As disciples, we have one job: to follow Jesus. Sometimes, performing the job duties may get a little fuzzy, but the job description is written out for us to follow. Matthew 16: 24 gives believers our job description in a nutshell. The first devotion of four in the series, we will look at what it means to come after Him.
Nuggets
- Plain and simple, coming after Him means salvation.
- Repentance is a part of salvation.
- We have to have faith that God provided the way for the relationship to be restored.
- We have to have faith that God provided the way for the relationship to be restored.
- Nope, we don’t truly understand why God sent His Son to die for us.
Devotions in the What Does It Mean? series
When I first wrote this series, it was a three-part series. In the coming devotions, we are going to talk about what it means to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus.
"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'" (Mt. 16: 24 ESV)
But I couldn’t sleep Saturday night — I mean, I only got an hour and a half of sleep. Adam and my Insomnia Buddy were also up, so it was more than just me. So, I was looking at my devotions.
I realized I missed the first part of the verse: coming after Him. I knew I had to do a four-part series. What does coming after Him mean?
It Means Salvation
Plain and simple, it means salvation.
Now, Paul gave us a pretty good path to follow in why we need salvation.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues and to serve and worship God.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
It is called the Roman Road because he lays it all out in his letter to the Romans. I used it as the structure of my Plan of Salvation page. Head over there if this is foreign to you.
Here is a quick recap to make sure we are all on the same page:
- We are all considered sinners because the relationship with God was broken in the original sin (Rom. 3: 23).
- The consequence of that broken relationship is death. However, God has provided, through His gift to us, a way to gain salvation (Rom. 6: 23).
- God doesn’t wait for us to clean up our acts to offer us salvation. He did it while the relationship was broken (Rom. 5: 8).
- We have to admit we are sinners; believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save us; and confess with our mouths that we have this faith in God (Rom. 10: 9-10).
- Everyone who does that will be saved (Rom. 10: 13).
Salvation Is a Gift
Let’s go back to the gift part. Ephesians 2: 8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV). Grace, faith, and works — those are churchy words.
Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
We didn’t do anything to earn it. Earning it would be through works. We talked about works a while back. We also talked about how we can come as we are for salvation.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
So, God gives us this gift. What do we have to do?
We Have to Believe
“… ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household’” (Ac. 16: 30-31 ESV).
Repentance is a part of salvation.
Salvation is redemption and the mending of the relationship. But it is a little more than that.
Repentance comes in there. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Glossary
Oh, no! Another churchy word. That means that you give up your old sinful life and live the life that God wants you to live. We’ll talk more about that in the fourth devotion on following Him. For now, let’s just say that coming after Jesus means that we follow His example and try to be more like Him.
Even if you are a wonderful, kind, loving person, you still need to repent. The relationship with God is broken, and repentance restores that.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Where Does Faith and Trust Come In?
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1 ESV)
We have to have faith that God provided the way for the relationship to be restored.
Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others. Things not seen — to me, that also means things you don’t understand. Proverbs 3: 5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (ESV).
Ooo, baby. We think we know it all, don’t we? We don’t.
In what are we putting our faith? “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved” (Rom. 10: 9-10 GNT).
Why Did Jesus Sacrifice Himself?
Nope, we don’t truly understand why God sent His Son to die for us.
We have faith that He did and that it was enough.
How could Jesus do that? “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (II Cor. 5: 21 NLT). God said, “Make it so,” and Jesus did.
Believing in Jesus is the only way to gain salvation. Acts 4: 12 says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among menc by which we must be saved.” (ESV). Believing in Jesus in the only way to restore the relationship.
Jesus wants us to have this salvation. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock …” (Rev. 3: 20 ESV). He not only comes to us, but also, He pursues us.
Making the Connections
Our salvation means so much to God and Jesus that they completed the Plan of Salvation — at great personal cost — so that our relationship with Them could be restored.
How Do We Apply This?
- Admit that we are sinners;
- Believe Jesus, who didn’t sin, died and rose again to be the sacrifice needed to restore our relationship with God;
- Confess that we have asked God to be Lord of our lives and Jesus to be our Redeemer;
- Change our lifestyle so that we are living the way God wants us to;
- Follow Jesus’ example on how to live.
We have to repent and turn away from the sinful life. We have to come after Jesus — follow His example. We have to grow to be more like Him. We do that by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following Him.
Merciful Heavenly Father. We are amazed at the great price that You and Jesus paid to restore our relationship with You. Lord, we admit the relationship was broken, causing us to sin. We believe You sent Your Son to die so that we might be reborn into Your kingdom. Lord, we will tell others of Your great love. Help us to turn away from our sinful lives and grow closer to you. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.
Pingback: The Battle Between Flesh and Spirit – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: Why Jesus Became a Man – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: The Life and Death Matter of Worship – Seeking God with Elaine
Pingback: When We Deny Jesus – Seeking God with Elaine