PART I
That's what He meant when He said we must deny ourselves and follow Him. We don't know where He will lead us or know God laid out a plan for our whole life at salvation but must be willing to do His will, whatever it is in the complete surrender of our wills to His. Jesus also said that we must love Him preeminently above family, friends, children, spouse, and even self. In the last days, men will be lovers of themselves (cf. 2 Tim. 3:2), or "looking out for number one!"
Jesus did everything He could to discourage insincere followers and make salvation "well-nigh impossible." But it is worth the cost to follow Jesus through thick and thin and the reward is eternal. The more abundant life we experience begins in the here and now, as we live in light of eternity with God's blessing in all we do in His name. True prosperity isn't necessarily higher income, not even fame, or power. What being prosperous entails is God's blessings on our ventures and helping us to find what He will bless us in. The disciples were inquisitive about what their reward would be since they gave up everything to follow Him, and Jesus said that it would multiply not add (like ten times, instead of ten more).
Jesus had no trouble attracting admirers or people who wanted to be buddies or sidekicks, but He was looking for disciples who would devote their lives to the learning of Him and be following Him--this is what He meant by those who worship God in Spirit and in truth. Jesus said that if we abide in His Word we are disciples indeed (cf. John 8:31). Don't be someone to whom Jesus might say, "You have sacrificed nothing!" This is an awful rebuke of a disobedient life, and some believers may be saved as if by fire and by the skin of the teeth, so to speak.
The reward that we strive for is everlasting and we should be inspired by athletes who make great sacrifices and strive for a temporal prize that fades away. One of the metaphors that Christ uses for the believer is one of an athlete--we are to exercise discipline in our life and set our eyes on Jesus and finish the race He has set before us. If athletes can endure the discipline and think it will be worth a temporal prize, so much the more should we be inspired to make sacrifices for eternal prizes in Christ's kingdom, and even the ultimate sacrifice, because we are considered worthy to suffer for His kingdom (cf. Philippians 1:29).
The prize we seek is worth more than anything on earth and we should be willing to sacrifice anything on earth to gain it--God doesn't ask everyone to make great sacrifices, but He does expect them to be willing to do so. Nothing on earth (fame, fortune, power) is worth losing our soul for and Jesus said succinctly (cf. Mark 8:36), "What shall it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" One soul is worth more to God than the entire world! You cannot put a price on salvation nor on the joy that a believer has in Christ.
Jesus never made it seem easy to be a bed of roses to be a believer and admonished us to count the cost, but "all these things shall be added" unto us if we follow Christ. The problem with most seekers is that they want the benefits without the Benefactor. We are not to get a martyr's complex either, thinking that the more we suffer, the more spiritual we are, or that we gain salvation through suffering or martyrdom--Jesus isn't calling us to die for him but to take up our cross and follow Him regardless of the results and through thick and thin. We are called to deny ourselves and this is the unique sacrifice of Christianity, and the one that makes it unattractive to some, because they are unwilling to heed Christ's "hard sayings." When we suffer for His sake, we shall in His glory--no cross--no glory!
PART II
"You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder" (James 2:19, NIV).
"Believe in the Lord [i.e., accepting his lordship or ownership] Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31, NIV).
"...' Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37, NIV).
A. W. Tozer wrote a book, I Call It Hersey, to debunk the false notion of easy-believism (i.e., not accepting Christ as Lord of one's life but believing in spite of it) or cheap grace (i.e., forgiveness without repentance, justifying the sin, not the sinner!), as Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to it as. This message of domesticating and dumbing down the call to lordship is the gospel in vogue in modern, mainstream denominational churches who disregard repentance and, its flip side, faith as the only means of salvation. William Booth warned of a church offering forgiveness without repentance!
We must have a penitent faith or believing repentance as it were. Salvation is indeed free, but not cheap--it costs everything we've got (total surrender of self to His will). The propagators of the easy-believism tend to preach that we don't have to obey Christ to be saved--just believe! This is not accepting Him as our Lord. Christ will not dichotomize His offices and personhood.
We must submit to Him as Lord and trust Him as Savior. We cannot accept a half-Christ. He is Lord of all, or not at all! (Cf. Rom. 10:12; Acts 10:36). We must bow to His authority (cf. Phil. 2:10-11) and ownership over our lives as the "Captain of our soul and Master of our fate" (cf. Invictus by William Ernest Henley)--we must release control of our life. In other words, our destiny is in His hands (cf. Job 23:14) and we must openly confess Him as our Lord before men to confirm our salvation (cf. Rom. 10:9-10; Matt. 10:32-33). There are no secret Christians or closet believers. There are also no Lone Ranger ones or solitary saints--we must all get connected with the body to function and grow.
Now there is no such thing as a carnal Christian as a class of believers, though believers can become carnal or lose their fellowship, backsliding or even falling from grace. Christians do disobey God, though they do not continue in it, for God disciplines them and brings them back into the fold. If we are without discipline, we are not real children of God! Blessed are those who have learned to be rebuked by the Scripture and don't need a school of hard knocks to learn lives Reality 101. "The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all" (Psalm 34:19, NIV).
God is looking for believers with gusto, who are gung-ho for the Lord, not halfhearted! We must seek Him with our whole heart to find Him, for God regards not triflers. It was said of Joshua (cf. 14:8) that he "wholly followed the Lord." We must hold nothing back, making no compromises with the world, for if we love the world or the things of the world, we will not love God (cf. 1 John 2:15). We must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (cf. Mark 8:34). Jesus never made it sound easy to be saved, but even discouraged halfhearted "disciples."
We, also, must not contextualize or water down the gospel message to lure or entice folks with an "acceptable" gospel they can swallow or handle without offense (but Christ is the Rock of offense and a Stone of stumbling!).
Some people merely pay lip service or go through the motions, memorizing the Dance of the Pious, in their worship--which is a fraud and a sham, not the real thing--this is Churchianity or playing games with the church, not Christianity. The Bible condemns those whose lips are near but their hearts are far from the Lord only doing their religious "duty" in church, not out of the heart. Lukewarm believers are ones who are not walking with the Lord and need Christ in their heart to be a real encounter with Him.
The only genuine test of faith is obedience and "only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yes, there's a cost to discipleship and no one is promised a bed of roses--our reward is not in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14), for the Lord is our portion (cf. Gen. 15:1)!
Our faith is not measured by our ecstasies or encounters, even experiences such as visions and dreams, but only by our obedience (cf. Heb. 3:18-19)! Jesus will say that we are merely good and faithful servants at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). Yes, the cost is great and it's a life of sacrifice of self--not living for oneself--but the cost of rejection is greater!
PART III
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (cf. The Cost of Discipleship) the famous martyred Lutheran Nazi resistor, talked about "cheap grace." Our salvation is free, but it costs everything. "Easy-believism" refers to belief without commitment and lordship. We must accept Christ as the lord of our lives and the center of our being.
Simple acquiescence or agreement is not enough; one must believe in one's heart and decide to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus said, "Take up your cross, deny yourself and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24).
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, regretted that the twentieth century would usher in Christianity without Christ and faith without repentance. Your head belief must travel 18 inches to your heart to be heart belief. True faith loves Jesus and is a living relationship with Him.
Repentance is the flip side of faith and goes hand in hand with it. They compliment each other and need each other--they are different viewpoints. We are to leave the fundamentals of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. To get assurance we must examine our hearts and look at the fruit of our lives. The Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit will bring assurance of true faith.
Don't let anyone tell you that it is easy to become a Christian. Sure children can get saved but one must receive it as a child even if one is old. Jesus said to enter at the "narrow gate" for narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life and "few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14). Many preachers say, "Just believe! It's easy!" but the Holy Spirit must be working in the person's heart to convict them (John 16:8) and draw them to Christ (John 6:44). Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
God gets all the glory and we are not the captain of our souls or the master of our fate--our ultimate destiny is in the hands of God. Arminians think this makes God look like a terrible tyrant, but in reality, He is sovereign over all. Soli Deo Gloria!
God is looking for believers with gusto, who are gung-ho for the Lord, not halfhearted! We must seek Him with our whole heart to find Him, for God regards not triflers. It was said of Joshua (cf. 14:8) that he "wholly followed the Lord." We must hold nothing back, making no compromises with the world, for if we love the world or the things of the world, we will not love God (cf. 1 John 2:15). We must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (cf. Mark 8:34). Jesus never made it sound easy to be saved, but even discouraged halfhearted "disciples."
We, also, must not contextualize or water down the gospel message to lure or entice folks with an "acceptable" gospel they can swallow or handle without offense (but Christ is the Rock of offense and a Stone of stumbling!).
Some people merely pay lip service or go through the motions, memorizing the Dance of the Pious, in their worship--which is a fraud and a sham, not the real thing--this is Churchianity or playing games with the church, not Christianity. The Bible condemns those whose lips are near but their hearts are far from the Lord only doing their religious "duty" in church, not out of the heart. Lukewarm believers are ones who are not walking with the Lord and need Christ in their heart to be a real encounter with Him.
The only genuine test of faith is obedience and "only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yes, there's a cost to discipleship and no one is promised a bed of roses--our reward is not in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14), for the Lord is our portion (cf. Gen. 15:1)!
Our faith is not measured by our ecstasies or encounters, even experiences such as visions and dreams, but only by our obedience (cf. Heb. 3:18-19)! Jesus will say that we are merely good and faithful servants at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10). Yes, the cost is great and it's a life of sacrifice of self--not living for oneself--but the cost of rejection is greater!
PART III
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, (cf. The Cost of Discipleship) the famous martyred Lutheran Nazi resistor, talked about "cheap grace." Our salvation is free, but it costs everything. "Easy-believism" refers to belief without commitment and lordship. We must accept Christ as the lord of our lives and the center of our being.
Simple acquiescence or agreement is not enough; one must believe in one's heart and decide to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus said, "Take up your cross, deny yourself and follow Me" (Matt. 16:24).
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, regretted that the twentieth century would usher in Christianity without Christ and faith without repentance. Your head belief must travel 18 inches to your heart to be heart belief. True faith loves Jesus and is a living relationship with Him.
Repentance is the flip side of faith and goes hand in hand with it. They compliment each other and need each other--they are different viewpoints. We are to leave the fundamentals of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. To get assurance we must examine our hearts and look at the fruit of our lives. The Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit will bring assurance of true faith.
Don't let anyone tell you that it is easy to become a Christian. Sure children can get saved but one must receive it as a child even if one is old. Jesus said to enter at the "narrow gate" for narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life and "few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:14). Many preachers say, "Just believe! It's easy!" but the Holy Spirit must be working in the person's heart to convict them (John 16:8) and draw them to Christ (John 6:44). Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
God gets all the glory and we are not the captain of our souls or the master of our fate--our ultimate destiny is in the hands of God. Arminians think this makes God look like a terrible tyrant, but in reality, He is sovereign over all. Soli Deo Gloria!
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