Matthew 16:24-26
OK, it's not in Imperative Mood. It is, none-the-less an exhortation (hortatory subjunction). "If any want to become my followers, LET THEM DENY THEMSELVES AND TAKE UP THEIR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME." Jesus is offering a conditional demand that if any would be His followers, self-denial and self-sacrifice MUST BE part of following Him.
You see, if we are going to follow Jesus, we must go where Jesus goes. Jesus denied Himself in coming to experience our life and all that is in it - childbirth, being a refugee, poverty, homelessness, and even persecution, wrongful arrest, torture, unjust trial and execution. The ultimate self-denial we understand is His becoming our sin and taking it to its death with Him. This self-sacrifice identifies Jesus as Redeemer and Savior for us.
Many today believe that professing Jesus, offering Him Worship and Praise and our tithes means that we will be blessed and highly favored in this life. Some believe that it means things will go our way as a quid pro quo arrangement with God. But Jesus said that following Him means self-denial. If we are His followers, where He went we must go. It means self-sacrifice, even to taking up their Cross, for if we follow Jesus, it leads us to the Cross.
Jesus' self-denial and self-sacrifice mean EVERYTHING to us. We gratefully receive His Redemption and Salvation. THANK YOU, LORD! We want that from Jesus. The part about following Jesus in self-denial and to the point of self-sacrifice, even to the extreme, not so much. So, we make it seem otherwise. We scour the scriptures to find some assurances that it is not so. We cannot find it in the words of Jesus. I repeat - We cannot find that assurance in the words of Jesus. Jesus is clear (this passage is in ALL THREE Synoptic Gospels). Following Him is not about personal gain, but rather about the difference it makes in the world around us.
For if we are about preserving a life about self-indulgence and self-centeredness, we will lose a REAL life of Agape Love, and not only us, but the world around us will lose that. If, on the other hand, we lose that life that keeps us all about us, then everyone benefits and we have FOUND a life in Jesus, who we say we follow. Jesus' self-sacrifice means a better world and life for us. Following Jesus necessarily means that through us for the world around us. It is about Agape Love (active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy), which necessarily includes self-denial and self-sacrifice. When we ALL put that out in the world around us, we ALL benefit from such a world in which THAT is the prevailing value.
Self-indulgence and self-centeredness do not lead us to a REAL life full of shalom (well-being, completeness and wholeness) in Agape Love. It leads us to the world we now have. The Agape Love that Jesus taught, commanded and modeled, full of self-denial and self-sacrifice leads us to a better world when we all live it. If we want to save our life apart from Jesus' Agape Love values, we will lose a REAL life. If we LOSE that life of self-centeredness and self-indulgence, we will FIND life indeed.
If we follow Jesus, it leads us to MORE than eternal life. It leads us to a better world, because if we follow Jesus, we will live His Agape Love in THIS PART of God's Kingdom as well.
To follow Jesus DOES mean that we are blessed and highly favored, just not in worldly trappings that mean NOTHING to those who follow Jesus, but rather in the Agape Love that we all so desperately need, AND in Redemption and Salvation.
Beyond what we GET, what are you willing to GIVE in order to FOLLOW JESUS?
In order to follow Him, we must go where Jesus goes - in self-denial, even to self-sacrifice, to the Cross. THAT still redeems and saves the world - THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now.
Pastor Jamie
I hope that in some small way these 12 Imperatives have helped shape your understanding, beliefs and walk with Jesus in a positive way. Over the past twenty years I have IMMERSED myself in Jesus' teachings, commands and examples as I strive to follow Him. My life has been changed dramatically. I hope and pray that your study of Jesus' Good News will change your life as well.
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