Who is this Guy? - "If anyone would follow me..."

If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, we're going to be looking at verses 24 through 27.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

I'm going to pick up on 28 next week, but I'm just going to read 24 through 28.

And let's hear what our Lord Jesus is calling us to.

Then Jesus told his disciples,

He's going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

And if you look down to verse chapter 17, he's referring to the transfiguration.

When you wake up in the morning, what are the first things that come into your mind?

Here's typically what happens with me in the morning.

I wake up and I look at my watch, and it's usually glowing in the dark because I'm a notoriously early riser,

and I'm asking this question, oh, what time is it now?

Or maybe you're thinking, oh, I hope the coffee maker's on.

What's for breakfast?

If you're like me, you're saying something like, what day is it?

Is it Friday?

Saturday?

Monday?

Monday?

And then when we start thinking about what day it is, usually an agenda starts coming in as well, right?

What do you need to get done that day?

Who do you need to talk to?

What needs to happen?

What would happen if the moment you wake up in the morning, there is something else that comes into your mind?

It's a question.

It's a question like this.

You wake up and your first thoughts are, what is the most important thing this day?

What is the thing of greatest importance today?

Just imagine Jesus' words, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

Every day you wake up, you are faced with a decision.

A decision of what matters most.

Of who you're going to live for.

And what Jesus says is there's basically two options.

You're either going to live for yourself or you're going to live for Christ.

And what Jesus is going to call us to this morning is, come live for me.

The call this morning is the call of the Christ to follow me.

And not only was it true back 2,000 years, it's just as poignant today.

Our Christ is a risen Christ.

And he's calling you to follow him.

In this passage, we see two moves.

We see the call of Christ to follow him in verse 24.

That's where we're going to spend most of our time this morning.

And then in verses 25, 26, and 27, Jesus provides a rationale.

Three reasons to follow him.

And you can see they're all signaled by a word for.

You can see it at the beginning of each sentence.

So this morning, what we're going to do is, we're going to look at the call to follow Jesus.

And then we're going to look somewhat briefly at his rationale.

The reasons to follow him.

What I want you to understand this morning is the point Jesus is making here.

In order to follow him.

In order to live for him.

In order to be his disciple.

In order to be his disciple.

You're going to have to die to yourself.

In order to live for Christ, you must die to yourself.

And in Christ, you will find life.

So if you look at verse 24, we read this.

If anyone would come after me.

Let me give you a little background on that word me.

On Jesus.

Remember, it's in verse 16 of chapter 16 that Peter has just confessed to Jesus,

You are the Christ.

The son of the living God.

And what he means by that is saying,

You're that Psalm 2 guy.

You're the 2 Samuel 7 guy.

You're the one, the king that was promised.

The anointed one of God who would come and take up David's throne and reign forever.

You're the one.

You're the one.

And Jesus responds by him saying,

Blessed are you, Simon Peter.

You didn't figure that one out on your own.

That was God's kindness in revealing that to you.

And then if you look down in verse 21,

Jesus clarifies the work of the Christ.

He says to his disciples from that time,

Or we read from that time,

Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem

and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes,

and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

What Jesus is saying here is clarifying for his disciples.

He's like, hey, you got it right.

I'm the Christ, but let me just help you understand.

I've come to do something you're not expecting.

I've come to go to Jerusalem.

I've come to suffer.

I've come to die.

And I've come to be raised from the dead.

Peter, of course, says, no, never.

No, it's not going to happen.

Peter, and then Jesus says, get behind me, Satan.

You're hindrance to me.

You're not thinking God's thoughts.

You're thinking man's thoughts.

And every time we wake up in the morning,

we usually default into mankind thinking, don't we?

So this morning, as we think about that me,

if anyone would come after me,

you got to realize who it is.

It's the Christ, the one who would come,

suffer, die, be raised.

He's the one born of a virgin.

He's the one that was tempted by Satan.

Everything he could get to throw at Jesus, he withstood it.

This is the one when he came, he said, I didn't come to abolish the law,

but to fulfill it.

This is the one who came and exercised his authority over sin,

so that you may know that your sins are forgiven.

Get up and walk.

He came and exercised his authority over disease and over demons,

over raging deeps of the Sea of Galilee.

He even exercised his authority over death.

This is the one that's saying, if anyone would come after me.

He's the one who said, your greatest problem isn't outside of you.

Your greatest problem is inside of you.

Your sinful heart, which defiles you.

That's why he came.

He came to save sinners from their sin.

He's the one that miraculously fed 5,000 Jews, Jewish men,

and miraculously fed 4,000 Gentile men,

probably 20,000 people altogether.

This is the one who is the long-anticipated Christ,

the son of David,

who would come and take up the throne,

and he established and came to take up his throne

through suffering and being crucified

and being raised from the dead.

It's Jesus, the Christ,

who is God's plan for the fullness of time

that he set in motion before the foundation of the world.

That's who this is that is speaking.

It's the Christ

with all authority

on heaven and earth.

What does this kind of backstory show us?

This is no ordinary guy

calling us to come follow him.

This is the risen Christ,

God incarnate.

And so his words carry weight.

And so in looking at this call,

if anyone would come after me,

anyone,

he turns from Peter

and he turns to his disciples

and he speaks very generally.

If anyone,

if someone would come after me,

the invitation,

the welcome is wide.

If anyone in this room

would come after me,

if anyone living around Lincoln Square

would come after me,

anyone living on an uptown,

Frank neighborhood,

anywhere in Kenosha,

if anyone would come after me.

And that word would,

if you look at that word,

underneath it,

is this sense of desire,

willingness.

If anyone would choose

to come after me.

That two word,

those two words,

come after,

in a literal sense,

it means get in line, right?

I'm not sure if you,

this happened to you growing up,

but when I grew up,

I would have to get into

all sorts of different lines.

And I would have to get into lines

with kind of different ways.

For example,

get in line, Michael,

according to alphabetical order.

And so,

Salvati is at the end

and it always comes after an R.

Or I would have to get in line

according to my birthday,

which is in December.

So I would always have to come

after November.

Or I'd have to get in line

according to my height.

And so I would come after

someone who is shorter than me.

What is Jesus talking about

when he means come after me?

Is he calling you to come after him

in terms of your height?

Your birth date?

Your last name?

The relationship that he's talking about

is one of discipleship.

It's a discipleship relationship.

He's calling you to come after him

is a master calling his follower.

A teacher calling his learner.

Come after me.

And so what this is

is a call to discipleship.

And what that means

is that when you become

someone's disciple,

you submit yourself

to that person's authority.

You listen and learn

from that person's teaching.

You obey that person's commands.

You live according to the way

that person lived their life.

And so this call to follow me

has everything to do with Jesus.

to come under Jesus.

To follow after Jesus.

Everyone on the planet

is following somebody.

You're a disciple of someone.

You're coming after somebody.

You are submitting to someone.

You're learning from someone.

You're obeying someone.

You are living your life

after somebody.

The question is,

who is it?

Who's your Lord?

Who's your master?

Who's your teacher?

The chief rival

for living for Christ

is you.

Living for yourself.

You cannot live for yourself

in Jesus simultaneously.

You can only have one master.

You can only have one Lord.

And Jesus is saying,

I'm the one.

I'm the Christ.

Come follow me.

In order for you to live for Christ,

you must die to yourself.

And so here's the invitation.

If anyone would come after me,

and now Jesus is going to turn this

to three commands.

If you're willing to follow me,

if you're willing to come

under my leadership,

if you're willing to become

my disciple,

then you must deny yourself,

take up your cross,

follow me.

There are three commands.

There are three,

they're called imperatives.

Do this.

If you're going to follow Jesus,

you must do this.

It's not optional.

In the English version,

in the ESV at least,

it says,

if anyone would come after me,

let him deny himself.

And it kind of softens

the force of the command.

Jesus is saying,

if you're going to come after me,

you must do this.

You must deny yourself.

You must take up your cross.

You must follow me.

So let's be clear on what he means

by denying yourself,

taking up your cross,

and following him.

What does it mean to deny yourself?

Well,

at a basic sense,

it's this.

You cannot follow Jesus

without first denying yourself.

You can't live for yourself

and Christ.

It's one or the other.

Now, the temptation here

is to read something

into the command

to deny yourself

that's not there.

So for example,

you may think,

well,

in order for me to deny,

to follow Jesus,

I need to deny myself

eating Oreo cookies

or binging on Netflix

or gossiping about this person.

Now,

those things may be true.

But what Jesus is saying here,

he's not commanding you

to give something up.

He's commanding you

to deny yourself

who you are.

It's a call to relinquish

all claims on your life.

That's what he's saying.

That word deny

means to disassociate yourself

from someone.

Jesus is saying,

disassociate yourself

from living a life

for yourself

so that you can associate

with Christ

and live a life

for him.

That's what he's saying.

Do you remember

in Matthew 26,

Jesus and Peter,

Peter's like,

I'm going to go

to my death for you.

And Jesus is like,

actually, Peter,

you're going to deny me

three times.

And the word deny,

Jesus used in Matthew 26,

is the same word deny

Jesus is using here.

If anyone would come

after me,

he must deny himself.

So remember what happened

in Matthew 26,

the Peter's denials,

someone comes up

and says to Peter,

hey, you also were

with Jesus.

And Peter says,

I don't know what you mean.

He's playing dumb.

I don't know what you're

talking about.

What do you mean?

He's denying Jesus.

He's disassociating himself

from Jesus.

And then a girl comes up

and says to him,

this man was with Jesus.

And what does Peter do?

I do not know the man

referring to Jesus.

He denies him.

He's disassociating himself

from Jesus.

And then we read this.

Certainly you too

are one of them,

one of the disciples,

for your accent betrays you.

He's from Galilee.

And what Peter does

is this.

He calls down a curse,

he swears,

and he says,

I do not know the man.

He denies him three times.

He disassociates himself

from Jesus.

And the irony is,

is that Jesus is commanding

Peter right here

to say,

deny yourself

and follow me.

And what happens

in Matthew 26 is,

Peter denies Christ

for himself.

The point I'm trying

to make is this.

To deny yourself

means to disassociate

yourself

from yourself,

from living for yourself,

in order to live

for Christ.

You deny any claim

on your life.

It's saying,

I'm not in control

of my life anymore.

Jesus is.

I don't own my life.

Jesus does.

I do not claim

to know what's best for me.

Jesus does.

That's what it means

to deny yourself.

To disassociate

yourself

from living a life

unto yourself.

Another way to say it

is this.

It's to reject

a self-centered life

for a Christ-centered life.

It's to reject

a self-determined life

to live a Christ-determined life.

You can't have it both ways.

Jesus is saying,

if you're going to follow me,

you must deny yourself.

The Apostle Paul

captures this

in Galatians 2.20

where he says,

I have been crucified

with Christ.

And it's no longer

I who live,

but Christ lives in me

in the life

I now live

in the flesh.

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave himself up

for me.

Denying himself.

So in order for us

to follow Jesus,

we first must not

deny ourselves

and then second,

we must take up

our cross.

And again,

here we've got to be careful

of not reading something in

that Jesus is not saying.

What does Jesus mean

when he says,

take up your cross?

cross.

Now,

all of us have burdens

to carry.

There are people

in this room

who are carrying

burdens

of a terminal illness.

Who are carrying

a burden

of a strained

relationship.

Maybe it's a spouse

or maybe it's

a wayward child.

trying to make

ends meet.

Carrying the responsibility

for a lot of people.

That can be a burden

to carry.

And what people

can say in those moments

is something like this.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

You know,

we all have our crosses

to carry.

We all have our crosses

to bear.

Is that what Jesus

means here?

The question we ask

to get what Jesus

is actually saying

is by asking this.

How would his disciples

have understood

what he's saying?

How would they

have received

his words

to deny themselves

and to take up

their crosses?

How would they

have responded

to it?

And any

first century

resident of Palestine

would have understood

Jesus

to be commanding

them to prepare

to die.

To take up

your cross.

Do you remember

Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

I was introduced

to him when I was

a new follower

of Jesus in college

and he wrote this book

called The Cost

of Discipleship

and he's famous

for saying

when Christ

calls a man

he bids him

come and die.

In our day

when we see

a cross somewhere

we think

we think

of Christianity

we think

religious stuff.

If you see

kind of a cross

around somebody's neck

you think

well maybe

they're a Christian

or a tattoo

on their arm

it's like

maybe they had

some kind

of religious experience

or they got

a cross

kind of sewed

into their leather jacket

you're thinking

okay

you know

there's some

kind of

connection

with the Christian

faith

and so

nowadays

when we hear

about the cross

we tend to think

about Christianity

right

we think

that it's religious

but in Jesus' day

the cross

was not religious

it represented

a horrific

shameful

death

by execution

and so

in order to try

to capture that

for you

I thought

of a modern day

equivalent

of kind of

the first century

understanding

of the cross

it would be

the electric chair

think about

an electric chair

maybe you've seen

the green mile

a wooden chair

straps on the sides

and then this kind

of skull

metal skull cap

that would go

over your head

that runs the voltage

through to put

somebody to death

what Jesus is talking

about here

when he talks

about the cross

it's equivalent

to an electrical chair

it's like Jesus

is saying this

if anyone would

come after me

he must relinquish

all claims

on his life

take up his electric

chair

and follow me

when we read

Jesus talking

about the cross

he's talking

about death

if you're going

to come after me

be prepared

to die

and so

in that first command

if anyone

would come

after me

he must

deny himself

relinquish

claims on your

life

if you're going

to follow Jesus

take up your cross

you relinquish

all claims

to your death

now I've been

asking myself

a question

all week long

and here it is

if I had known

20 something

years ago

that by becoming

a follower

of Jesus

that I was

opening myself

up to the

possibility

of suffering

and even death

would I have

still followed him

would I

still have

chosen to say

yes Lord

I will follow

you anywhere

and my answer

is

I think so

but now

fast forward

that today

knowing what

I know

about Jesus

having this

command

put squarely

in front

of me

as if

Jesus himself

is calling

you and me

to say

hey if you

follow me

deny yourself

take up your

cross

and come

after

follow me

would I do

it today

and the answer

is a resounding

yes

you know why

oh he's worth it

who he is

what he's done

what he's doing

now

what he will do

when he comes

back

it's all worth

it

it's all worth

it

how about you

today

knowing what

Jesus is calling

you to

to deny

yourself

relinquish

all claims

on your life

and to come

and take up

your cross

even if

that means

suffering and

death

to follow him

are you still

willing to

follow him

are you willing

to suffer

and even

perhaps

die

to take up

your cross

in order

to follow

him

if anyone

would come

after me

let him

he must

deny himself

he must

take up

his cross

and follow

me

let's look

at this

last command

follow me

to follow

Jesus

is to live

for Jesus

to follow

Jesus

is to become

his disciple

and in order

to live

for Jesus

you must

die to

yourself

daily

so this

command

to follow

me

it is

an

all

consuming

life

comprehensive

call

to

discipleship

and there's

two mistakes

we can

make

mistake

number one

is this

to hear

this call

to discipleship

as like

a call

to a

kind of

special

unit

in those

who are

Christians

you know

how the

navy

sailors

there's

this thing

there's

people

called

the navy

seals

this elite

group

of people

who do

amazing

hard

things

what we

can do

in our

minds

is

we can

kind of

put

some

kind

of

distinction

between

being

a

Christian

and being

a

disciple

like

a

disciple

is

the

navy

seals

of

being

a

Christian

we

make

a

subset

out

of

that

like

okay

there's

the

everyday

Christians

and then

those

then

they're

the

people

who

really

kind

of

give

up

their

life

for

Jesus

Christians

that's

not

biblical

Christianity

if you

look at

Acts

Acts 11:26

chapter

11

verse

26

what you

read

is

this

it

was

in

Antioch

that

the

disciples

were

first

called

Christians

you know

what that

means

disciples

of Jesus

are

Christians

they're

one

and the

same

there's

no

distinction

if

you

are

a

follower

of

Christ

a

disciple

of

Christ

you

are

a

Christian

and

if

you

profess

to

be

a

Christian

you

are

to

obey

Jesus

in

all

respects

the

second

mistake

that

we

can

make

is

to

kind

of

make

my

discipleship

a

subset

of

my

life

so

for

example

I'm

a

husband

I'm

a

father

I

also

like

to

play

golf

every

once

in

a

while

and

then

10

hours

a

week

I

am

a

disciple

of

Jesus

Christ

and

what

we're

saying

there

is

you

know

I've

got

my

place

in

my

life

to

follow

Jesus

but

that

doesn't

really

bleed

into

these

other

areas

that

that

that's

not

biblical

Christianity

either

to

be

a

follower

of

Jesus

is

to

follow

him

all

the

time

in

every

area

of

your

life

to

follow

me

means

to

follow

him

everywhere

every

week

I start

up the

week

by doing

a thing

called

roles

and

goals

I lay

out

what

are

the

roles

God

has

called

me

to

and

what

are

the

goals

I

need

to

hit

for

each

week

it's

just

a

way

of

organizing

my

life

you

know

the

first

one

is

a

disciple

of

Jesus

it

governs

everything

it

governs

my

being

a

husband

to

Jenny

it

governs

me

being

a

father

to

my

four

children

it

governs

me

being

a

pastor

of

this

church

I'm

a

follower

of

Jesus

first

and

a

pastor

second

absolutely

not

am

I

growing

Lord

willing

yes

to

be a

disciple

of

Jesus

means

you

follow

him

in

every

aspect

of

your

life

yesterday

I

was

walking

from

the

building

and

I

was

walking

down

8th

avenue

here

and

I

crossed

58th

street

that's

where

the

heritage

house

is

and

as

I'm

walking

by

I

see

this

group

of

people

walk

out

from

behind

heritage

house

and

I

say

well

this

is

rather

interesting

so

there's

like

12

to

15

people

there

very

diverse

grown

men

boys

grown

women

little

girls

you know

a very

diverse

group

and in

the

middle

of

it

is

an

Asian

guy

and

I

hear

him

say

line

up

and

all

these

12

15

people

they

line

up

and

what

they

do

is

they

all

in

unison

said

yes

sensei

you're

going

to

sprint

down

to

the

sidewalk

and

back

yes

sensei

go

down

and

back

this

karate

sensei

had

brought

his

disciples

out

into

the

side

lawn

of

the

heritage

house

to have

them

do

some

exercises

for

their

good

and

so

these

disciples

were

following

their

master

they

were

trusting

and

obeying

him

when

we

follow

Jesus

he's

our

sensei

and

we

trust

and

obey

him

and

all

that

he

is

and

all

that

he

calls

us

to

do

we

say

yes

Lord

Jesus

yes

Lord

Jesus

gladly

Lord

Jesus

and

so

what

it

means

to

trust

him

is

this

we

trust

that

he's

sovereignly

at

work

over

the

entire

world

and

universe

that

by

his

word

he's

upholding

the

whole

cosmic

forces

of

all

things

and

so

his

timing

is

always

perfect

his

purposes

are

always

good

and

his

words

what

he

speaks

you

can

build

your

life

on

them

they're

trustworthy

they're

reliable

and

not only

that

when

his

words

put a

claim

on

you

and

they

call

you

to

obey

the answer

is

yes

to follow

Jesus

is to

say

yes

Lord

when

was

the

last

time

you

encountered

a

command

from the

Lord

Jesus

from

God's

word

and

your

response

was

yes

Lord

I'll

do

that

yes

Lord

I'll

obey

you

are

you

claiming

something

in your

life

right

now

as

kind

of

like

your

own

Jesus

I'll

obey

you

here

and

here

and

here

but

when

it

comes

to

this

area

that's

still

mine

is

there

a

command

in

your

Bible

that

you

conveniently

kind

of

just

kind

of

walk

around

that

you

do

not

take

it

to

heart

because

you

don't

want

to

change

you

don't

want

to

obey

when

Jesus

says

you

cannot

have

two

masters

man

cannot

serve

both

God

and

money

when

you

read

something

like

this

are

you

kind

of

like

that's

good

but

I'm

not

going

to

think

about

what

that

means

for

me

Jesus

wants

you

to

take

his

words

to

heart

he

wants

to

align

you

to

align

his

life

with

who

he

is

and

what

he

says

and

in

every

area

of

your

life

I've

got another

question

for you

this

call

that

Jesus

is

calling

us

to

is

a

costly

radical

call

if

you're

hearing

it

right

you

should

be

saying

whoa

he's

asking me

to give

up

everything

for him

and

that's

right

because

he

is

so

let me

ask

you

do

you

dilute

the

call

are

you

diluting

the

call

on

your

own

life

so

when

Jesus

says

deny

yourself

are

you

somehow

thinking

in

your

mind

well

sort

of

deny

yourself

sort

of

take

up

your

cross

sort

of

follow

me

or

are

you

saying

no

I

will

do

all

of

it

are

you

diluting

it

for

your

children

when

you

talk

about

Jesus

to

them

are

you

talking

to

them

about

a

Jesus

who

just

kind

of

finds

his

little

place

in

their

heart

or

you

are

talking

about

a

Jesus

who

requires

this

child

of

yours

to

give

up

their

life

to

follow

him

there's

a

big

difference

when

you

talk

to

non

Christians

and

you

talk

about

the

faith

to

them

are

you

kind

of

like

let's

not

talk

about

the

cost

yet

yet

we'll

wait

till

you

profess

Jesus

and

then

we'll

come

back

and

we'll

talk

about

what

it

really

means

to

to

cost

to

follow

him

we

don't

need

to

dilute

the

message

here

it's

Jesus

calling

it

it's

Jesus

saying

deny

yourself

it's

Jesus

saying

take

up

your

cross

it's

Jesus

saying

follow

me

and

so

this

call

this

invitation

to

follow

him

it

comes

at

cost

and

the

question

is

is

it

worth

it

is

it

worth

it

to

deny

yourself

to

follow

Jesus

is

it

worth

it

to

take

up

your

cross

to

suffer

and

possibly

die

for

Jesus

is

it

worth

it

to

follow

him

in

all

that

he

commands

all

the

days

of

your

life

yes

yes

it

is

yes

it

is

with

every

ounce

of

every

fiber

of

your

body

yes

it's

who

he

is

he's

the

one

he's

the

Christ

he

alone

can

make

this