I want to share this morning about “Two Essentials for Following Jesus” and I want to begin by pointing out something you already know . . .
Jesus’ way can be hard
Its not always easy to follow Jesus. Some people like to make it sound like being a Christian solves all your problems, (and it does solve a lot). But the reality is that following Jesus can actually make your life harder than it was before.
Jesus himself says in Matthew 7:14 “the way is hard that leads to life” – talking about his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount just before this. Its harder because he takes the teaching of Moses and then raises the standard. For example:
- Its no longer just don’t murder. It is also don’t hate others through our angry speech that tears down and destroys others (Matthew 5:21-22)
- Its no longer just don’t commit adultery. It is also don’t lust after another (Matthew 5:27-28). It has to do with matters of the heart as well.
Jesus raises the standard as he perfects Moses’ teaching.
The 12 disciples certainly thought Jesus’ way was hard:
- with regard to Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce the disciples respond – “it is better not to marry” (Matthew 19:10)
- with regard to Jesus’ teaching on wealth they respond – “who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26)
And we all know that it can be hard. Think of your own struggles, weaknesses, testing and temptations. For instance:
- trying to love enemies who are troubling you (Matthew 5:43-48); a neighbor or someone at work
- making sure your yes is yes and your no is no (Matthew 5:37) in a world where integrity is rare
And a multitude of other areas that we struggle with as we seek to be faithful to Jesus.
So what I want to share with you are two essentials that will equip us and help us to walk in the way of Jesus. And the first essential is . . .
1. Complete yieldedness
This has to do with how we respond to Jesus. What I mean by “complete yieldedness” is that we hold nothing back. That we develop and maintain a lifestyle of immediate and compete submission to Jesus.
Jesus calls us to this in several places:
Mark 12:30 – “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
In these verses and others, Jesus calls us to give ourselves fully to God and his way; with no other rivals; with a commitment that transcends the commitment we have to our own family and even our own life. This is complete yieldedness.
- We need to be like Levi in Mark 2:14. This verse says, “Jesus saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And Levi rose and followed him.”
- We need to be like the treasure hunter in Matthew 13:44. This verse says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Jesus wants a whole hearted and complete response of submission to him as he teaches us God’s way.
Not only is this complete yieldedness what Jesus calls us to – what I really want to say is that – it is necessary to walk in Jesus’ way. There is nothing more difficult than to try to follow Jesus in a half-hearted way, where
- we hold back parts of our lives
- we have a divided heart
- we have a double mind
- we want to do our own thing too
- we want to follow Jesus some of the time, but if it gets too demanding we want to opt out
An illustration of this comes from a metaphor that Jesus uses in Matthew 11:29. He says, “Take my yoke upon you. A yoke is a harness that guides an animal while it works. And so we are like the ox in that Jesus has his yoke on us now; his teaching; his way. His yoke is to guide us along the path.
But if we try to do our own thing while yoked, it makes for a hard life. We try to go in a different direction than Jesus is leading us – we turn, we stall, we hesitate and we end up fighting Jesus. The result is that we are bruised as we go against the harness. We end up frustrated. We’ve got a harness on us but we still want to control our own lives. Its not a good way to live.
But if we go the direction that Jesus teaches us while yoked, it is much easier. The way of Jesus can be hard enough as it is. We don’t need to make it harder by fighting it day in and day out as we go along.
So the first essential for following Jesus is yield yourself completely to Jesus. The second essential doesn’t have to do with our response to God, but rather how God helps us when things are difficult as we seek to walk in Jesus’ way. We must . . .
2. Receive God’s help
Lets look at the story of the rich young ruler – which teaches us that God helps us. Remember, Jesus had invited the rich young man to follow him, but also to give up his wealth. But the young man found the way of Jesus too hard and walked away. He left Jesus behind.
After this, Jesus said in Matthew 19:23 – “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.” And he goes on to say its impossible – like getting a camel through the eye of a needle. The disciples respond in Matthew 19:25, “Who then can be saved?”
Then Jesus responds with what I want to emphasize. In Matthew 19:26 he says, “With mortals this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” It is hard to impossible for the rich (us) to do what God wants. But God makes it possible for us to be generous and give of our wealth. God makes it possible when it is impossible in our own strength to do it.
And there are many other things that Jesus calls us to that are hard to impossible to do; which go beyond our fleshly ability to accomplish. But Jesus’ point here is that God makes it possible.
- God works in us to make it possible for us to follow Jesus
- God gives us help, he doesn’t leave us alone in our weakness
If we receive this help (which the rich young ruler walked away from) even in our weakness and inability, we are made able to follow Jesus.
Now, lets look at another story, the story of Gethsemane, which teaches us that the Spirit helps us. Jesus knows that danger is ahead as he prays with his disciples in Gethsemane. Jesus is facing the cross; laying down his life, which was, as we see in this story, a difficult thing, even for Jesus.
In the midst of praying, seeing his disciples sleeping, Jesus says to them in Mark 14:38, “The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is what I want to highlight. It is hard to follow Jesus, to take up the cross and give up your life. Our flesh is too weak for this. The disciples certainlt found it too hard. They ran away.
But, as Jesus tried to tell them beforehand, the Spirit is willing and able to help us and strengthen us to do this; to sacrifice our lives for God as Jesus did. And we need to receive the help that God gives us, so that even though we are unable, we allow God supernaturally to make us able to follow Jesus by the Spirit within us.
Paul sums up nicely what we learn in both of these stories, in Philippians 2: 13. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” We can’t do it in our own strength. We need God working in us to enable us to do it.
So we have two essentials this morning. Yes the way is hard. But if we yield ourselves completely it won’t be harder than it has to be. And if we receive the help God desires to give us we can move forward and follow Jesus in all of our lives.
William Higgins (edited)
Christian teaching 