In the past 38 years as a believer, I've learned and unlearned a lot of things about what it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. For one thing, I've learned that "disciple" is not a special category of Christians—the more serious kind, but rather an apt description of any true believer. I've had to unlearn many of the mental images that I had of Christians as the basic do-gooder, the moralist, the legalist, etc. More than anything, the four Gospels have shaped my thinking about followers of Christ.
Jesus came preaching the gospel of God, calling those in the region of Galilee to recognize that the kingdom of God was among them, so it was time to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14-15). Then He went about calling people to "follow" Him. "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men," Christ told Simon and Andrew as they cast a net into the sea (Mark 1:16-18). Everything changed for them from that moment onward as they began to follow Jesus Christ. What we see emphasized in the Gospels is not simply making a Christian decision but the whole commitment of one's life to follow Jesus Christ. This is precisely where in my earlier days I had failed to grasp what it meant to be a Christian. Too much of my thinking focused on decision making and too little on following Christ as a disciple. Yet the New Testament knows no Christian that is not also a follower of Christ as a disciple. It is a biblical contradiction to call oneself Christian without correspondingly following Jesus Christ.
So that's what I want us to investigate this morning from our text, as well as the next few weeks, as we consider a sampling of Gospel texts that help us grapple with what it means to be Christian.
Matthew sixteen is significant—a turning point in biblical revelation. Here we find two important notes that set the stage for Christ's demands upon all that would come after Him. First, the question is answered, "Who is Jesus Christ?" Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" After rehearsing common responses, He asked, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter responded, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus declared this to be an occasion of divine revelation—God had revealed to them who Jesus is! That understanding of Jesus Christ ultimately determines how each of us relates to Him, His gospel, and His demands upon us. What you understand about Christ affects even the way you see your own soul.
Second, from this point onward, Jesus began to introduce details of His suffering and passion. He "showed His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." Significantly, Peter tried to dissuade Christ from such a future! He wanted a comfortable, secure Messiah that faced no pain, suffering, or loss. He wanted that for Christ because he wanted that for himself. That's why Peter eventually denied Christ.
Then Jesus burst his bubble! The call to follow Him must never be thought of as a life of ease or trouble-free. The way of Christ is the way of a cross. To follow Him is to carry one's cross daily, just as Christ did. Admittedly, this is not what's discussed in circles of popular Christianity—the kind of vapid faith that tips the hat to God but never bows the knee in humility and obedient following. Christ calls for something drastically different. Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?
The text before us contains Christ's declarations of what He means when He calls people to follow Him. The balance of it—the second point of this study—provides His arguments for such discipleship.
I don't think any would argue with me that we live in an era that maintains a low view of the Christian life. Eighty-percent of Americans, according to estimates, claim to be Christians. I was listening to a news show recently when the host pointed out a couple of harsh articles about two well-known though deceased professed Christians. In the course of his comments, he said to his guests, 'since eighty-percent of Americans are Christians, these comments should be offensive.' As I listened, I thought that his entire premise was flawed. First, the eighty-percent figure is ludicrous if we consider the Bible's teaching about Christianity at all. Second, most of the number he is counting as Christians probably won't even notice or care about the offensive remarks. His basic problem is that he has allowed sociologists and anthropologists to define Christian and not Jesus Christ.
Jesus tells us that a Christian is one that comes after Him—as distinct from those that pursue the ambitions and allurements of the world or who follow other masters. It's not a fleeting desire to follow Christ but a desire that sticks with the disciple. He "wishes" or desires and keeps desiring to follow Christ. He's not one to climb on the proverbial "band-wagon" because it's popular for the moment, but rather, his desires have been changed, his affections have turned from desiring the world to desiring Christ above all. Jesus explains that the desire is followed by decisive action: he comes after Christ. Let me express the tense of the verbs by a running translation. 'If anyone wishes and keeps wishing and desires and keeps desiring to decisively come after Me, let him…' In other words, Jesus qualifies the desire as that of longing to resolutely come after Christ and Christ alone (conveyed by the aorist infinitive). Jesus then explains three necessities or three actions on the part of one who sees Christ as the Savior, Redeemer, Master, and Lord. In this we come to understand how we respond to Christ as disciples.
Jesus did not leave wiggle room: "he must deny himself." Here the verb tense intensifies the action as decisively denying himself. The middle voice conveys that it is now his desire to do so. He has seen Christ and longed for Him; in so doing the disciple denies Himself in favor of belonging to Christ. The word "deny" is used several other times in the Gospels, primarily to describe the occasion when Peter denied that he knew Christ. We learn something from this. Peter was so intent on saving his skin that he vigorously denied Christ. In essence, he gave up Christ for self-protection. Now, turn that denial on its head. Christ calls for us to give up self-protection for Christ.
Matthew Henry stated, "The first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial" [quoted by Ligon Duncan, "The Essence of Kingdom Life," www.fpcjackson.org, p. 5]. It is first because until we come to the point of desiring Christ and turning from self, we will put self before everything. Is that where you find yourself this morning? Do you live as though you are the center of the universe, as though your way rules? Then Jesus Christ calls for you to deny yourself if you would come after Him. What does it mean to deny yourself in view of coming after Christ?
It's no slap on the wrist over some little desire. It is an alteration of one's life; it involves the essence of repentance in turning from self and sin in order to turn obediently to the Lord. It is the glad willingness to suffer loss for the sake of Christ (cf. Phil. 3). It is the resignation to press forward in thankfulness to Christ even when ridiculed and opposed because of your faith in Christ. John Calvin writes in his Institutes [III. 7. 10], "Therefore, he alone has duly denied himself who has so totally resigned himself to the Lord that he permits every part of his life to be governed by God's will." Such a one considers the commands of God before personal desires. Further, Calvin in his commentary on the Synoptic Gospels expands on denying self. "This self-denial is very extensive, and implies that we ought to give up our natural inclinations, and part with all affections of the flesh, and thus give our consent to be reduced to nothing, provided that God lives and reigns in us" [Calvin's Commentaries, vol. 16, 304]. The focus is on the reign and rule of God in our lives, and demonstrating our joy in His reign by denying selfish and self-centered desires.
Our Baptist forefather, John Broadus, breaks denying self down into three facets:
If you are denying yourself, then you are acknowledging your desire to enter into the life of Christ. What He faced for the sake of righteousness, you now accept as your own. If it means loss or persecution or criticism or even death, following Christ bears more weight than following your own desires. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself."
The way of Christ is the way of a cross. In this case, Jesus does not tell us to bear His cross but bear your own cross. Christ bore a cross that we cannot bear. He carried the collective weight of our sins and God's judgment upon Him. Even before He climbed the path to Golgotha, He carried His cross in the same way that He calls upon us to do so as His followers. We see it in those times that He introduced to the disciples the impending suffering He would face. We see it when He rebuked Satan as Peter tried to dissuade Him from the cross. We see it in the Garden when He agonized over drinking the cup of divine wrath. Nothing turned Him from doing the Father's will; not suffering, not jeering, not misunderstanding, not slander, not even death. He calls us to the same. The call to "take up his cross" is not judicial as with Christ's death on the cross; rather it is evidentiary of one that has died to self in order to live unto Christ. It is a different attitude about all of life. It signifies that the way of Christ is now the believer's whole life.
Taking up a cross and heading to the site of crucifixion was not an uncommon sight in the first century. The disciples had no mystical ideas about what Jesus said. They understood it because they had witnessed the one-way, solitary march of those bearing their cross to death. At this point, they did not understand that Jesus was going to be crucified. But they understood what He meant by His statement. They were to live every day for Him without thought of turning back, dying to self, dying to the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and of the pride of life. John MacArthur comments that Jesus' intention in these words expressed, "You must perceive following Me as putting on the instrument of your own execution" ["Winning by Losing: The Paradox of Discipleship," Matthew 16:24-28, www.biblebb.com/files/mac/2321.htm page 5].
Does that cause you to recoil from the Christian faith? If we would have Christ then we must take up our cross. If the Father gave His Son a cross, then do we think that His intention for us to be conformed to Christ would leave us cross-less? "While he dwelt on earth," Calvin wrote, "he was not only tried by a perpetual cross but his whole life was nothing but a sort of perpetual cross. The apostle notes the reason: that it behooved him to "learn obedience through what he suffered" [Heb. 5:8]" [Institutes, III. 8. 1]. Christ learned obedience through suffering even though He had no sin. Can we, who still struggle with remaining sin, learn obedience without a cross? Luke's record of this same scene adds one word, "daily." "He must…take up his cross daily" (9:23). "Christ's meaning is, that there will be no end of our warfare till we leave the world" [Calvin, Commentaries, vol. 16, 304]. It is both a decisive action and a daily practice. It involves intentional dying to self and providential encounters that confront us with the way of Christ and the way of the world. Taking up your cross goes the way of Christ, not the world's way.
What does taking up one's cross involve? I found John Calvin's explanation [Institutes, 3.8.2-8] of taking up one's cross to be helpful.
The title "disciple" means a learner or a follower. We see disciples of the scribes and Pharisees, disciples of ancient philosophers, and other disciples in that era. But a disciple of Jesus Christ has particular focus—that of learning from Christ, being taught by Him through His Word, being shaped by His commands, learning to follow in His steps of obedience to the Father. "Follow Me," Jesus tells us, if we would come after Him. That's what He said to Peter and Andrew as well as to James and John. He did not give them a syllabus so that they would know what lay ahead. He offered no caveats so that they could retreat to safety if things got rough. "Follow Me," He commanded. Much like a military commander that calls upon his troops to follow his lead, Jesus Christ calls us to follow Him. We are to march to His orders; we are to keep our eyes on His leadership.
Think about life without Christ for a moment. All of us follow someone or something. One without Christ may follow his own self-centered desires that have been shaped by his world—how pathetic! Or he may follow the voice of the crowd—how cowardly! Or he may follow another god or another religion—how foolish! Each of us is following someone. You are not detached from the world in which you're living. You're not in isolation. Someone or some ideology or some philosophy or some influence has caught your affections—and you're following. Where is that other leader leading you? 'Oh, it's leading me to a good time; it's leading me to great ambitions; it's leading me to fame and success.' Whatever you might say or add to that, let me ask, what happens when you die? Where will all of the good time, ambitions, fame, and success leave you? Jesus Christ's way is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). His way is the only true life.
There's a reminder for all of us that profess to be Christians. Jesus calls us to follow Him. That means we listen to His instructions from His Word; it calls for paying close attention to the details and giving ourselves resolutely to obedience. Where will following Christ lead you? I do not know what path you or I will tread as disciples of Christ. There may be suffering and loss mixed with joy and peace. There may be persecution and death amidst the bounty of grace. But it's the way of Christ for each of us. The intention of His way is to prepare us for life with Him for eternity. He is shaping us in His image that we might reflect His life and glory. Following in the way of the cross fits us for eternity where luxuriating in flowery beds of ease never will.
I realize that some may object to the austerity of Christ's command to deny oneself, take up his cross, and follow Him. Indeed, here is where we part company with the soft, sanitized version of Christianity so popular in our day. Self-denial, the gore of a daily cross, the steadiness of following Him who was rejected and despised by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God—that's what's before us as disciples. Yet, though illogical to the world that lives for the moment, that pursues pleasure at every turn, and that recoils at hardship or loss—what Christ sets forth bears the clear logic of eternity. Here the Creator and Judge explains why the way of self-denial and the cross is the only eternally satisfying life. Each of the next verses begins with "For," showing it as a continuation and explanation of what He has demanded of disciples.
It doesn't add up in the common scheme of things. Keeping is losing; losing is finding. Jesus strikes right at the heart of the desire for comfort and ease with no cross. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." To save one's life, in this instance, doesn't refer to being careful while driving or watching your diet or not jumping out of airplanes. "Life" is the same word translated as "soul" in verse 26. The dual use is instructive. Verse 25 focuses on those whose chief aim in life centers on self. Saving his life means saving himself from self-denial and from cross-bearing and from following Jesus. It's an act of self-rule, establishing a mini-kingdom with oneself on the throne and one's desires as kingdom policy. That's the normal mode of humanity. It's the normal desire for self-protection that ultimately morphs into self-rule. It's what Paul put in other terms as he quoted the Psalmist. "There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one" (Rom. 3:11-12). If you try to save your life you will ultimately lose it. Jesus is dealing with not only the present life but eternity. He's calling each of us to consider that the soul lives on; either with Him or with His wrath.
To lose one's life for the sake of Jesus Christ means that one's whole life consciously belongs to Christ. It is giving up your perceived rights; it's giving up your fondest ambitions; it's giving over the reins of your life to the wise rule of the Lord. But, some might object to this. "How can I trust Christ with my life?" I would ask you, if you understand anything about yourself, how can you trust yourself with your own life and eternity? Lose your life to Christ and find more than you ever imagined and can ever fathom!
Jesus Christ asks two questions, first, quizzing us on the soul's value and second, seeing if there is any business deal that matches the worth of the soul. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" What is the soul? It's the same word translated as "life" in the previous verse. Here, the soul is the real you that not only expresses your personality and distinctions but lives on in eternity. It is immaterial and eternal while your body is material and subject to decay and death. The Christian's bodily resurrection restores the original unity of the whole person that had been corrupted by sin in the fall. As the Creator, Jesus declares the soul to be of more value than the whole material world. Why is this so? The world will one day pass away (2 Pet. 3:10)—it's temporal while the soul is eternal.
So count it up. Add a country or two or three to your portfolio. Add the diamond mines of South Africa and the oil of the Persian Gulf. Move into the Biltmore Mansion as you primary residence and Buckingham Palace as your vacation home. But Jesus Christ said that compared with your soul, these things have no value. This implies that it is folly, pure folly to neglect your soul while you pursue the world that will perish.
So, will you strike a business deal? "What will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Would you forfeit eternity for a few paltry pleasures in this life? Are you so enchanted with "Turkish Delight," like Edmund in Chronicles of Narnia, that you forfeit everything for a few morsels of a sweet?
The last argument points to the great day of Christ as a reason to go the way of the cross. "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds." It's Judgment Day that is ahead; each of us will come to that day. So would you face God's wrath on that day for the passing fancies of this world?
It's the way of the cross or the way of destruction. There's no other option. Christ bids us come and die to self, following after Him. Hear Him and follow!
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