What did Jesus say about following Him?

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)

Calling Commitment Cost

Calling ‘Step by step he led them on, till at last the glory of his superiority flashed upon them, and they were at his feet, ready to do whatever he might say.’ James Stalker “The Life of Jesus Christ”

‘“God I want Your peace. Please have mercy on me and give me the peace of knowing You. I don’t know who You are anymore, but I know that You are all that matters. You created this world, You give it meaning, and either You define its purpose or it has none…” He continues, ‘Although I did not know it, that peace and mercy of God which I desperately asked for would soon fall upon me.’ Nabeel Qureshi

Commitment Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Mark 8:34

Commitment ‘Since I am a king on a cross, if you want to follow me, you must go to a cross... Taking up your cross means for you to die to self-determination, die to control of your own life, die to using him for your agenda.’ Timothy Keller “King’s Cross”

Commitment For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35

Commitment ‘I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.’ Acts 20:24

‘to live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way’ Commitment ‘to live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way’ Col.1:10

Commitment Hudson Taylor, 19th century missionary to China – ‘Man, I never made a sacrifice in my life.’ Jim Elliot, 20th century missionary to Ecuador – ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.’

Commitment Timothy Keller, 21st century pastor in NYC – He’s a king who went to the cross for you. Therefore you can submit to him out of love and trust. This means coming to him not negotiating but saying, “Lord, whatever you ask I will do, whatever you send I will accept.”

Commitment What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Mark 8:36

Commitment “Inequality is out of control… At the start of 2014 the richest 85 people on the planet owned as much as the poorest half of humanity.”

“Give up yourself, and you will find your real self “Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, the death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and the death of your whole body in the end: Submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. C.S. Lewis

“Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours “Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look to Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” C.S. Lewis

Cost “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” John 15:18,19

“I submit. I submit that Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth “I submit. I submit that Jesus Christ is Lord of heaven and earth. He came to this world to die for my sins, proving His lordship by rising from the dead. I am a sinner, and I need Him for redemption. Christ, I accept You into my life.” Nabeel Qureshi

‘[Jesus] says, “No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me ‘[Jesus] says, “No man can reach absolute reality, except through Me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved.” He says, “If you are ashamed of Me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I also will look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. C.S. Lewis ‘God in the Dock’

‘If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from Me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut it off. If you put yourself first you will be last. Come to Me everyone who is carrying a heavy load, I will set that right. Your sins, all of them, are wiped out, I can do that. I am Rebirth, I am Life. Eat Me, drink Me, I am your Food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe.’ C.S. Lewis ‘God in the Dock’