gonna tell people about Him,
• You’re probably gonna be in the ministry,
• You may end up living on the mission field.
And if you choose option 1 then rest assured you’ll get a bigger reward in heaven.
But if option 1 sounds like too much, consider option 2:
2) A definite Christian, who attends church regularly, and who lives a moral life, but does so without any real sacrifice involved.
• We’ll ask you to give, but only if it’s convenient,
• We’ll ask you to serve, but only if you have time,
• We’ll ask you to witness, but most likely only to close friends and family
members.
The reward package isn’t as good as option 1,
But you still get a golden, silver-lined mansion at the end.
Others opt for option 3:
3) Your saved and you’re going to heaven, but sporadic church attendance is plenty.
• This option doesn’t require any real devotion to God’s people.
• You’ll never be asked to teach or to witness or to counsel anyone.
• And even the moral requirements are minimal, just don’t do anything really bad
like kill someone.
• If asked, tell people you are a Christian,
• Be sure and “like” religious posts on Facebook and that’s really all we need.
You’ll go to heaven, but when you get there
You won’t be involved in all the singing and serving and stuff,
You’ll just have to spend your days fishing and golfing up there.
It’s like we think that when Jesus gave this mandate for His followers that He wasn’t talking to everyone, just the fanatics.
So let me ask you again, who is Jesus talking to here?
“all”; “anyone”
In short, He is talking to me and He is talking to you.
And let me show you what Jesus requires of anyone and everyone
Who wants to be saved by Him.
3 things.
#1 SELF-DENIAL
Luke 9:23a
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself,”
Notice also the word “must” here.
• It is the same word Jesus used in verse 22 about how He “must suffer many things and be rejected…and be killed and be raised”
This isn’t optional, this is mandatory for all would-be followers.
“he must deny himself”
“deny” is an interesting word.
ARNEOMAI (ar-nay-o-my) in the Greek, and it is a strong term.
It is used of Peter’s adamant denial of Jesus.
Matthew 26:70-72 “But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.” When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.”
In Acts 3 it is translated “disowned”
Acts 3:13-14 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,”
And Jesus says that the first criteria of being one of His followers
Is that you do that to yourself.
“he must deny himself” “he must [disown] himself”
What does that mean actually?
Well there are 2 main ways in which you need to understand this.
1) IT MEANS TO DENY ALL RELIANCE UPON YOUR GOOD WORKS AS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.
There are many people who place their eternal hope
On the fact that they have done enough good to get to heaven.
Remember the Pharisee?
Luke 18:11-12 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’”
• That Pharisee was basically laying out his resume of all that he had done to deserve God’s favor.
• That man had no doubt spent hours praying and hours fasting and over the years given a large amount of money.
• And he trusted that in the end that it would be enough to merit going to heaven.
Of course Jesus taught us:
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
And in order to follow Jesus all of those efforts,
All of those merits must be denied. They must be disowned.
AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND.
It’s not that Jesus won’t take people who have done religious works, it’s that people who trust in their religious works won’t take Jesus.
They don’t think the need Him.
• They’ve got their baptismal certificate…
• They’ve got their IRS giving statement…
• They’ve got their Disciple Now T-shirt…
• They’ve got that Bible with all the notes in it…
And the high cost of following that Jesus is going to require
Seems too high for people who don’t really need Him.
Surely their good works are enough to get them access to God,
And so they don’t see the need for Jesus
Or the suffering required in following Him.
That is why it is necessary to become “poor in spirit”
Before you’ll be saved.
You must realize how utterly invaluable your works are.
And they must be disowned.
They must be trashed.
This was the point behind Paul’s testimony.
Philippians 3:5-6 “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”
We might even add his statement to the Galatians:
Galatians 1:14 “and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.”
But Paul had to realize how utterly invaluable all of those things were.
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
Paul counted all his religious works as “rubbish”
We must as well.
Take all your ribbons, take all your certificates, take all your plaques
And throw them in the trash.
Become a beggar.
Monte Walsh “I ain’t spittin’ on my whole life.”
Well, that’s exactly what has to happen for a person to follow Jesus.
But it’s not just the good works that must be denied.
2) IT ALSO MEANS TO DENY ALL DESIRES OF THE FLESH
If I can put it clearly then let me say it like this.
If you choose to follow Jesus
Then you should at the very least understand
That you are no longer in control of your future.
If you are going to put yourself in service to Christ
This means that you quit calling all the shots.
Take those college plans you have,
• And disown them, your education is now up to Christ.
Take that retirement you have and the plans you’ve made
• And disown them, you’re now in service to Christ.
Take that bucket with that list of all the things you plan on doing before you die,
• Burn the list and throw away the bucket.
You are surrendering it all to Christ.
The flesh no longer gets to call the shots in your life, Christ does.
Go ahead and look at the end of this chapter.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Do you see Jesus there demand self-denial from all those men?
• The first Jesus told him he’d have to deny his worldly comforts to follow.
• The second Jesus told him he’d have to give up his inheritance to follow.
• The third Jesus told him he’d have to give up his reputation and the approval
of his family and friends to follow.
Let it go, deny yourself.
This is precisely what the followers of Jesus in the New Testament did.
Remember Peter and Andrew?
Matthew 4:18-20 “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”
(they got a new occupation)
Later Peter even recounted:
Matthew 19:27 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”
Do you remember James and John?
Matthew 4:21-22 “Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”
They didn’t just leave their boat, they left their father.
The family fishing business was about to no longer be “Zebedee and Sons Fishing”.
Do you remember Matthew?
Luke 5:27-28 “After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”
Matthew left his job as a tax collector.
But the point is everyone that followed Jesus had to deny themselves.
• For one it was a fishing business
• For one it was a tax booth
• For one it was their father
• Later Jesus will ask the Rich Young Ruler to give up all his possessions.
It’s not some specific thing that you must leave to follow Jesus.
It’s that you must deny everything that keeps you from following.
YOU CANNOT KEEP YOUR OLD LIFE AND FOLLOW JESUS.
The path that gratifies the flesh and the path that Jesus walks
Are too very different paths.
Denying yourself is a universal mandate for all who want Jesus.
Followers of Jesus aren’t those who seek the world, they are those who crucify the world
Galatians 6:14 “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Followers of Jesus aren’t those who live to please the flesh, followers of Jesus crucify the flesh
Galatians 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
THEY JUST LEFT IT ALL TO FOLLOW JESUS.
• They denied any goodness which they held on to as a means of pleasing God
• And they denied any worldly lust that would hinder them from following Christ.
And Jesus says that this “must” happen.
The first requirement to following Jesus is Self-Denial
#2 SUFFERING DAILY
Luke 9:23b
“and take up his cross daily”
I’m aware that in our day this has become somewhat of a metaphorical statement.
• Someone gets sick and they say, “It’s just the cross I have to bear”
• Someone has a hard job and says, “It’s just the cross I have to bear”
I understand what they are saying, and their point isn’t necessarily wrong.
But that’s NOT what Jesus was talking about.
• The “cross” wasn’t a metaphor in Jesus’ day.
• The “cross” was an instrument of horrific, humiliating, excruciatingly painful
death.
• The “cross” was the preferred method of execution for anyone who dared to
rise up against Rome.
In somewhat similar fashion today Jesus would have to say something like
“Take up his electric chair” or “Take up his lethal injection”
To take up the cross was a picture of bearing scorn and reproach and suffering and ultimately death.
THE CROSS TODAY IS ADMIRED
• Is a preferred piece of art in most houses
• And is probably the most crafted symbol in jewelry
BUT IN JESUS’ DAY IT WAS HIDEOUS.
• People didn’t even say the word “cross” because it was so shameful.
• People were crucified naked and hung up along the roads for all to see.
• It was vile it was gruesome it was detestable
And Jesus here says that anyone who wants to follow Him must “take up his cross”
• You are about to take upon yourself shame
• You are about to take upon yourself scorn
• You are about to take upon yourself the promise of death
WHY DOES HE SAY THAT?
Because Jesus’ life is a life of exclusion and reproach and suffering and death, and if you follow Him, that will be your life too.
• You are about to follow a Jesus who condemns this world.
• You are about to proclaim a message that condemns this world.
• You are about to stand in opposition to the god of this world and his fallen world system
Do not expect to be applauded for it.
John 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘ A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”
John 16:1-3 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
• This world is going to point
• This world is going to snarl
• This world is going to laugh
• This world is going to mock
Some of you in secular work places know this scorn,
These youth who have determined to follow Christ feel this in the school.
IT IS THE REPROACH OF THE CROSS WHICH YOU FEEL
Luke also records the word “daily”
“take up his cross daily”
• When they mock you today, do it again tomorrow.
• When they scorn you today, do it again tomorrow.
• When they hate you today, do it again tomorrow.
Following Jesus is not a one-time event.
It is a lifetime commitment.
THIS IS WHAT JESUS REQUIRES.
In fact, listen to Paul rebuke the Corinthians for their failure to grasp this.
He speaks very sarcastically here
1 Corinthians 4:8-16 “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”
Paul points out that those who truly follow Christ are scorned,
Yet somehow the Corinthians are being honored in the world.
DO THEY NOT SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS?
Do we remember what Jesus said earlier in Luke’s gospel?
Luke 6:22-23 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.”
And
Luke 6:26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
You need to understand what Jesus requires to follow Him.
It will be COSTLY because you have to deny yourself.
You can also expect CONFLICT because the world will not rejoice in what you do.
You will be walking with a cross on your back.
• Your message will be the message that the world hates, not the one they want to hear.
• You will be preaching about a world so sinful that the only manner in which it could be redeemed is if God crushed His own Son on a cross.
• You will be preaching about a salvation that is only found in Jesus and not through their good deeds or man-made religions.
Don’t expect the world to applaud.
You will be expected to face CONFLICT and suffering.
Listen to Paul admonish Timothy
2 Timothy 1:8 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,”
Again:
2 Timothy 2:3 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”
Again:
2 Timothy 4:5 “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
This is a call to Self-Denial and it is a call to Daily Suffering.
• You will be a swimmer traveling upstream and against the flow
• You will be a voice of righteousness to a world that loves sin
• You will be a pebble in the shoe, a cog in the gears, a hurdle, and a restraint to a world that wants to push forth the machine of immorality.
• You’ll frustrate them with your refusal to sacrifice worship for worldly events
• You’ll annoy them with your refusal to go along with worldly endeavors
• You’ll irritate them with your stand against their immorality
• You’ll infuriate them with your insistence that they repent
• You’ll alienate them with your call for them to trust in Jesus Christ
And you will suffer as a result
You’ll lose friends – You’ll lose jobs – You’ll lose invitations
• In Jesus day they LOST access to the synagogue…
• The people of the book of Hebrews LOST their property…
• Many in the book of Acts had to FLEE their homes and their cities…
• Some even LOST their lives…
But this is the call, this is the requirement, if you want Christ.
You cannot just be this happy little friend of the world
And follow Jesus at the same time.
If you think you are, then you are deceiving yourself.
I don’t know what you call it, but it’s not following Jesus.
The call of Jesus is a call to Self-Denial and a call to Suffering Daily
#3 A SACRIFICIAL DESTINATION
Luke 9:23c
“and follow Me”
You would do very good at this point to ask the question: “Where?”
And then you’d do good to answer it.
When Jesus took up the cross, where did He go?
• First to the World to be rejected
• Then to Golgotha to be crucified
• Then to the Grave to be buried
• Then to Glory to be exalted forever
When Jesus says “follow Me”
Be sure you understand where He is asking you to go.
• It is certainly the path to life
• It is certainly the path to heaven
• But before that it is the path that leads to death.
MAKE NO MISTAKE, WHEN JESUS APPROACHES FOLLOWERS, HE IS RECRUITING THEM TO THEIR DEATH.
Jesus plainly told Peter:
John 21:18-19 “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me!”
Paul said:
Acts 20:22-23 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.”
We see the death of James in Acts we see the death of Stephen there as well.
In fact, you’re familiar with Acts 1:8
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
The word for “witnesses” there is MARTYS (mar-toos)
It’s where we get our word for martyr.
Jesus said “you shall be My martyrs”
Do you understand what Jesus is saying here?
His invitation to follow Him was an invitation to follow Him to His death.
• This is a call that is COSTLY
• This is a call to CONFLICT
• This is a call bringing CONDEMNATION
This is the calling and the requirement for “all”.
This is the requirement for “anyone [who] wishes to come after Me”
I KNOW WE LIVE IN A DAY OF THE ALTAR CALL
Where people are lured down the aisle
With all kinds of pretty promises of blessing and ease and fulfillment.
But those altar calls resemble nothing of the invitation of Jesus.
• Jesus invited His followers to leave their lives behind for good, not just
their pews for a moment.
• Jesus invited His followers to embrace daily suffering, not just to be patted
on the back for choosing to receive Christ.
• Jesus invited His followers to a life that passed through death on the way
to glory.
Jesus said that He must suffer and be rejected and be killed and be raised.
This the Jesus we preach and it is the same Jesus that we follow.
When you sign up to follow Jesus, you are signing up:
• To say good-bye to all your previous plans and treasures,
• To put yourself at enmity with the world,
• And to go forth embracing death.
I’m sorry if that’s not how it was first pitched to you.
But make no mistake this is how Jesus offered it.
We must evaluate our lives.
We must renew our commitments.
We must get serious about what it is we are called to do.
This morning we are taking the Lord’s Supper,
And in that I want to remind you that part of taking this Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of our commitment to His death.
Consider what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
It is absolutely central to the Christian faith that our Lord suffered and was rejected and was killed.
• We believe that
• We preach that
• We follow that
And every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper
We remember that and pledge again our commitment to it.
That is the Jesus we proclaim AND that is the Jesus that we follow.
Jesus told us plainly.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
To partake in the Lord’s Supper is NOT an empty ceremony of remembrance,
• It is moment to remember the sacrifice of Christ.
• It is a moment to rejoice in the sacrifice of Christ.
• It is a moment to confess again my need for the sacrifice of Christ.
• It is a moment to renew my commitment to follow this crucified Christ.
Do not partake lightly.
