Lay it All Down

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13: 36-38).

Jesus just explained that He was about to glorify His Father… “When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him’” (John 13:31). He was going to the cross, the grave, and beyond and no one could come with Him now… “Where I am going you cannot come” (John 13:33). But He gave a clue that His disciples might follow Him later. Jesus invited His disciples to follow Him along the way to where He was going via the pathway of sacrificial love… “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). Peter was the first disciple touched by this important truth. His declaration revealed a deep desire to imitate Christ’s sacrificial love… “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you” (John 13:37). Jesus’ response is full of revelation about the nature of sacrificial love and the call for His disciples to learn to lay it all down.

The Christian life can be described in many ways. We are becoming like Christ, we are living for Jesus, and we are answering the question, what would Jesus do? In all if these descriptions there is a golden thread. There is the call to an exchange. It is a call to the exchange of lives. We are to exchange our life for His life. The Holy Spirit teaches that what makes Christianity unique is the mystery of Christ living in us… “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).Christ calls us to surrender our life and let Him live His life in and through us.

Jesus taught that to truly follow Him, Peter would have to make a great exchange. As we mature as disciples, we are to surrender our life to make room for the life of Christ to fill us… “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). Christ revealed to Peter that he was not there yet. He was not ready to place Christ above everything else in his life. Christ’s revelation to Peter is a sobering challenge to those of us who would be growing disciples today. Are there areas of our lives that are more important than Christ? Are there people, places, and things that we cling to and control rather than trust to Christ? Are there places in our hearts that consume our love more than Christ? Do we still have some not thy will but my will be done strongholds in our lives?

The good news is that Peter matured as a disciple and one day He did make the great exchange of his life for Christ’s life and he did follow Him completely… “’Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ’Follow me’” (John 21:18-19). Peter gave a clear testimony that he had let go of his life and accepted the life and death Christ planned for him as an encouragement for disciples to follow him as he followed Christ… “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:13-14).

Where do you need to make an exchange today? Do you have to let go of family... “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37). Do you have to lay down a church, a ministry or a job... “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:22-23). Jesus called Peter and He calls us to radical discipleship today. He exhorts us to lay our lives down at His cross. There is no better place make the great exchange!

As we grow up into Christ we overflow with His abundant life when we come to the cross to…

Lay it All Down.