What It Takes
Peter had just declared that Jesus was the Messiah, nobody had done this yet. Jesus applauds Peter, “This was revealed to you by my Father!” Jesus declares in Matthew 16:17. Quickly after this, Peter tells Jesus he won’t die and is told to “get behind me Satan” by Jesus. What a range of moments! He is the one and only one that declares Jesus the Messiah, the next moment, he is being called Satan.
See, the disciples, and often we, don’t really understand what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. We shout in our high moments great words of praise and glory to the king, and in the next we might miss the mark entirely. So what is the profound issue here? I think a few things are missing in our journey of what it truly takes to follow Jesus.
We don’t really know who God is
Peter was just called the rock, now, literally in the Greek here he is called a stumbling block. A different kind of rock! So why does Jesus refer to Satan? Remember, when Jesus is in the wilderness what does the devil try and get him to do? To forsake the path of the suffering messiah and take over as a king immediately. Peter wants the same.
The disciples missed that their spiritual needs were their greatest needs, not the earthly king they thought they needed. See, the disciples were first century Jews, who were under the oppressive Roman thumb. Taxed beyond what we could imagine, taken advantage of and treated like slaves, and desperately in need of a king to rise up and set them free.
This is what they saw in the Old Testament many times and throughout the Jewish history. God would raise up a man to do earthly freedom. Their primary focus was earthly freedoms and earthly things. So much so, that they neglected their biggest need: spiritual deliverance.
In Mark 4:41, when Jesus calms the storm, the disciples proclaim after witnessing this miracle: “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him.” Men who physically walked with Jesus, still didn’t recognize who he truly was.
We get Jesus wrong in so many ways. In particular, the genie in the sky stuff. This is the hardest one for me to see people stuck in. But we all go through that season in our journey of learning who Jesus is. True maturity is this: learning that Jesus is the only gift that you actually need.
Our biggest need is spiritual deliverance from sin. Remember what Romans says: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. This is our greatest need. This Jesus’ primary focus and goal for us as his people.
We have to know who Jesus is according to his word. Not according to our feelings or according to our world, but to the word of God. We can’t be true disciples of who we don’t truly know. Once the disciples truly knew Jesus, at the resurrection, look who they became. Look what they did! They truly knew him, and their lives, and their world as a result, changed forever.
We don’t count the cost of true discipleship
Kenneth Barker says this powerful statement in the EBC: “Death to self is not so much a prerequisite of discipleship to Jesus as a continuing characteristic of it.” Essentially, one must die to their own will in order to take up God’s will.
Jesus uses the image of the cross for a reason. In the first century, crucifixion was one of the most feared forms of execution, used effectively by the Romans as one of the strongest forms of deterrence against insurrection or rebellion. It was a dreadful way to die. But in what must have been to the disciples a shocking shift of emphasis, Jesus uses the cross and crucifixion as an image of discipleship.
Today, many aren’t willing to be the people that God has called them to be. Pick up your cross and follow me means that Jesus is inviting you to death. His invitation to you is the end of yourself and the beginning of who you are in him. This is true life! That is the great miracle. This world has taught us our definition of life, but Jesus comes with a better one. One that is obedient to him and counts the cost and willingly pays it.
How many times in our lives have we tried to gain or to save our own soul? Losing ourselves is what discipleship is. That is Jesus’ definition. Every single day it is dying. Every single day it is saying yes to Christ and no to the world. It is a marathon, a journey, an epic battle between the world and God’s kingdom.
We need to truly sit back and evaluate the cost of saying yes to Jesus. This is why we are so strong in our church about going beyond just lifting your hand and repeating a prayer. Dying to self, following Jesus on that road of suffering, is a journey that will challenge us. But this is the path. It is the path our Savior took, and we shouldn’t be surprised when we are asked to follow it as well.
We focus on all the wrong things
Craig Bloomberg, New American Commentary: “Accumulation of all the goods and pleasures of this earth cannot possibly secure eternal life, yet without eternal life all such accumulation will prove futile and damning. Without surrendering one’s present life to Christ, one cannot have eternal life with him.”
What does Jesus put our focus on in this section? The end! The culmination of time and the conclusion of all things. Our life is just a vapor, but our decisions for the duration of that vapor will last a lifetime.
What has garnered your attention? What holds the most value in your life? Jesus is trying to pull your attention to the end because that is what truly matters. C.T. Studd: “Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”
How much attention, how many hours, how much of our finances, of our emotions, of our energy and passion go into the kingdom? At the end of this life and return of our Savior, all of those things will be accounted for. The way of Jesus is an emphasis on eternity. That is why we were built with eternity in mind.
I have had people come into my office and say, “Pastor, I am addicted! I just can’t defeat this enemy.” I tell them, you aren’t addicted. Your value system is just wrong. If I dropped a bag of 1 million dollars in cash, tax free in front of you, but you could only have it if you didn’t give in to this addiction today. You wouldn’t do it! Or if I said, if you don’t give in, your loved one will live. Of course you wouldn’t give in. You aren’t addicted, you just don’t know the true value of Christ and his kingdom. You either don’t truly believe it, or don’t know it. You are focused on right now instead of on what is to come.
Jesus promises the glory that will await for those who might be suffering now. Those that choose to traverse the path that Jesus is calling us to, will be justly rewarded in the eternity to come. This moment, this fast life, these fleeting moments, are what will set us up for eternity. Is there possibly a greater investment in the world?!
Conclusion
What does it take to be a disciple of Jesus and truly follow him? We need to know who he is, who he really is. Not the Americanized, life coach, give me 3 wishes Jesus. But the suffering servant that paid a price and following him has one too.
We need to understand that there is a true cost to true discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said: “salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” Saying yes to Jesus will cost you something. If it hasn’t, then it isn’t true. He gave his all, he deserves nothing short of the same in return.
Last, we need to focus on the things of God, not the things of the world. How easy does the world consume us and tug on our affections and our attention. What good is it for you to gain it all, yet forfeit your soul? The way of Jesus is the forsaking of this world in hope of the next. Which one has your full attention?