SECRET #31 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Jesus continues His teaching with: "For this reason I say to you," NOTE the connection to earthly and heavenly treasures. Now "for this reason" DON'T WORRY! "Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" (Matthew 6:25-27) So, SECRET #31: The follower of Jesus does not worry about life necessities.

So Jesus says, "Stop worrying about earthly treasures!" Such as your life-(eating and drinking). "Look at the birds" (26) implies that worry is natural. Worry is useless (27). You can't add anything to your height or years to your life.

"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!" (Matthew 6:28-30)

Observe the lilies (28-29). If God takes care of them, He will most surely take care of you. Worry is not only useless; it is faithless (30). When you worry, you take everything into your own hands, which is not trusting in God.

"Do not worry then, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." (Matthew 6:31-32)

In addition to these words of Jesus on worry, there is one more passage that I like to use personally and share with others. Disciplining myself to do what this passage teaches has really served me and others well in giving us a lift.

Here it is. There are three things that require your discipline. FIRST-Do not be anxious about anything. Did you get that? In order to work on your faith, you must discipline yourself to stop worrying about everything! Worry gets you absolutely nowhere. But it is so easy to get caught up in the swirl of worrying, as if you could do something to control the situation.

SECOND-but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Instead of worrying, discipline yourself to pray about everything! Note that you are to ask God while being grateful-with thanksgiving. Then, note you are to present your requests-desires-what you want-to God. Tell God what you want. Discipline yourself to take all of your requests or desires to God. Just by offering up your desires to God indicates a surrender of your control and giving the matter over to Him. Remember, God already knows your desires before you ask them. What He wants to know is whether or not you are willing to present them in surrender before Him.

After the first two disciplines-(1) do not worry about anything, instead (2) let your desires be made known to God, there is a major result: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You will experience the peace of God and it will be the kind of peace that is beyond belief. It will be incredible! Your part is to discipline yourself not to worry and to take your desires before God. Note that this peace that you are given will guard your heart and mind. Why is this so important? It's because your heart and mind is where your worry resides. Lock up your heart and mind, so that worry is unable to be activated!

SECRET #31: The follower of Jesus does not worry about life necessities. So stop your worry and put your trust in God who knows all that you need now or will ever need. He will come through on your behalf! As my wife likes me to say to her: "Everything is going to be OK!"

SECRET #30 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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We're making our way through 75 secrets or teachings of Jesus. The interesting thing about the secrets of Jesus is that they are intensely relevant and applicable no matter the society or generation. One of Jesus' primary themes is the struggle over money and wealth when desiring to live the spiritual life most consistently.

Jesus says: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) SECRET #30: The follower of Jesus has a single-mindedness toward heavenly treasures.

Remember, you were created to be dependent upon God. This is at the core of what that means. Jesus speaks more about money and how to handle it than most any other subject. That's not because He is taking up an offering or running a pledge drive. He has plenty without yours! It's because money and material things-earthly treasures-are the easiest to become dependent upon, the earthly treasures that most easily distract us away from God. So, here Jesus contrasts only two options. You can invest your life storing up heavenly treasures or you can invest your life storing up earthly treasures.

NOTE that earthly treasures are full of insecurity and the heavenly treasures will be secure! Earthly treasures produce emptiness, loss and even can be destructive. In my experience earthly treasures create four empty and destructive toxins-guilt, anger, fear and shame. Earthly treasures over promise and under deliver. The promises are always about peace, love, joy and hope. What's interesting is it's within a relationship with Jesus that peace, love, joy and hope can be consistently embraced and experienced. That's why Jesus is the Good News; Jesus is the essence of your heavenly treasures!

And NOTE that your heart will always reveal what your true treasure really is. In fact, your treasure leads the way for your heart! Jesus says: "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23)

The focus of your eye determines the health of your inner-side. If your eye is clear (has a clear focus upon heavenly treasures), then your entire inners will be full of light, wholeness and health. If your eye is bad (unclear-having a focus on earthly treasures), then your inners will be full of darkness, stressfulness and emptiness. I see this as your spiritual focus that will directly affect your psychological (and later physical) well-being, all due to your focus!

Jesus says: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Matthew 6:24) Now, Jesus gives the ultimatum of it all! You cannot serve two masters! We tend to think that we can get away with it, but we can't. We tend to make Jesus the Lord of the general, but make ourselves the Lord of the specifics. I have a masters degree in doing this. I call it "doing things my way for Jesus." Believers tend to talk about standing on the Rock of Ages, but their actions look like they are clinging to a piece of driftwood!

Jesus introduces a most dynamic principle. It's the PRINCIPLE OF PRIMARY FOCUS or SINGLEMINDEDNESS! AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING. Walking with Jesus always moves you toward evaluating every dimension of your life. Try on a couple of simple steps in applying this paragraph.

#1-RELEASE YOUR TIGHT GRIP ON EARTHLY TREASURES! You must remember that you came into this world naked and will go out in the same way. After you die, there will be a large garage sale. You have been entrusted with what you are and what you have to be the manager of it all while you're on planet earth. There will be an accounting review later!

#2-REFOCUS ON YOUR HEAVENLY TREASURES! What are you doing that will last forever? Think about it! THE PRINCIPLE OF PRIMARY FOCUS MEANS A SINGLE-MINDEDNESS TOWARD GOD-your heavenly treasures in Jesus! SECRET #30: The follower of Jesus has a single-mindedness toward heavenly treasures. When you're walking with Jesus, keeping His principles, you're trafficking in heavenly treasures.

SECRET #29 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Jesus declares the third prerequisite to be one of His disciples-the requirement of possessions. Note the progression of the three requirements Jesus is looking for. You must make Jesus your highest priority, then you must continue to make Him your priority no matter what-perseverance, and then all you have must be given up to Jesus for His use. With these three requirements in place Jesus says you are now eligible to be His disciple.

This final requirement Jesus presents to the crowd may be the toughest of all. Before He actually presents it, Jesus offers two illustrations that strongly urge you to count the cost of what it means to follow Jesus. The first has to do with the building of a tower: "If any of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn't he first sit down and work out the cost of it to see if he can afford to finish it? Otherwise, when he has laid the foundation and found himself unable to complete the building, everyone who sees it will begin to jeer at him, saying, 'This is the man who started to build a tower but couldn't finish it!'" (Luke 14:28-30)

Then, Jesus illustrates counting the cost with a king going off to war against another king: "Or, suppose there is a king who is going to war with another king, doesn't he sit down first and consider whether he can engage the twenty thousand of the other king with his own ten thousand? And if he decides he can't, then while the other king is still a long way off, he sends messengers to him to ask for conditions of peace." (Luke 14:31-32)

Then Jesus reveals His third requirement: "So it is with you; only the man who says goodbye to all his possessions can be my disciple." (Luke 14:33) Many of your translations say something like this: "In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." Naturally, the wording "give up everything" is the operative phrase here. What does it mean to give up everything?

I like the first translation I read best: "Say goodbye to all of your possessions." That says it well! The Greek word here means to "take leave" or "renounce" your possessions. This brings us to SECRET #29: The follower of Jesus renounces personal ownership of all his possessions, including his own existence.

We briefly referred to this in one of the myths about Jesus. Jesus is not saying that you are to give over all your possessions, but to give them up. I see this as renouncing the ownership of all you have. You really don't own what you have. You are a manager or steward of what God has allowed you to collect. Jesus wants you to realize this and be willing to give up your personal ownership of all you have for Jesus and the Kingdom. Jesus wants you to hold on to your stuff, but hold it loosely and be ready to share generously as it is needed.

It's even more than this. You are not just to give up everything you have, but all you are as well-your very existence. This is inherent in the word used for possessions. He owns it all-you and all of your stuff! It's learning to wear the cloak of materialism loosely and to live your life as one who is owned and directed by Jesus. So, make Jesus your highest priority over all relationships, make Him your priority no matter what and renounce the ownership of all you are and have. These are the requirements of being a disciple of Jesus.

The spirit of these discipleship requirements is all about surrender-abandoning all competing relationships and securities for Jesus and the Kingdom. There are many examples of surrender with both good and bad results. Peter, James and John left their fishing business to follow Jesus full-time. Levi left his position at the local tax collections office. Zacchaeus may not have left his vocation, but did give half his fortune to the poor. Then there is the rich young ruler who was unwilling to renounce his wealth and follow Jesus. He walked away with great sadness. Paul didn't leave his profession of making tents, but was able to take it with him wherever he went.

Being a disciple of Jesus is one of the most amazing adventures ever. Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus? To make Him your priority, to follow Him no matter what and to renounce ownership of your life? What's holding you back? SECRET #29: The follower of Jesus renounces personal ownership of all his possessions, including his own existence. What's interesting is that the more closely you follow alongside Jesus the easier it is to live as a disciple. He gets you and you get Him. What a deal!

SECRET #28 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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The first requirement to be a disciple or follower of Jesus was to make Him your highest priority of life. Jesus now declares the second prerequisite to be one of His disciples-the requirement of perseverance. The requirement of perseverance is to continue to follow Jesus no matter what happens to you. Your relationship with Jesus is your highest priority and you will not be deterred in following Him and shaping your life after Him by anything. You will hang in there no matter what.

Here's how Jesus states this requirement: "The man who will not carry his cross and follow in my footsteps cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27) Jesus' disciple must carry the cross just as Jesus did-following in the footsteps of Jesus. If you are unwilling to do this, then you cannot be His disciple. SECRET #28: The follower of Jesus continues to follow the Master no matter what.

So, what does it mean to carry the cross? The cross of Jesus was the greatest expression of sacrificial love ever. Here is God's Messiah-the Son of the living God and the most powerful person ever born-and his ultimate act was a demonstration of love, not power. The Roman Empire's symbol was the cross-an emblem of domination and power, because of their method of discipline-crucifixion. Jesus literally turned the cross upside down and inside out to turn this scary symbol of domination and power into the ultimate symbol of sacrificial love.

The disciples were looking for God's Messiah to overthrow the Roman domination and power. They believed that would be the appropriate game plan for the Messiah, so they were expecting some powerful moves by Jesus on their behalf against the Romans. This is why they just didn't hear it or didn't want to believe it, when Jesus announced His Messianic plan. His plan was to demonstrate the love of God to the world by allowing Himself to die on that Roman cross-transforming the terrifying symbol of the cross into a symbol of hope, peace and grace. Now that's the greatest example of sacrificial love ever and triggered the Jesus movement that has transformed more lives and cultures than any other movement in all of history.

So, what does it mean FOR YOU to carry the cross? I think it has to do with identifying your mission in life so much with Jesus that you actually incarnate Him-or flesh Him out. Carrying the cross is to be a sacrificial lover-to be Jesus in all you say and do.

Normally, when Jesus talks about the cross and discipleship, He uses the word to "take up" the cross. Luke uses a different word here. He uses the word that means to carry or bear the cross as opposed to take up or pick up your cross. The term Luke uses is not something you carry, but something that is attached to you. It's the same term Luke uses when he talks about Paul's mission was to bear the name of Jesus to the Gentiles, their kings and to the house of Israel. Note that Jesus says here: "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16) When you bear the name of Jesus, you will also suffer the shame of the cross.

Paul also used this term when he wrote to the followers of Jesus in Galatia, when he says: "From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body." Paul was so identified with Jesus by the scars and marks he had received while following Him. He carried this identification with him wherever he went. He didn't have to pick it up; he was already attached to Him.

When you carry the cross, you are actually so identified with Jesus that you are to be Jesus to the world around you. It's to be proactive with the love of Jesus rather than reactive against whatever or whoever assaults you.

There is a cost factor in carrying your cross. Following Jesus as your highest priority and fleshing Him out in your life will stir up lots of controversy for you. When you take the path of Jesus versus the normal ways of religious living, you will suffer the consequences. One of these consequences is that you will be excommunicated from your religious society and community. Being like Jesus, choosing the sacrificial love approach will most certainly separate you from most religious people, because you are like Jesus, a contrarian-going against the grain.

Note as the Church of Jesus became organized, the cross took on that same idea of domination and power within the Church itself. The organized Church of Christendom took on the power of being the only channel for salvation and communication with God. From the Roman Empire to Jesus to organized Christianity, the symbol of the cross went full circle. To carry the cross of Jesus in His footsteps is to resist this domination and power motif and to reverse the momentum back to Jesus. You will find great resistance as you take this on as a lifestyle.

Another consequence of carrying your cross is that you must endure everything that is thrown at you-trials, troubles, stresses, injustices and all kinds of things that will require you to give of yourself in a sacrificial way. When you think you can't take it any longer, you still hang on. It's the requirement of perseverance-hanging in there with Jesus no matter what! SECRET #28: The follower of Jesus continues to follow the Master no matter what.

SECRET #27 OF FOLLOWING JESUS

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Most of the time we have in our minds that the disciples of Jesus were only the Twelve He chose. But as you examine the life and teachings of Jesus, you will come across several references to a much larger group of disciples or followers of Jesus.

Jesus was followed by crowds of people as He moved from village to village. Naturally, many of these were just looky-loos, but there were also quite a few who were taking Jesus seriously and desiring to get in line and follow Jesus. I'm sure you would have had a variety of definitions in Jesus' time as to what it meant to be a disciple. It's still a very relevant question requiring repeated and fresh examination today.

As we make our way through some thoughts on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, it's important to take Him at His word on the subject before making things up on our own. At one point in His ministry, Jesus turned to the many who were following Him and challenged them to be His true disciples. He presented three very tough requirements in order to be a disciple who claims to be a follower of Him.

In the 14th chapter of Luke's Gospel, he records all three of these requirements during one dramatic scene where crowds were following Jesus everywhere He went. We will see here that there are lots of others mentioned as disciples who followed after Jesus. Here in this passage there are crowds of people who were following alongside Jesus for a variety of reasons and Jesus makes it perfectly clear what it takes to be His disciple.

Luke writes: Now as Jesus proceeded on his journey, great crowds accompanied him and he turned and spoke to them, "If anyone comes to me without setting aside his relationship with his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine." (Luke 14:25-26)

Jesus declares the first prerequisite to be one of His disciples-the requirement of priority. There are many reasons people might follow Jesus, but if you want to in fact be a disciple of Jesus, it is necessary to make Jesus your number one, above all others, priority. He makes it tougher than just saying that He wants to be your best friend after your family members. He requires that you set aside your family members-father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters-to reduce in importance your family members in comparison with your relationship with Jesus. He is to be above them in priority. You go to Him first. So, SECRET #27 is: The follower of Jesus sets aside all relationships to make Jesus his greatest priority.

He makes it even more personal, when He says to set aside "even your own life". Jesus wants you to place Him above all of your own self-interests. This is the area where we create many of our own little gods that we come to worship and put ahead of or equal to Jesus. You cannot be full of yourself and be acting as a disciple-a follower of Jesus. There is not enough room in your heart for that balancing act. In most translations Jesus is quoted as saying that He is requiring you to hate your family and to hate yourself. We covered this recently in one of the myths about Jesus and His teachings. Jesus spoke in Aramaic and in that language the wording is clearly not "hate", but to "set aside" all others to put Jesus in first place or in the very center of your life.

Then, note that Jesus doesn't equivocate at all here. He says unless you put Him up as the highest priority in your life-the highest position of authority, you cannot be my disciple. It's not you cannot be a good disciple or one of the better disciples or a better than average disciple; it's that you cannot be a disciple of Jesus at all. There is no wiggle room here.

So, do you want to be a disciple of Jesus? Then, you must make Jesus your number one, above all others, person you go to-the one you consult first and the one you imitate most. Jesus wants you to walk with Him so closely that you don't start your day, enter into a meeting, begin a conversation, respond to a crisis, react to an enemy or end your day without talking with Him first. The requirement of priority! SECRET #27: The follower of Jesus sets aside all relationships to make Jesus his greatest priority. Will you take this challenge from Jesus and make Him your priority, starting today?