It's Not About You | The Disciple Series

We must travel from the cross where Jesus is our Saviour to His Ascension where He is enthroned Lord. When He is Lord we need a lot less saving. When we remain at the cross our praise, prayers and preaching is all about how He sets me free, provides for me, forgave me, healed me, laid down His life for me. Obviously amazing. We can’t stay here though. We need to change from us being the centre of the relationship to where He is. Our worship becomes about how we will set others free, heal others, laying down our life for Him.

We frustrate the Gospel when we make Christ’s teaching all about us. ‘He wants to bless you’. ‘He has a plan for your life’. ‘He wants to heal you’. ‘He will set you free’. Honestly, I feel sick hearing a message only deepening our ‘selfie’ obsession and self-absorption. Self-centred living, even when it’s dressed up in Christian clothing can only deliver misery. The essence of His Kingdom is laying down our lives and taking up our cross. We do His will whether it benefits us or not. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is not our language.

A lot of our church services aim at reaching lost people, so we preach to their felt needs, which is not wrong at all. Jesus brought healing and deliverance to people with problems. Then He would invite them to follow Him. (Generally we surrender the direction of our lives to those who solve our problems.)

But Jesus must become more than just our problem-solver. Through the cross He solved our biggest problem. Sin and death. They’re defeated. It’s done. Finished. We can’t get stuck here. We’re hungry to grow. We’re tired of self-centred, consumeristic Christianity. Following Jesus costs. 

When we get off the throne to enthrone Jesus as our King, we align ourselves with the way things are meant to be.

For example, we are told listening is a key to selling something. The message is we benefit if we listen more than talk. The problem is we are still at the centre. It’s for us. What if we listened more than we talked because the Bible tells us to? 

We corrupt our motives aiming for outcomes that benefit us. Disciples do what Jesus says even when they don’t understand why. The beautiful thing is that obedience does enjoy great outcomes. But there are also times when it doesn’t. Outcomes are not the primary reason we obey God.  

We must move from living life for us, to living for Him. Don’t ask, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Smile when you sacrifice.

I’ve been writing about discipleship for more than a decade now, and i’m excited to announce this blog is an excerpt from my new book, Disciple launching November 2021. Stay tuned and be notified when pre-orders are open by joining my mailing list.