Do You Want to Follow Jesus?

Was Jesus just a good man?

Mark 8:34 (NET) Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it. 36 For what benefit is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his life? 37 What can a person give in exchange for his life? 38 For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Can we say, “Jesus was a good man,” without saying, “Jesus is God?”

No.

We can’t say with any degree of integrity, “I agree he was a good man, but not the God of the universe.”

Why – because, he said he was God! He said, “I and the Father are One!” He said, “Before Abraham came into existence, ‘I AM!'” Those were bold claims to deity.

He also allowed his followers to refer to him as the Christ. When he asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responded without being corrected, “You are the Christ.”

To say, “I am God,” and not be, disqualifies him as a good man. Either he is who he says he is, the God of the universe, or he is evil. All other options are closed.

The choice is twofold. Accept him as God or reject him as a madman and a demon. (for a more thorough treatment of this idea, check out Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis) 

If you choose to follow him, there are three requirements

1. Deny yourself
2. Take up your cross
3. Follow him

Deny yourself. Place his priorities before our own. Acknowledge him as Lord of your life. Place your life at his disposal.

Take up your cross. Lift the legitimate burdens that come as a result of choosing to follow him. Not all burdens are legitimate. Not all burdens are from him. Discern the difference and lift the one’s he gives.

Follow him. He has designed you for a purpose. He has given you interests, gifts, talents and opportunities that uniquely qualify you to fulfill a mission he has designed you to fulfill – to live a life he has designed you to live. As you follow him in the mission, in the life he has designed you to live, you will find life.

Life follows Mission

He says, if you want to live a life of meaning, lose your life in the mission he assigns. Live the life he designed you to live. In that way, you will save your life. It will be a life worth living.

If you spend your life in self-seeking and self-fulfillment, you forfeit it. If you decide, “It’s all about me,” you will ultimately give in to your addictions and unfulfilling passions.