“And He said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’.” –Luke 9:23; Matt. 16:24 (ESV)
This verse has been on my mind a lot lately and even more so after finishing the study for a blog I wrote on my personal blog page. I have been sitting here most of the day listening to hymns and reading various passages of scripture and thinking about this statement from Jesus. What does it all mean and how does it manifest itself in my daily life? Jesus seems pretty serious about what He said and that means I must be pretty serious about understanding and obeying.
The first part of the verse is key. He says, “If any would come after me”. Some other versions say “if any desire to follow me”. The statement is addressed to anyone who has a desire and heart to follow after Christ. Jesus was not an easy-believism teacher. He made it very clear that there was a cost if we would follow after Him. We see many times that Jesus would preach and some would follow until things got tough and then they would fall away. So, in this passage Jesus makes it very plain to all that if we desire to follow Him and be his disciples that there is going to be a cost involved. Jesus never preached, “Pray a little prayer and ask Me into your heart” and then left the people to their own devices or interpretation of salvation.
Jesus is, therefore, speaking to all who desire to follow Him (future believers) and to those who claim to follow after Him right now. This is not only a command and charge; it is a test for all of us who claim to be followers of Christ. He gives three key commands in His charge; 1) deny self, 2) take up cross daily, and 3) follow Him. Today I am only going to address the first charge of “let him deny himself”.
That phrase is just packed with implications that impact all that we are and every sphere of our lives. To deny self is the first key element to be a true follower of Christ. It can be said, and I think quite fairly, that if one does not deny himself then that one is not a true disciple. Denial of self must come first. In the master/disciple relationship only one can have the authority, glory and rule in the relationship. A student is not greater than the teacher, a servant is not greater than the master and a sinner is not greater than the Savior. The charge Jesus gives is one of total submission and total sacrifice along with absolute allegiance.
In the interest of brevity, I am going to lay out some bullet points of what I see from scripture that defines what self-denial looks like. I will also include some of my personal convictions that are practical ways I have tried to implement this important truth into my own life. My self-denial does not make me a disciple but it does demonstrate and prove that I am a disciple. My life is filled with the “weights and sins” (Heb. 12:1) that slow me down in the race and I have many areas of my life in much need of further refining by the Great Refiner, so please do not misunderstand me. I am not promoting a personal sense of piety, but merely expressing practical ways I believe self-denial can be demonstrated.
· To deny self means that I acknowledge and confess my sinfulness and desperate need of a savior. There is nothing in me that warrants the grace of God in my life. I must therefore deny any self-righteousness that I think I might have. (Rom 3:10-18). “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6, ESV). I divest myself of all hope that I have anything that will earn me salvation. My sin is a horrible, terrible, wretched offense against a Holy God.
· To deny self means repenting from my sin and pursuing God’s standard of righteousness in my life. My life will still have sin in it, but it should not be marked by sin but should be marked by pursuit of godly living. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Rom. 6:11-13, ESV)
· To deny self means that my sole purpose in life is to be about bringing glory to God rather than any attempt to glorify and honor myself. (II Peter 1:3)
· To deny self means to consider all that the world would consider being worth boasting about in terms of our accomplishments, social standing and credentials are nothing but absolute rubbish in relationship to knowing Christ. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:7-8
· To deny self means to: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2:3-4)
· To deny self means that the Lord receives all my love. I love Him with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength, which is the first and great commandment (Matt.22:37). To give Him all my love means that I retain no love for myself.
· To deny self means that I develop a servant’s heart and action. Matt. 23:11-12
· To deny self means that my entire being (body, soul and mind) are to be laid as a sacrifice at the altar of worship to God and my life is not my own but it is His to use as He pleases. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Rom. 12:1)
· To deny self means that I submit myself to the full authority of scripture as it alone has truth and the commands of God are clearly given with in it and they are not subject to my interpretation, personal opinion or by interpretation of popular culture or political correctness. (I Cor. 1:16; II Tim. 3:16-17, Psalms 19)
· To deny self means that “whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him.” (II Cor. 5:9)
· To deny self means that Christ lives in me and my life is to be lived for Him (Gal. 2:20)
· To deny self means that I put away the “old man” and put on the “new man” which is the creation of God for the purpose of “righteousness, holiness and truth” (Eph. 4:23-24).
· To deny self means my aim is to imitate God rather than the sinful world around me (Eph. 5:1)
· To deny self means I give up all my old ways of walking in darkness and live as a child of the “light of the Lord” (Eph. 5:11)
· To deny self means I divest myself of all that I am with a singular view of knowing Christ, including His power, His resurrection and His suffering. Paul said, “this one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind I press forward to what lies ahead, I press on for the goal of the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:10-14)
· To deny self means that my heart's desires are for the things of God and not for the things of this world (Col. 3:1-2)
· To deny self means that I examine my life in view of scripture and rid my life of the “weights and sins” that slow me down and keep me from running the race with endurance as I look to Jesus. (Heb. 12:1-2)
· To deny self means that I forsake darkness and live as light. Over and over again the Bible makes the contrast between light and darkness. There is no middle ground. Either we are all light or all darkness. We are not called to be “twilight” or “dusk” but light. I must deny my desires for darkness and live as a child of light. (Jn. 3:21-22; Phil. 2:15, Matt. 5:14-16; II Cor. 6:14)
This list could go on and on as the Bible is replete with ways that we are instructed to deny ourselves if we would only read it and let it speak to us and instruct us. I challenge you to examine your own life and ask yourself how you can deny yourself and so prove that you are indeed a true disciple.
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