Yours truly did not seek for material rewards, position, power, prestige, popularity, pleasure on planet earth, and with our group God save the World, never asked, collected, received, required of others any tithe, offering, donation, or contribution from anyone, not a single dime, and we have to work with our weary hands to earn our bread, but God granted me favor on Dec. 3, 1978, when yours truly surrendered my life to Him in Jesus name and all these things were added as well. Matthew 6:33--Jesus’ followers must settle the question of priorities and make the Kingdom of God their primary concern. To do that, we must consistently honor and represent the Kingdom. Then the way we deal with family, friends, work, leisure, etc., will all be transformed. What is most important to you? People, objects, goals, money, pleasure, and other desires all compete for priority. Any of these can quickly bump God out of first place if you don’t actively choose to give him first place in every area of life. Strangely enough, when you get your priorities right, Jesus promised that God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him. When Jesus’ followers seek his Kingdom first, God takes care of their needs. Philippians 4:19 - 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20 Now glory be to God our Father forever and ever. Amen.-- The same God who had taken care of Paul would also supply all their needs. The Philippian church was not wealthy. God had met Paul’s need through the generosity of the Philippian church. God would more than repay that generosity by supplying the need of the Philippian church. Not only would God supply all their needs, but he would do it from his glorious riches. Believers cannot begin to comprehend God’s riches in glory—his riches are limitless, infinite. If it is from that storehouse that believers’ needs are met, then the Philippian believers could rest assured that God would indeed meet every need, no matter how large, desperate, or hopeless it seemed. - Self-Denial Matthew 16:22-24 ---Jesus Predicts His Death 21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day. 22 But Peter took him aside and corrected him. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. 25 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. 26 And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul* in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? 27 For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. 28 And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom. ---This was too much for Peter. Having just confessed his heartfelt belief in Jesus, Peter certainly found it most unnerving that the king would soon be put to death. So he took Jesus aside and corrected him. Peter sought to protect Jesus from the suffering he prophesied. But if Jesus hadn’t suffered and died, Peter would have died in his sins. Great temptations can come from those who love us and seek to protect us. Be cautious of advice from a friend who says, “Surely God doesn’t want you to face this.” Often our most difficult temptations come from those who try to protect us from discomfort. In his wilderness temptations, Jesus had been told that he could achieve greatness without dying (4:8-9). Peter, in his rebuke of Jesus’ words about dying, was saying the same thing. Trying to circumvent God’s plan had been one of Satan’s tools; Peter inadvertently used Satan’s tool in trying to protect his beloved Master. This would be a dangerous trap to Jesus, so Jesus rebuked Peter. God’s plan included suffering and death for the Messiah. Jesus would fulfill his mission exactly as planned. Jesus invites every person to follow him; they must have a willingness to put aside selfish ambition, to shoulder their cross, and to follow. To “put aside selfish ambition” means to surrender immediate material gratification in order to discover and secure one’s true self and God’s interests. It is a willingness to let go of selfish desires and earthly security. This attitude turns self-centeredness to God-centeredness. “Self” is no longer in charge; God is. To “shoulder the cross” was a vivid illustration of the humility and submission that Jesus was asking of his followers. Death on a cross was a form of execution used by Rome for what they considered dangerous criminals. A prisoner carried his own cross to the place of execution, signifying submission to Rome’s power. Following Jesus, therefore, meant identifying with Jesus and his followers, facing social and political oppression and ostracism, and no turning back. For some, taking up the cross might indeed mean death. To “follow” Christ is also a moment-by moment decision, requiring compassion and service. Following Jesus doesn’t mean walking behind him, but taking the same road of sacrifice and service that he took. The Christian life is a paradox: To attempt to keep your life means only to lose it. A person who “saves” his or her life in order to satisfy desires and goals apart from God ultimately “loses” life. Not only does that person lose eternal life, but he or she also loses the fullness of earthly life promised to those who believe. By contrast, those who willingly give up their lives for the sake of Christ actually find true life. To be willing to put personal desires and life itself into God’s hands means to understand that nothing that we can gain on our own in our earthly lives can compare to what we gain with Christ. Jesus wants us to choose to follow him rather than to lead a life of sin and self-satisfaction. He wants us to stop trying to control our own destiny and to let him direct us. When we give our lives in service to Christ, however, we discover the real purpose of living. To reinforce his words in 16:25, Jesus asked his listeners a rhetorical question. What good would it be for a person to gain the whole world (that is, to have power or financial control over the entire world system of which Satan is the head), but lose his or her soul (that is, to lose eternal life with God)? Every person will die, even those most powerful or most wealthy. If they have not taken care to “save” their lives for eternity with God, then they gain nothing and lose everything. Many people spend all their energy seeking pleasure. Jesus said, however, that a world of pleasure centered on possessions, position, or power is ultimately worthless. Whatever a person has on earth is only temporary; it cannot be exchanged for his or her soul. Believers must be willing to make the pursuit of God more important than the selfish pursuit of pleasure. If we follow Jesus, we will know what it means to live abundantly now and to have eternal life as well. Our society has been inundated and influenced by the self-esteem movement to the point that it is no longer perceived as anything but the most familiar and acceptable way of thinking. In a 1984 issue of the Ladies Home Journal, women are assured that feeling good about ourselves may, in fact, be the cornerstone of our total well-being. Since they think this is likely, the writers of the article logically purpose the following counsel: Take positive steps to enhance your self-esteem. This advice is not uncommon within or without the church, for women or for men. But this kind of advice is counterproductive to biblical truth. When Jesus gently upbraided Martha for being distracted about serving, He told her she needed one thing (Lk.10:42). The need of which He spoke was not the need for a sense of personal worth or for the acceptance of oneself as a strong, self-sufficient person. The need was for Christ Himself and His Word-that which Mary had rightly chosen (Lk.10:39). In todays text, Peter exhorts the Lord Jesus, in essence, to pity Himself. He uses a term (be it far or far be it) that calls for God to be gracious and favorable to Jesus so that this suffering and death can be avoided (v.21). What an immense difference between Peters statement and our Lords (vv.22,24): pity yourself versus deny yourself! Yet all of us are doing one or the other-pitying and sparing self, or denying and ignoring self. Sadly, the vast majority of people today (even some professing Christians) are coddling self and seeking to boost their self-esteem. The proposal to pity oneself is from Satan (v.23). The call to deny self comes from God (v.24). Jesus, here again using the self-designation of Son of Man, said that he will come again, but at that time he will be in his exalted state as King and Judge. The judgment referred to here is positive, involving the Son of Man’s loving acceptance of true disciples. While Jesus called his followers to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow, he also promised great reward. Their self-denial and discipleship would not be wasted. Their repayment would come in the glorious future Kingdom of God. God Save the World, Inc.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 02:31:11 +0000