Take Up Your Cross And Follow Me Series

Jesus is not speaking of our emotional feelings toward him or our families but rather he is speaking of our level of commitment. He is saying that our commitment to obey and following him must be greater than any other commitment in our lives. In other words, Jesus must be first in our priorities and loyalties. Is this true in your life?

For instance, if following Jesus obediently results in problems or interferes with your closest relationships, will you still follow him? This is no mere hypothetical situation. In other countries following Jesus can sometimes mean being kicked out of the family, losing your children, etc. In our own country, many relationships have encountered problems because one spouse was a committed Christian and the other was not. In such cases Jesus wants us to know up front what it means to be a disciple. He must come before even your closest relationships.

I. To be a disciple of Jesus you must be committed to him above everything else

We must not only love or be committed to Jesus more than to our loved ones, but we must also be committed to him above "even our own lives" as Jesus says in verse 26. This refers to our physical lives which we must be willing to surrender for Jesus’ sake. It also refers to are self lives, which means our personal desires, goals, interests, and even needs. We must be committed to Jesus above our bank accounts, our public image, our jobs, every personal desire, etc. If following Jesus means forfeiting these things, then we must be willing to do that. Again this is not a hypothetical situation. Following Jesus will many times mean making such sacrifices.

How would you characterise your relationship with God? Is he a concept, a comfort or a conviction? Is he someone that you have yet to come to grips with, someone who says to you that you are fine the way you are, or someone who says that if you want to think of yourself as a Christian and all that it entails, this demands radical sacrifice and self denial.

This series will lay out what God expects of those who would wish to be known as Christians. It is the Christians High Calling. It all starts and ends with the Cross. First:

1) THE PRINCIPLE MT. 16:24

Matthew 16:24 [24]Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (ESV)

Please turn to John 6

When Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would/wishes to come after Me,” they were doubtless reminded of the time He had called each of them. Some two and a half years earlier they had left families, friends, occupations, and everything else in order to follow Jesus.

To unbelievers among the multitudes who were present on that occasion (see Mark 8:34), Jesus’ words come after Me applied to the initial surrender of the new birth, when a person comes to Christ for salvation and the old life of sin is exchanged for a new life of righteousness. To the believers there, including the Twelve, come after Me reiterated the call to the life of daily obedience to Christ.