Requirements of Service “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) Christ never distorted the matter of service. In fact He seemed to emphasize the hardships more than the rewards. But in our day we do just the opposite. We talk only of the rewards and do not tell about the hardship of serving the Lord. This results in a lot of spiritual dropouts. In our verse Christ gives three ingredients for service. Three words sum it up—deny, cross, follow. Deny. “Let him deny himself.” If you are going to do any kind of worthy service for the Lord, it will involve denial of self. This is where many quickly drop out. They cannot deny themselves for spiritual matters. They do not want to have to sacrifice or go without in order to serve Christ. Try enlisting these folk in service at church, and they will refuse because it might inconvenience them or cause them to have to sacrifice some time and energy which they would rather give to carnal pursuits. To hear these folk talk, it seems almost a crime to have to deny oneself of some legitimate pleasure in order to do some work at church. But self-denial is essential if you would serve Christ. Cross. “Take up his cross.” The cross is our work, our task, our job. That was the main work of Christ. He came to earth primarily to die on the cross for our sins. If we would serve Him, it will mean a cross of some sort. A cross involves suffering, pain, mocking, blood, sweat, and tears. Many like to be in God’s army when it involves a parade, recognition, and medals. But when the cross is involved, that is too big a price, so they drop out and go home. Follow. “Follow me.” You cannot serve Christ well if you do not follow Him well. Follow means you will go wherever Christ goes. And note there is nothing between “follow” and “me.” This suggests that to follow Christ means you must be devoted to Christ. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). If your devotion to Christ is lacking you will fail in service.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 08:49:45 +0000
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