#19 Self-Denial

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(Luke 9:23-24 NIV) Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. {24} For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

Jesus had already given a number of “hints” about His sacrificial death, but now He began to teach this truth clearly to His disciples. John the Baptist had presented Him as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and Jesus had predicted the “destruction” of the temple of His body (John 2:19). When He compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14) and to Jonah (Matt. 12:38-40), Jesus was making statements about His suffering and death.

This is the first of three statements in Luke about His coming passion in Jerusalem (Luke 9:43-45; 18:31-34). It is clear that the Twelve did not understand, partly because of their unbelief and immaturity, and partly because it was “hidden” from them by God. Jesus taught them as they were able to receive the truth (John 16:12). It must have shocked the men to hear that their own religious leaders would kill their Master.

But Jesus did not stop with a private announcement of His own death. He also made a public declaration about a cross for every disciple. In his Gospel, Matthew tells us that this was necessary because of Peter’s desire to protect Jesus from suffering (Matt. 16:22ff). Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about discipleship and not sonship. We are not saved from our sins because we take up a cross and follow Jesus, but because we trust the Saviour who died on the cross for our sins. After we become children of God, then we become disciples.

The closest contemporary word to “disciple” is probably “apprentice.” A disciple is more than a student who learns lessons by means of lectures and books. He is one who learns by living and working with his teacher in a daily “hands on” experience. Too many Christians are content to be listeners who gain a lot of knowledge but who have never put that knowledge into practice.

In the Roman world, the cross was a symbol of shame, guilt, suffering, and rejection. There could be no more despicable way to die. Crucifixion was not mentioned in polite conversation, and the people would no more think of wearing crosses on their person than we would think of wearing gold or silver electric chairs.

Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body (Rom. 12:1-2) and let God do the rest.

Of course, this kind of life seems foolish to the world; but to the Christian, it is wisdom. To save your life is to lose it, and how can you ever get it back again? But to give your life to Christ is to save it and to live it in fullness. If a person owned the whole world, he would still be too poor to buy back a lost life.

Discipleship is a daily discipline: we follow Jesus a step at a time, a day at a time. A weary cleaning woman said to a friend of mine, “The trouble with life is that it’s so daily!” But she was wrong. One of the best things about life is that we can take it a day at a time (Deut. 33:25).

Our motive should be to glorify Christ. Anyone who is ashamed of Christ will never take up a cross and follow Him. But if we are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of us when He comes again (Mark 8:38; 2 Tim. 2:11-13) and we will be ashamed before Him (1 John 2:28).

Sociologists have joined with theologians and philosophers to point out how out of control we have become in American culture. People won't be punctual for class or work and seem to think very little about failing to keep promises. Our tempers explode, and we rage at one another. We get into so much debt that we stress-out or destroy our families because we can't restrain impulse buying and have to get anything we want the instant the desire for it strikes. "If it feels good, do it" is the guiding maxim for personal behavior, and "If it works, do it again and again" seems to guide our social and business lives.

Something sounds terribly odd and inconsistent when these attitudes and behaviors are named at church. We know they are inconsistent with Christian behavior. We know they are forbidden in Scripture. So some of us are forced to admit that the ideals of our faith are unmatched by the realities of our lives. "Okay. I feel better for the admission," somebody says. "When do we go home?"

Shouldn't the reaction be stronger and more spiritual than that? Shouldn't the question be something about how to learn self-control? Shouldn't we actually pray about and try to imitate Jesus' example of self-denial?

A first-century apostle wrote these words: "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul" (1 Pet. 2:11).

Or, as translated in The Message: "Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul."

From the words of Jesus and the apostles, we know that something is supposed to happen in the lives of saved people that introduces self-denial and righteousness.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Rom. 8:9-14).

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 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 (1 Cor. 9:25-27).

Many people who come to Christ seem not to hear these texts clearly, if at all. And some who do hear them hear them incorrectly and become frustrated by them.

Some people hear these verses as salvation texts and lapse into despair. Since they haven't conquered such out-of-control behaviors as eating or spending, temper or lust, they think God could never save them. These are discipleship texts, not salvation texts. They don't tell people how to get saved, but how saved people should live. The last thing anyone needs to hear as "gospel" is that he or she has to have life mastered and under control in order to be worthy of coming to Christ. If you could do it without him, you might not need him at all!

Some Christians hear these discipleship texts as justification for self- righteousness and judgment of others. Because I don't get drunk, do I have the right to feel superior to someone who is an alcoholic? Because I don't beat my wife or have affairs, can I sit in judgment on the person who does? Hardly! My sinful nature may be vulnerable at points and in ways different from yours, but I'm no better than you in dealing with the weaknesses of my flesh.

Then there are always some Christians who take these texts and use them as justification for an austere and ascetic lifestyle that is as displeasing to God as a profligate and extravagant life. Being gaunt and self-abusive in the name of Christ is sinful.

"Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence" (Col. 2:23).

It is typically difficult to comprehend from the result all the time, effort, and discipline that went into some magnificent outcome. Whether it is an athlete on the field, an artist at the piano, or a surgeon at the table, all the movements are purposeful and fluid. Things look so smooth and effortless for these people only because of the hours per day and days per week over years these people have invested in their specialties. Simultaneously with their passionate preparation, however, they were denying themselves other things for the sake of focusing on what they valued and wanted most of all.

Should we really expect it to be different with our spiritual lives?

(9:23-27) Jesus was to bear the cross for man. He had just discussed this fact with His disciples (Luke 9:22). Now He said there was another cross—a cross which man was to bear for Him. If a man wished to follow Christ, he had to bear this cross. There was no option. Discipleship demanded it.

(9:23) There are three terms of discipleship if a person wills to follow Christ.

1. A person must deny himself. Man’s tendency is to indulge himself and do exactly what he desires; but the believer is not to indulge himself, his comfort and ease, appetites and urges, thoughts and feelings, deceptions and enticements, plots and intrigues, pride and boastings, reactions and disturbances. The believer is to deny himself by discipline and control and by loving and caring, sacrificing and giving, helping and ministering.

3. A person must follow Jesus. However, man’s tendency is to follow someone else and to give one’s first allegiance to something else. Within the world, there are many things available for a man to serve and to put first.

(9:24) The warning to the materialist is clear. Note the word “life” (psuche). In this context it means the natural, animal life; the earthly life that quickly passess away; the fading, aging, decaying, corruptible life of the earth. The warning is twofold.

1. Do not save your life for yourself. If a person saves his life, that is, works to please himself on this earth, he will lose his life eternally. A man does not have life...

· to indulge himself: getting all he can of the comforts and pleasures and interests of life.

· to hoard life: keeping all the good things of life and seldom becoming involved in giving and sacrificing to help those who do not have.

2. Spend your life for Christ. Note the words “for my sake.” The person who loses his life, that is, works to please Christ on this earth, shall save his life eternally.

(9:25) The materialist is questioned. The man who seeks to save his life, who works to please himself, is challenged to think honestly. Christ asks one question of the materialist, but it has two parts or pictures.

1. The picture of gaining the whole world. Note that Christ did not say this: what if a man could gain and own all the land of Texas, or all of the wealth of Africa. He said what if a man could gain the whole world, all the world’s...

Imagine for a moment: What if a man could gain the whole world? No man can or will gain it all; but many pursue and some do gain a great deal of land, wealth, honor, pleasure, and carnal satisfaction.

2. The picture of losing self, of being cast away. Note that this is a stated fact, an inevitable and sure result. The man who seeks to please himself is doomed to “lose himself” and to “be cast away.” He tried to find himself here on earth, but he never did. He lost himself. He lost the greatest things in all the world: certainty, assurance, confidence, and satisfaction of knowing that he is eternally secure and destined to live and serve God forever.

(9:26) The judgment of the materialist is tragic. He did not have to suffer the judgment of God, but the materialist chose the world and its things and pleasures over Christ. Why is the materialist to be judged?

1. There is basically one reason: the materialist is ashamed of Jesus and His words. He is embarrassed and ashamed by such things as...

Simply stated, the man loved the acceptance and recognition of society, the comfort and pleasure of the world too much—he loved it all too much to give up his life and bear the reproach of Christ. He misjudged, counting the few years (ten to thirty years) of plenty on this earth as worth the unending years of the new earth and heavens.

2. Judgment is the most tragic event imaginable in the life of the materialist. He is counted unsuitable for glory.

a. The Lord is coming. It is stated without equivocation. It is definite, even fixed. Jesus said He shall come.

Þ There is His own glory, exalted as the Messiah, the Christ of God (Phil. 2:9-11).

Þ There is the glory of God in all the brilliance and splendor of His person (1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 1:5; Rev. 22:15).

Þ There is the glory of the angels in their magnificence of being and brightness. They shall accompany Jesus when He returns to judge the earth.

The point is clear: when Jesus comes in His glory, the materialist will not join Him. He will not be welcomed into the glory of the Lord. Why? Christ will be ashamed of him. He will be embarrassed by the man, too embarrassed to acknowledge that He knows the man. The man is...

(Plantation is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale...just 10 minutes from Miami-Dade County, in the middle of college and pro football country and 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean). Last modified: April 18, 2006 Hit Counter