Following Footprints: part 2
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· 6 viewsThose who love Jesus and wish to follow him have a stipulation to follow in his footprints for the reason to lose their lives with soul saving results but those who reject him will lose their life with eternal results. In other words, Following in Jesus’ footprints is the only way to be his disciples because it separates the posers from the pupils.
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Intro:
We all have circles of friends. We have a large circle – these friends are not our closes friends, but they are our friends. They could be people on our sports team, people in our classes or people at work. Then we have a circle of friends that are our closes friends. These are the people that mean the most to us – they are our best friend or our family.
We all have circles of friends. We have a large circle – these friends are not our closes friends, but they are our friends. They could be people on our sports team, people in our classes or people at work. Then we have a circle of friends that are our closest friends. These are the people that mean the most to us – they are our best friend or our family.
I want you to think about someone who you would consider to be one of your best friends or closest family member. This needs to be someone who knows everything about you. All your other friends are also friends with him/her. You and your friend have a very close relationship – this is someone you would die for without even thinking about it. This is someone who you always go out of your way for. So, you guys are always following each other around. The things that you go through so does your friend – whether it is good times or bad – you are always there for each other.
I want you to think about someone who you would consider to be one of your best friends or closest family member. This needs to be someone who knows everything about you. All your other friends are also friends with him/her. You and your friend have a very close relationship – this is someone you would die for without even thinking about it. This is someone who you always go out of your way for. So, you guys are always following each other around. The things that you go through so does your friend – whether it is good times or bad – you are always there for each other.
Now I want you to imagine that you just overheard this friend (your best friend) talking to one of your other friends. Which is no big deal, but what you heard them say was devastating. You heard this friend saying, “I hate being around Clay anymore. I mean, I like him and all, but he is always wanting me to follow him to do the dumbest things. He bends over backward for people that he knows mock him and make fun of him. And that’s why they do it – they know he will kiss their butts! Not to mention he is so embarrassing by the way he talks about how great his Dad is - all the time!”
Now I want you to imagine that you just over heard this friend (your best friend) talking to one of your other friends. Which is no big deal, but what your heard them say was devastating. You heard this friend saying, “I hate being around Clay anymore. I mean, I like him and all, but he is always wanting me to follow him to do the dumbest things. He bends over backwards for people that he knows mock him and make fun of him. And that’s why they do it – they know he will kiss their butts! Not to mention he is so embarrassing by the way he talks about how great his Dad is - all the time!”
Now, of course, this devastated you. This was someone you thought loved you this was your best friend. You love this person with all your heart and mind – you would die for this person. And although you could crush him - Because you are way more powerful than him and after all you are your father’s son, meaning your dad is like the most awesome dad in the universe – but you decided to humble yourself again and give him the chance to apologize.
Now of course this devastated you. This was someone you though loved you this was your best friend. You love this person with all your heart and mind – you would die for this person. And although you could crush him - Because you are way more powerful than him and after all you are your father’s son, meaning your dad is like the most awesome dad in the universe – but you decided to humble yourself again and give him the chance to apologize.
My dad used to tell me, believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see. That’s because it is so easy to misinterpret the situation. Therefore, if you misunderstood this situation, your friend would quickly clarify. However, what about if he apologized and told you: “that he was just having a really bad day. And as he was talking to your other friend (who BTW always likes to gossip, because it makes him feel important) he doesn’t know what got into him, he just felt like if he talked bad about someone, it would make him feel better.” Not that the excuse would make the situation any better, but it would be good of you to forgive him. But what if he did it again? Then again? And again? It would be safe to say that he didn’t really value your relationship. Even if he tried to convince you that he loved you and loved being around you – actions speak louder than words.
My dad used to tell me, believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see. That’s because it is so easy to misinterpret the situation. Therefore, if you misunderstood this situation your friend would quickly clarify. However, what about if he apologized and told you: “that he was just having a really bad day. And as he was talking to your other friend (who BTW always likes to gossip, because it makes him feel important) he doesn’t know what got into him, he just felt like if he talked bad about someone it would make him feel better.” Not that the excuse would make the situation any better, but it would be good of you to forgive him. But what if he did it again? Then again? And again? It would be safe to say that he didn’t really value your relationship. Even if he tried to convince you that he loved you and love being around you – actions speak louder than word.
Therefore, it’s this principle that drives the purpose of our time together today. I am going to try to prove to you that the path to eternal life can only be established by loving Jesus, more than the: approval and rewards of this world, and following in his footprints. So, turn your Bibles to so that, we can look at one of the most important passages on discipleship in the whole Bible.
Therefore, it’s this principle that drive the purpose of our time together today. I am going to try to prove to you that the path to eternal life can only be established by loving Jesus, more than the: approval and rewards of this world, and following in his footprints. So, turn your Bibles to .
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Text:
Text:
34 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Sub-intro:
Sub-intro: (Summarize context):
Jesus doesn’t just give us a command and say do this because I said so; he gives us four reasons or motivations or incentives to obey this command. And what is the command? If we wished to be his disciple, we must follow him by denying ourselves and pick up our cross and follow him. Therefore, the question must be asked, what does the cross represent? We said the cross represented: opposition, shame, suffering, and death. So, disciples of Jesus’ must be willing to go through all of this for Jesus’ sake and the gospel. And to deny your self is to deny your old self. The self that wants the opposite of the cross- acceptance, honor, comfort, safety. Then Jesus argues that if you want to save you life you must lose it. So, he is arguing on the basis of saving your life. This isn’t a martyrdom complex. This isn’t going through suffering for the purpose to gain something, but it is living your life for Jesus’ sake and the gospel which proves your salvation it doesn’t gain your salvation. If your love Jesus and want to be with him for eternity you will follow his footprint. But if you want to live your life with all the comforts of this world you will lose your life.
Why is following Jesus’ footprint is the only way to be his disciples?
Jesus doesn’t just give us a command and say do this because I said so; he gives us four reasons or motivations or incentives to obey this command. And what is the command? If we wished to be his disciple, we must follow him by denying ourselves and pick up our cross and follow him. Therefore, the question must be asked, what does the cross represent? We said the cross represented: opposition, shame, suffering, and death. So, disciples of Jesus’ must be willing to go through all of this for Jesus’ sake and the gospel. And to deny your self is to deny your old self. The self that wants the opposite of the cross - acceptance, honor, comfort, safety. Then Jesus argues that if you want to save your life, you must lose it. So, he is arguing on the basis of saving your life. This isn’t a martyrdom complex. This isn’t going through suffering for the purpose to gain something, but it is living your life for Jesus’ sake and the gospel which proves your salvation it doesn’t gain your salvation. If you love Jesus and want to be with him for eternity, you will follow his footprint. But if you want to live your life with all the comforts of this world you will lose your life.
Why is following Jesus’ footprint is the only way to be his disciples?
Because it separates the posers from pupils.
(MAP)
Because it separates the posers from pupils.
Those who love Jesus and wish to follow him have a stipulation to follow in his footprints with eternal soul saving results but those who reject him will lose their life with eternal results.
(TS) Another reason to Follow the Footprints is:
(MAP)
Those who love Jesus and wish to follow him have a stipulation to follow in his footprints with eternal soul saving results but those who reject him will lose their life with eternal results.
Because it separates worldly profit from heavenly profit (v.36)
(TS) Another reason to Follow the Footprints is:
The next motivation Jesus gives us for picking up our cross, deny ourselves and following his footprints is in the form of a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is one that the author asks, to create a dramatical point. Or you could say, it is a question that is asked to make a statement and not expect an answer in return. This is because the author assumes the audience already knows the answer. Therefore, before we can understand what Jesus is asking we must be able to answer this question.
Because it separates worldly profit from heavenly profit (v.36)
The next motivation Jesus gives us for picking up our cross, deny ourselves and following his footprints is in the form of a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is one that the author asks, to create a dramatical point. Or you could say, it is a question that is asked to make a statement and not expect an answer in return. This is because the author assumes the audience already knows the answer. Therefore, before we can understand what Jesus is asking, we must be able to answer this question.
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
We just seen from the previous argument that if you want to be a disciple of Jesus’ you must love him and his purpose more than your worldly life. So now he is asking what profit can you gain by living a life that isn’t lived for his sake and the gospel’s sake because is going to cause you to forfeit your soul. Of course, the answer is absolutely nothing!
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
So many of us want to live our lives for ourselves – looking to live our best life now. If it isn’t fun to us we don’t want to do it. We live for fun-ous-ness. Yes, you heard me right. I made this word up. It means to live only to possess that which make us have the fullness of fun. Well that is not what life is about and when you live for the purpose to make yourself happy you are missing out on what it means to truly have joy.
We have just seen from the previous argument that if you want to be a disciple of Jesus’ you must love him and his purpose more than your worldly life. So now he is asking what profit can you gain by living a life that isn’t lived for his sake and the gospel’s sake because is going to cause you to forfeit your soul. Of course, the answer is absolutely nothing!
So many of us want to live our lives for ourselves – looking to live our best life now. If it isn’t fun to us, we don’t want to do it. We live in fun-ous-ness. Yes, you heard me right. I made this word up. It means to live only to possess that which make us have the fullness of fun. Well, that is not what life is about, and when you live for the purpose to make yourself happy, you are missing out on what it means to truly have joy.
(Illustrate difference between happiness and joyousness). Mentation all its acceptance, honor, comfort, and safety
(Illustrate difference between happiness and joyousness). Mentation all its acceptance, honor, comfort, and safety.
So, stop living the superficial Fun-ous life, because that fun-ous life strives for worldly happiness. Moreover, that kind of profit causes you to lose your soul.
So, stop living the superficial Fun-ous life, because that fun-ous life strives for worldly happiness. Moreover, that kind of profit causes you to lose your soul. So, to answer Jesus’ question of “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” There is no profit gained.
(Map)
There is no profit gained by owning the whole world (with all its acceptance, honor, comfort, and safety) because owning the whole world can’t prevent the loss of your soul.
(Restate point) So, Follow the footprints! - Because it separates worldly profit from heavenly profit. (TS) The cross of Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith and you following in his footprints is evidence of that faith. The next reason Jesus give us to follow him is Because it separates worldly justification from heavenly justification. (v.37)
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
For what can a man give in return for his soul?
For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Again, we can see how that Jesus is still arguing that if you want to be his disciple, you must take up your cross, deny yourself and follow him. This is evident because the subject hasn’t changed and the little conjunction “for” is giving us another reason or argument/motivation to follow his footprints.
Likewise, Jesus asks another rhetorical question. And although this question similar to the last question, the last question was designed to help you to logically think about what is profitable; whereas, this question is designed to help you logically think about how you can gain eternal life.
Is Jesus giving us an escape? Is he implying that even if you don’t live for him and his purpose or gain enough righteous deeds, there is a way that you can keep yourself out of hell by paying for your soul? Some people seem to think so. There are even Christian who seem to think that you can buy your way out of suffering – which they call purgatory – which is a false doctrine with absolutely no biblical support. There are people who say that there are many paths to heaven – this is called universalism. Is that what Jesus is talking about here? Absolutely not! You’ve gotta remember Jesus is arguing on the basis if you want to be his disciple you must follow his footprints and if you don’t you will go to hell. And it doesn’t matter how good you think you are it doesn’t matter how much you have achieved if you do not follow Jesus there is nothing you can do to buy your way out of hell.
This is contrary to all the other religion in the world think. If you gather all the religions in the world and put them into categories you will see there are only two categories all of the other religions are all the same and you could put them all in one category called Religion that you work to gain your salvation. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Scientology, and Evolutionist all work to gain acceptance by the god’s they serve. The other category is Christianity. That is because there is nothing you can do to gain your salvation. It is a free gift of God that is given to you through faith in Jesus. The works based category says that all who follow these religions are justified – that is made to be a righteous person – based on their works. Whereas the gospel says that it is not your righteousness but Jesus’. says that being found in Christ is not having a righteousness of your own.” It’s his righteousness that is counted to be your righteousness by faith.
Following the footprints is a result of that salvation, it is not what gains you salvation. Jesus said in
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It doesn’t matter how much you achieve in this world. It doesn’t matter how many good deeds you do. It doesn’t matter if you think you are a better person than so and so. It doesn’t matter if you solve world hunger. If you are not willing to follow Jesus’ footprints, you will stay separated from God. Jesus is the only way to heaven. (Present the gospel)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Finish the Gospel presentation by saying) In other words, it is a legal declaration; God the father counts your sins as being forgiven because Jesus paid your fine.
So, to answer Jesus’ rhetorical question of :
37. For what can a man give in return for his soul?
(MAP)
A man can give absolutely nothing - no amount of money or good deeds can or will be accepted as payment to buy eternal life or to buy your soul out of hell.
(TS) The first point we considered for following Jesus’ footprints was because it separates worldly profit from heavenly profit. Then we seen how denying yourself and picking up your cross separates worldly justification from heavenly justification. We now turn to the final reason in this passage that Jesus commands us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. So, looking at v. 38 Why is following the footprints the only way to be Jesus’ disciple?—Because it separates passion.
Says,
For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
What does it mean to be ashamed of someone?
It means you don’t want to be seen with them, be associated with them, you don’t want to be in their presence. There are other things in life that you find more important and more interesting to spend your time on. Being ashamed of someone is being embarrassed by them and their action and words.
In this context, Jesus is saying that if you don't follow his footprints, you are not loving him because he embarrasses you. That’s not being a disciple, but you are loving this adulterous and sinful time more than him. If your life is more focused on “Fun-ous-ness” instead of living for Jesus’ sake and the gospel Jesus says that you are being ashamed of him. If you love someone, you will not treat them with embarrassment. You will not be ashamed of them.
If you understood the gospel and what it means to be a disciple of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, you would not be ashamed of him, and you would deny yourself and pick up your cross to follow him.
But to the people who won’t grasp this, who won’t repent of their sins, who continue to reject the gift of eternal, by being ashamed of Jesus, and not following his footprints he said,
38. Of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
At the beginning of our message, we talked about the kid that could have crushed the person who was doing wrong to him but instead he humbled himself and gave those whom he loves a chance to repent. Jesus stands in between you and the wrath of God. He stands between you and the Father, with one arm he is reaching to His Father holding His wrath back form you with the other arm he is reaching down to all of us and calling us to him saying, “come to me all who labor and are heavy laden I will give you rest” He is saying deny your old self and follow me. But I assure you there will come a time when he no longer holds back the wrath of the Father. And we don’t know when that time will come. So, to conclude and summarize the last part of this argument:
(MAP)
To desire social acceptance of the adulterous and sinful generation (gaining all the comforts of the world) more than a relationship with Jesus, results in him rejecting you (giving you what you want) when you look into the face of glory, which in the end leads to final judgment – death of your soul.
Application:
If you have found yourself living more for the “fun-ous-ness” of life more than following the footprints of Jesus, you are either in one of the two categories. Either you are not a Christian – to you I say, repent and trust Jesus, or you are a Christian, and this part of your sanctification process just hasn’t taken root in you. Your sanctification will be a work in progress until Jesus brings you home to him – but to you, I say fight this temptation. Always examine yourself. What are your motives for doing things, or not doing things? Are you really a disciple of Jesus’? Are you looking to glorify God with all you say and do or are you looking to live with acceptance, honor, comfort, and safety?
Are there any relationships that you have that you are ashamed of Christ? How can you fight this temptation this week?