Commitment runs very shallow in our modern western world.
Whether it is in marriage or in religion, most people want what is convenient and easy. What does Jesus Christ expect of those who would be His disciples? How much commitment is really necessary?
Christ warned His disciples that the time would come when many who claimed to be Christian would be offended and would hate and betray one another (Matthew 24:10). Clearly these are individuals whose commitment does not go deeply enough.
History is replete with the story of “sunshine patriots,” individuals who lacked the commitment to weather personal hurts and slights or hard times that came their way. Perhaps the most infamous name in American history has been that of Benedict Arnold. His name has been paired with Judas Iscariot and is synonymous with “traitor.”
Benedict Arnold did not start out as a traitor, of course. He was, in fact, the youngest American general in the Revolutionary War and a hero of some of its early engagements. He, along with many others, professed devotion to the cause of American independence, being highly thought of for putting his life on the line, and being in the forefront of action with his troops. Yet the commitment of Benedict Arnold to the ideal of an independent United States had definite limits. Those limits centered on personal ambition.
He had become increasingly angry at the actions of his superior officer, General Horatio Gates. Arnold felt that General Gates took credit for all of his good ideas and was receiving praise and recognition to which he himself was entitled. Eventually this resentment spilled over to George Washington for not seeing through General Gates, and from there to the entire American cause. Eventually Benedict Arnold made a bargain with the British to betray his colleagues and the American position at West Point, New York. In the aftermath of his sellout, his name became synonymous with “traitor.”
Obviously, Benedict Arnold’s commitment was shallow. He was simply not willing to tolerate what he considered unfair treatment. Christ made it very plain in Matthew 24 and other places that many Christians will become spiritual “Benedict Arnolds.” What about you? How deep do your commitments run?
God’s Commitment to Us
We sometimes talk about our commitment to God and to His way of life, but what about His commitment to us? Perhaps we do not often think about it in that way, but God has evidenced the deepest of commitment to you and me personally. In return, of course, He requires total commitment from us as well.
Perhaps the greatest test of commitment and obedience that God ever gave anyone was the one He gave to His friend, Abraham. Abraham was told by God to take his only legitimate son, Isaac, and go to the mountains of Moriah and there offer the young man as a sacrifice to God. Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah in their old age, the son for whom they had waited for decades. As much as Abraham loved his son, He loved God more. Not understanding what it was all about, yet knowing that the command came from his Creator, Abraham took young Isaac, along with the items needed for the sacrifice, and departed early the next morning. At the last possible moment, God stepped in and stopped Abraham from carrying out the sacrifice. At that point, God knew that Abraham’s commitment to Him knew no bounds.
The test that God imposed on Abraham was not arbitrary. It foreshadowed what God the Father would Himself do almost twenty centuries after that event. Because, you see, God the Father gave His uniquely begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all human beings. God’s love for us and His commitment to our salvation knew no bounds. For our sakes, He made the supreme sacrifice!
And what about Jesus Christ, Himself? He had been in the beginning with the Father and He Himself possessed eternal power and glory. He was the very instrument of creation itself. Yet in spite of all of this, He voluntarily emptied Himself of the immortality, glory, and power that He had shared from eternity with the Father and became a mortal man. He was born as a helpless human baby and grew to adulthood in the ancient Roman provinces of Galilee and Judea.
Up and down the dusty roads He walked with His disciples, teaching and helping people. His authoritative teaching about God’s way of life, and the miracles He worked to heal and help others, brought Him into conflict with the religious establishment of His day. Growing increasingly fearful of His popularity with the masses of ordinary people, the religious leaders grew to bitterly hate and resent Jesus of Nazareth. Ultimately they collaborated to have Him arrested and turned over to the Roman government for execution by one of the cruelest means ever devised by human beings—crucifixion.
Consider the commitment that God the Father and Jesus Christ made to us personally. Paul explains in Romans 8:32 that God is so deeply concerned about each of us that He did not even spare His own Son in order to bring about our salvation. This being the case, Paul goes on to argue, how could we not expect that the Father and the resurrected Christ at His right hand would freely give us all the help we need in order to make it into the Kingdom of God? God’s commitment to us is so powerful that it staggers the imagination. What about our commitment to Him? What kind of commitment does He expect of us?
In Luke 9:23, Jesus Christ is recorded as telling His disciples that if they wished to be His followers, three things were required. They would have to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and come after Him. What did He mean by this statement? Herein lies the key to understanding the level of commitment that Christ and the Father require.
Because, make no mistake about it, there will be no fair weather disciples or “sunshine patriots” in the Kingdom of God!
Deny Yourself
The starting point of the commitment that Christ demands of those who would follow Him is self-denial. This, of course, goes against the grain of our modern Western world. People are looking for self-fulfillment, not self-denial. They are trying to “find themselves,” not to lose themselves!
Popular teachers in today’s world offer to help people “feel good about themselves.” Often people reason that since God is love (which He is), then He certainly wants them to be happy. The next step in this train of logic is for them to conclude that whatever it is that they wish to do (in their minds, thereby making them “happy”) God would surely approve. Often this may involve divorcing and remarrying without strict Biblical justification or perhaps compromising with some other standard that the Bible holds up.
Simply put, obedience to God involves self-denial. When we tithe, when we keep the Sabbath, even when we do something very physical, such as avoiding meats that God labels unclean, we are denying physical enticements and desires as the ruling forces of our lives.
To give or help or serve others generally involves self-denial. It usually means putting off something we had wanted to do, or in some way inconveniencing ourselves because of the needs of others. It is not enough to give and serve; it must be done with a willing heart. Paul wrote the Corinthian Church about a special offering that was being collected to feed the poor brethren in Judea. He reminded them that God “loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). It is not simply what we do, but it is also the attitude in which we do it that is vital to God.
Why did God the Father and Jesus Christ deny the self in our behalf? Why did they offer such an incredible sacrifice? The motive was LOVE, outgoing concern toward us as potential future members of the Family of God. At the basis of God’s character is love, and, with it, the willingness to practice self-denial to help the one loved! Christ said that if we are to come after Him we must be willing to deny the self. Understanding this concept is crucial to being a Christian.
While God’s law is for our good and points the way to eternal life and joy forever, it often goes against the grain of human nature. Loving our enemies, blessing those who revile and curse us, praying for those who seek to spitefully use us—these aren’t things that come naturally. To do them involves denying the natural instincts and urges that we all have.
God loves with a sacrificial love. He tells us that as future members of His family, we must also learn the way of a love that is prepared to say no to self.
Jonathan, the son of Saul, is an outstanding example of someone who exemplified true love and thereby denied the self. Most are familiar with the story told in 1 Samuel about the close friendship between Jonathan and David, the future king of Israel. After he killed Goliath, David quickly became a national hero. He went on to achieve other notable victories over the enemies of Israel. King Saul soon became consumed with jealousy because of David’s popularity. In the meantime David and Jonathan became very close friends.
As Saul became more obsessively jealous of David, he began to formulate plans to kill him. Knowing of his son Jonathan’s friendship with David, Saul sought to stir jealousy within his son’s heart and mind. “You will never be established in your kingdom,” Saul warned Jonathan, “as long as David is alive.”
Jonathan, though he began to understand that his friend would undoubtedly become king instead of him, always sought to help and protect David. He denied the self and evidenced real love.
What about us? Are our minds open to jealousy and resentment of others? If they are, they are not filled with the kind of love that is prepared to deny the self!
Take Up Your Cross Daily
What did Jesus of Nazareth mean when He told His disciples that they must be prepared to take up their cross daily? Clearly, at the end of His life, He himself took up a literal cross and began the walk from the Governor’s Palace to His place of execution. What is our cross and how do we take it up daily?
The stake that Jesus took up at the end of His life was symbolic of the purpose for which He had entered human flesh and come into the world. It was indeed the instrument of Christ’s execution. However, it was by His death and shed blood that He paid the penalty for sin and made possible our reconciliation to God. Additionally, He triumphed over Satan and all his works, insuring the ultimate victory of all those who would follow Him.
Taking up His cross represented for Jesus Christ the shouldering of responsibility, no matter how personally distasteful. Every fiber of His being cried out for some alternate way; nevertheless, He surrendered Himself completely to the Father’s perfect will (Matthew 26:39).
In speaking as He did to His disciples about taking up their cross daily, Christ showed that our responsibilities and obligations are not just one-time things. It involves matters that we must shoulder day by day. There are many distasteful and difficult obligations that we may face in our lives, and we must carry them day by day, one day at a time.
With what attitude did Jesus Christ shoulder His cross? In Luke’s account we learn that a large number of people followed Him when He began the trek to Calvary, including many women who began loudly to bewail and lament what was happening to Him. He turned to them and told them that instead of weeping for Him they should weep for themselves and their children because of the terrible things that were going to come upon them and their nation (Luke 23:27–31). Christ’s attitude, even at that most difficult of times personally, was one of outgoing concern for others. He shouldered His personal burden, but not with an attitude of self-pity!
How about us? With what attitude do we take up the performance of our duties and obligations day by day?
One other thing about taking up our cross; we have not failed if we find that we need some help along the way! Even Jesus received help. Because of the terrible beating that He had suffered and His subsequent loss of blood, His steps faltered and He was unable to carry His burden all the way to the top of Golgotha by Himself. Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service to help by carrying it the rest of the way. The lesson for us is that if we willingly shoulder our burdens and start on the way, the necessary help will be provided to make it to the journey’s end.
Follow Me
Christ not only told us the way; He showed us the way! The essence of being a Christian is being one who follows Christ. He set us an example that we should follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21).
After Christ’s resurrection, He appeared to the Apostles on several occasions during a forty-day period. The third of these appearances occurred on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples, at the suggestion of Peter, had gone fishing. Christ appeared and ate a meal with them. Following the meal Christ strolled along the seashore with Simon Peter and began to talk to him about the martyr’s death that he would eventually die. Peter’s response is classic, for it illustrates the way each of us so often responds.
We learn from John 21:20–21 that Peter looked back and saw John, the beloved disciple, standing a ways off. He interrupted Christ to ask Him, “Lord, what about John? What’s going to happen to him?” Christ’s response to Peter is illustrative for us. “Peter, if I want him to remain alive until I come back, what is that to you? Follow you me!”
So often, like Peter, we get worried that others are going to get off more easily than we are. We get our attention on them and wonder what the future holds for them and why it may be different than for us. Christ’s response to each of us is the same as that to Peter. Do not worry what I have in store for them or how I will choose to use their lives for My glory, He tells us. What we need to do is simply to concentrate on putting one foot in front of another to follow Him! Step by step and day by day, follow Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
About a week before the glorious miracle of the transfiguration, Jesus Christ emphasized to His disciples that if preserving and protecting themselves was their first priority, they would ultimately lose the very life they sought to insure. However, if they were willing to forfeit physical life for His sake, they would be rewarded with life eternal (Matthew 16:25–26).
The commitment that God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ extended toward each of us was absolute and without reservation. The commitment that is required of us in return must also be without reservation or equivocation.
We give our utmost for His highest reward. We can do no more than that, and God will accept no less!