Luke 9:23-27 - The Followers of the Messiah Must ...

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But if you'll turn with me to Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

Luke 9 is on page 867 of the Bible in the pew in front of you.

Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

Kids, have you ever played follow the leader before?

You played that game?

It's kind of a fun to those of us who are wondering about that and what it would mean for them if they were to follow Jesus.

So first question Jesus addresses in this passage.

What is required of followers of Jesus?

Look at verse 23.

He said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Here's what it means, Jesus says.

Here's what it looks like.

Self-denial.

Carrying your cross.

It's been called the essence of Christian discipleship by theologians as respected as John Calvin and Matthew Henry.

But what does it really mean to deny myself and take up my cross daily?

What is Jesus talking about when he says that's required for his followers?

Let him deny himself.

First of all, notice that it's active.

It's a requirement not just to endure suffering passively when it comes upon you, but actively to reshape your life.

Intentional self-denial.

Self-denial.

And we think a lot about self-words, don't we?

Some of my favorite, self-esteem, self-respect, self-worth, self-image, self-confidence, self-help.

We like to talk about self-words.

We know a lot of them, but self-denial.

Really?

Self-denial?

Y'all, to say it nicely, just to be honest about the situation, we have a tendency to focus on ourselves all of our lives, don't we?

In infancy, we cry for what we want.

And then as toddlers, we turn into little me monsters who everything is mine, mine, mine, right?

Crying for that all the time.

As grade school children, we begin to think that we know what's best for me more than my parents do, and I know better what I want.

Then we become teenagers.

And we're actually told by seemingly everyone around us that life is all about us, and we should go and enjoy four years of just the fullness of experiencing life, and it's all about me and what I want.

As soon as we can get there, if you can just make it to those four years.

And then we graduate, and we get a job, and we start focusing on making enough money so that we can do what we want to do, so that we can go on vacation.

So that we can retire early and do what we really want to do with our lives.

Self-focus looks different at every age, but it rarely looks like self-denial, which is where Jesus starts.

It's the beginning, the minimum requirement, as it were, for being His follower.

This is what His followers must do.

If anyone comes after me, let him deny himself.

That word for deny really means to say no to, which sounds easy enough.

But it's bigger than we often think.

We often think about self-denial as saying no to a second donut, or saying no to sleeping in when you really want to, and instead waking up early to get ready for VBS.

Four days in a row.

That's self-denial.

What that really is, is that's denying my desires.

And these things may well happen as we deny self, but denying self is actually denying a person, not a desire.

Think, for instance, of Peter denying Jesus.

So when Jesus says, deny yourself, He means over and over in your life, saying no to self-definition, to allegiance to myself, to setting my own agenda for my life.

And that may involve some of those other things, but think of it this way.

Just as Jesus zealously insisted on following His Father's plan for His life, so He calls us to say yes to His plan, and no to our own agendas.

No to self-rule and self-determination.

In other words, denying self is not first about changing practices, but rather about changing priorities.

Let me give you an example of what I mean in my own life.

I drive an old, blue Honda Accord.

And when I say old, I mean that it recently got its own driver's license, that it voted in the last election.

I won't say for whom, but it's old.

Very old.

And I've had it for a while.

Driving an older car, for you, may sound like self-denial, right?

I've thought that.

But recently, several of my friends have loved me enough to actually challenge me on my attitude towards the old car.

As that car has begun having some mechanical issues and they've seen me respond,

they have said to me, some of them more gently than others,

I think you have a problem.

You want people to think of you as a pastor with an old, cheap car.

Humble.

Sacrificial.

Super spiritual.

But they were not joking.

And I've realized they're really right.

And see, that's actually the opposite of self-denial.

That's actually self-definition and self-promotion in the guise of spirituality.

Do you see that the thing may have seemed like it was denying self,

but what was going on in the heart was actually quite the opposite.

Self-denial may eventually mean that some of us drive cheaper cars than we can afford.

But it begins by calling us to find our identity in what God says about us,

not what others think about us, no matter what car we drive.

That's the bigger picture.

That's at the heart of self-denial.

So denying self means not finding my security in my money, but in Christ.

It means not finding my pleasure in my pet sin, but in Christ.

It means not finding my identity in my success, however I define it, but in Christ.

And yes, when those priorities shift, if you stop and think about that for a minute,

if those priorities genuinely changed in your life, our practices will follow,

perhaps even more radically than you've imagined so far this morning,

what it may mean to deny yourself.

We're actually called to a daily life that is modeled every single day on the way that Jesus died.

That's what he says next, right?

What does self-denial look like?

Carrying your cross daily.

Now, Jesus died on the cross, certainly.

But this command for us focuses on taking up our cross daily.

There's a difference for us.

This is about how we are to live.

And that the taking up of the cross in this culture,

that moment of taking it up was when you hoisted the cross across your back

and began your long walk to the place where you would be crucified on it.

It was designed to be an excruciating physical, emotional, and social experience.

Imagine it as you put that cross beam on your back

and you're dragging it along in front of the crowds who've gathered.

You were a dishonorable failure in a culture that valued honor and success above almost anything else.

You'd seen people come back triumphant from victory to a parade and march through the city,

celebrated and rejoiced over, and this is exactly the opposite.

You're not the conquering hero.

You're the failure being spit upon and mocked and humiliated as you drag the cross through the street.

It was the ultimate in social rejection.

Your reputation is shattered entirely.

You're mocked by the world as you walk to your death.

And I hate that part because I love for people to praise me, not mock me.

To think well of me, not poorly of me.

To accept me, not reject me.

And Jesus says this is what it means to take up your cross.

This painful rejection is required of anyone who would follow him.

In fact, it's required repeatedly for us to live as he died.

Remember last week, his suffering and rejection and then his death.

So what does that look like for us?

Here are just some categorical ideas that I hope will prompt specific ideas in your hearts.

It may mean that in a culture that prizes image,

we willingly look bad, even on Facebook.

We live below our means or find ourselves called foolish because we hold to the things of Christ.

It may mean that in a culture that prizes independent strength and autonomy of the individual,

we willingly declare and demonstrate our dependence on God and on others.

We admit our needs.

We boast in our weaknesses because we see our strength is in Christ.

It may mean that in a culture that prizes comfort and safety,

we willingly suffer physically in ways that we think are beneath us.

We risk our physical well-being for the sake of another or alter our beloved schedules

in order to love someone in need because we have a security, a safety in Christ that no one can steal.

It may be that just in the midst of those types of things,

we would meet Jesus since that's the path our Savior walked.

It may be, in fact, that if we never seem to find ourselves on that path at all,

that we need to admit we're not really following Jesus at all,

but rather following self and sprinkling some good Jesus stuff in it

so that we feel better about ourselves as we go towards reaching our goals.

Self-fulfillment, self-promotion is actually what we're following.

This is the point in the sermon where you begin to wish that I said what this means

is that we all needed to downsize our homes and give the extra money to the church each month

because that becomes a bit easier, a little bit more palatable,

and there's actually something bigger and broader being asked of us

than a box we could check even that easily.

Jesus is going to have some more specifics for us even before we get to the end of chapter 9.

But y'all, he starts by saying that following him should cost us everything.

Everything.

He walked the path where it cost him everything, right?

When did we begin to think we should have it easier?

The wonderful cross, the one he went to,

bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.

That's the path he's called us to follow and

sometimes we think it should be easier than that.

My pastor in Clemson, who was also a professor of mine at Covenant in St. Louis,

his name is Jimmy Agin,

has studied and written about Jesus' downward path to glory

and it's helped me so much with this particular passage

that in a couple of places I'll just quote him directly.

So anyway, that's who he is.

Here he says,

those who carry a cross

define themselves not by greatness and glory

but by their nearness to Jesus.

Now that's what self-denial and cross-bearing is all about.

I'm about proactively shaping my life around his priorities,

defining myself by being near Jesus.

You want to know something that's a little bit scary?

When we talk about core commitments as a church,

last week I mentioned those a little bit,

you can read about them in branches.

When we talk about what we're committed to,

we start at saying we're committed to being Christ-centered

and that sounds nice, doesn't it?

Yes, we're about Jesus.

Yes, you preach about Jesus

but you know what being Christ-centered means for us?

It's not only about the pastor preaching about Jesus.

It's about all of us following Jesus.

And there's only one path that Christ, the Messiah, takes.

There's only one Christ-centered path

and it's the one that goes down first.

down to places where we give up the right

to determine our own priorities,

the right to demand our own preferences,

the right to determine our own identities.

The path we're on calls us to give those things up.

We begin to define ourselves instead

by being near Jesus on that downward path with him.

Y'all, it's not easy.

It's hard for me.

It's hard for you.

It's hard for all of us who've been called to follow Jesus.

That's part of the point.

If we're going to go on that path,

we need the Holy Spirit working in each of us.

And we need each other

to make the painfulness and the loneliness of that path

seem just even a little less lonely and painful

because we're walking it together.

It's a counter-cultural, painful, marked-by-rejection path.

And if we're to walk it as Jesus did,

we're going to need to walk it together as he intends.

Amen?

We need him.

We need each other for that.

I think our brothers and sisters in Egypt

have modeled this beautifully for us recently.

You've probably heard in the news

there have been many attacks on Christians in Egypt

in recent weeks.

Dozens of them losing their lives in attacks

because of their following Jesus.

And in spite of their deep grief,

in spite of living in a culture

marked by honor and revenge,

where what would be expected

and promoted as noble and worthy

is attempts at retaliation and revenge.

In spite of that,

they're striving together to forgive.

One woman whose husband was killed by a suicide bomber

stood with her children on national television

and said this,

I'm not angry at the one who did this.

I'm telling him,

may God forgive you

and we also forgive you.

Believe me,

we forgive you.

You put my husband in a place

I couldn't have dreamed of.

And the Muslim community around them has marveled.

One famous Muslim talk show host saying,

how great is this forgiveness you have?

If it were my father,

I could never say this.

But this is their faith and religious conviction.

Yes.

And even more than that,

it is the countercultural way of our Savior.

May God make us more and more a community

where we are defined and shaped in our lives

by the priorities of Jesus,

His forgiveness,

His sacrificial love,

His glory.

As God does this among us,

as He brings us together to follow Him

in these ways that are painful and difficult

and often unfamiliar,

what's the hope offered to us?

Is Jesus just saying,

we're going to be increasingly miserable

and there's nothing ever for you in this?

Just go lose your life,

give up everything?

Nothing.

Actually, He's offering the promise of true life.

The life we were created to live, right?

Listen to what He says, verse 24.

Whoever would save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake

will actually save it.

For what does it profit a man

if he gains the whole world

and loses or forfeits himself?

It's that seemingly upside down path again,

isn't it?

How do you save your life?

Lose it.

Give up your sovereignty over yourself.

And Jesus says here,

I know the path appears

and even feels to be headed downward,

but I'm promising you a destination

of true life,

eternal glory.

He understands that it's not in the places

we often think to look for it.

But remember last week

how Jesus insisted on His gospel

being a cross-centered gospel,

that He must go there,

that it must be about the cross,

not merely a prosperity gospel

or social gospel

or an American gospel.

Now in light of that,

the cross says to us,

loud and clear,

your great need

and God's great goal for you

is not material prosperity,

moral reformation

or temporal security.

Did you hear that?

That's not God's greatest goal for you.

Material prosperity,

moral reformation,

temporal security.

Jesus came to suffer

and die for you.

His great goal for you in that

is not that you would make

a few more thousand dollars

on your salary next year

or that you would have

a more comfortable life

for a few more years

on this earth.

It's just not His goal for you.

It's not the greatest thing

He can imagine you having.

His goal for you

is a restored relationship with Him.

The true life that comes from that

that's so fulfilling,

you can give it away

to everybody else

because you have everything

you need in Him.

That's His heart for you.

That's where life is truly found.

Jesus is telling us

we can get all the world

has to offer

and still end up empty

in the end.

It's why we sang

I'd rather have Jesus

than anything

this world affords today.

That He is no fool

who gives what He cannot keep,

the things of this world

to gain what He cannot lose.

An eternal relationship

with His Father,

the fullness of life

that He created us for.

And we sing it

because it's true

and because we struggle

to believe it.

And we need to help each other

believe it

and so we sing about it.

Young people,

following Jesus is not easy.

Sometimes it hurts.

Sometimes it costs you things

that you really care about a lot.

And we want to be honest

with you about that.

It's joyful.

We love coming to church.

We love being together.

We'll have a great barbecue

in a couple of weeks.

There's a lot of joy in it

but it's hard.

The life that Jesus promises you

is so much more fulfilling

and so much more beautiful

than what the world offers.

And I want you to know that

because it's going to be difficult

to see that sometimes.

God's greatest goal for you,

the good life He sets out for you

that you look forward to

is not just getting into

a good college.

It's not just being known

as a good kid.

It's not just to stay safe

so you can live to be 100

or something like that

because that's awesome.

He actually has something

so much more significant for you.

He defines what's really good.

Those are the types of goals

we set for ourselves.

God says,

let me tell you what's good.

where life really is.

It's in knowing Him

and trusting Him

and being valuable

because you're His child.

And when you get filled up

by that kind of value

and significance,

you can give away your life.

You don't have to be

in control of it.

You don't have to have

everything go your way.

Some of you are going to

find yourselves in places

where you have to say no

to your own instincts

about what to do

with your body,

about how to treat

your classmates.

And when you do that,

when you say no

to those things

in order to follow Jesus

and what He calls you to,

you'll get made fun of.

You won't like it.

It'll hurt.

And you're going to have to believe

that Jesus is worth it.

That what He's calling you to

is a life more beautiful

than what you thought

you were going after.

You might be left out

and you won't feel like

you're living the good life

and Jesus says,

that's what it means

to follow me.

You're actually not alone.

I'm there

and you can find me

infinitely valuable.

It's what Moses found out.

Hebrews chapter 11

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

tells us about the value

Moses found.

By faith when he was grown up,

he refused to be called

the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

choosing rather

to be mistreated

with the people of God

than to enjoy

the fleeting pleasures

of sin.

He considered the reproach,

that means having a bad name,

having bad things said about you

and feeling bad.

The reproach of Christ

of following Jesus.

Greater wealth

than the treasures of Egypt.

All that the world

had to offer for him.

For he was looking

to the reward.

I use these verses a lot.

I'm aware of that.

It's because he considered

the reproach of Christ

greater value,

of greater wealth

than the treasures

of Egypt.

And I think we need

the reminder

of the choice

that we face

in following Jesus.

And we also need to know

that others have followed him

at great cost

and found him

worth it.

Found Jesus

more valuable

than all the world

could offer.

Have you seen

the emptiness

of worldly things?

Honestly,

ask yourself,

when you run

the profit sheet,

when you put on one side

all the things

that the world

has to offer

and on the other side,

Jesus,

true life in Jesus,

which one's more valuable

to you?

Jesus asks us

that question.

Have you grasped

the hope

of true life

in Jesus?

Jesus points us

to that eternal perspective

in the last two verses

of this passage.

Whoever's ashamed

of me

and of my words,

of him will the

Son of Man

be ashamed

when he comes

in his glory

and the glory

of the Father

and the holy angels.

But I tell you,

truly,

there are some

standing here

who will not taste death

until they see

the kingdom of God.

The hope

of a God

who is not ashamed

of us on that day

but who delights

in us

as he delights

in his Son

of an eternal kingdom

that we look forward to,

the reward.

It's worth it

even when you follow Jesus

out of a stable job

into a scary,

unpredictable calling.

It's worth it

even when you follow Jesus

to stay in an unfulfilling marriage

and show love

and forgiveness.

It's worth it

even when you let your kids

take the gospel

to a place

you're not sure

they'll be safe.

Why is it worth it?

It's worth it

because you meet Jesus

in those places

and he's worth it

because he's

that valuable.

In the places

where you deny yourself

and take up your cross,

you meet Jesus

and find him

to be worth it.

Jimmy Agin says

the call to deny ourselves

rests on the assumption

that we value Jesus

enough

to lose our lives

for his sake.

In fact,

that we would rather have

the kind of life

he gives

than the kind of life

that would enable us

to gain

the whole world.

Everything in our culture

tells us to promote self

and protect self

and protect self

not deny self.

Most of the inclinations

of our hearts

do the same thing.

So why deny self?

What is the inspiration

for followers of Jesus?

It has to be him, right?

The cost of following Jesus

is certainly high.

Let's not be unclear.

But he doesn't ask you

to give anything

he hasn't already given.

And he doesn't call you

to go anywhere

he hasn't already gone.

See, when we play

follow the leader

with Jesus,

it's not a game.

It's not child's play.

When we play

follow the leader

with Jesus,

the image I have in mind

is rather one

of a battle scene

where before

they march into battle

in the hand-to-hand combat,

you see the leader,

the king,

the general,

William Wallace,

whoever it is in your mind,

he calls them

to go and march

but then he does what?

He rides right in front of them

out at the head of the pack

into almost certain death

in that battle.

Why do they follow him?

Because he made

such a great speech?

Because he told them

they had to?

That they must follow?

They follow him

because he willingly

rides in front of them

into that battle.

Remember,

before calling us

to self-denial

and cross-bearing,

Jesus has just said what?

That he

must

suffer

and be rejected

and be killed.

Verse 22.

And this morning,

he calls us

to follow him

there.

Dr. Agin says

the new priority

of the follower

of Jesus

is this.

I believe it is safer

to follow Jesus

to the place of death

than to run away.

Safer to follow Jesus

to the place of death

than to run away.

this table reminds us

that the Savior

we follow

denied himself

the glories

and comforts

of heaven

way more than

we've been asked

to deny ourselves.

That he

became nothing

and humbled himself

to the point of

death on the cross

for us

because he

loves us.

This table

reminds us

that the Savior

we follow

is the one

who has ridden

before us

into the battle

not just with the possibility

that he might die

but with the intent

that he would die

for us

in our place.

Remember how

Paul recounts it

for us.

The Lord Jesus

on the night

he was betrayed

took bread

and when he had

given thanks

he broke it

and said

this is my body

which is for you

do this

in remembrance

of me.

In the same way

also he took the cup

after supper

saying

this cup

is the new

covenant

in my blood

do this

as often

as you drink

it

in remembrance

of me.

Jesus came

and said

this is what

I'm doing

I'm going

to give

my life

for you

and so

this table

where we

celebrate that

is not the

table of Southwood

or the Presbyterian

church

it's his table

that he sets

before us

to remind us

of his great

love for us

and giving

his life

for us

his body

broken

his blood

shed

for us

if you know

him

and trust

him

if you're a part

of his church

the people

who are

imperfectly

and with

great failures

following after

him

come here

eat

be refreshed

remember

and celebrate

his love

for you

the one

you're following

after

has already

died

and suffered

the worst

you could imagine

so that you

could know

him

forever

if you

don't know

Jesus

I'd encourage

you

don't come

to this table

this morning

but come

to Jesus

come and talk

with us

about who

he is

and what

it is

that he

would call

you to

it's a kind

of life

you didn't

show up

this morning

wanting

to sign

up for

it's

beautiful

it's

glorious

because

he's

there

with you

pray

with me

and we'll

come to

this table

together

father

for the gift

of your son

we give you

great thanks

we ask

that

this bread

and this juice

that remind us

of his body

and blood

would be set

apart

this morning

for you

to do

great things

in our hearts

she would

teach us

again

of your love

she would

show us

again

that we

would taste

the path

that our

savior

has walked

and calls

us to

follow him

in

would you

encourage

and strengthen

our faith

through it

we ask

in his

name

amen

for more

information

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online

at

southwood.org