Connecting The Dots - Week 15 Notes (The Big Three)

      Connecting The Dots – Week 15

                    The BIG Three

Key verse: “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23 NIV)

Jesus made a similar statement to the one above in Matthew 16:24, and Mark 8:34. His message to us is crystal clear in all of these verses, that if we want to learn to be like him we must do three things:

1. Deny ourselves – Simply put, the way we identify ourselves must come from him, not our old nature. (Colossians 3:1-3), (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

2. Take up our own cross daily – To agree to carry a cross is to agree to bear weight, it is equally and also an acknowledgement that something undesirable in us will be nailed to it and die each time we do. (Matthew 11:28-30), (Ephesians 4:22-24)

3. Follow him – Follow in his footsteps, go where he goes and do what he does. (Colossians 3:13-15), (Romans 13:14)

  The verses that come next are possibly two of the most important things Jesus said during His time on earth because they demand of us both a recognition and a reaction.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35)

Recognition: That which we agree to lose (all that we know and value apart from God) is in fact the absence of life, and that which we gain (all that God knows and desires for us) is the very source of life. (1 John 5:12), (John 1:1-4)

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)  

Reaction: Even though the questions are rhetorical, Jesus’ point is very powerfully made; what we do, what we believe, and how we respond to the truth are literally the difference between life and death. (John 14:6)

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63)

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

After hearing all of that, what do you have to say? 

How would you react? 

Who do you say Jesus is, and what do you believe about him?