Transcript What did Jesus say about following Him?

What did Jesus say about following Him?
For what shall it profit
a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and
lose his own soul?
Mark 8:36
34 Then
he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and
said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to
save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and
for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain
the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone
give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me
and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s
glory with the holy angels.”
(Mark 8:34-38)
Calling
Commitment
Cost
Calling
‘Step by step he led them on, till at last the
glory of his superiority flashed upon them,
and they were at his feet, ready to do
whatever he might say.’
James Stalker “The Life of Jesus Christ”
‘“God I want Your peace. Please have
mercy on me and give me the peace of
knowing You. I don’t know who You are
anymore, but I know that You are all
that matters. You created this world,
You give it meaning, and either You
define its purpose or it has none…” He
continues, ‘Although I did not know it,
that peace and mercy of God which I
desperately asked for would soon fall
upon me.’
Nabeel Qureshi
Commitment
Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and take up their cross
and follow me.
Mark 8:34
Commitment
‘Since I am a king on a cross, if
you want to follow me, you must
go to a cross... Taking up your
cross means for you to die to
self-determination, die to control
of your own life, die to using him
for your agenda.’
Timothy Keller “King’s Cross”
Commitment
For whoever wants to save their life will
lose it, but whoever loses their life for me
and for the gospel will save it.
Mark 8:35
Commitment
‘I consider my life worth nothing to me, if
only I may finish the race and complete the
task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task
of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.’
Acts 20:24
Commitment
‘to live a life worthy of the Lord and
please him in every way’
Col.1:10
Commitment
• Hudson Taylor, 19th century missionary to China –
‘Man, I never made a sacrifice in my life.’
• Jim Elliot, 20th century missionary to Ecuador –
‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain
what he cannot lose.’
Commitment
• Timothy Keller, 21st century pastor in NYC –
He’s a king who went to the cross for you.
Therefore you can submit to him out of love and
trust. This means coming to him not negotiating
but saying, “Lord, whatever you ask I will do,
whatever you send I will accept.”
Commitment
What good is it for someone to gain the
whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or
what can anyone give in exchange for
their soul?
Mark 8:36
Commitment
“Inequality is out of
control… At the start of
2014 the richest 85
people on the planet
owned as much as the
poorest half of
humanity.”
“Give up yourself, and you will
find your real self. Lose your
life and you will save it. Submit
to death, the death of your
ambitions and favourite
wishes every day and the
death of your whole body in
the end: Submit with every
fiber of your being, and you
will find eternal life. Keep back
nothing.
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
“Nothing that you have not
given away will be really
yours. Nothing in you that has
not died will ever be raised
from the dead. Look for
yourself, and you will find in
the long run only hatred,
loneliness, despair, rage, ruin,
and decay. But look to Christ
and you will find Him, and
with Him everything else
thrown in.”
Cost
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it
hated me first. If you belonged to the
world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have
chosen you out of the world. That is why
the world hates you.”
John 15:18,19
“I submit. I submit that Jesus Christ
is Lord of heaven and earth. He
came to this world to die for my
sins, proving His lordship by rising
from the dead. I am a sinner, and I
need Him for redemption. Christ, I
accept You into my life.”
Nabeel Qureshi
C.S. Lewis
‘God in the Dock’
‘[Jesus] says, “No man can reach
absolute reality, except through
Me. Try to retain your own life and
you will be inevitably ruined. Give
yourself away and you will be
saved.” He says, “If you are
ashamed of Me, if, when you hear
this call, you turn the other way, I
also will look the other way when I
come again as God without
disguise.
C.S. Lewis
‘God in the Dock’
‘If anything whatever is keeping
you from God and from Me,
whatever it is, throw it away. If it is
your eye, pull it out. If it is your
hand, cut it off. If you put yourself
first you will be last. Come to Me
everyone who is carrying a heavy
load, I will set that right. Your sins,
all of them, are wiped out, I can do
that. I am Rebirth, I am Life. Eat
Me, drink Me, I am your Food. And
finally, do not be afraid, I have
overcome the whole Universe.’