Denial, Destiny, Discipleship

A young man in high school came up to me recently and ask me about denying self and taking up our cross and following Jesus. Here is the passage in question. The issue was addressed twice in the recorded words of Jesus. Once when he was discussing their allegiance toward him in relation to the allegiance to this world and once after Peter told him he wasn't going to die.

Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:21-23 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24-27 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

Deny yourself. The first issue Jesus dealt with was self. It occurred to my spirit as I spoke with the young man that denying self is not about the bad stuff but is about the whole self–based culture we subscribe to. On another instance, the young man confided that he had tried to live the Christian life and be a witness during the past school year, but nothing he did made a difference. No one saw him as anything but a reject, a failure. In the end, he gave up and conformed to the evil around him. As he told the tale, my heart went out to him. So this day, I felt the Spirit speak to my spirit. It's about laying your dreams, your success down. God wants Jesus to be seen, not us. That is living in the shadow of the almighty! He takes the blows, but He also gets the glory. We don't shine -He does. Sometimes He elevates us to a prominent position -success, leadership, fame. But as children of God we stay under the shadow of the Son of God who redeemed us, who takes the blows. Our prominence should only make him more prominent. The world will not applaud that. They will expect us to take the bow if Jesus takes the blow. If we take a hit, His power keeps us upright and allows us to continue for His honor and glory. It is not lip-service and it is not hypocrisy. It is GRACE; it is remaining under the shadow: Psalm 91.

Take up your cross. The cross was the destiny of Jesus not just from the time he was born, but from the beginning -even before creation. Our cross is our destiny in him. Some will be persecuted; some will be killed; some will find fame. The latter may be the most difficult. Some will be hailed as heroes for a time. Some may live a day to day existence. My cross is my destiny in Christ. It is whatever the Father gives me to do with this earth life. If the world hated Him, they will not love us, even if we know earthly success.

Peter said “This can't happen to you.” Jesus replied, “You are caring only about human concerns. You are a stumbling block.”

Peter was crucified. Paul was beheaded. Steven was stoned. Some were burned to death. I like the idea of Moses: he lived to be 120 without losing any physical strength or natural force. God watched him breathe his last and then buried him in the mountain. But my cross -my destiny lies with my God regardless of what may come.

Follow Me! He is our new covenant. He becomes my purpose and my strength. The disciples got to watch him multiply bread and fish. They saw him walk on water and heard him calm the sea and wind. They got caught up in the miraculous and the hope of national restoration and elevation. But Jesus said follow me. Do what I do. Think like I think. Die like I die. Not that we must be crucified to follow him. That was his destiny but daily we die to our own ideas, plans and accomplishments that the life of Jesus may take our lives and accomplish our destiny. What we face, we must face following Him. What we receive, we must receive as a true life gift from Him for His honor and fame. His purpose was the redemption of the world. Each of our lives will look different, but our goal will be his goal. Our strength will be his strength. Our success will be his success. Our reward will be his reward.

We dream. We plan. We prepare. We give the plan to him. It dies and if it is resurrected it comes back in power for his glory. Otherwise we will find ourselves like Peter at his declaration: a stumbling block, serving Satan's plan, not respecting the things of God but only human concerns. I am so glad and encouraged that Peter went on to learn the process of denial, destiny and discipleship. He lived, he served and he died for Christ.

It's Time Again

You would think at my spiritual and physical age I would have more of my stuff together! I have quite recently faced a challenge to my efforts, my understanding and yes, even my faith. It's not like that's never happened before, but this one blindsided me. I ask myself “After everything my life has been, after all God has taught me in the last 5 years, after the miraculous through struggle experiences of the last 2 years, why do I still have blindsides?”

A young man came to me last week and told me that he thought he had his act together. He was so strong after camp last year, but he struggled after he went home and eventually gave up. He told of what he considered a total failure as a Christian. It really was a defeat, but one battle does not win a war and one defeat does not lose it. I reminded him that Jesus has already won our war with Satan. We talked about the truth he gained last summer and I asked him if that truth was still truth. He had trouble with that one because he had failed badly. So we talked about who and what the truth stood on. The young man spent a lot of time in my space last week talking about different aspects of surrender. I've made efforts toward getting him a mentor so that he has support in the battle which Satan will no doubt try to push on him again once his spiritual support is gone.

Now I see that our time together was not just about him and his struggle. We all struggle. We all have Adam's blood flowing in our veins. Sometimes we lose 'paradise'. So I go back to the truth.

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And it was all good.
2. Mankind was tempted and in human weakness he chose wrong. All have sinned and ended up short of God's amazing best.
3. Mankind could not fix himself but the Lord of Creation came as a baby, grew as a human without sin and sacrificed his life to pull man out, deliver him from his enemy, redeem what was lost and make him a new creation with a new relationship to the eternal God and Father.
4. It is though faith in God's mercy and love in giving that son to die, be buried for 3 days and rise to new life that God reconciles us to himself with eternal life.
5. The Holy Spirit was given to guide us into all truth in action, belief and understanding. He speaks of Jesus. He convicts us of wrong thought. He promises eternal life and a glorious destiny.

When I get my eyes off the main truth because of busy, injury, disappointment or involvement with this world's agenda, I'm an open target. I have a blind side. Realignment is in order. Focus on Jesus is imperative. Repent means change your mind. That allows God to change the heart and that changes everything. It's time once more.

Fear Itself!

In my morning time with the Father and his Word, I read that we must not fear what the world fears. Then it speaks of the fear of God supporting us. In the world our human based religious thought has created, there is no fear of God. Perhaps that is why fear in all other areas is rising.

God is no longer an awesome being who demands unfailing righteousness to come before him. We have washed him out until, in our minds, he is weakened by love and kindness.

Don't get me wrong. I believe in God's unfailing love and grace toward us. Grace through faith brings the worst sinner into a state of forgiveness and righteous standing before God. But God didn't just decide to let it all go because it no longer matters. It matters.

In order for both his great love and impeccable righteousness to be unified, the eternal, sinless, amazing son of God had to set aside his equality with God and stoop to the level of man. He had to endure ridicule from those imperfect, created creatures and finally a cruel and debasing death. The Lord of Creation was allowed to be killed so that Father God could accept that punishment for the sins of all mankind. It wasn't washed under the table – it was paid for and forgiven. God still demands perfection, but Jesus stands before him perfect in the place of those who put their trust in his willing sacrifice on our behalf.

God is still all-powerful. He deserves our respect and yes, our fear. Through Christ he has become our Father. His righteousness is satisfied that his love might be free and complete toward mankind, who falls completely short of any righteousness. That respect for the power and anger of God is the beginning of wisdom. Through Christ the love of God is able to meet the righteous demand of God toward us. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love perfects respect for his awesome character.

As a parent, we teach our children respect for the power of fire. We teach them a fearful respect accompanied by knowledge for poisonous snakes and spiders. We teach respect for the power of water and storms. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. We should also be teaching them the power and truth of God. God does not have opinions: He is truth. Set yourself against that and you have much to fear. It is true that grace is grace is grace. But consequence for ignoring truth is great and must be endured. We should fear that more than we would fear driving on the wrong side of the interstate at high speed. God will not be mocked or ignored. We should be taught to fear that. That's not a works doctrine, it is a matter of deep, mind-changing faith.

There is much positive to concentrate on in the experience of a grace based relationship to our Father God. We should 'think on these things.' He promises eternal life; He promises healing; He promises protection and so much more. But understanding the awesomeness of our God brings a respect that cannot be set aside or ignored for our own purposes. Fear Him!