Discipleship Involves Three Things
1. One must deny self. Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; NKJV). We must remove self as the dominate principle of life and make Christ the Lord of our lives. “The virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself” (A.J. Cronin).
2. One must take up their cross daily. Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily…” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; NKJV). A cross is an instrument of death. “Cross-bearing” refers to the choice of death as a way of life. It is the ultimate self-sacrifice, a conscious death to all forms of selfishness and sin (Romans 6:6; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:5).
3. One must follow Him. Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23; NKJV). The verb is a present imperative that means “keep on following me” (WMS as quoted in The Gospel of Matthew, Kenneth L. Chumbley, p. 306). Discipleship is a whole way of life.
Three Observations
1. If a man rejects self-denial, cross-bearing and following Him, he is involved in self-destruction. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24).
2. Only through self-denial, cross-bearing and following Him can a man truly live. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24).
3. To live selfishly is to lose life in the best and fullest sense, but to count all but loss for Christ’s sake and put the service of God and others before all else is to live fully and abundantly. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10; NKJV).
Two Questions Drive Home the Point
1. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
2. “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
Here, soul stands for life, man’s most precious possession, a gift so valuable that nothing in the world – and not everything in the world – could adequately compensate for its lossv(1 John 2:15-17).
Christ Is Coming!
He who lives to gain the whole world shall “have his reward” in this world (Matthew 6:2); but he who follows Christ shall be blessed beyond measure, now and eternally. “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27; NKJV).
Jason Cicero
