The Invitation

 From time to time, you may receive an invitation in the mail. Perhaps to a wedding, a graduation, or even a birthday party. Some invitations come glimmering in the light to celebrate a special wedding anniversary or a retirement party. Brenda will hang such invitations on our refrigerator door so that we do not forget the date. There are times when I receive invitations to special pastoral luncheons. 

By nature, invitations are both inclusive and exclusive at the same time. Back in grade school I found out a friend of mine had a birthday party. Everybody who was anybody in our grade got invited to that party. All the popular people. The athletes, cheerleaders, the national honor society people. It was the social event of the year. People talked about that birthday party at school all week. I did not get invited to the party. I was on the outside looking in. Excluded. Devastated.

That Saturday morning just hours before the party began, I hatched a plan. In hindsight I would say a brilliant scheme. I called Mark's mother. Mark and I were not best friends, but I spent time at his house. I even joined the Boy Scouts because of Mark for a short season. I called Mark's mother and did not ask to speak to Mark. I called her to ask if Mark could go to the movies with me that afternoon. I knew full well what Mark would be doing and what I hoped I would be doing too. She was such a sweet lady. She replied, "Well no Matt, Mark is having his birthday party today. Did you not get invited?" 

With those words the door cracked open slightly. I took full advantage knowing exactly what I was doing. I pretended that I did not know about the party. SHE INVITED ME TO COME. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I wish you could have seen Mark's face when I walked into his backyard. His face said, "What are you doing here, I did not invite you." The party was a swimming party. I threw my gift on the table and jumped into the pool with all the cool people. I am not proud of what I did that day. Part of me grins still at my genius. 

That is still not the kind of invitation I have on my mind today. I would say the invitation I am thinking about few willingly accept. You do not have people dialing up the phone pleading to be included in this group. Most are content to be excluded. Here is the thing. It is an open invitation. Meaning the invitation is extended to whoever will. 

What invitation am I talking about. I read about this again recently. The words were as fresh as they were the first time I read them decades ago. Matthew 16:24 (NASB)

²⁴  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

If anyone. That includes you and me. This is not an exclusive club. This is no country club for members only. It is for people who confess that Jesus is Lord and Savior and believe that He died for their sins and rose from the grave on the third day. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord in faith will be saved. [Rom 10:13] That is millions of people on this planet. 

Here is where the invitation starts weeding people out. If anyone wants to come after Jesus. That means Jesus occupies the lead position. He sits in the captain's chair. He is the lead fiddler. He drives while we sit in the passenger seat. He is the Commander in Chief. He calls the shots. He is the boss, Master, Lord, and King. 

Many want Jesus to save them. They do not want to come after Him. Truth be told many people want Jesus to come after them. They want Jesus to bless their plans, to help them succeed at their agenda. This is totally backwards. Some treat Jesus like a genie in a lamp to grant their wishes and be available to their beckon call. It does not work that way. Jesus is never subservient to any of us. He must increase and we must decrease. [John 3:30]

Do we wish to come after Jesus? To follow His lead? To let Him direct our paths? Control freaks find this hard to do. They refuse to relinquish the reigns. They have a hard time yielding. Seriously, do any of us think that we can manage our lives better than Jesus? Actions speak louder than words. I am just saying. 

The next thing Jesus states is that a person must learn to deny themselves. We are all born with a sin nature and a selfish nature. We want what we want and when we want it. People who come after Jesus must learn to deny selfish desires. That might include sin. When the carnal nature surfaces and we are enticed by unholy desires those must be suppressed. It also includes learning to put the needs of other people before our own. 

Brenda enjoys shopping. I DO NOT. I do love her, and time spent with her. There are times when I have to deny myself and slowly shuffle from one clothes rack to another, in the women's section, trying patiently to persevere to the end. I have done this many times and we came away with nothing. She did not buy anything. I at least want to feel like I accomplished something. Sometimes she wants me to take her to a romantic movie. One Saturday morning she woke up and told me she wanted me to take her to see a movie called The Lucky One. I replied, "Why do I have to be the unlucky one?" We still laugh about that. That is just part of me learning to deny myself when I had rather watch a football game than doing the slow shopping shuffle. 

Taking up your cross means be willing to suffer. The cross was a cruel torture device for executing criminals. Not a decoration to hang on a necklace or a wall in your home. The cross meant suffering. It meant death. A person who accepts Jesus' invitation will be lead down some unpleasant roads from time to time. It is the intention of Jesus to lead us away from comfortable lives that are always safe and secure. Sometimes He leads us to sacrifice. Taking up our cross is a reminder that if Jesus endured and embraced suffering, we might be called to do the same from time to time. 

Those willing to accept this invitation are few and far between. Taking up our cross is opposite of living the American dream. Everything about the American dream is centered around us surrounding ourselves with more comfort. Taking up our cross is uncomfortable. Being willing to suffer and even die if needed is not comfortable. Christians do it all over the world in a very real way. They actually sacrifice their lives for the cause of Christ. Martyrs of whom the world is not worthy. I think the day is fast approaching when this will become a greater reality even in the United States. 

Finally, Jesus said in that verse, "Follow Me." That literally means go in the same way as Me. Accompany Me. I found myself on an assignment yesterday where following Jesus had me out of my routine. I even thought to myself at one point, "Are you really doing this?" I have learned over four decades of serving the Lord that He can lead to some unconventional places, unexpected assignments, and to meet complete strangers that can be divine appointments. All of that happened to me yesterday. 

Those two simple words, follow me, have been on the forefront of my mind for decades. Following Jesus has lead me to preaching assignments high on the mountains, near sandy beaches, on lake shores, preaching under the canopy of stars, and in large and small sanctuaries alike. I have met important people and been honored to meet obscure people nobody has heard of before. The forgotten little people have touched my heart deeply over the years. Following Jesus has led me to preach to homeless people, drug and alcohol addicts, skaters, and wealthy millionaires. 

In the years I have followed Jesus, I have slept in strange beds, left my family for weeks at a time, isolated myself in a prayer cabin to seek His face, been roused out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, frequented hospitals from Lufkin to Lubbock, from Panama City to Fort Worth, and taken more steps of faith than I can recount. 

The invitation is not to follow Jesus for a season. It is not to follow until you reach the age of retirement. Following Jesus is an everyday for the rest of your life invitation. I am just as devoted to following Him at 57 as I was at 37. 

Churches used to sing the old song, Wherever He Leads I'll Go. As a young believer those words captured my heart. As an older believer now, those words still bite into my soul, and I mean them even more. Phrases like, "Though none go with me I still will follow, the world behind me the cross before me, my cross I'll carry until I see Jesus, no turning back, no turning back," really grab my heart like a bear trap. I do not want to be guilty of just mouthing words and not meaning them from my soul. I want to live what I sing. 

That is a little more daunting at 57 than 37. At my age, people start settling in, looking toward retirement, planting roots, looking forward to a life of leisure. I do not have that luxury. I accepted His invitation decades ago. I never know what He will do or where He will lead next. Following means surrendering. It means saying yes to His invitation for all my days. 

I talked to a pastor friend of mine last night. He told me he had two different businesspeople entice him with lucrative financial offers to leave the pastorate and to come into business. He told me passionately, "I can't do that. I have a call on my life. I am called to pastor for life." In essence he voiced that he was called to follow Jesus. 

Let me be honest. Following Jesus takes guts. Raw courage. Real substantial faith. I can write these words, I can preach that verse, but am I willing to live it out? If I am, if you are, we cannot be surprised when God holds us to it. Following Jesus is the adventure of a lifetime. Some find it scary, and I guess at times it is. Others think it is foolish to throw common sense to the wind to follow an unseen voice. Many might even say it is irresponsible and irrational to surrender everything for the sake of His call. I simply say it is biblical. It is the Master's invitation. Not to a golf tournament. To a life that matters for eternity. I accept the invitation. Will you do the same?