DENY SELF, FOLLOW JESUS

 

  1. Introduction: Last week we began a new series that is based on something Jesus did at the Last Supper, His final meal with His apostles the night before He was crucified. John 13:4-17
  2. Jesus got up from the table, wrapped a towel around His waist, took a basin of water, and washed the feet of His twelve apostles. Foot washing was a common practice in 1st century Israel.  People wore sandal, roads were dusty, and they would wipe the dust off their feet upon entering a house.
    1. Foot washing was a menial task, and if a family had servants, the task was done by a servant. The towel was actually the symbol of a servant.  With this task, Jesus took the role of a servant.
    2. When finished, He said: You call me “Teacher” and “Lord” and you are right, because it is true.  And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, so you ought to wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example to follow.  Do as I have done to you (John 13:13-15, NLT).
    3. Jesus wasn’t instituting a ritual that He wants us to follow by literally washing each other’s feet. Jesus was demonstrating an attitude of heart that is expressed through action, an attitude He wants all of His followers to have—to see ourselves as servants of God and servants of men.
    4. Jesus said He was giving His men an example. Example means an exhibit for imitation.  In other words, Jesus was saying to His men (and us) imitate me by serving God and serving men.
    5. In this new series, we have begun to talk about what it means to imitate Jesus, why we need to imitate Him, and how we do it. We have more to say tonight.

 

  1. During Jesus’ ministry before He was crucified, He was known as a rabbi. Rabbi means master or teacher.  Rabbis, including Jesus, called men to follow them.  To follow a rabbi meant to follow his teachings and seek to be like him. Matt 9:9; Matt 16:24; etc.
  2. After Jesus went back to Heaven, when apostles went out to proclaim His resurrection and tell the world that forgiveness of sin was now available to all who believe in Jesus, as part of their message, they urged men and women to follow Jesus’ example—to imitate and act like Him.
  3. Peter the apostle wrote: (Christ) who suffered for you, is your example (in suffering) (I Pet 2:21, NLT). John the apostle wrote:  Whoever says that he lives in God should live just as Jesus Christ did (I John 2:6, Good News Bible).  (These two men were present at the Last Supper.)
  4. Paul the apostle was converted two years after Jesus’ resurrection, when the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Syria. Paul later wrote:  Have the same attitude and mindset as Jesus, and urged Christians to imitate the Lord Jesus. Phil 2:5-7; I Cor 4:16-17; I Cor 11:1
  5. To appreciate the importance of following Jesus, imitating Him, and seeking to be like Him, we need to understand why God created us. We need to understand our purpose and our destiny.
  6. God created humans to become His sons and daughters who live in loving relationship with Him. He created us with the capacity to receive Him into our being (His Spirit, His life) and then to express Him (His character, attributes, and glory) to the world around us. Matt 5:16
  7. We have been created for a glorious position as imagers of God. Gen 1:26 records that:  God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves” (NLT).  The original language has the idea that we were created to image (or show) God.
  8. David, the psalmist, wrote: Ps 8:3-5—I often think of the heavens your hands have made, and of the moon and stars you have put in place.  Then I ask, “Why do you care about us humans?  Why are you concerned for us weaklings?  You made us a little lower than yourself, and you have crowned us with glory and honor (CEV).
  9. However, because of sin, all human beings are disqualified for our created purpose and destiny: Rom 3:23—For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard (NLT); Everyone has sinned, everyone falls short of the beauty of God’s plan (J. B. Phillips);
  10. Jesus came into this world to die as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for all who believe in Him to be restored to our created purpose and destiny. In eternity past, God chose us (purposed and destined us) to become His sons and daughter who are like Jesus. I Pet 3:18; John 1:12-13
  11. Paul the apostle wrote: Rom 8:28-29—God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them…God knew His people in advance, and he chose them to become like His Son (NLT); to bear the family likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers (J. B. Phillips).
  12. Not only did Jesus die for us, while He was on earth, He showed us by example what sons and daughters of God look like. Remember, Jesus is God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God.  While on earth, He lived as a man. John 1:1; John 1:14
  13. Jesus, in His humanity, shows us the kind of character and behavior that Almighty God wants His sons and daughters to exhibit. Jesus is the pattern for God’s family.
  14. Everything and everyone has been created for a purpose or a destiny. Destiny is the end (or destination) for which you were created.  Our purpose is to live in loving relationship with our God our Creator, who is also our Father.  Our destiny is to become sons and daughters of God, who are Christlike, who are like Jesus in character and behavior.
  15. Character is the sum total of features and traits that form an individual. Your character is governed by your standard of right and wrong and expressed through your behavior.
  16. You don’t become Jesus or get absorbed into Jesus. You are not replaced by Jesus.  You are restored to the unique you that God created you to be before sin damaged His family—a perfect you who perfectly expresses the character of Christ in thought, word, motive, action.
  17. Becoming like Jesus is a process that beings when we bow our knee to Jesus as Savior and Lord. It will be fully completed when, in connection with the second coming of Jesus, our bodies are raised from the dead and made incorruptible and immortal. Phil 3:20-21; I Cor 15:51-53
  18. Right now, our actions, thoughts, attitudes, words, and motives, are to become increasingly like the example that Jesus gave us. This happens through a process of transformation.
  19. Right now, we are finished works in progress—fully God’s sons and daughters through faith in Jesus, but not yet fully Christlike in every thought, word, motive, and action. I John 3:2-3
  20. God’s will for you, His purpose for you in this life, is that you become increasingly Christlike in character and behavior, so that you accurately represent the Lord to the world around you. This is the most important thing you can do with your life.  This is your ministry.

 

  1. We’ll talk more about this process of transformation in later lessons, but for now let’s answer some questions. What is wrong with humanity?  If God created us, what happened to us?  Why aren’t we like Jesus from birth?  What do we do about our condition?  What is God’s solution?
  2. Almighty God created human beings to be dependent creatures, beings who live in dependence on Him for everything. We owe our very existence to Him.  We exist because He wants us.
  3. Paul, while preaching in Athens, Greece said to idol worshippers: He (God) gives life and breath to everything…For in him we live and move and exist (Acts 17:25-28, NLT).
  4. Paul later wrote: Col 1:16-17—God created everything in heaven and earth…He existed before everything began, and he holds all creation together (NLT).
  5. Adam, the first man and the head of the human race, chose independence from God through sin, through disobeying a direct command from God: Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17).  Adam put his will and his way above God’s will and did what he wanted to do.
  6. That’s the essence of sin, choosing your will, your way, over God’s will and way when the two conflict. Sin is choosing independence from God through disobedience to His Law.  Isa 53:6—All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way (NLT).
  7. Adam was created to be God-centered. But he chose to put his will and way above God’s will.  He chose to decide for himself what is right and wrong rather than listen to His Creator.
  8. By doing so, Adam acted contrary to his created nature, and his choice corrupted him. To corrupt means to alter from the original or correct form, to degrade, to spoil.  Adam was created to be God centered, but his nature was altered from God-focused to self-centered.
  9. Here’s an example that will help us understand what happened. The desire to smoke is not natural or necessary for a human being.  But if we choose to smoke, it alters our nature. Something we never craved before, gradually becomes an irresistible urge, and then a habit.
  10. As the head of the human race, Adam’s choice affected the race in him. All human beings are born with an inclination to put self above God, born self-centered rather that God centered.
  11. Rom 5:12—When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die (TLB).
  12. When we are old enough to know right from wrong, we begin to put our standard above God’s standard when it suits us, and we become morally culpable, guilty of sin before God.
  13. Jesus died as a sacrifice to remove the guilt of sin from all who believe on Him. He also died to turn us from living for ourselves to living to please God, as we were created to do.
  14. II Cor 5:15—(Jesus) died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them (NLT).
  15. While on earth, Jesus called men and women to “follow me”. By this, He meant seek to be like me.  To do this, the aim or direction for which we live must change from pleasing self to pleasing God.
  16. Jesus said: Matt 16:24-25—If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whosoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (NKJV).
  17. To follow Jesus means to deny self. Deny self doesn’t mean give away all your material goods and become a missionary.  Deny self refers to the aim for which you live.  To deny self means to turn from that inclination to put yourself above God and others.
  18. To take up your cross means to submit to God. Jesus’ Cross was the place of complete submission to the Father’s will for Him at great cost to Himself—suffering a horrific death.
  19. For us, to submit to God means submit to His will, as it expressed in His written word. His will is summarized in two commands:  Love God and love your neighbor (Matt 22:37-40).  To love God means to obey His standard regarding right and wrong.  To love people means to treat others the way you want to be treated.
  20. This means to avoid what God says is wrong and to be kind to those who are unkind and forgive those who hurt us—even though both can be hard, and we recoil at the thought.
  21. To lose your life for His sake means to do things God’s way, even when your way and His way conflict. It means choosing His will over your will even when it costs you.
  22. Denying self and taking up your cross isn’t about having a fulltime ministry or selling all you have to become a wandering nomad. (The motive for doing something big for God is often self-exaltation, to be seen and praised by men, to get a sense of worth from your accomplishments.)
  23. This has to do with developing Christlike character and behavior. This means living above sin and treating others right, just as Jesus did, and as we are instructed to do. John 8:29
  24. When we hear the phrase God’s will for our life, most of us think of specifics: What ministry does He have for me?  Where does He want me to live?  Where should I work?  Who should I marry?  Of course we should seek Him for wisdom in these areas.  But there is something more important.
  25. Remember your created purpose: To be a son or daughter who is like Jesus in character and behavior.  You could be in the right ministry, right house, and right marriage and still not fulfill the will of God for your life because you aren’t like Jesus in your character.  You’re still self-focused.
  26. Remember the apostles. They left everything to follow Jesus, but at the Last Supper they argued over which of them was the greatest (self-exaltation). Luke 22:24
  27. At that Last Supper, when Jesus washed their feet, the apostles didn’t know yet that Jesus was going to be crucified the next day. Or that through His death, He would open the way for all who believe on Him to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Or that this would begin a process that will fully restore them (and all who believe) to be sons of God who are like Him in character (future lessons).
  28. Jesus told His apostles at the Last Supper: I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me, you can do nothing (John 15:5, NKJV).
  29. Fruit is outward evidence of the life within. The fruits of the Spirit are all character traits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Gal 5:22-23
  30. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is in you now to help you develop these Christlike character traits, as you cooperate with Him (more on this in later lessons).

 

  1. Conclusion: These kinds of lessons can be intimidating because we all fall short.  As we work through this series, we will talk about specifics that can help us increasingly turn from being self-centered to being God-centered and other-centered.  But as we close this lesson, consider these thoughts.

1    We weren’t created to be self-centered.  We weren’t meant to be selfish.  When we act this way, we are acting contrary to our created purpose, contrary to what we are meant to be.

  1. This is a main reason why there is so much misery in human interaction and relationships—we’re all selfish. We try to rule over each other and exalt ourselves leading to pain and conflict.
  2. Note the last thing Jesus said to His apostles after He finished washing their feet: Believe me, the servant is not greater than his master and the messenger is not greater than the man who sent him.  Once you have realized these things, you will find your happiness in doing them (John 13:16-17, J. B. Phillips).
  3. When we learn to live as servants of God and servants of man, we’ll be much happier. We won’t be in continual strife or agitation over what people think.  We won’t be jealous over what they have, but we don’t.  We won’t feel slighted when we aren’t recognized; etc., etc.
  4. Never forget that your origin is in God and that He created you for His glory. Rev 4:11—For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created (NLT).
  5. We are God’s offspring by creation, but we have gone astray. We have sinned against our Creator, our Father, and left His house.  We are prodigal sons. Luke 15:11-32
  6. Yet, even in our fallen, corrupted condition, we still bear the image of God (Gen 9:6; James 3:9), and we still have value to God. But we are lost to our created purpose—sonship, relationship, and conformity to the image of Christ.
  1. Our Father wants us back. There’s never been a time that He did not know you.  Because He is Omniscient (all-knowing) He knew you before you existed.  He knew you when you were conceived in your mother’s womb and He breathed into you the breath of life.

2    When God created Adam, He made a son and a race of sons in Adam.  God knows a perfect me, the me He created in Adam (potentially).  Note God’s first pronouncement over Adam and His family:  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Gen 1:31, NIV).

  1. Jesus (God Incarnate) came to seek and save God’s lost family. When we come back to God through repentance and faith (turning from self toward Him), a process of restoration and transformation begins that will fully restore us to all we’re meant to be—sons and daughters who are Christ-like in behavior and character, and are fully pleasing to our Father.  More next week!