Title: Follow Me (Mark 8:34)
Contents
Follow me (Mark 8:34, Philippians 2:1-8)
To believe in Jesus is to be free. It is the hope for a heaven that sets us free from sin and death, a heaven where pain and suffering do not exist, and an eternal kingdom that sets us free from bondage on this difficult earth. Then, is believing in Jesus the only goal we can experience after we die? It's not like that. Being able to continue the life of faith is also in freedom. Are you free from the hope of heaven? Are you free because you are living a life of faith?
Living a life of faith is training. However, this training is not meant to make us suffer by locking us up within legal boundaries, but to set us free through training. Athletes train. Withstands hellish training. For what? This is to create a body that can be used freely during competition. If so, what kind of training is the religious life? It is worship before God. It is praising before God. It is praying before God. It is to leave everything before God, who tells you to give it all up. And when we go out into the world, nothing in the world can bind us.
The content of the training is to look to Christ, set Christ as the goal, and draw close to the heart of Christ. It is to give up the idea that we have to be as we please and fix our hearts on what Jesus would have done. Today Jesus is telling me to follow me.
To follow Jesus is, first, to deny yourself. ‘Consider it better’
To deny oneself is to put the interests of others above one's own. Happiness doesn't come from getting what we want. We raise our voices to get what we want, but what we get through it is contention. Conflict is war, not peace.
Is it okay to be trampled on, ignored, and to give up everything for the sake of peace? It's not like that. Protecting yourself, avoiding being despised, and setting your own center of gravity must come first. Loving your neighbor is not achieved by sacrificing yourself. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. He who does not love himself cannot love others. They demean themselves and fail to show respect for others. Only when you can deny yourself without hating yourself is what Jesus says, “denying yourself.”
Jesus said, “He was in the form of God, but did not consider equality with God to be robbery, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human form, and being found in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. God” (6-8), the Creator and ruler of the human kingdom, humbled Himself and became a man, obeying Him even to death on a cross. Did that hurt you against being the Son of God?
The Apostle Paul sends back Onesimus, a slave to Philemon, and asks him to forgive him. He is in a position to deal with Onesimus, a slave and fugitive, as he pleases, but he is to be tolerated. It is to do better with Onesimus, his co-worker. If Philemon received the gospel through Paul and truly acknowledges Paul as a teacher, then he should serve Onesimus, my co-worker, as if he were himself. His position is the master, but it is not easy to treat the servant as a teacher. Although Onesimus is still a slave to himself, it is only possible to completely empty himself to accept him and respect him by thinking of the grace he has received through Paul.
Paul's command brings a dramatic change. “Only in lowliness of mind, each esteeming others better than themselves” (verse 3), you can consider the other better by lowering your position to a lower level than the other rather than raising your status upward. A husband lowers his authority and exalts him by loving his wife. Parents have their own experience, but help them get down to the level of their children and not become enraged. A superior is a person who is responsible for everything, but he treats his subordinates with righteousness and fairness. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). If you do not believe that there is a reward that comes from giving yourself up, you cannot deny yourself. I pray that you will become saints who deny themselves with the faith that hopes for a greater reward.
Following Jesus is second, taking up one's cross. “Limits of Obedience”
“Being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (verse 8). The apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 2:18, “Servants, obey your masters in everything with fear, not only to the good and tolerant, but also to the demanding ones.” . Because if you don't obey, you're going to die. Why do we encourage obedience to those who are already in subjection? The Old Testament taught not to murder. But Jesus taught that hating for murder is murder. He emphasized not only the act of murder, but the inner spirit of murder.
A true servant spirit is a life of respect for others. This means that we must live in fear and trembling in front of God who knows even our hearts and thoughts, not in front of people who can only show our obsession. Unconditional love is possible only with the spirit of a true servant. We love our enemies, but we pray for those who persecute us. To the person who strikes the right cheek, the left cheek is also turned. Not by coming, but by the spirit of a servant who obeys the Word thoroughly.
Following Jesus is the third, following Jesus. ‘Serving’
In Romans 13:1, Paul said, 'Submit to the superior authorities,' but Peter said, 'We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard' (Acts 4:20), 'People Rather, we ought to obey God' (Acts 5:29). I am not talking about unconditional obedience, nor am I imposing absolute obedience. Following Jesus requires wisdom according to the times and circumstances. Discernment is possible through the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit can accurately discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. In the last days when evil things are rampant, the only ability to follow Jesus is to not give up on gathering like others, but to strive to gather more and to be filled with the Holy Spirit through prayer.
“I have washed your feet, as Lord and Teacher, and you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). What you have shown us does not become out of shape, but only through the fullness of the Holy Spirit we can bear it.
To “deny oneself” that frees you from relationships with others is to consider others better than yourself while maintaining your identity. For those who have authority but do not have spiritual authority, it is to ‘take up one’s cross’ by bearing not only outward submission but also inward submission through inner suffering, that is, tears of compassion for them, and prayer for new power and authority. Serving by following the example that Jesus personally set is possible only through the filling of the Holy Spirit. I pray that you will become a saint who is freed by the fullness of the Holy Spirit.