Total Commitment - Part 1

So one of the reasons why I took a break from the Pastoral Epistles was because I was preparing for a sermon for the youth at my home church. Since I have not looked at a passage of Scripture on the blog in quite some time, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at Luke 9:23-24, the passage from which I preached just a little over a week ago. I am basically going to give you the outline that I gave to the students with some quick thoughts on each point. By the way, this only the first part.

Luke 9:23-24

And He said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it..."

The Road to Total Commitment

1. Denial of Self - v23a - The first thing that Jesus requires is a denial of self. We must get off of this kick that life is all about us and that we are all that matters. We are not the most important person in the world, and as Christians we should be focusing in on Him anyways. But even if we have this attitude, many times we want people to notice our service. We find ourselves serving God in various ways, and then we expect people to acknowledge our accomplishments, wanting to take in all the praise. In reality, He is the only one that deserves the praise and glory. So we must first get rid of the self, and this happens in two ways.

a. Losing Life (self-centered) - v24 - Instead of seeing this as a salvation verse (which I believe it is), I think we can also view it in light of verse 23. We must first lose our self-centered life style.

b. Gaining Life (God-centered) - v24 - And by giving up that self-centered lifestyle, we gain a new life that is centered on God. No longer do we look on our accomplishments and receive the praise. Instead, we give that praise to Him.

2. Daily Commitment - v23b - The second step in a life of total commitment is a daily commitment to follow Him. This does not happen over night, and we cannot decide to follow Him this minute and expect it to be an easy task. We will stumble and fall. We are going to mess up at times. But that is why Jesus told us to take up our cross daily. It must be something that we desire to do on a daily basis, no matter how hard it gets to follow God. Think of the imagery Jesus uses here, "take up your cross." Now think of what that meant for Jesus when he took the cross up to Golgotha. He was weak, tired, beaten, and hurting. The cross was heavy and rough. And Jesus went up hill. Was that an easy task? No! And yet, that is what He requires of us each day. It won't be easy, but the good news is that we have Him to help us along the way. But this can never be done if we are still focused on our self.

3. Desiring God - v23c - So this brings me to my last point for today. If our focus does not shift to a complete desire for God, then commitment will never be a reality. He must become the focus in our life. And if you think about it, this should be the first step. As you can see, we are back to point number 1; focusing on God produces a life where we lose the focus on our selves.

The neat thing about Luke 9:23 is that Jesus gives us three steps on how to live, but this is not a step-by-step process. Instead, it is a process where all three things must be working in our lives at the same time. If we ever want to get to a point in our lives where we are totally committed, we must make it a daily commitment to deny ourselves and desire God.

I will pick up from here next time, as we look at the risk that is involved when we decide to live life in this way and what the results are of such a life.

Matt