Title: To Follow Jesus / Matthew 16:24
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
In a narrow sense, it refers to believing in Jesus.
Broadly speaking, it is about how to live as a believer in Jesus.
In other words, we are talking about how we who believe in Jesus should live today.
In short, what are you saying?
It is telling us to have faith in the cross.
Most religions and movement groups have their own symbols.
The communists use the hammer and sickle as their symbol, Buddhism the swastika or the lotus flower, and Judaism the Star of David.
So, what is the symbol of Christianity?
It would undoubtedly be a cross. That is why crosses are towering above almost all church buildings, and various cross shapes and sculptures are also located in church buildings.
We also see the frequent use of the cross shape on Christian ornaments, such as cross necklaces, cross rings, and cross badges.
So, what is the true meaning of the cross?
Why is the cross so important to Christianity, and what does it have to do with Christians living today?
1. What does the cross mean?
① It refers to the wages of sin.
The cross is for sinners to carry and hang on to bear the sins they have committed.
Therefore, when we look at the cross and think, what should we always think about?
I have to think about the payment I have been paid for my sins.
(Romans 3:23) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
(Rom 6:23) The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The cross is the place where the sinless Jesus paid the price for the wages of my sins, who were sinners.
② It speaks of salvation from sin.
Then, whenever we think of this cross, what should we think of?
In this way, we must die for the wages of sin, but we must remember that Jesus, who had no sin, paid the price for our sins on the cross and made us alive, that is, that He saved us from our sins.
That's right.
He is without sin.
But the sinless man died on the cross.
What's the reason?
(1 Peter 3:18) Christ also died for sins once, the just for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
(Ephesians 2:16) And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, who destroyed enmity in the cross.
(Ephesians 2:17) And he came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near.
(Ephesians 2:18) That through him we both may have access to the Father in one Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:19) Therefore, from now on you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
We can go to God because Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross.
You have been given the blessing not only to be able to go before God, but also to go out and enjoy the things of God.
What is Cross Faith?
It is faith that gives thanks for the grace of salvation that the Lord saved me.
③ It means that you have fulfilled your mission.
Jesus prayed earnestly before being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
(Luke 22:42) He said, "Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me. But not as I will, but as you will."
Why did you pray like this?
To fulfill the mission entrusted to him.
What is its mission? It is to take up the cross. That is, He died on the cross for this work to save us.
What is Cross Faith?
It's about fulfilling your mission.
(Acts 20:24) I do not regard my life as of any value in the least in order to finish my course and the mission I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
④ It says that I will be despised and that I will die.
What does it mean to say that Jesus was crucified?
He has received the scorn we deserve.
that he died for us.
That's right.
What do we believe in the cross today?
I suffer the contempt and disrespect that others deserve, and the death that others deserve to die.
This is taking up the cross.
2. What are you telling me to do with this cross?
① You must be able to see the cross.
There was a large crowd following Jesus.
They saw with their own eyes the miracles and miracles Jesus performed, and they also experienced it firsthand.
However, when Jesus spoke about the purpose of his coming, he consistently left him.
When the people in John 6 experienced the miracle of five fish, they left Jesus when they said that Jesus was the living bread that came down from heaven.
In Matthew 16, when Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to be arrested and killed, we can see Peter interfering.
And in the end, the crowds who followed Jesus became the crowds who shouted that Jesus should be crucified.
As to why this happened,
They all only thought about glory, because they did not see the cross of Jesus who would suffer until there was that glory.
There is no glory without the cross.
But I always think of the glory without the cross.
Even today, we only thought about good things and blessings, but we do not see the cross behind them.
You should see the cross.
②You must know how to carry the cross.
Today's text tells us to take up the cross and follow me.
What does it mean to take up the cross?
Just as Jesus carried the cross of suffering and death to fulfill the mission entrusted to him, bearing the cross means that I will know and carry out the tasks entrusted to me as a mission with the same heart as the Lord.
In other words,
From the point of view of all the members of Happy Church, bearing the cross is what we need to build our church by gathering our hearts and faith in this difficult and difficult time.
Personally, all you have to do is take up your cross.
The Lord is telling his followers to take up their cross and follow me.
That is, everyone has a cross to bear.
However, the problem is that 'lost' is not so easy in itself.
It's hard.
Look. Doesn't Jesus fall and fall while carrying the cross?
It's heavy. It's hard.
But don't tell me to take it off, put it down and go.
A certain saint was living a very difficult life.
While I was living my life of faith, I was overcoming by faith, but it was very difficult.
One day I had a dream that she was dragging a large cross.
That's probably because he did many things in the church, such as the president of the Women's Evangelism Association, a Sunday School teacher, a deacon, a district manager, and a choir service.
As I was carrying the cross, I asked the Lord, 'Lord, please cut this cross, because it is too strong', and he cut it.
I went again and it was too hard, so I asked for another cut. At every turning point, he cut the cross he was carrying and saw the Jordan River in front of his eyes.
The people following them put down the cross they were carrying and crossed the Jordan River using it as a bridge.
But his cross was too small to fit in his hand, so he could not cross it.
Then this saint spoke to the Lord. 'Lord, I cannot cross the Jordan River'
Then the Lord said, 'What did I say, if you would come after me, didn't I tell you to take up your cross and follow me?
Then, after struggling, he woke up, and from then on, he carried the cross entrusted to him without saying a word.
Dear all!
The cross is given to all of us.
You must carry this cross. It's hard. You get ridiculed too. They are also despised. However, there is an indescribable glory when carrying this cross.
He gave us the cross called the church now. If we carry the cross well at this time, there is a wonderful blessing from God.
③ You must be able to brag about the cross.
(Galatians 6:14) But I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
What does boasting of the cross mean?
(1 Corinthians 1:23) We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.
Why?
(1 Corinthians 1:18) For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The cross becomes God's power to save people.
Our saints who have received the grace and love of God on the cross should boast of this cross.
We must do things that testify to Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected.
Why should I brag?
(Romans 10:13) Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Romans 10:14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
(Romans 10:15) How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that proclaim good news.
3. But what do we have to do to carry the cross?
It must be 'denying oneself'.
To deny oneself means to kill oneself and to give up oneself.
In order for us to look at the cross, to carry it, and to boast, it is impossible for me to become a wife.
I must not live.
I shouldn't show up.
I can hold on to the cross fully only when I have to endure being broken, humbled, damaged, and despised.
closing words
In this way, when we look at the cross, take up the cross, boast of the cross, and follow the Lord, it is hard and difficult at that time.
What does verse 27 say?
The Lord does not say that we do not know that we took up the cross and boasted of the cross, but He will surely repay us.
Let's take up our cross and follow the Lord.