There’s a line Jesus once said that has been popularized by many churches and those who call themselves ‘christians’. It’s taken from Matthew 16:
Matthew 16:24 KJV: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
In my lifetime, I have heard countless sermons which used this verse as the root of the teaching. In the dozens of sermons I heard, there was only one pastor that provided a clear definition of what Jesus meant when He gave those words.
Countless others explained the passage as a metaphorical representation of how we ought to deny ourselves in order to follow Christ.
I’m going to translate it for you, using words that are applicable to our times.
“If anybody wants to follow Jesus, pick up your electric chair and walk to the nearest electrical outlet.”
Now, this isn’t an instruction for people to off themselves in their pursuit of holiness. Rather, it was speaking to the severity of following Christ, who carried His Cross (An execution device) to the ‘Place of the Skull’ – called Golgotha.
Golgotha wasn’t just some fairytale. It’s a real place that still exists today.
In case you can’t see it, here’s another look: 
The ‘Place of the skull’ was where prisoners walked to one last time, before being nailed to their cross, where they would hang until they died. Now, this blog isn’t about crucifixion, which seems like one of the worst possible ways to die. Rather, it’s about the message that Jesus gave to those who sought to follow His teachings.
A few chapters prior His statement about picking up your execution device – I mean, cross, Jesus talked about being able to tell ‘good trees’ from ‘bad trees’, and He made it very simple:
“You shall know a tree by its fruit.”
There was a time in my life where I was addicted to pornography. Hell, I even wrote a book titled ‘Porn, Pain & Redemption” which gave a short glimpse into the mess my life was during those years.
In my years alive, there has only been one man I’ve ever met who wasn’t afraid to say the word “pornography” in anything other than a hushed whisper. I won’t forget that moment, either.
I was sitting at First Watch in Highland Village, meeting with a man who recently attended the church I belonged to.
He said it with the swagger and boldness of a man who just bought a new car.
“Bro, God freed me from XX years of PORNOGRAPHY”
I felt as if every single person in the room could hear that word, echoing from the walls. For the first time in my life, I didn’t shudder when I heard the word, because I was looking at a man who found freedom from one of the nastiest, darkest sins that I see plaguing nearly every church I’ve been to in the last 20 years.
Ever since I first discovered porn, I also discovered a harsh reality about the churches, bible studies and ministires I encountered:
Most of those who ‘struggled’ with porn were often very adament to preach about grace and forgiveness, shouting their freedom from the shame it caused. Yet, in every single one of those places, I never found more than a small handful of men/women who declared they had put a nail in the coffin that particular sin.
I can count fewer than five people who proclaimed true victory for longer than five years. Rather, most of the men I’ve gotten to know seem to have made an allowance for porn in their life; citing “I still struggle…and I always will.”
People don’t just watch porn anymore than we look at our food when we go to a restaurant. Rather, there’s a physical action that goes along with it. A messy, sloppy, sticky burst that serves as the grand crescendo for minutes/hours of masturbation.
I hope this blog is starting to make you uncomfortable. In fact, I hope it bothers the Hell out of you. It should.
Jesus said five words to two people that forever changed their lives:
“Go and sin no more.”
“Well, he didn’t ACTUALLY mean sin no more. Only Jesus could do that.” is a phrase I’ve heard from countless men who make far more allowances for their ‘struggle’ than discipline in maintaining their salvation.
In Corinthians 9:27, Paul writes:
“Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
These days, I do not see this measure of ‘beating of the body’ in churches I encounter. Rather, I see something more like this:
‘Therefore, run in the direction of Jesus while beating off, hoping that I will be covered by grace rather than face the music for the consquences of my sin.”
Romans 3:23 says “For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Salvation, by its nature, is the admission and confession of this fact. However, just as Jesus fell beneath the weight of His cross as He walked towards Golgotha, he rose to complete his journey. He didn’t stay fallen. Rather, he gave every last ounce of His strength so that He might complete His last moments on earth, before uttering:
“It is finished.”
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