the cost of following jesus
How many of you have ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to do anything to gain it? How many of you have ever given up everything in your life to obtain one thing? Most people in this world have never experienced that kind of passion or desire about anything in their life. I am sure that there are many people in this world who have given almost everything for the love of a spouse or child, or maybe some have truly dedicated themselves to pursue a career or to make a large purchase like a house or college degree, but it is difficult to find people who have given up literally EVERYTHING to obtain ONE thing. I did that very thing years ago when I signed up to become a US Navy SEAL.
When I joined the military in 1990, there were no movies about Navy SEALs, and hardly anyone I knew could tell me anything about what it took to become a member of this elite organization. I saw a poster on the wall of the Navy recruitment office of Navy SEALs doing exciting things, and largely made my decision based upon that picture. Most people told me I was crazy for trying, and even my recruiter thought I should be looking into any other program in the Navy because he was certain that I would not be able to graduate the program. What I did know was that I would have to make a complete commitment to this plan if I was going to stand any chance of success. I sold everything I had, broke up with my fiancé at the time, said goodbye to my family, and told everyone I would be back in town when I was a Navy SEAL. I left no ties to this world that might dissuade me from my journey. I immersed my entire being into the program, and the only people that I associated myself with for the next year were those men who were with me on the journey. They became my family. They became my brothers. They were my encouragement and strength during times of struggles. Most importantly, I had set myself apart from anything in the world that might distract me from my goal or keep me from the finish line.
When we decide to follow Jesus Christ, He asks us to do the same thing for Him. The first thing we must do is understand who we are now and Who we want to become. I say “to become” because we are told in scripture that we are to be transformed into the image of Christ and be conformed to His Word. That is what it means to become a disciple of Jesus. Being a Christian and being a disciple of Jesus are the same thing because they both mean that we are seeking to become exactly like Him. First, we must understand that we are sinners and separated from God. Paul said in Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned.”
There once were two sinners. The first sinner knew that he was a sinner and was not following God, but he did not care. The second sinner believed he was a good person and did not need to obey God. Of the two sinners, who is more likely to come to Jesus in repentance while asking for His salvation? The first sinner obviously recognizes his delinquency, so he will be the one who will be able to see his need for forgiveness more easily. Once we understand that we are sinners in need of His salvation, we can take the next step to understanding Who God is.
The word “God” in Hebrew is Elohim, and includes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Together, they make up the Godhead. They are the supreme authority and power in all of creation and outside of creation for they are the One who created all things. The Father’s will reigns supreme as the Son does the will of the Father, and the Holy Spirit moves throughout all of creation manifesting the Father’s love, authority, power, and will. Before the Son of God became the Son of Man, Jesus, He was the Son of God living with the Father. He was the Word of God as described in John 1:1, and through Him and by Him all things were created. The Father sent the Son to become a man, so He might die for us because we are sinners. Jesus was that man, and if we receive His sacrificial gift, we can become one with the Father as Jesus is One with Him. For us to be positioned in a way that we can receive that gift, we must first meet some minimal requirements to become a disciple of Christ.
I had to meet some minimal qualifications to even attempt the Navy SEAL program. I had to sign a paper relinquishing my position of simply being a civilian in the United States of America. Instead, I was becoming a military member falling under the authority of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). I still had to answer to the civilian laws and the Constitution of the United States, but now I also had to follow the higher law of the UCMJ as well. I had physical and mental requirements I also had to meet before I could take a final oath and swear to uphold a higher order than all the other citizens in this nation. I had to familiarize myself with this new standard and obey the orders as written in the document. Once I agreed to the minimum standards for entry, I could pursue the even higher calling of becoming a Navy SEAL.
In Luke 9:20, Jesus asks His disciples, “But who do you say I am?” He wanted to make sure they knew He was the Son of God because they needed to know Who He was before they could truly commit to the higher calling that He was presenting to them. In verse 23-26, Jesus shared with the disciples the minimum standard of entry into His program, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.”
To follow Jesus, we must deny our old self, so we can be transformed into His image in the same way that I had to deny my civilian status to be transformed into a military fighting man. When He told them they would have to take up their cross, He was telling them they would have to suffer daily persecution. Jesus had not gone to the cross yet, so his disciples would not have understood the cross as meaning repentance and forgiveness. The Romans used crucifixion to kill slaves and rebels. It was used only on the lowest levels of society. Jesus was telling them they would daily suffer injustice under the feet of their oppressors. The gospel today leaves this important point out of Christ’s message. What do you think would happen to a Navy SEAL candidate when he first faced suffering or difficulty if he was never told about it before he signed up for the military? He would quit. I saw it happen. Why would a disciple of Jesus being enlisted under the banner or prosperity and abundance react any differently when difficulties and persecutions first come upon them?
Jesus said we must lose our life for “His” sake. People throughout history have shown great love by losing their life for the sake of others. I know military brothers who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom, and they should be remembered as heroes for their sacrifice as Jesus said in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.” If you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ though, you must lose your life “for My sake.” There is a Latin term “Pro Deo et patria” which means “for God and country.” God first and then country. In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus said the two greatest commandments were “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” To be a disciple of Christ, we must make God our priority.
The prosperity message preached today also avoids the statement by Jesus when He said, “For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself?” Seeking the things of this world might lead to temporary happiness, but what happiness is there when we die and leave this world? Jesus also said if we are ashamed of Him and His words, He will be ashamed of us. If you hear the Holy Spirit speak to you to share the gospel with someone and you do not do it for fear of reprisal or simply because your pride is threatened, are you being ashamed of Him? Think about it.
Once we have met the minimum standards by identifying ourselves as sinners and understanding Who God is so we can receive His gift of salvation, we can look forward to the higher calling of Christ in our lives. We are not meant to simply sit back and relax now that we are disciples of Jesus. What do you think would happen to someone in the military if they decided that just joining was good enough for them? What if they wanted to be in the military, but they did not want to go to bootcamp, wear a uniform, cut their hair, or follow any of the other rules according to the UCMJ? They would not only be kicked out of the military, but they could face time in a military prison, especially during a time of war. It is our responsibility to diligently seek Him to deepen our understanding of Him, so we might know Him. It is also vital that our relationship with Him deepens so that He might know us.
One of the first steps we must take is to prepare a place for Him to reside within us. If we want to know God as intimately as possible, we must have Him inside of us. We must be freed of sin so the Spirit of Christ might have us as a dwelling place. James 1:14-15 says, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.” We need to ask Jesus to remove any conceived sin from us along with any evil spirits or demons who might be holding us in bondage. After He removes the sin and unclean spirits from us, we must ask for the Spirit of Christ to come and abide in us. This will prevent the enemy from being able to return to us because Jesus will place a NO VACANCY sign on our heart. Should we be enticed by our own lust and temptation, it will not be able to be conceived in us because there will be “no room at the inn” for it. The Spirit of Christ will be taking all the rooms for Himself. Now we will belong to Him as it says in Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” The enemy cannot have what belongs to Jesus.
To make sure that we remain His, it would be wise for us to take a couple more steps to ensure our footing is on solid ground and not shifting sands. Jesus wanted to be very clear about our role as His disciples when it comes to forgiveness. In Matthew 18, Jesus tells the disciples a parable about a slave who was forgiven a great debt by his master only to go out and beat a fellow slave to make him pay back a small debt owed to the unforgiving slave. When the master found out about it, he had the unforgiving slave thrown in prison until he paid back his large debt that once had been forgiven him. Jesus was sharing this parable with His disciples, not the masses, so when He said, “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart,” He was speaking to those who had already answered His call and believed in Him. In fact, Peter had already confirmed that they believed that Jesus was the Son of God in Matthew 16. Jesus had already told Peter that He was going to give Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and He was going to build His church upon him. Peter was the one asking the question that led into the parable by asking Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?” He was letting His disciples know that their forgiveness was directly related to how they forgave others. He was letting the twelve know what was being expected of them as His disciples. The Father was holding them to a very high standard. We must ask the Father to show us anything harmful within ourselves like unforgiveness that we might not even be aware of so that He can remove it from us.
If this is starting to seem like too daunting of a task, be encouraged. In Luke 7, a woman who was known to be a sinner, fell at the feet of Jesus and washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and poured a costly perfume on them. Jesus said, “For this reason. I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much.” Jesus is not saying that everyone who is forgiven much will love much as evident in the parable of the slave who was forgiven much but did not forgive little. He is saying those who recognize the greatness of their sin have the potential for much love. They have the appreciation for their forgiveness that requires absolute sorrow and repentance at the feet of Jesus. This type of person God will use mightily because they know how to love God and others in the same way they were shown the love of Jesus through His forgiveness. They will love and forgive others in the same way that God has forgiven them.
There are some disciples of Jesus who have been serving Him for many years. They might be so removed from their sinful past that it is difficult to remember who they once were. That is awesome news if they do not lose their gratitude for the great amount of forgiveness they once received. It is helpful to share our testimony of how Jesus saved us as often as possible, so we do not forget to show forgiveness and mercy in the same way we were shown forgiveness and mercy. We do not want to go before the Father at the end of our life here on earth to be told that He cannot forgive us because we did not forgive others. We should always seek the humility of Jesus in our life to keep any self-righteousness far from us.
Finally, my brothers and sisters, I urge you to establish a time every day to seek the face of God. Set aside a secret place where there are not distractions from the world around us and fall on your face before Him as the woman did who washed His feet with her tears. Call out to Him and diligently seek Him. There are many scriptures that speak of God’s faithfulness to reward those who seek Him by allowing them to find Him. We were created to love God, to seek Him above everything else, to seek His will, to know Him so He might know us, and to bring Him glory by the way we live our lives.
You can read more about this and other truths by obtaining a copy of “Prodigal to Prince” by Beau Walsh at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com.
