What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus? The Cost of True Discipleship
To watch the sermon: Jesus Prophesies His Death and Resurrection | Matthew 16:21–28
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Following Jesus sounds simple until you realize what He actually asks of you. In Matthew 16, Jesus shifts from parables to plain, direct teaching, and what He says challenges everything we naturally want to hold onto. This is not a comfortable message. It is an honest one.
Why Did Jesus Start Speaking Directly to His Disciples?
Up to this point, Jesus had been teaching in parables. But in Matthew 16:21, something changes. He begins speaking plainly, no more reading between the lines.
He tells His disciples exactly what is coming: He will go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of religious leaders, be killed, and rise again on the third day. No mystery. No metaphor. Just the truth.
Direct teaching carries weight. When Jesus stops using parables and speaks plainly, it signals that something important is happening. The disciples needed to understand clearly, and so do we.
What Did Jesus Prophesy About His Own Death?
Jesus prophesied that going to Jerusalem would put Him in direct conflict with the religious establishment. He would suffer. He would be killed. And then, on the third day, He would rise.
This was not a plan B. The cross was never a contingency. It was always the plan. God was not caught off guard. Jesus walked willingly toward everything He described, knowing exactly what it would cost Him.
As it says in the passage, "From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders and the leading priests and the teachers of the religious law. He would be killed. But on the third day he would be raised from the dead." - Matthew 16:21
Why Did Jesus Rebuke Peter So Harshly?
Peter's response was completely human. He pulled Jesus aside and said, "Heaven forbid, Lord. This will never happen to you." He loved Jesus. He did not want to see Him suffer. That is understandable.
But Jesus responded with one of the most striking rebukes in all of Scripture.
"Get away from me, Satan. You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." - Matthew 16:23
Jesus was not calling Peter Satan. He was identifying that Peter's words, however well-intentioned, were in direct opposition to God's plan. Any plan that opposes God's will is, by nature, aligned with the enemy's agenda.
This is a sobering reminder. We can love someone deeply and still speak words that pull them off mission. Good intentions do not automatically equal godly direction.
What Is the Difference Between Human Logic and God's Will?
Human logic leans toward comfort, status, and self-preservation. God's will often runs in the opposite direction.
Jesus exposed Peter's inability to see beyond the human realm. And honestly, we do the same thing. We blame spiritual forces for traffic jams and long coffee lines, while missing the real ways the enemy works, pulling us off mission, distracting us from calling, feeding our selfish nature instead of our godly one.
The spiritual and the physical do not always align. Jesus calls us to reframe what we value. What heaven values is not what culture values. A soul has infinite worth. No amount of wealth, power, or prestige comes close.
What Does "Get Behind Me" Really Mean?
There is something important in the specific words Jesus used. He did not say "go away." He said "get behind me." That is a positional command. It is a call to order.
Jesus was telling Peter, and telling us, where our rightful place is. We are meant to follow Him, not the other way around. We are not meant to plan our lives and then invite Jesus along. We are meant to fall in behind Him and go where He leads.
A lot of us have already booked the trip, packed the bags, and are asking Jesus if He wants to come along. He is saying, get back where you belong. Follow me.
What Does It Actually Cost to Follow Jesus?
Jesus makes it plain in verse 24.
"If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." - Matthew 16:24-25
The cross in Jesus' day was not a piece of jewelry. It was an instrument of execution. It was horrific. When Jesus tells His followers to pick up their cross daily, He is not talking about giving up a soft drink for a season. He is talking about carrying the full weight of your sin, your struggles, your pride, and your comfort, and bringing it to Him so He can give you real life in return.
Discipleship costs something. It has to. If your version of following Jesus costs you nothing, it is not the discipleship Jesus preached.
Is There a Version of Christianity That Lets You Keep Your Old Life?
Yes. And it is the most dangerous false gospel there is.
It is the version that lets you add Jesus to your existing life without changing anything. It is the version where you carry your throne instead of your cross. It might only be one area, your intellect, your finances, your relationships, your pride. But if Jesus is not confronting your plans, it is worth asking whether you have invented a version of Him that is more comfortable than the real one.
A Jesus who never challenges you is probably a Jesus you created.
Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross?
Jesus did not die simply so we could avoid hell. He died so that people who deserved hell could be adopted as sons and daughters into the Kingdom of Heaven.
That changes everything. It does not matter what your last name is, what your family history looks like, or what side of life you came from. The moment you are adopted into God's family, your identity changes. Your history is rewritten. You belong to Him.
The vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 captures this beautifully. Those bones stay scattered, dry, and lifeless unless someone with authority speaks life into them. Jesus is that someone. He went to the cross so that dead things could come alive. He walked out of the grave so that breath could be spoken into dry bones.
"I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live." - Ezekiel 37:14
Dead things come alive in Jesus. That is the whole point.
What Does Real Discipleship Look Like Today?
It looks like dying to self-centered desires. It looks like enduring hardship without abandoning the mission. It looks like valuing what heaven values instead of what culture values. It looks like getting behind Jesus instead of asking Him to follow you.
Rituals mean little if you are unwilling to deal with your comfort and your sin. You can show up every week, sing every song, and give every offering, and still have a heart that is far from God. Jesus said as much to the religious leaders of His day.
What your allegiance to Jesus produces in your actual life is what matters. Not lip service. Not appearance. Real, costly, daily surrender.
Life Application
This week, identify one area of your life where you are carrying your throne instead of your cross. It might be a relationship, a habit, a financial decision, or a thought pattern you have been protecting. Bring it to Jesus. Not to manage it better, but to surrender it fully.
Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:
Is there an area of my life where I am asking Jesus to follow my plans rather than following His?
What is my version of discipleship actually costing me?
Am I carrying my cross daily, or have I been carrying my comfort and calling it faith?
Does my life reflect what heaven values, or what my culture values?
The cross was always the plan. Jesus did not waver from the mission. Neither should we.
