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! Introduction
When we were on vacation we met all kinds of different people.
At a rest stop in Montana we met a couple who were probably about our age who had just retired and were traveling around with no specific destination in mind.
Although we didn't pursue the conversation very far, I wondered if their plan was to spend the rest of their life doing that.
We also met a very nice young man who was our guide on a kayak expedition in Clayoquot Sound.
As we chatted with him we discovered that he grew up on a farm in Ontario and had come to Tofino to surf.
It seemed as if his purpose for living was to surf and the guiding job was just something he needed to let him live there and surf.
In both of these cases, it seemed as if the purpose for living for these people was their recreation.
There is nothing wrong with vacations or recreation.
We all need times of rest and refreshment, but I wonder about how people can make that their reason for living?
Yet I know that we have to be careful not to be too critical because as I look at my life and reflect on the life of other people I know, I sometimes wonder what our purpose for living is.
What is the life principle by which we live?
As I ask that question, I don't mean the life principle by which we say we live, but the one we really live.
The purpose and principle of life by which we live is revealed by what we actually do.
If someone was to look at how we use our time, how we spend our money and what occupies our mind, what would they say our purpose for life is?
!
I. Jesus Gave His Life
We call ourselves Christians and the term Christian implies being a follower of Christ.
As we think about our purpose for living, as Christians, it would be good to look at the purpose for living that Jesus had.
How did Jesus live His life?
By what principle did He live?
Luke 9:22 gives us one statement of His purpose when it says, "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”"
When we read this we discover first of all that Jesus life was focused on God's project.
The word "must" is often used in Scripture to describe a divine necessity.
Since the beginning of time, God has had a project to bring the people He created to Himself.
Jesus came into this world in obedience to His Father and so His life was focused on God's project.
He wanted to do whatever was necessary in order to do what God wanted.
In order to do so He was willing to suffer.
The purpose of Jesus was not suffering, but if suffering was needed to accomplish God's purposes, he was willing to suffer.
And He did suffer when he was mocked and beaten.
He was willing to be rejected.
His purpose was not to be rejected, but to accomplish God's purposes.
Yet if it was necessary for him to be rejected He was willing to be rejected because He came to do God's will.
And He was rejected by the Jewish religious leaders.
He was also willing to sacrifice his own life.
His purpose was not to die, but to bring salvation to all people and the only way for Him to accomplish that was to die.
And so Jesus died on a cross.
Jesus' life was about God's will and doing what God wanted Him to do.
He was willing to let go of his own life and agenda in order to accomplish God's.
In the end, through the resurrection, He did accomplish God's plan and was glorified.
Jesus' life was about serving His Father.
He did not come to this earth to be born, to procreate, to gather as many toys as possible and to live as long as possible.
He came to offer Himself to do God's will.
!
II.
Being A Jesus Follower
As we read that, we are thankful that Jesus came to accomplish God's purpose.
Yet in a way we recognize that He was a unique individual and expect that Jesus would be totally focused on God's purposes.
Because of that thinking, we are tempted to disconnect what Jesus did from what is expected of us, but we can't do that because the very next thing Jesus says in this passage is, "If any want to become my followers."
Being a Christian means belonging to Christ and it means following Christ.
It is not simply about accepting the gift of salvation, saying thank-you and going on our own merry way.
If we accept the gift of salvation, it comes to us by being followers of Jesus and we realize that the example of Jesus is an example for us to follow.
If we call ourselves followers of Jesus, then we need to follow the example of Jesus as well.
In Luke 9:23, 24, Jesus tells us what following Him will mean.
!! A. Deny Yourself
If we are to follow Jesus, the Bible says that we must deny ourselves.
Jesus denied Himself when he left heaven.
We can perhaps understand the willingness to leave our air conditioned homes to go work at camp and stay in a non-air-conditioned cabin, but that is a far cry from leaving heaven to come to earth as a baby as Jesus did.
What does it mean for us to deny ourselves?
It doesn't mean buying everything at the dollar store or picking the poorest quality or not enjoying life.
It is much more difficult than that.
It means that our life isn't ours any more.
The questions we need to answer are, Are we living for ourselves?
Is Christianity our life or just a part of our life?
Is Jesus at the center or are we?
If we are followers of Jesus we do not belong to ourselves, but to Him who gave His life for us.
LABC says, "Believers must be willing to make the pursuit of God more important than the selfish pursuit of pleasure."
!! B. Take Up Your Cross
But denial of self is only the first step.
The next step in following Jesus is to take up our cross daily.
Jesus very literally took up His cross.
He was given the cross to carry to His place of execution and then he was placed on the cross and died there.
We have no question about what it meant for Jesus to take up His cross, but we do wonder what it means for us to take up our cross.
Marshall suggests that taking up our cross includes a "daily readiness for martyrdom."
At the Canadian Conference we heard a missionary to China speak about the church in China.
He spoke about some of the reasons why the church in China is growing so fast.
Among others it is because of a willingness on the part of the believers in China to die for their faith.
They live in a country in which Christianity is illegal and many of them are threatened with arrest and imprisonment.
Sometimes they are even threatened with death and many are willing to die for Jesus.
A few weeks ago we had Trevor speaking in our church.
After the service I had a chance to talk to him and he told me that if it was God's will he was prepared to give his whole life for the cause of the gospel in Turkey.
The way he actually put it was that he was willing to die in Turkey.
If we are to follow Jesus, then we must also be willing to do what He did.
Marshall says, "Jesus calls his followers to be prepared for death by crucifixion."
Most of us, however, will not be called upon to do that.
Does this passages still mean something to us even if potential martyrdom is far from us? Can we really engage with this passage if crucifixion is such an extremely remote possibility?
Does it mean anything to us if it isn't a decision we will ever have to make?
I think there is another way of looking at this.
Jesus took up His cross because that was the task that God had for Him.
When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane He asked for God to remove the need for His death.
But it becomes clear that the cross was the only way that God could accomplish His plan through Jesus.
Repeatedly in the gospels, including in the verse we just read in Luke 9:23, Jesus indicated that He had come in order to die.
That was God's purpose for Jesus.
We will likely not have to take up a cross in the literal sense of the word because that is not the call of God on our life.
For us to take up our cross means to do what God wants us to do.
The first step of being a follower of Jesus is to say that our life is no longer our life.
The second step is to let God know that we are prepared to do whatever He wants us to do for Him.
To take up our cross is to commit to God's will for our life.
For Jesus that was taking up the cross, for us, it will be something else, but the intention is the same.
Are we willing to do what God calls us to do for Him?
Is it the purpose of our life to accomplish God's will for our life.
If we do that, we will be doing what Jesus did.
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