So You Really Want To Follow Jesus

Luke 9:23 (ESV)
²³  And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  

What are your long term goals and aspirations? What are some things you want to do on your bucket list? What do you want to do with the remainder of your life? I bet you have some things come to mind.

Shift gears. Jesus starts by saying if anyone. Rich or poor. Influential or insignificant. Young or old. Still in the work force or retired. Noe of it matters. What Jesus said applies to people form all walks of life throughout history. He did not put any stipulations other this.

If you, if I, really want to come after Jesus. The phrase come after means "to go after, to accompany." So let me ask a hard question. Is Jesus leading your life? Is He in the driver's seat? Is He determining the course of your life? There are many pew sitters that show no interest in going after Jesus. They want to make their plans and then ask Jesus to come behind them and bless those plans. WRONG! Jesus does not follow. He leads. He determines the plan and we come after Him in those plans.

You and I should be the in the constant pursuit of chasing after Him. Getting to know Him. We are to be in the relentless pursuit of more of Him. Going after Jesus is a a lifelong quest. Ps 63:8 says it perfectly in several different translations. The ESV translates the first part of the verse as, "My soul clings to you..." The CHS version translates, "My soul follows close.." The NKJV reads, "My soul follows close behind..." My favorite is the KJV, "My soul followers hard..." Now I don't talk in King James English. So I put it this way, the Matt Edwards translation, "My soul follows hard after God."

If we want to be followers of Jesus it starts with going hard after Him. Back to Luke 9:23. That phrase "come after me" also means to accompany. So let me ask. Where is Jesus leading you? Where are you accompanying Him? He often goes to places ad to people others neglect. The downtrodden, the down and out, the broken, the lonely, the forgotten, and the sinful. He goes to the dark corners of planet Earth to shed light. Are you desirous to accompany Him to the places He goes?

So, you really want to follow Jesus? O, wait a minute. We are just getting started. We have just begun to dive into these verses.

Then Jesus challenges us to deny ourselves. That means to refute and reject ourselves. Don't we do just the opposite. You can spend a life time gratifying self. We please self. We cater to self. We give preferential treatment to self. Jesus demands that we deny ourselves. What does that really look like?

You may be called to deny yourself sleep to get up pray. You may have to reject selfish desires when Jesus calls you to make financial sacrifices. You may have to deny yourself food in order to fast. You may have to deny being served in order to serve those around you. Every day we should practice denying ourselves. In little ways.

After working out with the boys a couple of days ago we all piled into Taylor's extended cab truck. As the dad I expected to ride in the passengers seat ensuring I had room and a vent to the a/c. Walking up I felt a prompting to ride int the back seat. I believe it was God. I sensed Him saying, "Teach your boys servanthood." So I offered Tanner the front seat and I sat in the back. A simple act of denying self.

Self is a hard task master. Self is never satisfied. Self always wants more and more. Self is greedy, entitled, and does not care about others around us. Jesus stops this attitude when He said, deny yourself. Reject self. Refute self at every turn. Do just the opposite of what self requires and demands.

So, I ask you again. Do you really want to follow Jesus? Then you will make a habit of denying yourself until the end of your days. You will put the interests of others before you own interests. You will spend the rest of your days serving others even when nobody notices are appreciates the service.

If you still are intent on coming after Jesus then heed His next words. "Take up your cross daily." For Jesus that meant execution. For you and me  that means some suffering and persecution along the way. It might mean sacrifice.

One of my best friends is a rancher named Jimmy. His oldest daughter met a young Syrian refugee on a mission trip to Athens, Greece. They struck up a friendship and eventually a long distance courtship. The following summer Javod asked Julie to marry him when she went back to Greece. She accepted and they were married in Athens. Javod is a man without a country. Jesus saved him and now Javod works to share the gospel with other Syrian refugees. Because of a travel ban Javod cannot come to the United States. Julie just had her first child. Jimmy and his wife Wende had to travel to Greece to see their first grandchild. Such is part of taking up your cross.

Julie could have settled to marry someone from the States. God willed her to marry a man from Syria who devotes his life to rescuing others from the bondage of Islam. Eery week many come to Christ for salvation through Javod and Julie. They have a price to pay. Julie left home an family to follow Jesus. She has learned a little of what taking up your cross means. Javod learned it as well. He has paid a price for following Jesus. Jimmy and Wende have paid a price as well. They released their daughter into the hands of Jesus and His will. Did they ever think their daughter would live in another part of the world and their first grandchild would live so far away? Just a small taste of taking up your cross daily.

God's best plan for you now might lead down some hard roads marked with suffering, sacrifice, and possibly persecution. If we really want to be His follower how can we not expect not to be called to take up our crosses daily. Every day we are to shoulder that cross and willingly endure inconvenience, sacrifice, hardships, and numerous trials.

Then Jesus said, "Follow me." Remember those questions I started with about your bucket list and what you want to do with the remainder of your life. What if none of what you came up with is on Jesus'  agenda. We think in terms of our lives and our families. Jesus think in terms of His kingdom. His kingdom agenda it utmost on His mind. His kingdom agenda trumps our personal agendas. It should be for us too.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV) 
³³  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

To follow Jesus means we get out of the driver's seat. He determines the direction. We submit and follow. Or to put it another way, we are in the same with Jesus. We keep in step with Jesus. That's what follow means. Wherever Jesus goes we go in the same direction and at the same speed. We do not lag behind. We do not charge ahead of Him. We keep in step with Him.

I find it odd that we can get to retirement and think we have it all planned. We think of where we want to retire and how we will spend our retirement years in travel, play, and recreation if we have planned properly for retirement. Where can you find one single thing from Jesus that we get to squander the last years of our life playing golf, shopping, sleeping in, and living a life of leisure. If you are retired from your vocation congratulations. Now you are enlisted into full time service for Jesus. Your remaining years are meant to be devoted to following Him without the time constraints of going to work. Your last days are to be spent following Him wherever He leads and working for Him.

That mean short term mission trips. That could include scrapping the whole retirement plan to go help someone plant a church in another city, state, or nation. It could include volunteering more time at a local mission or your local church. Following Him is an adventure. And we never know where He is going to lead us.

Are you in step with Jesus today? Are you going in the same direction He is going and at the same pace? Do you really want to follow Him? Like the old song, "Wherever He leads I'll go." There is a measure of uncertainty in Jesus demand that we follow Him. Immediately the planners and organizers want an itenirary. We want to know the end destination. Jesus offers no specifics. He simply says, "Follow Me." In other words, get in step with me, stay in the same direction as Me and trust Me each step of the journey.

That is not the American dream. That is the kingdom of God dream. That is what is demanded of any follower of Jesus. Not just pastors, evangelists, teachers, and so forth. This is not just for missionaries. This is meant for every child of God.

So, do you still want to follow Jesus? I hope in response to your great salvation you will shout a thousand times, "Yes!"