And He (Jesus) was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

  Luke 9:23

If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a society that’s void of the Word of God, just take a look around our current culture. For the younger set, they may not realize that the world has not always been so inwardly focused as it is now. Yes, sin has always been the default setting for all of us apart from Christ, but the ideas of the world and the definitions of success that are so pervasive today, run in stark contradiction to the Word of God and to what Jesus says is required if we truly want to follow Him.

So we have a choice to make but Jesus makes it abundantly clear, that wherever our treasure is, there we will also find our heart. It is impossible to be a follower of Jesus Christ and adopt and live out the current cultural philosophies so prevalent today. So what is the truth? What is this modern culture missing? Our passage today, defines what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. And it’s not grounded in money, pleasure, or self-promotion. It’s quite the opposite. Foolishness to the lost world but a blueprint for those of us who are inheriting eternal life. Let’s take a look. 

Denying Ourselves

And He (Jesus) was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself…” There’s a very important word that we don’t want to miss in Jesus’ instruction. The word is “must.” Jesus tells us that if we are to come after Him, we must deny ourselves. So how does self-denial stack up against our modern world? Let’s look at politics. Are men and women sacrificing their personal lives and pursuits for the benefit of others or do we see self promotion in positions of power, with massive payoffs coming from all sorts of directions? What about athletics? Do we see players participating in sporting events simply for the love of playing or do we see modern day athletes promoting themselves to squeeze as much material wealth from their God-given talent are they can? What about the family? Are parents raising their children to love God with all of their heart and to deny themselves in order to pursue God’s will or do we see parents encouraging their children to get out in the competitive world and do what is necessary to become “successful?” I know how I would answer each of these questions. Self-denial is foolishness to those who are fully invested in the present world. Yet, Jesus says that the first step in walking with Him is to deny ourselves. We can choose the world over Christ and pursue all of the things that the world says are important but what we cannot do is claim that we are following Christ and continue to live in a mode of self-promotion. Self-denial and self-promotion are diametrically opposite of each other. 

So what does a life of self-denial look like? Consider the following:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

      Philippians 2:3-4

A Christian life is a life of service to others. Selfishness or empty conceit have no place in the life of a Christian. Have you ever been selfish and done what you wanted with no regard to how it might affect others? I think that we all have at one time or another. But in order for us to follow Jesus we must put on humility, regarding others as, here it is, more important than ourselves. As we look after our own personal interests, we are also to look after the interests of others as well. Challenging isn’t it? It will require the Spirit of God in us to accomplish this because none of us, apart from Christ, have any shot of consistently living like this. We are wired for self, for what we want, and how we want to live. Jesus contradicts the world when He says that we must deny ourselves.

Taking Up Our Cross

And He (Jesus) was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily…” Just as the word “must’ is vital to our being obedient to the words of Jesus, so the word “daily” is important when it comes to “taking up our cross.” Obviously, this is imagery, in that very few of us in the modern world are going to actually carry a wooden cross, although some people do so as a symbol of their devotion to Christ. “Taking up our cross” means enduring persecution for being a Christian. In the face of a self-serving world, a life of self-denial and service will seem foolish to the lost and in many cases a Christian can expect to catch abusive words, attitudes, and actions. Consider the following words from Jesus:

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:10-12

It’s important to remember that when people insult you, persecute you, or speak falsely about you (gossip), you are truly blessed. We should “rejoice and be glad,” again, foolishness to the unbelieving world, void of the Spirit. Why should we rejoice? Why should we be glad? The reason: “for your reward in heaven is great!” Heavenly rewards are foolishness to the unbelieving world but, for us, they are what we live for and if you really think about it, eternal reward is superior to the temporal because the temporal will vanish, but eternal rewards last forever (Matthew 6:19-21). 

So taking up our cross is the willingness to be persecuted for following Christ. We also need to remember what Jesus told us regarding spiritual division, even division amongst families:

“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

    Luke 12:51-53

Christ unites those filled with the Spirit yet He divides those who are in Christ from those outside of the kingdom (2 Corinthians 6:14-17). A good reminder as we seek to serve Christ with our lives.

Following Jesus

And He (Jesus) was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Here’s where it gets real interesting. It’s not difficult to find a brand of “Christian” life that really looks more like the world than it does biblical, saving faith. What I’m referring to are people who claim the name of Jesus while living life on their own terms, pursuing all of the things of the world, and often, being fully accepted by the unbelieving world. Instead of following Jesus, they follow their own desires and then ask God to bless them in what they want to do…essentially asking God to follow them rather then the other way around. The idea of following Jesus demands that we place Him in the role of “leader” and ourselves in the role of “follower.” Otherwise, can we really say that we are following Jesus?

As I write these words, I am reminded of the reality that none of this, denying of ourselves, taking up our crosses daily, and following Jesus rather than ourselves, will ever manifest in our lives apart from the power of God’s Spirit living within us. Apart from this, we are completely inadequate to fulfill this kind of lifestyle. Left unchecked by the Spirit, we will choose self every time. This cannot be emphasized enough. Even if we believe our lives to be aligned with Jesus’ instructions, generally speaking, we can still see the ugly and sinful self manifest. We are selfish by nature. We’ve inherited that position from Adam (Romans 5:18). That’s why we have to be born again, spiritually transformed, and brought into right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Then and only then can we receive the Holy Spirit and have any chance of living lives in service to Christ and those in who we come in contact. 

Two roads contrasted…self-promotion or self-denial? Welcomed by the world or taking up our cross? Following our own desires or following Christ? By God’s grace and the power of His Spirit, may we all be Lights in this dark world, desperately searching for answers!

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 

      John 7:37-38