Reality, is it for me?
Spiritual Reality is not measured by accomplishments, but by the hearts loving embrace of all that is set before me….for His sake.
Matthew 16:24-25 “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.”
This is the path to Reality for everyone of us. We will have Reality, to the degree we walk in it.
Will you choose this path?
“Jesus said unto HIs disciples”…they had already left their lives to a certain extent and followed after Jesus….becoming HIs companions….and had even been sent out to preach “the Kingdom of heaven Is at hand.”
But Jesus spoke to them….to draw them out to a further apprehension of a walk with Him. He never sugar-coated the cost of following Him….He never promised them anything….but to know God, and HIs Son, His Spirit, and His kingdom. (And that is Eternal Life!)
“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Notice it is a call to follow Him….the disciples knew when Jesus called them to leave all they knew and become fishers of men….that it was to follow after Him and learn of Him….
….but now a cross was involved….their cross. And in order to pick it up….they would have to deny themselves….or drop everything of their self-life.
What a call!
(We deny ourselves, berrying our cross, to the place we no longer resist the Lord’s Will in anything. There must be an absolute surrender to the Lord….we come to the place we will do His Will. It may not be instant obedience….but we will obey.)
But there was still more to the call Jesus was giving now:
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.”
You can save your life for time, and lose it for eternity. Or, you can deny yourself and lose your life for time, and have it for eternity.
To lose our life is to lose the way we do things….the plans that we have made….the way we think about things, our very attitude toward them, will be lost…for it will become HIs attitude. Our life consists of our thoughts, dreams, and our affections…and what we will about all of these things. It does not mean our soul’ personality….but our character. That which molds our life, will now be HIs character lived out through me.
If we choose to lose our life…..it will be for His sake. There is nothing…no reward, no mansion in heaven, no crown,…..nothing that can persuade men to lose our life….
…..but for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ….for His sake, we will lose everything.
John 21:15 “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?….”
We know that this was the third time Jesus showed Himself after the resurrection…that He spoke to Peter to restore him…after Peter’s three denials of Jesus.
But listen to what Jesus asks….and see that He asks us the same thing!
First, He calls him….”Simon, son of Jonas”….not Peter (the name Jesus gave him Matthew 16:18. Peter means “a stone”…stressing that he was to be like Him, the Rock.)
“Look, you can be Simon, your father’s son….with all that entails. You can be a fisherman….living your life here….isn’t that what you have gone back to? (John 21:3)
Consider your life, your friends, your family,….and then answer:
“Lovest thou Me, more than these?”
Was Peter’s life as a fisherman, away from the trials and tribulations of being Jesus’ disciple, of more value than Christ?
Was He, Jesus Christ, worth the loss of his life?
John 21:15 “…He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.”
Twice more Jesus gave Peter the opportunity to save his life….the life he had before Jesus called him….
….and twice more Peter declares “…I love Thee”…
And so then…..the call was to “feed my lambs, feed my sheep”.
There is work for all who will lose their lives in themselves….that they may find their lives in Christ Jesus…..for His sake.
Spiritual Reality for all who would follow the Lord Jesus is to:
Deny ourselves
Pick up our cross
And follow Him….and in our following Him, we, like Peter will come across many trials of our courage and faith….but then…
…we must choose to lose our lives,…..and all that they are made of….that we may find our lives in Christ…..only out of love for Christ Jesus.
Will you choose this path?
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 