The
first century Christians lived their lives with every step moving forward and
with every fiber of their being fighting for the heart of their King. Jesus had become the all consuming passion of
their lives, producing a dangerous
faith, full of raw power, and capable of choosing revolution over
compromise, peril over safety, and passion over lukewarm watered down
religion. They were called to live in
this world as citizens of an entirely different kingdom. The “Good News” can never be separated from
Jesus’ invitation to “Come; Follow Me”.
Jesus never lied about the danger or cost of being His disciple:
*
“I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matt. 10:1, NLT)
*
“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow Me.” (Lk. 9:23, NIV)
*
“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for Me, you will
find true life.” (Lk. 9:24, NLT)
*
“And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your
own soul in the process.” (Lk. 9:25, NLT)
*
“If you want to be My follower you must love Me more than your own father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, more than your own life. Otherwise,
you cannot be My disciple.” (Lk. 14:26, NLT)
*
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.”
(Lk. 9:27, NASB)
*
“So no one can become My disciple without giving up everything for Me.” (Lk.
9:33, NLT)
*
“A servant is not greater than his master.
If they persecuted Me, they will persecute You.” (Jn. 15:20, NKJV)
*
“When the world hates you, remember it hated Me before it hated you.” (Jn.
15:18, NLT)
* “Do
not love the world or the things in the world. If you love the world, the love
of the Father is not in you.” (1 Jn. 2:15, NCV)
First
century Christians loved God! This is not a simple platitude but a
life-changing fact. They had beheld His great love for them, and in this
“beholding” they had become loving, expressing God’s love through passionate sacrifice
and servant hood. They knew that love and sacrifice are inseparable in God’s
Kingdom... We need to know that too...
“If
anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself”: We must lay aside as the
world’s dung our desires and plans. We must make it our determined purpose to
know Him... ever pressing toward the high calling of intimately knowing Him.
“And take up his cross daily”: We must crucify our Self and Self’s self serving
interests daily that the implanted Christ-Life can germinate and spread like
yeast throughout our being. “And follow Me”: We must walk His narrow-gated
difficult way, our face set like a flint on things above... demonstrating our
love in passionate obedience... for without obedience there is no love. Deny...
Crucify... Follow... This is the “meat and potatoes” of Kingdom life, a life of
Dangerous Love and Addictive Faith...
JESUS
NEVER LIED ABOUT THE DANGER...
OR
COST...
OF
BEING HIS DISCIPLE
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