What It Means To Follow Jesus

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” – Matthew 16:24-26 

You say you believe in Jesus. That is good.  You go to church.  That is good. You try to be a good person.  That is good.  I do those things to.  But, it is not good enough.  Jesus demands more from us.  James wrote: 

“Faith without works is dead …. and by works faith was made perfect.” – James 2:20,22  

Jesus would say, “works without faith is also dead.”  Doing good things is … good, but those good things must spring from faith in Jesus and not merely a desire to do good things.  Even the lost do good things.  Jesus said that “No one is [truly] good but One, that is, God.” – Matthew 19:17 

 So let’s  look at what Jesus expects of us. 

1. We must deny ourselves.  That means that we must abandon our worldly priorities and embrace God’s revealed will for man.  That is a spiritual mandate.  It is accomplished by faith and the Spirit of God in us. The Spirit of God is in us if, and only if, we are born again. Doing good and going to church in and of themselves can be accomplished by the lost as well as the saved. 
2. We must take up our cross, not just once but every day.  So what does that mean.  Do you get a picture in your mind of Jesus dragging the cross  down the Via De La Rosa and up the hill that was Calvary?  I think that what Jesus was referring to was not the journey to the cross but what happened on the cross. Total and deliberate surrender of His life to the will of the Father.  In doing that He fulfilled His purpose:

“But for this purpose I came to this hour…And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”  – John 12:27, 32-33

3. We must lose our [natural] lives. We struggle to save ourselves in this world.  Believing that life style, possession, wealth, security, and reputation among our peers are worthy, admirable goals for our lives.  Jesus said that if we choose those things then we will miss what God has purposed for us.  If we try to save the life the world offers then we will lose or miss the life that God intends.
4. Our devotion must be to God and not the world.  If people choose the natural life and reject Jesus, it doesn’t matter how successful, loved by others, wealthy, or healthy they are; when this life is over, they are bound for hell. 
   

It is not wrong to have wealth, to be prosperous, so long as that wealth and prosperity does not become your god.  I know some people who are wealthy who also have a love for the Lord.  Their faith is demonstrated by their generosity and is not dependent upon the balance in their bank account.  Their trust is in God and not what they possess.  They could live as easily without wealth as with it. Unfortunately, they are the exception and not the rule.   The Bible speaks to the struggle we have with trusting in the world and not God, in many places, both Old and New Testaments. No matter what socio-economic station we find ourselves in, the question that must be addressed is not how much of the things of this world we have, but how much of us do the things of this world have.  What you have does not really matter, what has you does. Paul wrote: 

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:11-13

What are you trusting in, really?