Transcript
Stephen:
The way of Christ is not an easy way. Jesus often spoke hard things to his disciples, and one of them was this: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” We live in a very self-serving age. The whole setup of life today is that we get what we want, as fast as possible. It’s convenient. It costs us nothing. But Christ is clearly saying that is not the best life for you.
Joel:
Jesus did not die to give us a better life. He died to give us a relationship with God. And often the thing that deepens that relationship is suffering.
Stephen:
If you buy into our society’s mantra of serving yourself, where is that heading? What are the benefits, and what is the cost?
Joel:
Nowhere. Nowhere is the answer. If you do a cost–benefit analysis, the world in one sense offers a lot. But in a truer, more real sense, it offers nothing, because it’s a doomed enterprise in this life.
If you’re going to follow Jesus, you have to deny yourself. That’s hard, because it means suppressing the flesh. You have to take up your cross, which means being prepared to suffer shame and ridicule for his name. You have to follow him, and that takes commitment and determination.
We don’t have the strength for that in ourselves. We need him to empower us. None of this is easy, but it leads us into glory. Christ suffered, and now he is glorified. That is the pathway.
Stephen:
The cross and the resurrection — suffering and glory — are what we benefit from by faith at salvation. We come into the good of his death for us on the cross, his suffering for our sins. But he also calls us to associate with him in those ways throughout life.
So someone might be thinking, “I’m interested in the teachings of Christ. I believe this is true. I know I need to be saved. But there’s a cost, and I’m not sure I’m up for it.”
What would you say to them?
Joel:
Absolutely, there is a cost. But the cost of not following Christ is far greater. C. S. Lewis said that if you want to find yourself, you have to lose yourself. You have to die to self and have that old self replaced with a new self — replaced with Christ.
That’s what he does. Paul talks about this in Galatians when he says, “The life that I now live, I live by the power of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” He no longer lived in the old religious, pharisaical, hypocritical way. He lived in the power of a resurrected life.
If we want to be associated with Jesus Christ, we must be associated with him in his death and in his resurrection. Yes, there is a cost to following Christ, but there is also a cost to not following him.
In the same passage in Luke chapter 9, Jesus says, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” If this world is ending in judgment, then being associated with it brings no lasting benefit.
Stephen:
What about someone who wants both? Can they stay in the world and still follow Christ?
Joel:
Jesus is clear on this: you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve God and money. You must choose one, because they are opposed to each other.
The world is set against God, and the natural human heart is in opposition to him. Either we live to glorify God or we live to glorify ourselves. Either we live for God’s pleasure or our own. It’s not possible to do both.
Jesus also said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” If you chase happiness and joy directly, you’ll never find them, because enough will never be enough. But if you seek God’s kingdom first and live submitted to his will, those other things follow.
Stephen:
The one we are giving everything up for is not just another man. He is the living God of heaven, who entered our world, dealt with our sin, and has the power to give us life and glory.
When the disciples recognised who Jesus was, they left everything and followed him. To have him is to have everything. The purpose of our lives is to live for the glory of God, and nothing outside of that is rich enough or true enough to satisfy the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual longings of the human heart.
Reading the book of Acts and Paul’s letters is a powerful way to see this lived out — what Paul gave up, what he suffered, and how he understood suffering and glory.
