February 13, 2025 • 11 mins
We live in a self-love culture today. But Jesus is always counter culture. Should we only love ourself, or is there something else to being a follower of Jesus?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, Mark, Thanks for joining me today on Words of Truth,
where I teach the simple truths of the Bible with
the hope of helping you to grow in your faith
and for some to find faith in Jesus Christ. We've
been living in kind of a self love culture that's
consumed with self esteem, feeling good about yourself, thinking you're important,
(00:26):
thinking you're valuable, thinking you're a hero, thinking you've achieved something,
thinking you're worthy of honor. Oh, we're drowning in awards
for everything imaginable and unimaginable. Parents are consumed with boosting
the egos of their children with every imaginable means, as
(00:50):
well as boosting their own sense of self value. We
live in a generation of self lovers, a generation that
has turned pride into the vertu of all virtues. Who
are in love with themselves and who seek to fulfill
every whim and every desire and every ambition and every
dream and every hope, who seek to be everything they
(01:13):
can be, and who seek to set value on all
that they are and all that they say and all
that they do. Wow. But Jesus actually confronts that culture
in Luke chapter nine and verse twenty three, when he says,
if anyone would come after me, listen, now, let him
(01:35):
deny himself and tyke take up his cross daily and
follow me forever. Who would save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
In other words, if you want to be a follower
of Christ, and if you want to be his disciple,
(01:58):
and if you want to follow him into his kingdom,
and if you want his forgiveness which leads to eternal life,
then Jesus said that we need to deny ourselves and
take up our cross and follow him. Now that's kind
of the opposite of all the self love this world
is talking about, isn't it. When Jesus spoke those words,
(02:20):
everybody knew what Jesus meant. In the Roman world, before
a man died on a cross, he had to carry
his cross to the place of execution. When the Romans
crucified a criminal, they didn't just hang him on a cross,
but they first hung across on him. And carrying across
(02:42):
always led to death. No one carried across for fun,
and in fact it was such a brutal death that
no one wore a little cross necklace around their neck.
The first hearers of this message didn't need any explanation
of the cross, because they knew that it was an
unrelenting instrument of torture, death and humiliation. If someone took
(03:07):
up his cross, he never came back. He was a
one way journey, and it means that absolutely no one
in the world would take up across willingly. But here
Jesus said that if anyone wanted to follow him, they
had to voluntarily take up their cross. Now what does
(03:27):
that mean, Well, tell you what it doesn't mean. It
doesn't mean that we choose our way to die a
living death as followers of Christ. But it means that
as those unchosen circumstances come into our lives, we can
choose to bear them as a way to daily die
for Jesus glory. I probably need to say here that
(03:51):
I've heard people say that when they have a difficult
thing in their life, they'll say things like, well, that's
just my cross to bear. And you know when they say,
they're talking about a difficult mother in law, or a
hard to work with boss, or an angry husband. But
that is not the cross Jesus so oldest to bear,
(04:11):
but rather a commitment to Christ means to daily give
up your hopes, your dreams, your possessions, and even your
very life if need be, for the cause of Christ.
Here's some questions that you can ask yourself that might
help you to clarify the issue. Are you willing to
(04:31):
follow Jesus if it means losing your closest friend. Are
you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from
your family? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it
means losing your reputation. Are you willing to follow Jesus
(04:52):
if it means losing your job. Are you willing to
follow Jesus if it means losing your life? You see,
that's what it means to take up your cross daily,
and that sure pokes a hole in the thinking of
this me generation, doesn't it. And then Jesus continues by saying,
(05:13):
let him deny himself. Now, these two ideas of taking
up your cross and denying yourself, we're almost saying the
same thing. The cross wasn't about self promotion or self
affirmation for sure. In fact, the person carrying the cross
knew they could not save themselves and that it was
their destiny to die. You see, denying yourself means to
(05:37):
live in others centered life, and that self is denied
and destined to die. Now, Jesus was the only one
who could do that perfectly. But we're commanded to follow
his example, and we're to do it daily. You can
only die in a cross once, but Jesus says we're
(06:00):
to deny ourselves and take up our Christ's cross every day.
And then in verse twenty four, Jesus makes this amazing statement,
for whoever desires to save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Someone whos said that you will never live until you
(06:21):
walk to your death with Jesus, And that's so true.
You can gain resurrection life without dying first. In fact,
I should repeat that you cannot gain resurrection life without
dying first. In fact, this is a strong promise of
(06:41):
the after life. You see, if there wasn't life after death,
then this statement doesn't make any sense at all. Let
me picture this for you. When you play it a
seed in the ground, you don't lose that seed, right,
you can't see it. I kind of think gets lost.
(07:01):
But the truth is you're setting it free to be
what it was always intended to be. Jesus said, for
what profit is it if a man gains the whole world?
You see, when we decide not to walk to death
with Jesus, we might gain the whole world but end
(07:23):
up losing everything. I often think of this when I
hear about celebrities, for example, who die. Some of them
have lived in the spotlight of this world for most
of their lives. They buy multiple houses and boats and
luxury cars. They have the admiration of people when they
walk down the street. Maybe they even have a star
(07:44):
on a sidewalk. But many of them have only lived
for themselves and their own fame and their own prosperity,
and haven't given much of a thought about God or
the afterlife. And then when they die and it's all
left behind, and all they're left with is an eternity
(08:05):
without God, all alone in a dark pit. And then
there are people who think that to live for Jesus,
they have to give up all the fun they have
in life, and they should just live some kind of
a morbid, sad existence. Oh man, I want to tell
you that living as an other centered person doesn't take
(08:29):
away from our lives, but it adds to it, the
happiest and most fulfilled people on earth are those who
have been given their lives completely to Jesus Christ. And
then Jesus ties all of this together when he says
in verse twenty six, for whoever is ashamed of me
(08:50):
and my words of him, the son of man will
be ashamed when he comes in his own glory. You know,
it isn't easy to walk along death row with Jesus.
It means we have to associate with somebody who's despised
and rejected by men. But Jesus said that if we're
ashamed of him, that he'll be ashamed of us. You see,
(09:13):
this is a radical call to allegiance. This is a
call to worship. We can maybe see why some people
would be ashamed of Jesus during his earthly ministry. I mean,
he was crucified, but it's amazing that some people are
ashamed of him today. I mean, Jesus shows us his
(09:34):
sacrificial love, He demonstrated his resurrection power, He ascended to
heaven in the sight of five hundred people. Who could
be ashamed of that. You see, the ashamed person is
the person who actually believes. Because you can't be ashamed
of something that you don't believe in. But being ashamed
(09:58):
means you don't want to he's seen in public together.
It means you don't want to talk about him. It
means you want to avoid him if possible. And some
people are ashamed out of fear. Some people are ashamed
out of social pressure, or even out of intellectual or
(10:19):
cultural pride. But Jesus said in verse twenty seven, there
are some standing here who shall not taste death until
they see the kingdom of God. After an extreme call
to follow Jesus, he adds this wonderful promise. Those who
deny themselves and take up their cross daily aren't ashamed
(10:41):
of him and find that the end isn't death at all,
but it's to live forever with God and his kingdom.
And so today I wonder if you're living only for
yourself or are you denying yourself and living for Jesus.
It's only those who Jews to live for Jesus who
(11:01):
experience real life. The rest is just smoking mirrors. There's
really no life without Jesus. Thanks for living listening. I
hope this helps pass it along to somebody else, And
I'll see you next time.
Hi, Mark, Thanks for joining me today on Words of Truth,
where I teach the simple truths of the Bible with
the hope of helping you to grow in your faith
and for some to find faith in Jesus Christ. We've
been living in kind of a self love culture that's
consumed with self esteem, feeling good about yourself, thinking you're important,
(00:26):
thinking you're valuable, thinking you're a hero, thinking you've achieved something,
thinking you're worthy of honor. Oh, we're drowning in awards
for everything imaginable and unimaginable. Parents are consumed with boosting
the egos of their children with every imaginable means, as
(00:50):
well as boosting their own sense of self value. We
live in a generation of self lovers, a generation that
has turned pride into the vertu of all virtues. Who
are in love with themselves and who seek to fulfill
every whim and every desire and every ambition and every
dream and every hope, who seek to be everything they
(01:13):
can be, and who seek to set value on all
that they are and all that they say and all
that they do. Wow. But Jesus actually confronts that culture
in Luke chapter nine and verse twenty three, when he says,
if anyone would come after me, listen, now, let him
(01:35):
deny himself and tyke take up his cross daily and
follow me forever. Who would save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
In other words, if you want to be a follower
of Christ, and if you want to be his disciple,
(01:58):
and if you want to follow him into his kingdom,
and if you want his forgiveness which leads to eternal life,
then Jesus said that we need to deny ourselves and
take up our cross and follow him. Now that's kind
of the opposite of all the self love this world
is talking about, isn't it. When Jesus spoke those words,
(02:20):
everybody knew what Jesus meant. In the Roman world, before
a man died on a cross, he had to carry
his cross to the place of execution. When the Romans
crucified a criminal, they didn't just hang him on a cross,
but they first hung across on him. And carrying across
(02:42):
always led to death. No one carried across for fun,
and in fact it was such a brutal death that
no one wore a little cross necklace around their neck.
The first hearers of this message didn't need any explanation
of the cross, because they knew that it was an
unrelenting instrument of torture, death and humiliation. If someone took
(03:07):
up his cross, he never came back. He was a
one way journey, and it means that absolutely no one
in the world would take up across willingly. But here
Jesus said that if anyone wanted to follow him, they
had to voluntarily take up their cross. Now what does
(03:27):
that mean, Well, tell you what it doesn't mean. It
doesn't mean that we choose our way to die a
living death as followers of Christ. But it means that
as those unchosen circumstances come into our lives, we can
choose to bear them as a way to daily die
for Jesus glory. I probably need to say here that
(03:51):
I've heard people say that when they have a difficult
thing in their life, they'll say things like, well, that's
just my cross to bear. And you know when they say,
they're talking about a difficult mother in law, or a
hard to work with boss, or an angry husband. But
that is not the cross Jesus so oldest to bear,
(04:11):
but rather a commitment to Christ means to daily give
up your hopes, your dreams, your possessions, and even your
very life if need be, for the cause of Christ.
Here's some questions that you can ask yourself that might
help you to clarify the issue. Are you willing to
(04:31):
follow Jesus if it means losing your closest friend. Are
you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from
your family? Are you willing to follow Jesus if it
means losing your reputation. Are you willing to follow Jesus
(04:52):
if it means losing your job. Are you willing to
follow Jesus if it means losing your life? You see,
that's what it means to take up your cross daily,
and that sure pokes a hole in the thinking of
this me generation, doesn't it. And then Jesus continues by saying,
(05:13):
let him deny himself. Now, these two ideas of taking
up your cross and denying yourself, we're almost saying the
same thing. The cross wasn't about self promotion or self
affirmation for sure. In fact, the person carrying the cross
knew they could not save themselves and that it was
their destiny to die. You see, denying yourself means to
(05:37):
live in others centered life, and that self is denied
and destined to die. Now, Jesus was the only one
who could do that perfectly. But we're commanded to follow
his example, and we're to do it daily. You can
only die in a cross once, but Jesus says we're
(06:00):
to deny ourselves and take up our Christ's cross every day.
And then in verse twenty four, Jesus makes this amazing statement,
for whoever desires to save his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Someone whos said that you will never live until you
(06:21):
walk to your death with Jesus, And that's so true.
You can gain resurrection life without dying first. In fact,
I should repeat that you cannot gain resurrection life without
dying first. In fact, this is a strong promise of
(06:41):
the after life. You see, if there wasn't life after death,
then this statement doesn't make any sense at all. Let
me picture this for you. When you play it a
seed in the ground, you don't lose that seed, right,
you can't see it. I kind of think gets lost.
(07:01):
But the truth is you're setting it free to be
what it was always intended to be. Jesus said, for
what profit is it if a man gains the whole world?
You see, when we decide not to walk to death
with Jesus, we might gain the whole world but end
(07:23):
up losing everything. I often think of this when I
hear about celebrities, for example, who die. Some of them
have lived in the spotlight of this world for most
of their lives. They buy multiple houses and boats and
luxury cars. They have the admiration of people when they
walk down the street. Maybe they even have a star
(07:44):
on a sidewalk. But many of them have only lived
for themselves and their own fame and their own prosperity,
and haven't given much of a thought about God or
the afterlife. And then when they die and it's all
left behind, and all they're left with is an eternity
(08:05):
without God, all alone in a dark pit. And then
there are people who think that to live for Jesus,
they have to give up all the fun they have
in life, and they should just live some kind of
a morbid, sad existence. Oh man, I want to tell
you that living as an other centered person doesn't take
(08:29):
away from our lives, but it adds to it, the
happiest and most fulfilled people on earth are those who
have been given their lives completely to Jesus Christ. And
then Jesus ties all of this together when he says
in verse twenty six, for whoever is ashamed of me
(08:50):
and my words of him, the son of man will
be ashamed when he comes in his own glory. You know,
it isn't easy to walk along death row with Jesus.
It means we have to associate with somebody who's despised
and rejected by men. But Jesus said that if we're
ashamed of him, that he'll be ashamed of us. You see,
(09:13):
this is a radical call to allegiance. This is a
call to worship. We can maybe see why some people
would be ashamed of Jesus during his earthly ministry. I mean,
he was crucified, but it's amazing that some people are
ashamed of him today. I mean, Jesus shows us his
(09:34):
sacrificial love, He demonstrated his resurrection power, He ascended to
heaven in the sight of five hundred people. Who could
be ashamed of that. You see, the ashamed person is
the person who actually believes. Because you can't be ashamed
of something that you don't believe in. But being ashamed
(09:58):
means you don't want to he's seen in public together.
It means you don't want to talk about him. It
means you want to avoid him if possible. And some
people are ashamed out of fear. Some people are ashamed
out of social pressure, or even out of intellectual or
(10:19):
cultural pride. But Jesus said in verse twenty seven, there
are some standing here who shall not taste death until
they see the kingdom of God. After an extreme call
to follow Jesus, he adds this wonderful promise. Those who
deny themselves and take up their cross daily aren't ashamed
(10:41):
of him and find that the end isn't death at all,
but it's to live forever with God and his kingdom.
And so today I wonder if you're living only for
yourself or are you denying yourself and living for Jesus.
It's only those who Jews to live for Jesus who
(11:01):
experience real life. The rest is just smoking mirrors. There's
really no life without Jesus. Thanks for living listening. I
hope this helps pass it along to somebody else, And
I'll see you next time.
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