The Cost Of Following Jesus

So today's sermon title is The Cost Of Following Jesus. The Cost Of Following Jesus. So we have just read this verse, Matthew 16:24. “If anyone would come after me, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

So before we look into that verse, we'll try to understand the context of this verse a bit. Why did Jesus tell his disciples this statement? What is the context of this verse? So after Jesus fed more than 4000 people near the Sea of Galilee, Pharisees and Sadducees came to test him.

After rebuking them, Jesus tells his disciples to watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they move on to the district of Caesarea Philippi where Jesus asked his disciples this important question about himself. As the author of the gospel writes this account, he keeps his audience in suspense until this moment.

He talks about a lot of things that Jesus said and did, and the question that lingers behind all those words in the Gospels is, who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? So in Matthew chapter 16 verse 13, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” First they tell Jesus what others are thinking about him. Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

People had different opinions about Jesus. All those are wrong answers though. So Jesus turns to his disciples, his own disciples, and asks them this question straightforwardly. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter, who is always quick to respond, jumps in and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus is like, right answer, Peter, so here are the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Peter feels very proud of himself and probably thinks that he knows more than others and that he is better than others. But then look at what happens after that. Chapter 16 verse 21. Chapter 16 verse 21. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the

third day be raised.” What is Jesus showing his disciples here and says that will happen to him? Three things: suffer, be killed, be raised. Suffer, be killed, be raised. Suffer under whom? The elders and chief priests and scribes. We know he also suffered under Pontius Pilate, right? Under the Roman soldiers and government. So but who are these elders, chief priests and scribes here in this context? Who are they? The Jewish people. In another sense, God's own people.

God's own people. Jesus came to his own and his own rejected him and betrayed him. Not only that, but he has to suffer many things, he says here. They challenged him publicly, mocked him, arrested him, beat him up, flogged him and killed him. While he was dying on that cross, they killed him who is the author of life. But we know that after three days Jesus rose from the grave and is alive forevermore, and that's good news. Why did Jesus die and rise again? We know that, so that we can have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life if we repent of our sins and put our trust in Him, in the finished work of the cross.

And the fruit of that repentance is a changed life, a life of obedience to God's word and God's will. Now the question is, why is Jesus showing his disciples the things about his suffering and death? So why is he showing his disciples what is going to happen, suffer?

If you have watched some old Chinese martial arts movies like Jackie Chan's movies in the past, you might have noticed the relation between the Kung Fu master and his disciples. The disciples go and live with their master. They not only learn from his teachings but they learn by observing his life and imitating it.

The master shows them how to move and live. To become like their master, the disciples must walk in the footsteps master and experience what their master had experienced. Do you see? That's how discipleship works. So disciples in the times of Jesus was the same. That's why you see those disciples of Jesus left their businesses and followed him wherever Jesus went. And the gospels, the author shows how discipleship happens on the way as they walk with Jesus.

You see that a lot of conversation between the disciples and Jesus happens as they are journeying together. That's what you see in the Gospels. And Jesus takes time to explain to them what they have heard from him or seen him do. That's discipleship.

Now here in this context Jesus is showing what will happen to him in Jerusalem. Why? Why is he showing them? The point is whatever Jesus will go through in Jerusalem even the disciples will go through. Whatever people did to Jesus they will do it to his apostles too. Jesus suffered and was killed, they will also suffer and will be killed. Do you see that? Now here in this context, Jesus is showing to them what will happen to them later after Jesus experienced that suffering. So if you look at the tradition and history of Christianity, that's how most of the apostles of Jesus died, just as Jesus showed them that day.

That's how most of the early Christians in the first few centuries died. That's how most of the Christians in the medieval period also died. And even today, that's how most of the Christians in some countries are dying. I'm not saying that every Christian should die in that way. Please do not misunderstand me. But every Christian will suffer to at least some extent for being a follower of Jesus. And we can be sure about that. If you are living a very comfortable life in this sinful world, then you must ask yourself this question, “Who is your master truly?”

If you want to follow Jesus, Jesus, then you must count the cost before you start your journey with him. So let us also look at how Peter responded to Jesus when he showed his disciples how he should suffer and die. If we look at verse 22 of chapter 16, verse 22 of chapter 16, “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you’re not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’” So just before that Peter was so — he was so proud that he got the answer right to Jesus’ question.

But now all that air is gone from Peter’s head. Do you remember how Peter responded when he met Jesus for the first time? He said, “Lord, go away from me for I am a sinful man.” Now after spending a few months with Jesus, he grew to that stature where he began to rebuke his own master.

What an audacity Peter had, right? Sometimes, isn’t that true of us too? We rebuke God for changing our plans for our lives. How do we do that? We might not be verbal about it, but we show it by the way we live and respond to God’s word.

When we know that the Bible demands from us to live in a certain way and when we do not want to obey it and when we live quite opposite to that actually we are rebuking God with our actions. Is it not so? Look at how Jesus responded to that behavior of Peter. He said, “Get behind me Satan, you are a hindrance to me.” So Jesus is using a strong language here. It is Satan’s will to stop people from doing God’s will.

He, that is Satan, always causes hindrance to stop God’s work in this world. Here in this context, Satan is using Peter to stop Jesus from doing God’s work. That same Satan will hinder you and me as well to do God’s will in this Gospel Life Church too.

If God wills that Jesus should take up the cross, then he must. Any thought against it is not God’s will. If God wills that you and I should take up the cross and suffer to become more like Jesus, then we must. Remember the resurrection is on the other side of the cross, not on this side.

Why did Peter respond in such a way? Jesus tells Peter that his mind is not set on the things of God, but on the things of man. That is the things of this world. Remember in chapter 16 verse 7, in chapter 16 verse 7, the disciples were only thinking about bread when Jesus talked about the leaven of the Pharisees. After being with Jesus for a few years on the things of this world.

So being worldly is a deadly thing. If you are only concerned about your safety, your security, your comfort in this world, then you are on a dangerous path. What do I want? How do I look? Where is my place in this world? How do I feel about things? These are all man-centered or self-centered thoughts that could be hindrance in your Christian walk.

My friends, you and I need to look for some serious signs of worldliness in our lives. Materialism, buying more than what is necessary. Greediness, wanting more and more even though we have enough. Covetousness, desiring what belongs to others and wanting to become millionaires quickly.

Not being generous towards others, not giving regularly to the local church or giving very less. That too is a sign. Mind, always thinking about ourselves and thinking what others are thinking about us. These are sinful patterns we need to identify in our lives and bring them to the cross and crucify them daily.

It is in this context Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny take up his cross and follow me.” So previously in chapter 10 verse 38 Jesus said, “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Is not worthy of me.

But here he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” So the question is, how should a Christian live then? Is there a cost that we should pay to follow Christ? So first let me clarify one thing with this statement. It is a conditional statement. It’s like if A then B. So we are talking about A only in relation to B.

So there are no hidden inferences in such statements. The phrase, “if anyone would come after me,” does not imply that anyone can come in their own human terms to God to be saved. That’s not what the point is. So they must come in God’s terms and in God’s way. So Jesus is not opening the doors wide open for many to come in, but he is narrowing it down to make it hard for people to come in.

There are conditions in the second clause which governs the first clause, which makes it hard for people to come in. So we will look at them now. So there are a few things that we’ll just focus in this verse. So the first part of that verse we see, “if anyone would come after me.” It is like saying, if anyone would or wish or want or desire a purpose to come after me, to walk behind me, to walk in my footsteps, or if you want to be my disciples, or if you want to be my followers, or if you want to be, if I, if you

want me to be your master then here are the conditions normally the master goes before and the disciples follow after him so here the relation between the is highlighted. If anyone, regardless of caste, class, color, religion, nation, education, or status, if anyone want to follow me, here are the rules. If anyone, any man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, high class, middle class, low class, wants Here are the conditions. If anyone, Indian, American, Chinese, Pakistani or any other nation wants to follow me, here are the imperatives, commands. Anyone, any person, anybody, no matter who it is, these are the rules to follow.

There are no exceptions for some people who come from a well-to-do family. God does not show partiality to any party. So there are two things that a Christian ought to do or must do in order to follow Jesus. What are they? The two things that we’ll look at now. One, the first condition is deny one’s self.

Deny one’s self. To deny means to reject or to ignore. To reject or to ignore. We are all used to rejecting people or ignoring, right? And we are quick to point out people who ignore us, right? I said hi, but she neither said hi nor smiled at me.

I messaged him, but he did not reply to me after seeing my message. I saw two blue ticks, that means he saw it. In the info it shows that the message was delivered at 10:30 p.m. and he read it at 10:32 p.m., but he did not reply to it. He must be angry with me. He’s ignoring me. I see some people are laughing. When do we think like that?

When we are too self-centered, right? When we value ourselves more than valuing others. When we think that we deserve a better kind of treatment whether or not we treat others in the same way. We think like that. But Jesus comes alongside and says, “If there is anyone who deserves the best possible kind of treatment, that would be me.”

“But I denied myself and my glory and I became a man and suffered a lot and took up the cross and died on it so that you who deserve the wrath of God and hell can be forgiven of your life in me. Now if you want to follow me, do what I say.”

“Ignore yourself. Forget about yourself. Stop being self-centered. Stop thinking about yourself all the time, but keep looking at me, considering my example as you follow me. That’s how you can be my disciple.” You see what Jesus is saying? Self comes with a package. What do we find in ourself?

What can we find but the lust of eyes, the lust of flesh and the pride of life in our lives? We can find self-righteousness, self-justification and self-glorification in ourselves. We can find unhealthy desires for food, money, sex or fame in this world. We find in ourselves comparisons, competition or corruption. We think they are our rights.

In one sense, we are in love with ourselves and we think highly about ourselves. That’s a fallen human condition. We are devoted to ourselves very much. But Jesus says that’s sinfulness. And to follow me, you should deny your sinful self and lay down all your earthly desires that are contrary to my will.

“This self-denial,” says an author, “is very extensive and implies that we ought to give up our natural inclinations and part with all the affections of the flesh, and thus give our consent to be reduced to nothing, provided that God lives and reigns in us.” We need to give up our human natural affections towards these sinful things.

And we should become nothing before God for him to come and live in us. That’s self-denial. Jesus emptied himself. We should too. So Jesus does not stop here at self-denial but goes on to say that we ought to take up our cross, take up our cross and follow him. That brings us to our second point. Take up means to carry or to lift. The cross is a symbol for shame, suffering, and death. So it carries with it an idea of execution or destruction. In the times of Jesus, cross is not a trophy or a medal but a means of death.

People who are guilty of a serious crime against the Roman government were made to carry their own crosses to their own death. Jesus was treated like a criminal though he is sinless. He was made to carry his own cross and was nailed to the cross and left there to die a horrible death in the heat of the day.

Do you want to know what self-denial truly looks like? Look at him on the cross. He denied every bit of himself. He shed every drop of his blood for us. He experienced the wrath of God that should have been poured out on us. Never did he say, “I do not deserve it,” though he truly did not deserve that kind of treatment. He gladly bore it on our behalf so that we can be saved from the coming wrath of God and eternal hell.

If you are here thinking that you deserve to be saved, let me tell you, you do not. You do not. It is only God’s grace that saves us from our sins. We need to repent of our sins and believe in the Lord Jesus to be forgiven of our sins and to enjoy eternal life in Him. If you haven’t done that, I strongly encourage you to do it soon before you lose your own breath. If you want to know more about it, please talk to somebody here who can answer your questions or talk to the pastor here. Now after being saved from our sins, how do we go about to live our lives?

Do we live our lives thinking that we deserve all things now? No, never. Everything we have is by the grace of God. There is nothing to boast about from our side. The life that we now have is by His grace and again He calls us to lay it down for Christ’s sake.

To take up the cross means to die. One man says if Christ died for the redeemed, the saved should commit themselves to Him, point they are willing to die for him. Yet all true disciples must in a real sense lose their lives as they live and embark on the path to crucifixion every day.

Taking up our cross means to bear all the sufferings, pain, shame, insults and even death that God has appointed for us to bear. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 1 verse 29. Quickly, Philippians chapter 1 verse 29. And it says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” It has been granted to us to suffer for his sake. Again, First Peter chapter 4 verse 19. 1 Peter 4,

verse 19. It says, “Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Let those who suffer according to God’s will. We are called to suffer for Christ’s sake, will for us. One more passage, Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6, verse 9 to 11.

Revelation chapter 6, verses 9 to 11. “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer.” Why? You see the answer there. “Until the number of the fellow servants and their brothers who are there who were to be killed as they themselves has been.” You see, this isn’t that interesting that God had appointed

some to die for Christ’s sake and join the martyrs. Luke says, “Let him take up his cross daily.” So he adds the word “daily” here. It is not necessarily a— For some it may be. However, we are called to die to self daily till we die.

The ego should die every day. So why all these sufferings? Are they necessary for us to bear? Yes. If God is loving and if God is willing, then He must be doing it for a good reason. Isn’t it? Our cross shapes us into the image of our Master, Jesus Christ, whom we follow.

It is through these sufferings that we become more and more like Christ Jesus. You deny these sufferings, you do not become like Christ. So do not run away from the problems or relationships which bring problems, you need them to grow in Christlikeness.

Jesus loved the unlovable, that is us. Now he calls us to do the same. Shall we not follow him in this? When we bear sufferings for Christ, the world will look in us as suffering Christ. You not only proclaim the gospel with your words, but you display the gospel to this world in your sufferings for Christ’s sake. Galatians chapter 6 verse 17.

Galatians chapter 6 verse 17. Paul says here, “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” Again, Colossians 1.24, Colossians 1.24, Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s affliction for the sake of his body, that is, the church.”

Paul does not mean that Christ’s sufferings in this world are incomplete or insufficient, but that the world continues to see Christ’s suffering in the suffering of his people. So when you suffer for Christ’s sake, you display the gospel to this world. So when sufferings come, do not shy away from them, but gladly bear them, for the one who bore our sins. It is when you truly die to self, you truly show Christ in you.

Sufferings help you to die to self, so embrace them. Sufferings make you depend on God and draw close to Him. They are good tools in God’s hands, so take courage when you face them. God knows how to use them in your life, what he wants you to become. So say no to self and yes to Christ. Remember this, you cannot die for Jesus unless you die to yourself, and you cannot live for Jesus unless you die to yourself. So finally we look at the word “follow me.” “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

To follow means to go after or to obey. So to follow Jesus or to go after him, you need to give up yourself. A pastor puts this verse in this way, “If anyone or if any man would be my disciple, let him follow me by denying himself and taking up his cross. Or let him conform himself to my example.”

You see how following Jesus connects to denying ourselves and taking up our cross? That means no one can be Christ’s disciples if they do not have their cross to carry. If you are suffering for Christ’s sake, then rejoice for you are one of His people. That’s an assurance. What a great privilege it is to be one of His.

It is truly a blessed thing to belong to Christ and to suffer for Him. We see in the Acts that the apostles rejoiced when they were persecuted, when they were beaten, because they are counted worthy for the sake of Christ. Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, if you are suffering for Him. He is worthy of our suffering.

It might not make sense to us now, but when we see Him face to face, we will understand all that we have gone through for Him is worth it. So cheer up and follow Christ with all your heart. It is hard to follow Christ in this manner. Is it hard to follow Christ in this manner?

Yes, it is hard. But He will give us the grace that we need to follow Him in such a way. Getting on to the bus is easy. But the journey is hard. Right? So being saved is easy. All you need to do is just repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ. But then after that, to follow him day after day, week after week is hard. It is like, you know, to say “I do” in the wedding ceremony is very easy, but to say “I do” everyday in the marriage is hard, isn’t it? But you can, by God’s grace. So befriending one another in the local church is easy, but to get it, but to get along with each other week after week is hard. But we are called to bear with one another in love.

Do you want to serve the church? Then pick up your cross, pick up your cross, and I guarantee you that this one is a very heavy cross. The weight of it will crush you. But it is a glorious privilege to serve him in such a way. Following Jesus is not easy. Sometimes the journey might become lonely. You might feel rejected and betrayed by your own. You’ll become too stressed out in your Christian life. But remember, Jesus experienced that on that cross.

He knows what it means to suffer. So He can understand your pain and burden as you suffer. And He will give you the grace to carry your cross. So keep looking to Him. Keep carrying the cross, and keep following him till you meet him face to face.

Then, you will no longer need to carry your cross. He will remove that cross from you. Forever, you will be free from all your sufferings. He will wipe away all your tears. There will be no more pain or death when you meet him. That day will come soon. So just hang on, for a little while. Keep praying and keep trusting God. Will you?