Jesus wants us to know that true faith leads to obedience. The final words of Mark 8:34 tell us that we must follow him. To believe in Jesus Christ is not only about a commitment to his Word, it’s not only about knowledge of his Word; it involves practical action. Do not merely hear God’s Word and thereby deceive yourself; do what it says (James 1:22). In the Bible, Jesus has given us principles by which we are to live (e.g., Exodus 20:1–26; Romans 12:1 – 15:33), and we follow Jesus when we listen to his words, when we keep his commandments (John 15:1–27).
Obeying Jesus will therefore always involve a measure of self-denial and cross bearing:
It’s not easy pursuing sexual purity in our relationships, when many of our friends simply ignore God’s commandments, laugh at us, and call us old-fashioned.
It’s not easy to honour the Lord’s Day by meeting with God’s people for worship when it means we miss out on sport or job opportunities.
It’s always painful to declare all our taxable income when we know we might be able to get away with hiding some of it just like others, and when we also know that our money is being wasted and misused by the government.
It’s costly to give sacrificially to support the ministry of the Word and care for other Christian believers.
It’s difficult to speak up at work when our boss or colleague is asking us to do something illegal or wrong. Obeying the Lord by putting our jobs on the line in a time of economic hardship seems foolish.
As Christians, we are going to be faced with lots of these kinds of ethical dilemmas at work, at school and at home. Most probably there will be times where we disagree with each other about what obedience to Jesus should look like. But all of us will come into circumstances where we have to make costly self-denying decisions because that is what Jesus expects from us.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.