I Must Decrease † Let Him Increase You

In John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease" was said by John the Baptist, Jesus' famous predecessor. What John said wasn't some daily mindset all Christians are to have. It was said by a specific man at a specific time. The predecessor had to decrease because his entire purpose was to point to Christ who was just coming onto the scene. John was saying, "I must decrease in popularity so people will follow the right man & not be distracted from Him by me."

Jesus was a physical man that people could see & follow around. Fast forward to today. We are now Christ's body, His visible & physical representation in the earth. Jesus has finished His work & ascended. Jesus has already increased & He wants us to recognize that so we may increase in Him. His love & the sharing of His divine glory cause us to increase in Him. Being loved & knowing we are loved in that way by Him is what increases the opinion & awareness of Jesus in the world. It isn't a legalistic obligation to witness or praise that does that. If we aren't praising Him for His goodness to us what are we praising Him for? If we aren't witnesses of His love what are we witnesses of? Love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1). Love does not tear down. God is love, God builds us up.

The only people that should "decrease" today are those who "draw a following to themselves" & those who "distort the truth" (Acts 20:30). God does not want any of the rest of us to "decrease" ourselves at all. So many of us "decrease" ourselves with false humility, the refusal to value ourselves, the refusal to see ourselves as anything but "unworthy."  God has increased our value & worth beyond our imaginations.

To "walk in a manner worthy of our calling" as spoken of many times in the New Testament isn't to strive to keep commands or stay away from sin. It is to "walk in a manner of worth" where you recognize the worth of yourself & others through God's eyes. Doing so will result in love & good deeds. But if you try to make yourself worthy of your calling by attempting to love & do good deeds you are spinning your wheels because God values whos more than dos. It is people that He treasures, not what people can do for Him. Of course He enjoys it when His children join in & work with Him. But our calling is to be reborn into the family of God. We are called to be sons & daughters. To say, "I want to know my daddy."

"May you let the Lord Jesus cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, so that in this lifetime you may see with your hearts that He has made you blameless & holy in the sight of God our Father." (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

An Alternate Look at Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Is this about judgment day or is it about the day (period of time) after Jesus' resurrection?

Jesus said in Luke 17:21, "Look, the kingdom of God is in your midst." This could easily picture Jews or anyone else who tries to "enter the kingdom" by their works. The will of the Father is to trust Jesus (John 6:40). We don't enter the kingdom upon the death of our flesh. We enter it when we are first saved. Likewise people try to enter the kingdom in the flesh by boasting of their own works. I think it teaches a more valuable & more urgent lesson this way than if it were about hell. Works don't get you into the kingdom, only trusting God to know Him does.

This Side of the Cross: Church Discipline?

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to listen even to the assembly, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matthew 18:15-17)

Jesus said this before the cross. Gentiles are a part of His body now. As I've said elsewhere the word church should be translated "assembly." The Jews had an assembly going back into the old testament. Today the Assembly includes Gentiles thus what Jesus spoke of here was something only for the Jews at the time. How do you treat someone like a gentile when you are one? Gentiles are our brothers in Christ. Jesus also loved & spent time with tax collectors, they were His friends. I don't see abandonment of relationship in view here at all.

Jesus' goal was to have Jews follow & trust in Him so they could be saved by His sacrifice. Sin had real spiritual power before the cross. Jesus wanted the disciples to watch out for each other so sin would not cause them to fall away & prevent them from being saved by His sacrifice on the cross.

Before talking about this Jesus warns that sin could cause them to go to hell, "If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire." That was only true for someone who did not remain with Christ until the resurrection. Jesus wasn't talking about His post-cross followers losing their salvation. Jesus was talking about Jews not arriving at salvation when it comes at the resurrection because sin distracted them.

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments † I Will Love You So You Will Trust Me

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
This is perhaps the legalist's favorite phrase that Jesus ever spoke. Most take this as meaning "To prove you love me you must keep everything I have ever commanded you." It is not the keeping that produces love but the loving that causes the keeping. But contextually are there specific commands Jesus is talking about? Yes.

What Were the Commands?

"A new commandment I give to you, love one another. Just as I have loved you, love one another" (John 13:34-35).
"Trust in God. Trust also in Me" (John 14:1).

Why these two? Because John repeats them in 1 John 3:23, "This is God's command: to trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us." "As He commanded us" refers back to John 13, "Love one another as I have loved you." Apparently this command was well known & widespread because John referred to "as He commanded us" without quoting how He commanded us.

Why Did Jesus Command His Disciples to Trust?
In John 14:1 Jesus says, "Trust in God. Trust also in Me." Now let us read John 14:15-17, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments and I will ask the Father, and He will give to you another Comforter, that He might be with you forever the Spirit of truth. He will be in you." Wow, this statement from Jesus (if you love Me..) has been taken so far out of context that it isn't even the whole sentence. Jesus knew these men & Judas had already left to betray Him. Jesus was saying "If you love me you will trust me & you will trust the Father. That trust results in receiving the Holy Spirit who is just like me. He will be with you forever and live in you." These guys did love Jesus, they were in a very unique position to have a love relationship with Him in the flesh before Jesus went to the cross, rose again, and became a life-giving Spirit.

Jesus was saying "Do you love me Peter? Do you love me John? Do you love me Matthew?... If you love me you will keep my commandments to trust in the Father and to trust in me. When I know you trust me I will ask the Father to give you another Comforter (one who is just like me) to be with you forever and to live in you." This was Jesus' appeal to the human relational love they had for Jesus which was built the 3 years they were with Him so they would trust Him through the devastating time where He goes to the cross and even to the grave. Jesus foretold them of His death and resurrection numerous times. John 13:1 says that everything Jesus did this night was to love His disciples because He knew He was going to be arrested and die soon.

Jesus didn't say “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" for all Christians throughout time to be burdened by all the commands Jesus taught in His life (many of which were old covenant commands which He spoke so people would realize their helplessness in keeping those commands). Jesus was referring to specific commands. He said this to men He had established human relationships with. He told them that He was about to be put to death and would rise again. He wanted them to trust Him so they would see Him risen and receive all the amazing things He gives through the Holy Spirit and new life.

The disciples did love Jesus because He first loved them and they all did receive the Holy Spirit as promised because ultimately they trusted in the Father, in Him, & in His resurrection. The loving caused the trusting. The trusting was the keeping of the two commandments to trust. The result of & reward for the keeping was receiving the Holy Spirit, an eternal spiritual relationship with God.

Today He loves, we trust, & He gives us the Holy Spirit. This was spoken to those who knew Jesus in the flesh so they would simply trust Him until He would give the Spirit. Jesus still wanted them to trust Him after they received the Spirit but that was not the initial purpose of the commands. Be sure that He still wants us today to trust Him (have faith in Him, believe Him) but also be sure to know that trust is the fruit of a relationship where you know that you are loved. These men uniquely had that relationship with Jesus before salvation was complete. Now God wants us to know His love, trust Him, & receive His Spirit. Trust is how we experience God's love for us and trust is how we love God.

Why Did Jesus Command His Disciples to Love One Another?

"This is God's command: to trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us" (1 John 3:23). This lets us know that more than just the commands to "Trust in God & trust also in Me," were in view. Jesus was also referring to this command which He said twice that night, "A new commandment I give to you, love one another. Just as I have loved you, love one another. All will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another” (John 13:34-35).

John repeatedly talks about "God's commandments" in 1 John but then says "This is His commandment" in 1 John 3:23 (quoted above). It is a compound command. In brief the command is, "Trust me & love others as I have loved you." "Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, & strength" was the greatest commandment in the law. The law was powerless (Romans 8:3) & the law is over (Colossians 2:14 & Ephesians 2:15). This new commandment supersedes the previous greatest commandment not only because the law is over but because this is not a powerless command. God's love & trustworthiness is essentially included in it. Knowing His trustworthiness is the means to trusting Him. Knowing His love is the means to loving others. Your trust is dependent on His trustworthiness. Your love is dependent on His love. He is responsible you are simply responsive. When everything depends on God & comes from God people will see God, "All will know that you are My disciples."

Why didn't Jesus give the new command, "love as I have loved you" before this night? Simple, this was at the end of His life with them in the flesh, He made sure that His love had been shown to them adequately before He gave this new command. God's new covenant commands are not laws. A law is something that you are bound to keep where failure to keep it results in a penalty/punishment. There is no condemnation or punishment for those in Christ. If you have not experienced His love God is not expecting you to love others well. Your goal is to discover His love & trust Him. This command is only for those who know His true love. It was given to keep the disciples together during their time of adversity. After His death they were staying in the same place. They loved one another during this tough time.

John repeats this command for those who know His true love. John speaks about God's love for us before repeating the command. He says, "God wants fellowship with mankind, knowing God brings complete joy, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin & unrighteousness, Jesus is the satisfying sacrifice for the sins of all, God has removed our sins, we have an anointing from the Holy One, God has promised us eternal life (relationship with God), God is our teacher, because of His great love God calls us His own children, we have been born of God, we are righteous, God has given us a new spirit through our birth in Him that cannot produce sin, Jesus laid down His life for us, God can stop our hearts from condemning us."

John goes on to write "We love because God first loved us. This is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent His Son as the satisfying sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10). Understanding this truth here is the key to walking in intimacy with God & walking in love with one another. The love we have does not come from a commandment. It comes from the fact that we grow in God's unconditional love for us. We love, not because of commandments, but because God loves us. His command is to "love as He has loved us." His love instigates & empowers our love for others. John makes a point that true love only comes from God loving us first. Love is not produced by us trying to love God without knowing His love first. Thus it is not the keeping of commands that produces love but God's loving of us that causes the keeping of commands.

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:2-3). Remember His commands are to trust God (view Him as trustworthy & walk in a relationship with Him where you entrust yourself to Him & follow His guidance) & to love one another as He has loved us. We love God by trusting Him! We love God by loving others! 'We know we love the children of God when we love God, trust God, & love others as He has loved us.' Remember, His commands are not laws, they are not a stack of overwhelming obligations. His commands do not burden us because trust & love are walked out in a real-time relationship with Him & with others.

Keep His Word
In John 14:21 Jesus says, "He who has My commandments, and keeps them, that is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”
It is all about relationship. Here is a paraphrase of how the disciples would have heard Jesus when He said this, "If you know that I ask you to trust me and the Father and you do trust us, that means you love Me. Since you love Me you will experience the love of the Father and you will experience my love also. I will show myself to you because you trust me and because you love me."

John 14:22-24: Judas, not Iscariot, said to Him, “Lord, what has happened, that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, He will keep My word, and My Father will love Him, and We will come to him, and We will dwell with him. He who does not love Me, does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me."

Note the differences, earlier Jesus said "if YOU (my disciples) love me, YOU will keep My commandments." Then here Jesus says, "If ANYONE loves Me, He will keep My word." When asked about "the world" Jesus no longer uses the word "commandments." I think it is because Jesus takes "my commandments" literally. He actually told His disciples to do things. He commanded them. The world, meaning those who weren't His disciples at the time, "does not know Him" so they aren't commanded. (Note that John repeated Jesus' commands to others & wrote them in scripture. Because of this we who are His disciples can say that they are His commands to us but that is not the time frame Jesus was speaking in).

Keep means to hold, treasure, pay attention to, follow, listen with the intent to understand or act upon. It is somewhat similar to obey but more thoughtful & personal. It isn't just doing. Keeping is listening & understanding then treasuring & doing. (This is also the definition of keep used for "keep my commands"). So to "keep His word" is to have a trust that results from grasping the wonderful news of Jesus.

Those from the world who love Him keep His word. Notice it is singular. His "word" here means they trust Him about His trustworthiness regarding who He is. Love and trust go together. To God trusting Him equals loving Him. These are just the facts of salvation, if you trust (love) Him you will experience the Father loving you and God will live in and with you in an eternal spiritual relationship.

Those who do not love Him don't trust Him and don't care about any of the words He has said. Hebrews 11:6 says, "It is impossible to please God without trust". Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust being expressed through love." We love because He first loved us. His love draws us to trust Him and trusting Him is loving Him.

Summary
Originally “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" was directed towards Jesus' disciples to appeal to their relational love for Him so they would endure & be saved through His resurrection. After the cross Jesus does not appeal to our love for Him in order for us to receive salvation because until we are saved we do not know Him.

Jesus was referring to specific commands. John passed these commands on to all Christians. The commands were 1. trust the Father 2. trust Jesus 3. love one another as God has loved you. These are the only overarching commands for Christians today because all of God's direction for our lives is followed by trusting God. Trust is how we have a relationship with God.

These 3 commands (which John considers 1 command in his first letter) all point to God rather than our personal morality. Our trust is in His trustworthiness. Our love for others comes from knowing His love for us. Truly His commands aren't burdensome. Jesus wasn't endorsing a legalistic lifestyle but instead is promoting a relationship with God that springs from & is based on His trustworthiness & His love for us. The more we recognize His love the more we will trust Him, love Him, & love others.

This Side of the Cross:  The Night of Jesus' Arrest
1. Intro
2. Jesus Goes to Prepare a Place in His Father's House † We Live in The Father
3. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments † I Will Love You So You Will Trust Me
4. Remain in Me † You are in Me

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The Spirit is Willing but the Flesh is Weak † The Spirit is Able

Looking at Jesus
"When Jesus arrived at the place in the garden called Gethsemane, He began to be very troubled and grieved and distressed. Then He said to His disciples, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with Me. Pray that you might not enter into temptation.”
And He withdrew from them, and went a little beyond them, about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down, and He fell to the ground on His face, and began to pray that if it were possible the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “My Abba Father, all things are possible for You. If it is possible, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but what You will - Your will be done.” Now an angel from Heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground...And He went away again a second time, and prayed, saying the same words. "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done."..And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more." (MT 26:36-46, MK 14:32-42, LK 22:39-46, JN 18:1)

Jesus says that people "enter into temptation." Some translations mistranslate this as "fall into temptation." Temptation is no accident. It is something you choose to enter into by entertaining thoughts of fear, lust, anger, shame, etc.

Jesus faced something we will never face, the task of taking upon Himself the sins of the world to the point of "becoming sin." "God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was tempted to find a way out of this suffering. He was "very troubled and deeply grieved and distressed to the point of death!" He asked the Father for a way out three times. He did so without sin by preferring the Father's will to his own even in His agony.

Jesus would face the FULL power of ALL sin & the greatest suffering EVER on the cross. Here, in the shadow of the cross, He faced sin's full power in the form of the greatest temptation of all time. He was tempted to avoid the suffering, to choose self-centered "love" over love for His Father and the world.

His temptation & agony over it was so great that, "His sweat became like drops of blood falling down on the ground." I believe that Hebrews 12:4 speaks, not of the cross but of His experience in the garden. It says, "In your striving against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood." Jesus was tempted to commit the ultimate sin, abandoning redemption, because He faced the ultimate suffering. He strove against that sin to the point of shedding blood. His agony was so immense that an angel had to strengthen Him. But to the praise of the Father HE DID RESIST!

The Power of Sin Broken
We Christians now have this same power & person living inside of us, He who resisted the ultimate temptation. His temptation was one that is "not common to men" & no one else will ever face it. Jesus died one time to break the power of sin for all. He freed us from sin. He did away with our body of sin. "God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh by declaring an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins" (Romans 8:3). "Jesus Christ loves us and released us from our sins by His blood" (Revelation 1:5).

Jesus broke the power of sin. So not only do we have the power & the person to keep us from entering into temptation but sin also has no power over us (Romans 6:14). Sin (& Satan) is like a pitiful & fallen dictator threatening you with a fake gun under his jacket to do his bidding. Most give in because they are unaware of the arsenal of power they have been given through being born again.

"By His divine power, God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him" (2 Peter 1:3-4). The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit because the knowledge of the power is required to use that power. An unarmed man will fall prey to the enemy. An unskilled man is likely to give in also. Train with the sword. You train with the sword by having a relationship with Jesus and reading the scripture. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). So many only resist in the flesh, which is useless, that is what Satan wants you to do. But if you resist in the spirit his fleeing is what you will be seeing.

Looking at His Disciples Then & Now
"Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).

Jesus saying, "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” was spoken to His disciples before the cross. Their spirits had not yet been united with God into one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). They did not yet have the Holy Spirit nor the born again spirit we have today. Our spirits are infinitely more powerful than theirs were.

That tells us two things,
1. Their spirits were still willing even though they were not born again, so we have no excuse to not be willing especially since "God works in us to make us willing" (Philippians 2:13). A Christian who is aware of the spirit God has given them & is unwilling to use its power is like the world's strongest man refusing to help an old woman get a jug of milk out of the fridge.

2. We don't have to "watch and pray so that we will not enter into temptation" because our spirit is greater than our flesh. We don't have to watch for temptation because we are dead to sin & alive to God in Christ Jesus. We don't need to fear temptation because sin has been taken away at the cross & we need not be conscious of it (Hebrews 10:1-2).

The more we know God's love for us & of our freedom from sin the more we will be able to tap into our "continually praying spirit" gaining feelings of refreshing joy & peace. We don't have to beg God to deliver us from temptation. He has empowered us to ignore it. Our greatest, most powerful prayer, is not a prayer of fearful desperation but a prayer of thanksgiving for what God has already done for us.

Jesus Goes to Prepare a Place in His Father's House † We Live in The Father

This is part 2 of a series. Click here for Part 1.

“Let your heart not be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in Me. In My Father's house there are many rooms. And if not, I would have told you. For I go on to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will receive you to Myself, that where I am you might also be. And you know where I am going and you know the way.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how are we able to know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, if not through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And from this time you have known Him, and have seen Him.”

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “I have been with you such a long time, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And how do you say, ‘Show to us the Father?’ Do you not trust that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself, but the Father Who is abiding in Me does the works. Trust Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. And if not, trust because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, he who trusts in Me, the works that I do, he will also do, and he will do greater than these, because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, I will do, so that the Father would be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name I will do it.” (John 14:1-14)

The first portion of this is usually taught as referring to Jesus' ascension & His preparation of a mansion for His people. That interpretation is wrong and ignores the context. Firstly Jesus says "I go away so you can be where I AM." Where is Jesus? He is not in heaven. He is in the Father. At one point Jesus outright says, "I am in the Father" & later says, "I go to the Father." Jesus is saying that He is going to the cross which will, in death, take Him to the Father. His work of salvation on the cross "prepares a place" in the Father for those who trust Him.

Secondly Jesus says, "I will come again" If this was speaking of His second coming, as most assume it does, then Jesus would have carelessly been ignoring the plight that came for His disciples while He was arrested, crucified, & in the grave. His promise to come back again speaks of the resurrection! Jesus said, "I will receive you to Myself." He received His disciples to Himself after His resurrection and gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).

What Jesus later says in John 16:16 further confirms this, “A little while, and you will no longer see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” Jesus said it would be "a little while" before they would see Him again after He had gone away. This again confirms that He was talking about His resurrection because He was in the grave only a little while, especially when compared to the thousands of years & counting we are waiting for Him.

Thirdly, the thought of going to heaven wouldn't haven been encouraging to His disciples because, while He was dead, they would be doubting that Jesus was who He said He was and that He spoke the truth. Jesus was speaking of the resurrection, His return in a "little while." None of them trusted in the resurrection until they saw Him. Why would Jesus be trying to encourage them about going to heaven when they die or about His second coming if they were facing His imminent death which seemed to invalidate Him & everything He said?


Being in heaven is nothing compared to being in the Father! Those who are not in the Father will go to heaven for judgment and will not rejoice about it. Those who are already in the Father have endless reasons to rejoice right now! A place in the person of the Father is more important than the place of heaven. We are in the Father's house. We have been received by Jesus. We are with Him in the Father.

"You have been raised to life with Christ, so think about the realities of heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right hand of God. Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life, your real life. When He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory!" (Colossians 3:1-4)


This Side of the Cross:  The Night of Jesus' Arrest
1. Intro
2. Jesus Goes to Prepare a Place in His Father's House † We Live in The Father
3. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments † I Will Love You So You Will Trust Me
4. Remain in Me † You are in Me

This Side of the Cross: The Night of Jesus' Arrest Intro

In John chapters 13-16 we hear Jesus talking to His disciples just before His betrayal. Before morning Jesus would be arrested and soon on His way to the cross. Knowing that is crucial to truly understanding what Jesus is saying here. Jesus says things referring to the tumultuous time coming to help His disciples get through the next few days.  He says things like, "I will be with you only a little longer, Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God and in me."

John 13 starts with, "Jesus knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart from this world to the Father (this refers to His death on the cross not His ascension), loving His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." During everything Jesus says and does in these chapters Jesus is keeping in mind that He is going to die on the cross and be in the grave for 3 days. Everything He says and does here is to show love to His disciples. He wants them to see Him risen and to receive the Holy Spirit.

Jesus explains in John 13:19 that He will be telling His disciples future events so that when the events happen they would trust in who He is. Here are some things Jesus says to them speaking of His coming death, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” "My body is given & broken for you," "My blood is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins," "You will all fall away because I will be stuck down," "After I have been raised..”  Jesus also predicted Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, & Peter's return.

At the end of John 16 (v29-33) Jesus' disciples said to Him, “Now we know that You know all things. In this we trust that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, "Now do you trust? Behold, there is coming an hour, and it has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will leave Me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that you might have peace in Me. In the world you will have trouble. But take courage, I have overcome the world." John 13-16 begins and ends with the same idea. Jesus loved His disciples. He spoke to them knowing His death and burial was soon to come. What He said to them was intended to give them peace, courage, & confidence in Him while He was arrested, on the cross, & in the grave.

Almost everything I've heard taught about these scriptures utterly leave the context behind and apply whatever is said to all Christians for all time. Jesus is speaking to a unique group of people at a very unique time. His disciples have not yet received eternal salvation because Jesus had not yet made it available through the cross. While we can benefit from any scripture not everything that is said should be applied to us. Even though not all of the commands Jesus said are for us today we can still benefit from the fact that Jesus cares enough about His people to prepare them for hard times. God did this for me the day my dad died before I was even aware of his death (see this post). Likewise Jesus did this for His disciples shortly before He was put to death.

In this series I will show that Jesus wasn't laying down miscellaneous instructions & commands to hopelessly burden all people for all time but instead sought to give His disciples hope even as they face their Master's crucifixion. This was the biggest event of their lives and the biggest event of all time. Jesus' words to them spoke to their upcoming situation. Removing these scriptures from context ignores the importance of the cross & the magnificent change it has made. Religion, Satan, legalism, & shame all point to man's behavior. God & the gospel always points to God and His behavior on our behalf, His love.


This Side of the Cross:  The Night of Jesus' Arrest
1. Intro
2. Jesus Goes to Prepare a Place in His Father's House † We Live in The Father
3. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments † I Will Love You So You Will Trust Me
4. Remain in Me † You are in Me

Take Up Your Cross Daily † You Have Been Crucified With Christ

"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day." And summoning the crowd with His disciples, Jesus said to all, “If anyone is willing to follow behind Me, let him deny himself, and pick up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:22-23; Mark 8:34)

Physically Follow Me
When Jesus said "follow me" He meant "physically follow me." The word for "follow" literally means "to accompany on the same road." Jesus was taking the road to the cross. We think of following Jesus today as "following His teachings." Jesus didn't mean that here. When He said "follow me" He didn't mean "Stay here, think about what I've taught you, and put it into practice while I go on to the next town." No one would've taken it that way when the man is right there in front of them. He was talking to a crowd and to His disciples. There is no telling how much the crowd had heard Jesus teach up to that point. It would have been silly for Jesus to mean "follow my teachings" when the crowd had barely heard Him teach.

Deny Self
Anyone who willingly takes up a cross has to deny self. Jesus even did it. In the garden of Gethsemane He prayed to the Father saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." Jesus was very troubled and grieved and distressed. He denied Himself and chose to do what the Father wanted. He "took up His cross" that night and headed to take up the physical cross soon after.

Most teach that "taking up your cross" is something like a reiteration of "deny yourself." As I've shown denial of self is a must for willingly taking up a cross but taking up your cross is not the same as denying yourself. No one today has to "take up their cross" because Jesus already crucified us with Himself on the cross. There are times when God wants us to change our intentions but usually only for the sake of benefiting others or to lessen our own unloving ambitions.

Why "Take Up Your Cross" Doesn't Mean "Crucify Yourself Daily" or "Die Daily."
Jesus Didn't Say "Crucify"
Jesus didn't say "Crucify yourself daily" He said "pick up your cross daily." We know there was a word for crucify because people shouted it at Jesus. If Jesus meant crucify, as in kill yourself, then He would have said it. Immediately before this Jesus said "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be killed and be raised up on the third day." Jesus was on a journey to the cross. A journey to a cross involves carrying the cross. Christ died once not daily. Jesus took up his figurative cross daily because He knew He was headed for the real thing. To follow a man you have to go where he is going. Jesus was going to the cross.

You Can't Crucify Yourself
No one can nail down all of their own limbs. Someone can however pick up a cross and walk with it on their shoulder. This wasn't even about a figurative daily death. Jesus wanted people to follow Him to His destination of the cross and receive the new & eternal life on the other end of it. There is not an indication in scripture that the disciples were miserable hanging out with Jesus or that they suffered daily more than the average traveler at the time. "Taking up your cross" was about the destination and the perseverance to reach that destination.

Scripture Never Commands that We "Die to Self" or "Die Daily"
Paul said "I die daily" in 1 Corinthians 15:31 referring to the closeness he comes to dying every day by putting his life in danger for the Gospel. He says "We are in danger every hour" and "I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus." There is nothing in this context to make us think that Paul is boasting about his efforts of self-denial. His point in the context is "Why would I put my life in danger, and I assure you I do every day, if there were no resurrection?" Romans 8:35-37, "we are being put to death all day long," also concerns facing physical dangers.

"Die to self" is a Christian buzz-phrase that isn't found in scripture. It typically means "self denial." Notice Jesus didn't even say "deny yourself daily." What He meant at the time was "If you want to follow me you'll have to leave everything you have" much like the fisherman disciples did. Denying self in Luke 9 was to pick up and physically follow Jesus. It wasn't a religious stringency but a one time abandonment of all someone had.

We live after the wonder that is the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are changed for the better by embracing Christ not by denying self. Scripture actually speaks against a focus on continual self denial. "Rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, strict self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in stopping the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:23). "Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial" (Colossians 2:18). The scriptures says that a lifestyle of strict self-denial is worthless and imposing it upon someone else is condemning.

Christ Died Once and We Died With Him
Notice all references to the Christian's crucifixion and death are past tense.
"I have been crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). "Christ died for all, and therefore all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). "For those who are in Christ the old creation has gone" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "We are those who have died to sin" (Romans 6:2). "We were buried with Jesus and we have been united with him in a death. Our old self was crucified with him" (Romans 6:4-6). "You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). "Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).

"Christ raised from the dead never to die again. Death has no more power over Him. When He died He died to sin once for all. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin" (Romans 6:9-11). The "same way" means "We rose from the dead with Christ never to die again. We died to sin once." We died once and have no need to die ever again.

A New Self
Jesus' statement sounds like a requirement for salvation and for the Christian life. We see multiple encouragements for self-control in the New Testament. Why then does no post-cross New Testament author command anyone to deny self? "Our old self was crucified with Christ" (Romans 6:6). Praise God! We aren't to deny self because we have a new self, one that is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), righteous, holy, and perfect (Hebrews 10:14). We are to live from our new self, which is our reborn spirit, and use it to control our bodies. Those who think we must "take up our cross" and "deny ourselves" don't understand the finished work of Christ, the new birth, or the life we have in Christ. We have already been to the cross and we have a new self. Now we sit with Jesus in heavenly places.

When we mistake our identity as a dirty worthless sinner then "dying to self" seems like a good thing but the problem is we don't know who we are, the wonderful new creature God has made us to be. God's type of love is not self-seeking. It is others focused and self-giving. We have the full goodness of God to give from ourselves because we are God's beloved children. God identifies us solely by the goodness of Jesus and the goodness He has put in us.

The Results
Almost no one ultimately carried their cross every day but God's mercy and love had them covered. When the disciples carried their crosses as far as they could go on the night of His arrest Jesus took their crosses on His back and carried on. When John, the three Mary's, and Jesus' aunt followed Him to the foot of His cross He took the crosses off of their backs and laid them on His own. Jesus was crucified on their crosses on their behalf. He is the only one who physically died upon the true cross and He suffered on all of our behalves. All of our crosses have already been carried. Our old spirits, our old selves were painlessly crucified with Him and we rose with Him in new life. This gift of new life we have is the greatest gift of all time because Jesus is life and His loving kindness is new every morning. God gives us daily doses of love and kindness. His love trickles-down and transforms. Those are days I want to live.

"Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in sins. It is by His favor that you have been saved.
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6)

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Seek First † Already Found

"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all your needs will be supplied. Fear not little flock because your Father delights to give you the kingdom." (Luke 12:32)

This is a statement Jesus made before the cross. The kingdom was the King because speaking of Himself Jesus said "The kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17:21). The righteousness of the Father is the Son. Jesus was telling these people, by appealing to their basic needs, to continue to seek God so they would fully find Him after His resurrection.

Those who live in the power of His resurrection are born again and at the beginning of their new life they are given everything they need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3a). Jesus wasn't giving a conditional command for Christians. He was encouraging those gathered to hear Him that day to seek God foremost so they may not miss out on the risen Jesus & everything He gives because He would be their true supply in life.

Jesus said in Luke 11:13, "He who seeks finds. The Father knows how to give good gifts to His children. Your Father who is in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" When Jesus said this the Holy Spirit was not yet being given out. Jesus was encouraging people to continue seeking God so they could have God's eternal best, Himself living inside of them.

We who have trusted Jesus are united with God. We have the King, we're in the kingdom, we have His righteousness, and everything we need for life and godliness has already been supplied. God's gifts can never be withdrawn, they are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). We are righteous & supplied forever! Now is the time to rest in our relationship with Him. Our seeking is over! We have Who we need and everything we need! All that is left to do is learn about who He is and become aware of what He has already given (2 Peter 1:3).