The Cost of Following Jesus

Matt 16:24-26

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

ESV

The Cost of Following Jesus

(Matt. 16:21-26)

Intro:

              A.  Jesus called them one by one, Peter, Andrew, James and John.  The list of the 12 Apostles continues in song.  The Bible tells us a little about their calling by Jesus.  For the few we have, Jesus often used the phrase, “Follow me.”  And they did.  They left everything and followed Jesus.

              B.  I don’t know what it would have been like to live, walk, eat with, talk to and listen to Jesus every day for 2 to 3 years.  It seems as if that group had friction about who was the greatest, yet all of them loved Jesus.  It is hard for me to understand Judas, who was given the power of the Holy Spirit to cast out demons, could at the end betray Jesus with a kiss.  But the rest never seemed to even suspect Judas would do such a thing. 

              C.  After Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi and talks about who he is, Matthew, Mark and Luke all pick up and share with us what happened next.

              D.  READ Matt. 16:21.  This probably sometime in the last year of the ministry of Jesus.  They had acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God and Jesus tells them, that he will be killed because of the religious leaders, but also that he will rise from the dead.  These guys had been with Jesus for one to two years and Jesus now says this?

              E.  READ Matt. 16:22.  I get it.  Peter takes Jesus aside and says, “You got this all wrong.  Dying is not a part of the plan.”  But Jesus replies (READ Matt. 16:23).  If there could have been any other way, Jesus would rather that happen than face the cross.  But Jesus knows that the reason he took on human form was to reconcile man back to God and only the cross will do that.

              F.  With that back drop Jesus talks to his disciples and lets them know something they may not have wanted to hear (READ Matt.  16:24). 

I.  The Cost of Following Jesus

              A.  There is a cost to following Jesus; a cost that some don’t want to consider or are willing to pay.  But the words that Jesus gives comes on the fact that he too will pay that price.  This statement of discipleship is just as true today as it was when Jesus talked about discipleship.  This was not something just for the apostles, this was how Jesus defined being a disciple.  So this statement is for you and me.

              B.  Anyone who would follow Jesus FIRST has to deny himself.  I want you to really soak in what it means to deny self.  I want you to hear God speak to us from Phil. 2:1-8.  If we are going to claim that Jesus is Christ then living as Jesus taught is essential.  God tells us that instead of having a self-centered attitude about what I want and what is best for me, I need to think about you.  I am to have the same mind about you as Jesus had about us.  Jesus didn’t “grasp, hold on to” his equality with God, but instead became flesh and died on a cross to walk in obedience. 

              C.  You want to talk about having the interests of others more than self, you will never find anyone like Jesus.  But that is the example.  To deny self is take you out of the equation and to see and value others the way Jesus does.

              D.  SECOND, Jesus said, “take up your cross.”  It is one thing to deny myself, it is another thing to die to self.    Jesus calls upon us to take up our cross and follow him.  A cross was a tool of execution.  I know we have cross necklaces, embroidery, images on our Bible or Bible covers to help us remember the cross of Christ.  But Jesus calls upon us to take up OUR cross.

              E.  Jesus is telling us how to think the way God thinks.  Jesus literally took the cross beam and drug it out of the city of Jerusalem.  He was so beaten he fell under the weight of it.  To take up your cross is to ready to face whatever may come because you are a follower of Jesus.  Cheap grace is not God’s grace, it’s man’s way of trying to take advantage of Jesus.

              F.  Jesus describes what it means to be willing to die for your faith by helping us to see the reward that comes when this life is over.  (READ Matt. 16:25-26).

              G.  I don’t doubt that many of you would be willing to die for Jesus right now if you were forced to make that decision.  You would stand up to the evil before you and claim the name of Jesus even if they were about to take your life.  But being a living sacrifice is really more difficult.

              H.  We often reflect upon statements like those that Paul makes in Rom. 12:1, “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice...,” but trying to decide what that means in the practical sense of the phrase is more difficult.  There are some in our society today who look at your belief in Jesus and laugh at you.  They think you are being manipulated and controlled by religion.  They see your life choices that cause you to say “no” to sin as limiting the joy of life.  Jesus says, if you are going to follow me, deny self and take up your cross.  You need to be ready for what the world thinks is radical living. 

              I.  In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden family fortune, graduated from high school when he was 16 years old.  His present from his parents was a trip around the world. While traveling, this young Christian man saw the poverty and the lack of Jesus in parts of the world most of us have never thought to travel.  He wrote home and told his mother that he wanted to be a missionary.  He attended Yale University and began a Bible study group that had 150 students by the end of his freshman year and it is said that 1000 students attended by the end of his senior year.  One friend wrote, "No one would have known from Borden's life and talk that he was a millionaire, but no one could have helped knowing that he was a Christian…"

              J.  After Yale he went to Princeton Seminary to train to be a missionary.  When he finished his degree he headed to China to serve as a missionary.  He stopped in Egypt to learn Arabic to help him, but while there he contracted spinal meningitis and within a month the 25 year old William Bordon was death.  It is said that in his Bible he written three phrases.  “No reserves.  No retreats.  No regrets.” 

              K.  Was his life a waste? Not from God’s perspective. God used his life and death to call thousands and thousands of young men and women to leave all they had and give their lives to reach the nations with the gospel. God did greater things through Borden’s story than He may have ever done with his life in China.

Conclusion:

              A. Jesus defines what it means to follow him when he told me deny self and take up my cross to follow him.  It’s not about what I can gain in this life.  It’s about what God can do when I give myself complete to him.

              B.  Is there a cost to following Jesus?  Yes.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.  Are you ready to take up your cross and follow him?  It is a calling that many will never accept.  It’s too difficult for most people.  We want Jesus on our terms in ways that are comfortable for us today.  Jesus called me to die to self and live for him.  That is my goal for 2021.  I know that we as a church will be different is the majority of us really are willing to deny self, take up our cross and follow Jesus.

              C. If we can help you in your walk with Him, please come as we stand and sing.

Because of Jesus,

Jeffrey Dillinger, minister