{"id":185,"date":"2012-11-11T16:52:12","date_gmt":"2012-11-11T15:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=185"},"modified":"2012-11-11T16:52:12","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T15:52:12","slug":"following-jesus-mark-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=185","title":{"rendered":"Following Jesus – Mark 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this Remembrance Day we think of those who paid the ultimate price to win the freedom we enjoy today. They gave everything they could. But how much does it cost us to follow Jesus? What does Jesus demand of his disciples?<\/p>\n

FOLLOWING JESUS IS COSTLY
\nMark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: \u201cIf anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
\nIf you want an easy life or a comfortable life, don\u2019t become a Christian. If your life is comfortable you can\u2019t be following Jesus very closely.
\nDENY SELF
\nDenying self simply means not doing what I want to do but doing what God wants me to do. Some Christians think that now all our sins are forgiven, now we are God\u2019s children, we can do whatever we like because God will never punish us for anything any more. They have missed the point. Too often the things we want to do naturally from our human nature are exactly the opposite of what God wants us to do and knows is best for us. Every Christian will have a daily battle to say no to selfishness and a constant struggle to resist temptation. If you aren\u2019t conscious of that war going on inside you, maybe you have already lost and self has won.
\nTAKE UP THE CROSS
\nThe cross we bear is not some kind of suffering that is forced upon us by accident or illness or circumstances. Whether it is sickness or grief or depression, everybody, Christian or not, shares in those kinds of sufferings to a greater or lesser extent. Christ\u2019s cross was the punishment for sin which He did not deserve to bear, suffering in our place which Jesus freely chose for our sake, to bring us life. And the crosses we take up as Christians are the rejection and the ridicule and the hurt which come to us because we are following Jesus wholeheartedly. In Britain Christians can usually manage to avoid that kind of suffering for the sake of the gospel, but the same is not the case for our brothers and sisters in the persecuted churches of Pakistan or Syria or Nigeria.
\nFOLLOW ME
\nFollowing Jesus means letting Him lead us in every area of our life. Letting Jesus be the boss. And that isn\u2019t only in our church life, although even there we can sometimes resist what Jesus wants for us. But Jesus must be boss in our work and with our neighbours and in our families. Following Jesus means letting Him take charge of our diaries and of our wallets. If Jesus isn\u2019t Lord of all He isn\u2019t really Lord at all.
\nBut some people may object \u2013 surely Jesus doesn\u2019t demand THAT much from His followers. But yes, that is what Jesus Himself said! Jesus has the right to demand our complete loyalty and obedience, because of who He is and because of what He has done for us. Jesus gave up everything for us \u2013 it would be an insult for us to give any less! Jesus never promised his followers an easy life or a comfortable life. He only promised that it would be worth everything it cost. The rewards for our discipleship may well not come in this life. But they will certainly come!<\/p>\n

FOLLOWING JESUS IS FOREVER
\nMark 8:35-37 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
\nDiscipleship is a matter of eternity. It took me four years at university to train to become a teacher. It takes at least that long to train to be a Baptist minister, even longer to become a barrister or a doctor. But there is no shortage of people with the kind of commitment to enter those professions, despite the hard work and the long hours. Why is it that some people will work so hard preparing for careers, yet many give so little attention to preparing for eternity?
\nJesus teaches us
\nMatt 6 19 \u201cDo not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
\nIt is all a matter of priorities. What is more important to us? Eternity in heaven. Or things of here and now \u2013 job, popularity, big house, latest gadgets? Do we care more about earthly pleasure now than the bliss of the life to come? Paul White\u2019s Jungle Doctor tells the story of Waddle the Duck. Whenever Vibi the vulture chased Waddle the duck the duck would always fly away. But then one day Vibi offered Waddle a banana leaf full of delicious worms and proposed a trade. Three worms for a wing feather, four worms for a tail feather. The duck had never enjoyed so many worms and the vulture\u2019s collection of duck feathers grew and grew. Waddle never noticed how bald her wings and her tail were growing. But when the vulture pounced, the duck tried to fly away \u2013 and could not. The moral of the story is obvious. \u201cWhat\u2019s the use of all the worms in the world if you end up a dead duck!\u201d
\n36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
\nThe missionary and martyr Jim Elliott put it this way. \u201cThat man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.\u201d
\nYou may have seen the magazine called \u201cTime.\u201d In America there is an equivalent Christian magazine called \u201cEternity.\u201d On journalist who wrote for Time became a Christian and took a job on Eternity. The message she left on her answerphone said it all. \u201cI\u2019m not working for Time any more. I\u2019m working for Eternity.\u201d What about us? Are we working for time or working for eternity?
\nFollowing Jesus is a lifelong commitment. Eternal life continues beyond death but it begins here are now. Once we begin the Christian life there\u2019s no time out, no gap year, no turning back.
\nLuke 9 62 Jesus replied, \u201cNo one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.\u201d
\nSome people begin to follow Jesus and then fall away. These are like the seeds falling in the rocky soil and the thorny ground in Jesus\u2019s Parable of the Sower. People who give up following Jesus when the going gets tough are not true disciples. Jesus makes it clear: he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:13) Following Jesus is forever.<\/p>\n

FOLLOWING JESUS IS PUBLIC
\n38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father\u2019s glory with the holy angels.\u201d <\/p>\n

There are many verses in the Bible which some Christians seem able to ignore. It was as if Jesus never even said those things. And here is one such verse. If you are ashamed of me, Jesus said, I will be ashamed of you. Here are words we must take very seriously. Ours is also an adulterous and sinful generation much as it was in Jesus\u2019s time. The world around tells us we are not allowed to share our faith with other people. But following Jesus is PUBLIC. There is no such thing as a secret disciple. Either the secret will kill the discipleship or the discipleship will kill the secret.
\nJESUS CHRIST IS LORD! That is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of FACT. Jesus died and God raised Him from the dead on the third day. That is not an opinion. That is historical fact. It happened. Jesus is not Lord because we agree to let Him be Lord or to call Him Lord. Jesus is Lord because He is the Son of God and the proof is that He is risen from the dead and exalted to the right hand of God! Jesus is Lord and that is FACT.
\nJesus is Lord for everybody! Not just for those who acknowledge Jesus as Lord now, but for everybody.
\nPhilippians 2 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
\nOne day every knee will bow to Jesus, either as Saviour or as Judge. That is FACT. And these are facts which we have a solemn responsibility to share with the whole world, even though most of the world don\u2019t want to hear them. Jesus Christ is Lord \u2013 that is the fact.
\nSo we cannot hide our discipleship. Following Jesus is a public thing. It\u2019s not just about whether or not we admit to our neighbours and colleagues that we are Christians. That is only the start of it. We need to be making every effort to share Jesus with our neighbours and friends, and with strangers we meet. Because Jesus has given us the command to go and make disciples! If we disobey that command by inactivity or indifference, we aren\u2019t true disciples.
\n38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father\u2019s glory with the holy angels.\u201d
\nIt does seem that in this land in this generation that there exists this kind of person which the Bible tells us can\u2019t exist \u2013 the Christian who keeps quiet about their Lord. But there are many verses, here is just one, where Jesus says that such a person cannot exist. A person who is ashamed to speak out for Jesus, a person too scared to stand up and be counted, cannot be a true Christian. There is no such thing as a secret disciple.
\nSome years ago I heard the story, which I believe to be true, of a romance which sprang up between a Romanian Christian girl and a young man from an English church which delivered aid to Romania. As links between the churches grew, so did their love until to the delight of their churches the couple married and she moved to England to make their home together.
\nThe sad ending is that the marriage did not last, but the reason was even more tragic. The girl had found faith in the underground persecuted church of Romania. And she found she was unable to survive in a British Church. She found English Christians too worldly and materialistic. She found the prayer life of English Christians too shallow. The girl found English Christians lacking in true love towards each other and blind to the needs of their neighbours. She found English Christians lacking in commitment \u2013 even apathetic. So the girl felt she had to leave her English husband and his English church and return to her home and her church in Romania.
\nI believe that story to be true. If you have had the privilege of talking to Christians who have survived persecution in the Communist bloc or in the Middle East or in Islam-dominated parts of Africa, you will know just how much it cost them to follow Jesus and just how easy it is to follow Jesus in England even now. But Jesus deserves no less from us than He receives from them \u2013 wholehearted and unconditional obedience.<\/p>\n

Following Jesus is costly. Following Jesus is forever. Following Jesus is public. And that kind of discipleship is not an optional extra for super-keen Christians. These are Christ\u2019s terms of discipleship for every Christian. Every Christian should be a fanatical Christian \u2013 by definition!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this Remembrance Day we think of those who paid the ultimate price to win the freedom we enjoy today. They gave everything they…<\/span><\/p>\n

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