22. Taking Up Your Cross Daily With Real Surrender

In this episode, we break down Luke 9:23-27. We talk about what it it is commonly thought to mean, and what it actually means to deny yourself, die to control, and follow Christ. A choice that we have to make every single day. This isn't about tolerating stress or minor inconvenience. It's about whether Jesus is your Savior only, or if He's also your Lord.

YouTube

Instagram

Facebook

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Back After A Long Month

Jon 0:10

Welcome to the Uncommon Man podcast. We're your hosts. I'm John. I'm Devin. And we are happy to be back.

Devin 0:17

We're back.

Jon 0:18

It's been that was unnecessary. It's been a month. And it's been a long month not being able to do this. But a lot that's happened. I got moved. Yeah. Devin got moved. Yep. We're in a new location. You'll see a different colored wall behind us. Probably see piece a piece of a fridge behind me. And I'll go ahead and say, if you hear a little bit of background noise, sorry. I'll do my best with it. There's a air conditioner right there.

Devin 0:48

Just not a lot. You know what? You do what you gotta do.

Jon 0:51

Yeah. We're making it. You make what you want to do. We're making do until Devin gets his uh little office down here built.

Devin 0:58

So yeah, so it's actually gonna be an office slash man cave. So I'm gonna have two side-by-side TVs for college football. And then I'm gonna have my office and I'm gonna have a big couch in here and I got a fridge. It's it's gonna be awesome.

Jon 1:11

Do you just mute one of them?

Devin 1:13

Yeah, so you I mean, the standard setup that I'm envisioning will be two 55 inch TVs next to one another, and I can either have them both on the exact same game at the exact same time, so it's one really big picture.

Jon 1:26

Yeah. Or the ratio would be a little low.

Devin 1:29

I can have, I mean, yeah, sure. Or then I can have two TVs going, one's muted, and then I have the audio.

Jon 1:35

I'm sure lots of guys out there can relate. I cannot. That doesn't sound oh, it's awesome. I would just have two extra computer monitors.

Devin 1:42

Yeah, well, well, actually, so my computer computer computer, my computer monitor will be um the very rarely used TV number three. Do you have gray hair? Yes, I have gray hair, John. I'm 36 years old. I had a birthday in the last month. And all of a sudden you have gray hair? I've had gray hair. Huh.

Jon 2:03

Sorry, I just noticed that.

Devin 2:04

Anyway, you know what you are?

Jon 2:05

TVs.

Devin 2:06

Yeah. You know what you are? A jerk that didn't help me move, even though I came and helped you move twice. Two days. I tried. You failed. You were done by the time. I was gonna come on Saturday and you were done. You know what? I got a go-getter's mentality, baby. When there's work to be done, I'm gonna go go make it happen. Just maybe not working out, but you I know I know that look. And and all right, anyways.

Why This Podcast Exists

Devin 2:30

Um let's let's get it going, man. We're listening we really are so happy to be back. Uh for us, for John and I both, this this podcast is is literally just a ministry that that we both felt called to do. And we've seen God do amazing things through this platform. And our our whole goal behind this is to help us live uncommon lives that are different from society, that are different from what the cultural norm states that we should do. And when we talk about these things, uh understand this. There's there's a whole lot that, you know, as one of our pastors says all the time, I don't really get an opinion, right? What we just go to the Bible and we see what the Bible has to say about it. Um, Brandon Doss, one of the pastors of Cultivate Church, says that all the time. And and I've I've really taken hold of that. Uh we we can throw out ideas and suggestions, sure, but this is literally what the Bible discusses.

Luke 9 And The Word Daily

Devin 3:34

And in today's episode, we wanted to uh really focus a lot on a story out of Luke chapter nine. But uh understand this Matthew and Mark and Luke all have the same story. Uh essentially, they they do make a couple of different points whenever they're talking about taking up your cross. Um, but one of the biggest differences that's different in Luke's version that we really want to hit on is the fact that Luke says the word daily. John, go ahead and read that for us.

Jon 4:06

And he said to so this is Luke 9, 23 through 27. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. That's that's the one of the main differences with Luke's version, and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will be the Son of Man, be ashamed when he comes in his glory and and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

Devin 4:52

Again, those are Jesus' words. You look them up, they're the ones in red. Okay, those are his words. He's literally talking about following, or I'm sorry, denying yourself and to take up your cross. What was that? Daily. And follow me. And to follow him.

What Taking Up Your Cross Is Not

Jon 5:09

What is it not? So we'll first talk about and st before we get into what all of this means, we'll talk about what it's not. So most people read this passage and they think about taking up your cross as like bearing your burdens or and I won't say it's not, doesn't have anything to do with suffering, because it does to some extent, but they think about the sicknesses or whatever it is that life is throwing at you, taking up your cross and bearing it and dealing with it. It is not talking about that. The cross is not referring to some burden that you have. While there might be some seasons of your life that you go through, that's not what these passages are actually talking about.

Devin 5:57

And I want to push uh I don't want to say pushback, but uh I want to add this caveat that it is there is to a degree that bearing your own burdens is a part of that burden.

Jon 6:11

There's some there's some truth to that statement in and of itself. Like every but that's not what the bearing your cross, carrying your cross here is right referring to.

Devin 6:20

But but I'm too right. But I I would say this every disciple has a cross to bear. What what he's not talking about is is that it's it's bearing your burdens. There are times and seasons, yes, we all have to pick up our own cross. That said, their art what it is is literally the word daily.

Jon 6:46

It's very important to we'll get into what it means, but the word daily there is very important. Like every day, God, your will, not mine. Yeah. Now, I do also want to point out that this particular passage, like you you can take Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and they're sorry, really Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John's different. Sorry, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John's. Yeah, John's a little different, but you can take Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the way that they're written, the way that they're broken out, the chronological order of all the stories are fairly similar, right? They're they're really similar. This passage is it's not verbatim identical, but it's really close. Right. Like a lot closer than a lot of the other stuff.

Devin 7:41

Because the biggest difference is Luke adds that word daily. The goal is not reaching a point where you no longer sin. The goal is becoming quicker to surrender.

Jon 7:51

Yeah, if you the goal to to cave the caveat on that, if you go through life trying to not sin, that's not the that's not the point. You're gonna you're gonna mess up at some point. Don't go through life trying to not sin. Go through life trying to be more like Jesus. Just what this is kind of all about. You pursue Jesus, you pursue what he's put you on this earth to do. It's like an example. We'll use pornography as an example. You know, those I've seen ads. There are those apps that you that like block stuff on your phone or whatever. That's a band-aid. It's nothing more than a band-aid, sure, right? Because they're because if you actively just try to not do that thing, it's harder and harder to not do that thing. That applies to all sorts of different stuff. But if you spend your time pursuing Christ and living the life that you should live and not so focused on not living the life that you shouldn't live.

Denying Yourself With Real Discipline

Devin 9:02

Yeah. And and here's the thing when we're talking about carrying it, uh what we're what what we're really discussing here is to deny yourself. Dying to yourself is basically an absolute surrender to God.

Jon 9:16

So we're we're in that first in the first verse, 23, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me. So what deny yourself is like you just said, absolute surrender to God. We must be willing to sacrifice whatever our hopes, dreams, or aspirations are.

Devin 9:39

And that's not to say that they're not important. You're absolutely allowed to have hopes, dreams, and aspirations, but what it has to be is something that in lines with the Father's will for your life. David prayed one of my favorite prayers in Psalms. He said, Oh, God, order my steps that I might not sin against you. David literally asked God to order the number of steps and where and when he would go and how he would get there. When when we have dreams and aspirations, there's dreams and aspirations that I've always wanted to do, right? Right. Can I give you a crazy one? Sure. All right. One of my dreams that I've always wanted to do was chase a tornado. I know that sounds incredibly weird, right? Am I right? And that sounds weird. No. Okay. Well, so I really wanted to. And it goes back to whenever I was nine years old, there was a tornado that came and um ripped up part of Center Point, Alabama, where I played baseball at. And I remember having a game there earlier in the day. And that evening, I lived about a half a mile from that ballpark. And that evening, the scoreboard was in my front yard. And and I just remember going, wow, that's a lot of power. That's you know, all these other things. And I always wanted to do it, but that's a dream of mine. Guess what? That may or may not be in line with the will of what God has for my life. Because one thing that I have known is that God's called me to a life of ministry. So I had to deny certain things in my life in the past. Did I want to go to a different college? Sure. But the Lord had that one for me. Did I want to go? Did I want a air quotes bigger house? You know, than the one that God put us in. Yeah. But when we look at from start to finish, we saw God's provision putting us into this house. Having dreams and aspirations is absolutely fine. What as John said, what we have to be willing to do is put those down no matter the cost. We have to do what we don't want to do. We yeah, exactly.

Jon 11:49

And sometimes you can still choose what you want to do. And the great words of Mike Tyson, that's discipline. Doing what you don't like doing, but doing it like you love it.

Devin 11:59

I make a decision every day, and this this truly changed my life in 26 and this year, because I hate New Year's resolutions, right? But one of the things that I did do was I make myself every single day do at least one thing I hate doing. You know what it's done? It's built, it's built grit, it's built discipline. What is it? What's the thing? It varies, it varies day to day. So you have lots of things you hate doing. Oh, there's a ton of things I hate doing. Like a ton of things. But I make myself do them. And what it's well, but when we pursue God's will, not our own, you're surrendering. What you're doing, guys, is you're surrendering your selfish desires. You're surrendering the plans and the thoughts that you had for your life. Because men especially have this. We have a natural inclination and a desire we have to be in control.

Jon 12:50

Yeah, I think it's more, it's definitely more prevalent with men, but I think it there's that to some extent with everyone. Everyone wants to be in control, especially of their own lives.

Devin 13:02

That's correct.

Jon 13:02

They want to, I want to do this, this, this, this, and this with my life.

Devin 13:07

I and I and I'll honestly say this: I'm the king of it. I'm literally the king of wanting to be in control of the situation. Um, and again, going back to, you know, I wasn't gonna bring this up on this episode, but there will be bits and pieces of our story, uh, of mine and my wife's story that we really saw. And God did some incredible cool things with getting us in this house. And one of them was he literally took me out of the picture. God did. Remember whenever I had to go for like two weeks, and I was in Phoenix, I was in Dallas, and then I was down in Mobile, and I was like pretty much all over the place for like two weeks. It wasn't until after that somebody showed me, they go, Man, God really just took you out of the picture, didn't he? Because when you came back, your house was on the market, you already had offer spending, you already had this going. Like, so literally, what had to happen because I wanted to be in control of the whole thing. God said, Nope, I'm sending you halfway across the or I'm sending you across the entire country. And and he did. And the reality is, had I been home, I would have been potentially blocking what God was trying to do. Because I needed to be in control.

Jon 14:24

But we must we're not in control. We're not so and that's what I said a few minutes ago. Pray every single day your will and not mine.

The Cross As A Call To Die

Devin 14:35

Deny yourself. The next part of that passage was carry your cross. One of the things I just want to say this before you before you go in. One of the so you know that the cross is a symbol of death. Like it's it's weird to me whenever I go uh into someplace and I just see crosses everywhere. Well, it's not like to me, that's I'm I'm like, that is literally the symbol of death.

Jon 15:03

Right. I mean, to today we don't see it as a symbol of death. We don't because culture changed it. But when the cross I think I think the fact that Jesus died on the cross changed it, changed our perspecti perspective of it. Now, back then, yes, the cross is absolutely a symbol of death. It still is, right? But that's just that's an example of how God can take something so that's seen as so vile and cruel and completely change it.

Devin 15:37

Because it really was the most cruel, painful, and ultimately humiliating way to die. You're hung on a cross butt naked. Yep, exactly. Here's one of the most overlooked parts, though, is when Jesus said the words take up your cross. I don't want you to miss this. He said he had not been crucified yet. Obviously, he's saying these words, but that is also ever that is missed all the time. When Jesus said take up your cross, he had not even yet been crucified.

Jon 16:15

So they had a so they had a completely different perspective.

Devin 16:18

They had a completely different perspective of the situation, which is why it's important to point out that the cross was a symbol of death. Exactly. Here's the thing his listeners did not think of the empty tomb or a church steeple. What they thought of was Roman executions. They had seen, they had literally seen with their eyes men carrying crosses through the streets, and they knew there was no turning back. So when Jesus said the words, take up your cross, what I believe the listeners heard, come die. Because that's exactly what he meant. That makes his invitation so much more shocking to take up your cross daily.

Jon 16:58

He's talking about dying to yourself. So you deny yourself and then you die to yourself. It's called self-sacrifice.

Devin 17:09

Correct. It is the goal is not to become a better version of yourself, the goal is to become more like Christ.

Jon 17:17

Right. And the only way that you can do that, the only thing, the only thing God wants from you, like let me back up just a little bit. God cares about what you do. I don't want to say, I'm not about to say, about to say that he doesn't care about what you do for the kingdom, so on and so forth. He does absolutely care about what you do in your life, but he cares more about you than what you do.

Devin 17:43

Yeah.

Jon 17:43

And what he wants is to change you. When I was a student, you can't be changed, God can't change you if you're in the way. You have to deny yourself and then die to yourself in order to allow him to do that.

Devin 18:00

In order to allow him to take control over your life. Right. That's what we call making Jesus our Lord. The problem is this the problem is many men they want Jesus for what he can do. They don't want him to be Lord.

Jon 18:14

Right.

Devin 18:15

And when I was a student pastor, I had a student one time. He was a um hot shot of a football player. And yeah, I mean, he had offers like freaking everywhere. And he came to me one time, uh, I about a week or so after I he'd been baptized, and he said, uh, he he said, Devin, I got a question for you. I said, shoot. And he goes, Do you think God cares about football? How would you answer that?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Sure, yeah. Sure. Right? Well, there's plenty of sports references and and the gospels.

Devin 18:51

Right. And I said, I I do believe God cares about football, and here's why he cares about you. So if you live your life out on that football field in a way that brings him honor and glory, then yeah, he cares about football because he cares about you.

Jon 19:04

Yeah, and generally speaking, I'm not like a I'm not like the sports guy. No, you're not a sports guy. I used to be, and I'm just I just don't care anymore. But regardless, I think that's a a gift God's given us is it's it's competition, but sports is a gift God's given us. It's been all throughout history. People have competed in games.

Devin 19:27

Exactly. And and I think the point that I was trying to make to him is regardless of wherever you are in your life, no matter what job you do, I've said it before on this podcast, whatever job God's got you in, do it to the best of your dadgum ability, to the point that it brings him honor and glory.

Jon 19:44

Well, yeah, any everything, everything you do, you should do it to the best of your ability.

Devin 19:49

Exactly. That's what that and that's what what we're talking about is is the fact that we're what we're not discussing is behavior modification. What we're talking about is a transformation. I'm not talking about a just this area or that area of your life. What John and I are simply bringing up is a transformation of the heart.

Jon 20:09

Well, the only behavior modification I would recommend is actually praying every day, your will, not mine. Beside the point. Go ahead.

Purpose And Trusting God’s Timing

Devin 20:18

Right. But I think it leads to a very burning question. What am I put here to do? I think every man out there has asked that question. I remember, I remember being um in in in uh I was in this god-awful job working for a pest control company, and I absolutely hated it every single day. Like I literally had to pick my knee up and put my foot onto the ground once I got there because I hated this job. And I remember sitting going to my pasture at the time and going, Why in the world does God have me here? This sucks. This is misery, and that's where where I learned. He said, What if God put you there for him to be to be a blessing? Right. We've all been there.

Jon 21:12

I've found somebody that's had that job. I've found not at my job. I like my job, but I've been there about a been there like a year now. But anyway, I've been in several situations over the past six months or so where I was like, I really don't understand why I'm here. But I also thankfully, prior to this six months, had an understanding that sometimes God's put God puts you in places that you don't necessarily want to be in for a reason, whether that is for you or it's for somebody else, or both, or maybe it's for somebody else to you for you to talk to later about that situation.

Devin 21:53

That's called picking up your cross. Yeah, it is right every single one. Of us has a God given purpose, and it's up to us to figure out what it is for ourselves. But I my my simple question uh when people come to me, Well what's my purpose in life? Well, have you prayed about it? Have you asked God? God, why do you have me here? God, why did you give me this life?

Jon 22:16

And I it really I could I could name several names off the top of my head, but it I'm not going to, but it really it really bothers me. Like it like on a really deep level when I see people, men specifically, that have all of the potential in the world, if they would just pursue whatever it is their purpose is. Like you can tell that they're just going through the motions like every day. They go through the motions, and it just like, what are you doing with life, man?

Devin 22:56

I I remember in high school I had there, there was a player on our football team had offers to uh he had he had a baseball scholarship to Auburn, he had a football scholarship to Clemson, he had a football scholarship to North Carolina. Like this, this kid had all the talent in the world, made one dumb decision and lost every bit of it. Completely untapped potential. There's so many men out there that and I agree with you, so many men out there and and people that we see that I'm like, man, you make this one minor tweak to your life. You have no idea the level of influence you can carry, you have no idea the level of power that God wants to take you to. Not for your glory and benefit, but for his. Right. And surrendering your desires to him is the only way that that's going to happen.

Jon 23:53

Right. And that's the that is the first step in pursuing whatever your purpose is. Now that that journey and whatever that that purpose is going to look different for everybody. And I'm I'm sure I've probably said this on here before, but I'm going to say it again and I'm probably going to say it 15 more times. So fast forward or don't, I don't care. But you have to surrender yourself, your life to Christ first. But if you pursue it, like go go do something. If you're actively pursuing it, God will show you what it is.

Devin 24:27

And you have to dig deeper. You can't sit there and say, well, I did this for a week, I did this for a month. What if God told you to do it for a year? What if God told you to do it for five years, right? Who was it that prayed for a wife? So Isaac had to wait, right? He he he wanted a wife, and then he had to wait the seven years, right? My simple point to you, man, is this what if God's telling you to wait seven years? Like, are you willing to do that? I I have a man that uh that that I've I've worked with for several years now, uh, just helping him out in his life. And um I told me that he wanted God to strengthen his marriage and he wanted a better marriage. And I turned around and I said, Okay. And uh we ironed out plans for that to happen, right? And then here we are a year later, and he's just like, it's just not working. I just don't understand. Why is it not getting any better? And I said, Did you give God a timetable? Because I didn't. I said I was like, look, I get it. We in this instant gratification world that we live in, but the point behind it is if God told you to do this for seven years before you have a restored marriage, are you willing to do it?

Jon 25:39

Oh, I'll say my here's my two cents on on that. If you're having trouble with with your marriage, I'm no marriage counselor, um I'm by no means an expert. But let's say scenario where my wife is this, and if you're sitting there saying my wife keeps doing this and she wants this, and she's unreasonable about everything, and she expects this, this, this, and this out of me, and it doesn't make any sense. But I give her all these things, I pay for all this stuff. Like, I'm providing for it. Like, great, you're a provider. Freaking, what do you want? A cookie? That's what you're supposed to do. But so you're being a husband, good for you. Yeah. But what you can control in that situation, maybe she is being unreasonable. Is there anything you can do about that, really? No. What you can do about that is be a better husband. Everybody told him a single day. Dude, like you wake up tomorrow, like what could I do today that was a little bit better than yesterday?

Devin 26:41

Right. Am I being that one percent better? The point of it is is that you have to pursue it consistently. You have to pursue it. God will eventually show you what it is that He wants you to do, but you got to get up and go look for it. Your calling, your purpose, all that, it's not just gonna fall into your lap. I mean, it's it may, it might, it might, but I'm but I'm just if it does, but yeah, hey, good for you. It didn't for me. Uh I don't know if it did for you, but it sure as heck didn't for me. I had to dig for years for that. And I actually did pull a Jonah, I did run the opposite direction, and God pulled me right back. Um, but here's here's the thing.

The Cost Of Following Jesus

Devin 27:21

When we're talking about the next thing that Jesus said, he said, follow me.

Jon 27:26

Right. So this is this is where I said it earlier in denying yourself, but uh this is where we get to the the surrender, the absolute surrender side. Well, any I think that really applies to to all of this, but what what this what this is is following him like much like the disciples did when he was on earth. They quit whatever they were doing, they quit fishing, they left their families. I don't I'm not telling you have to leave your family, but they left their families for periods of time to follow him. They gave up everything to follow him. It was absolute surrender to him.

Devin 28:11

And here's the thing Jesus never hid the cost. He flat out told them it's going to cost you everything.

Jon 28:19

It's like me saying, Hey, Devin, this weekend we're gonna go run a marathon, you're gonna puke 20 times, you're probably gonna pass out at the end, but you won't probably won't die, at least not yet. It's gonna suck a lot. And by the way, you can't drink water for 20 hours, 24 hours beforehand. Like that's an extreme example, but like I'd tell you to have a good day, right?

Devin 28:42

But if Jesus told you to do that, all right, Lord, you gotta give me the strength, and you bet it better be something supernatural here.

Jon 28:48

I can't give you the strength, but he can. That's not the point, right? It it's it's this you give up everything to follow him, and it is going to suck.

Devin 28:59

Here's the thing Jesus wasn't looking for fans, he was calling disciples. This is a direct contrast to how Christianity is presented today. Yeah, a lot of people out there with Jesus. It's it's all about hey, Jesus will fix your problems, Jesus will make your life better, Jesus will make you happy.

Jon 29:16

Don't get me started on the prosperity gospel. No, Jesus. I do want to say, I just I just I probably just made that sound really like doom and gloom. Follow Jesus. That's what you're supposed to do. By the way, it's gonna suck. It's not always gonna suck.

Devin 29:29

No, man, it's not always there's great days. Uh I I let me tell you why why I follow the Lord. By days, you mean seasons, seasons, right? I I follow the Lord because he gave his life for me, right? Follow the Lord because he's given me everything I have. Eternal life sounds a whole lot better than than enjoying damnation and burning in hell, right? I mean, but here's the problem is a lot of people at some point in time, especially when we were growing up, there were all these pastors that was pretty much just selling fire insurance. That that was that was all it was.

Jon 30:00

Yeah, see, that's what I'm not trying to do. I don't want to do here. You can't scare people into Christianity.

Devin 30:05

But here's what Jesus does do He promises forgiveness, He promises eternal life, and He promises His presence. Yeah, He never promised you an easy life. So a lot of us think, well, He owes me this. Listen, he don't know you squat. He don't know, He gave you the life you have. He gave you everything that you have, He promises to forgive you when you jack it up. He promises that there's that there is a place, it is real, it's called heaven, and there's a mansion with your name written all over it. And he promises that he's gonna walk with you through it. He never said it's gonna be easy, he never went to any of the disciples and said, Here, come follow me. This will be the greatest, easiest thing you've ever done in your entire life. He didn't do that. What following Jesus requires is a complete and absolute surrender of your life, right?

Jon 30:58

It requires obedience, relentless obedience. And I think I think part of what makes some things hard, it some things are physically challenging, right? Based on how fit you are and whatever it is you're doing, right? But even in those moments when something is physically challenging, it's your mind that's telling you that this sucks, you need to stop, right? Like it here lately I've been running a lot. And if I it there's been every time I go out for a run, I get to a point where I'm like, this sucks. I want to stop, and then I have to remind myself this is mental. My body is fine, like I'm not dying. Fun fact, you're gonna puke before you pass out, you're gonna pass up before you die. And if you pass out, you're probably not gonna die. You're just gonna lay there until your body chills out and you wake up, right? I'm not gonna die. It's just my brain telling me that I'm gonna die. Part of what makes things difficult is it's in our minds telling us that it's difficult. But if we have the perspective of God's will every day, not mine, and I am going to relentlessly obey every single command that I'm given. One, you have to be able to listen, refer to whatever episode that was, we talked about that. But you have to be able to listen to what God is telling you and relentlessly obey it. And when it sucks, it it might actually suck, sure. But it's all mental. It only sucks because you have your own selfish desires to do something else.

Devin 32:52

I'm gonna go run for real quick, I'll be back. But right, it is it the way my coach always put it to me, uh it's pushing past that voice.

Jon 33:04

That voice that tells you you want to say, Yeah, the whole top glass ceiling thing or something.

Devin 33:09

I no, my mine literally called it the B voice. I won't say the textual words, but that was that was literally what

Lukewarm Faith And Half Commitment

Devin 33:16

he said. But he here's let me tell you what Jesus does not want. He does not want half-hearted. Yeah, he does not want a half-hearted following. In fact, he literally says, Do not be lukewarm or I will spit you out of my mouth. Number one, that's disgusting. However, it's it's it's literally like picking and choosing the parts of the Bible that you do want to follow and that you don't want to follow. Right. It's an all or nothing commitment. Let me let me ask you this question. And every man out there listening to this, I believe, needs to ask themselves this question. Would you want God to be half committed to you? If he's Lord of your life, do you only want him to be Lord of your life half the time? The problem is the majority of men do.

Jon 33:59

I think we have to see following God as very black and white. Either you're doing it or you're not. If you're doing all of these things right and you're doing these three things wrong, you're not following God. That's that's just how it is. You do all of the things, not part of them. Right. Or even most of them, all of them. You know, or you it's like following nine of the ten commandments. Exactly. Exactly. All ten of them part of it.

Devin 34:27

It's like it's like if if my wife gives me a honeydew list and there's ten things on them and I only do nine of them, guess what she's gonna say? You didn't finish the list, you didn't finish this. To which I've made the very common mistake of going, well, then you go do it. I don't recommend that. Don't do that. Um, probably probably not earn. But but here's the thing Would you want God to be half committed to you? The simple answer for that is no. But ask yourself, are you willing to follow him to follow Jesus if it means that you lose some friends, even those close friends? What about if your family alienates you? What about if it means losing your reputation?

Jon 35:05

Let me talk about that for a second. Family alienating you. That that's a that's a very that's a real thing. Yeah, that's a very real thing. Yes, it is. And then it some of the other things that we wrote here, losing your reputate your reputation, your job, or your life.

Devin 35:25

Now it's currently possible, maybe not in the United States, we would hope. I mean, it's possible, sure. But there are literally still Christians to this day that go to church every single week knowing they could be killed. Right. And so simply forgoing.

Jon 35:40

Fortunately, chances are if you're listening to this, just based on how many people listen to this, you that's not that's not something that you have to deal with every day. But there are plenty of people that do, in fact, have to worry about actually losing their life.

Devin 35:57

In some parts of the world is far more likely than others, obviously. But I think a daily denying your own flesh, picking up your cross and following him.

The Entry Fee For Discipleship

Devin 36:07

And that really takes us to Luke chapter 14. Verses 20 well, verse 27. 27 through 30.

Jon 36:14

It's really just 27.

Devin 36:15

If we do not do this, we can't be his disciple. Here's the thing that's the cost of the entry. That's that's the entry fee, so to speak.

Jon 36:23

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Devin 36:28

Pretty self-explanatory. Jesus didn't beat around the bush here. Deny yourself, carry your cross, follow him. The other option? Don't be a disciple. Yep.

Jon 36:37

Try it your way. See how that works out for you. You know, caveat on that. You know what kind of annoys me? There are people who are clear, I mean, they're probably miserable under the surface, but there are people who are not Christians at all. Atheists, and they just they they don't seem to have a care in the world. It really bugs me.

Devin 37:04

I mean, do you want them to do you want like their life to suck or something?

Jon 37:07

I mean, part of me does, yeah.

Devin 37:09

God, John.

Jon 37:10

I mean, it would make sense, wouldn't it? Not me, not really, but I don't know. It's like I've heard before that Satan doesn't mess with people he's already got.

Devin 37:21

He doesn't mess with people. Let's say here, what was uh my grandmother used to tell me. Um Satan doesn't go after people he's not afraid of. Yeah, that was what I uh my grandmother used to tell me that I love her. Uh there's probably some truth to that. It's not in the Bible, it's not in scripture, yeah. No, but there's a lot of things that we as Christians say that are not in scripture, yeah. But simple as that. Bear your own cross and come after me, or you can't be my disciple. It's

What You Refuse To Surrender

Devin 37:57

that simple. Yeah, Jesus paints it really black and wife. Ask yourself this what part of your life are you refusing to surrender? Is it your dreams? Is it your goals? Is it your aspirations? Here's the thing, like I said earlier, it's not to say that those are bad things, they very well may be things that the Lord's called you to do. The reality is though, is do you want Jesus to simply be in control of your life? To give you the things, do you follow him for the things and the blessings that he can do for you, or do you want him to be the Lord of your life? Where do you keep saying my will instead of your will? God, I want, I want, I want. Guess that that's your will. Yeah, I want a million dollars. That's your will. That may not be the plan that God has for your life.

Jon 38:44

Yeah, there was something. Hold on.

Devin 38:47

And that's okay.

Jon 38:48

Two seconds is uh words. Reuben. Reuben had a plan to save Joseph, right? So all of Joseph's brothers wanted to kill him. And Joseph was like, hey, let's put him in this pit. Because Joseph didn't like him. I'm sorry, Reuben said, let's just put him in this pit. And because Reuben didn't want him to die, but he didn't like him either. And then God was like, That's that's cute. I'm glad you don't want him to die, but watch this.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Yeah.

Devin 39:25

My what where do we keep saying my will? Sell to your will. What would obedience cost you? Obedience is going to cost you everything. If Jesus asked you to give up something you love, would you do it? You know, I I I think of the rich young ruler there. You want to follow me, sell everything you own. Give it to the poor. Follow me. And he couldn't do it. The Bible says he walked away sad.

Jon 39:54

God will Would you give up something you love? Even if it is, even if it is money, um God will provide for you.

Devin 40:05

And here's the thing, I I often think about the times that we've walked out of the plan or the will of God for our life, and then we wonder why God's blessing didn't follow. You see what I'm saying? You know, I I was I was with uh, I mean, I'm not gonna divulge my entire dating life here, but I was I was with the wrong girl for for a very, very long time. And I had numerous men in my life that were like, hey man, I just think that there's there's things you need to evaluate there with that relationship and and and see is this still where where the Lord has you. But I felt like I'd been with her for so long, that was just what we needed to do, blah, blah, blah. And then ultimately I finally said, God, not my will, but yours. Yeah. And he he allowed things to happen that ultimately drove that relationship apart. And let me just go ahead and tell you, I'm so glad he did. Because something pretty similar happened. Because had that not happened, right? I wouldn't be married to the incredible woman I'm married to today. You wouldn't be married to the to the great woman that you are today.

Jon 41:10

Very true. Yeah, I didn't have I didn't necessarily have people specifically telling me, like, hey, maybe you need to reevaluate this. I definitely got some looks though. I hate those. Yeah. I'd say something about whatever was going on. I'd just get like a side eye kind of thing, like, I don't know about that one.

Devin 41:30

Run, bro.

The Cross Before The Crown

Devin 41:34

Ask yourself this this question. This one's probably the biggest one. Is Jesus your savior only, or is he also your Lord? He has to be your Lord. He has to be Lord of your life. Here's the thing, men the cross will always come before the crown. One of my favorite themes about scripture is that Jesus suffered before he was ever glorified, the apostles suffered before they were honored. Paul suffered, Peter suffered, the early church suffered. Why do you think, why do we think today in 2026 that our road should be any different? There will be pain, there will be suffrage. The Christian life isn't a detour around suffering, it's following Christ through it.

Jon 42:20

I will say, I hope my path is a little bit different because I don't want to get crucified upside down.

Devin 42:26

So so I alright, so let's let's straw poll real quick here. What was the the worst one, in your opinion? Uh, of how the because you we we know all the apostles were eventually uh martyred, martyred.

Jon 42:42

Uh probably being crucified upside down. That sounds like that's that's not only are you being crucified, but you're upside down, all the blood's rushing to your head.

Devin 42:52

Headache. More than a headache, but all right. Uh Pop Quist, uh, who was the Roman emperor that um issued for Peter to be crucified upside down? Uh probably Nero. Ah, gold star. 10 out of 10 five star, Sean. Uh and just a little side course here. Uh Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. James uh beheaded. That's quick. Uh John was uh the only uh congratulations, John. Uh he was the only apostle traditionally believed to have survived martyrdom and died peacefully of old age, just uh despite surviving being boiled in oil. That to me would be mine. But he didn't die, yeah. But I mean it's worse if you don't die. Yeah, probably so. Um Bartholomew, um, believed to have been flayed alive and beheaded. Uh Thomas was speared to death, Matthew was beheaded. Uh James, uh other James was thrown from the Temple of Pentacles, stoned and then beaten. Uh Philip was crucified. Simon's uh oh oh oh my I just did a quick research here. Simon sod and half were crucified in Persia. Or I don't know why it says or. Well, because because you're not these are uh Jew killed with arrows to some extent assumptions and Matthew stoned and beheaded. So uh yeah, they would all suck 10 out of 10. I'm gonna go X-shaped. I don't know, man. You make a strong case about being crucified upside down, yeah. The worst man. But here's the thing like like I just said, the Christian life is not a detour around suffering, it's following Christ through it.

Jim Elliott Quote And Final Charge

Devin 44:48

Here, here's to just kind of put a bow on this real quick. Jesus isn't asking us to give up our lives because he's trying to take something from us. He's asking you to surrender. He's offering something that's infinitely better. I was reminded this week of a quote from Jim Elliott where he said, He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jon 45:17

We have to remember that the surrender, that we're surrendering our temporary lives because what we have on the other side is eternal life.

Devin 45:28

Yeah, it's not a call to misery, it's a call to the fullest life possible. It's a call to the life that's only found when we follow Christ. That's the only way. And I think that's ultimately the way that you live the most uncommon life. Is you lay down the things that you want for your life and just ask the Lord, God, is this your will?

Like Share Subscribe And Connect

Jon 45:51

Thanks for listening. Remember to like, share, and subscribe. If you know someone who would enjoy this, please pass it along. You can follow us on Instagram at uncommon.man or reach out at theuncommonman.podcast at gmail.com. Keep pursuing excellence, and above all, keep pursuing