JESUS | FOLLOWERS | PROSPERITY | CROSS | PICK

JESUS DOES NOT OFFER HIS FOLLOWERS A LIFE OF PROSPERITY BUT OF A CROSS TO PICK UP AND TO FOLLOW HIM

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells;
For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7:18-24

Paul brings attention to the struggle that is occurring within the believer between the regenerated born again spirit in us and the flesh, which is still battling sin. This sin in our flesh draws and pulls us away from our commitment and desire to follow God.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “(1) If anyone desires to come after Me, (2) let him deny himself, (3) and take up his cross, (4) and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
1. There is a prerequisite to accepting this truth Jesus is revealing — Do you really want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? There’s a cost!
2. Deny Yourself: Jesus declares the only demand for obtaining the victory against the desires and appetites of the flesh is to just say, NO! to your flesh in Jesus’ Name and in His authority.
3. Take up your cross: Then Jesus challenges us in our loyalty to Him — Not only are we going to deny the flesh, but are we also ready to accept the cross of sacrifice He took for us and we must also take for Him?
4. Follow Jesus: Where? To Calvary! It was where He was going to die — He challenges us to also be crucified and die with Him.
Jesus requires total loyalty of those who want to be His disciple: “(1) He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (2) And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (3) He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me — Love for the family more than God: We love our family with our emotions, with our instincts of protection and provisions, and with our physical being. But we must love God one step above — with our spirit. Jesus said: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” [ In this commandment, Jesus adds the spirit (heart) to the way we love God, which is not part of the way we love our family — that is why we must love God more than our family]
And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me — He who does not want to take up the cross of sacrifice for Jesus is not going to be a true disciples because the flesh is very much in control.
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it — If our whole existence is around the flesh and the things of this world and not seeking after the things of God, that “disciple” might not really be born again, as Paul declares: But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Romans 8:9. [If you don’t have the Spirit of Christ in you, then you are on your way to the Lake of Fire]

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Jesus warns those who want to follow Him that He is not offering a life of prosperity, comfort, and material recompenses, instead there is going to be a lot of sacrifices in order to obtain the spiritual fruits that will come.

Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

The main loyalty a disciple of Jesus has is to God and His Kingdom. Everything else takes second place.

And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

If the flesh still has a pull on us through our family, then we are not ready to commit all to Him and follow Him where He tells us.

* All biblical references from the New King James Version