Discipleship: Self-Denial

Requirements of Discipleship

Self-Denial & Bearing the Cross

• Matthew 16:24–26 | Mark 8:34–37 | Luke 9:23–24 – “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
  • To follow Jesus 3 things must occur
    • Deny Oneself 
    • Take up cross 
    • Follow 

These three things must be done in order to come after or follow Jesus and He is very clear about them as the gospels record these more than once. But what does it mean to deny oneself or take up a cross? These two phrases can seem confusing but are quite simple. 

Deny yourself– this is a phrase that requires complete denial of passions and desires in order to gain something else. In the case of following Christ, our earthly passions and desires cannot be top priority in our lives. These desires will pop up as temptations but they cannot rule or drive our actions and words. Our desire for more money cannot come before helping the poor for example. Most of us have things in our lives we prioritize before Jesus such as jobs, money, hobbies, friendships, alcohol, etc. To deny ourselves means cutting out or diminishing worldly priorities in order to replace them with things that advance the kingdom of God and His purposes. 

Take up his cross– Jesus carried his cross to where he would be sacrificed. Everyone in Jesus’ day knew what carrying a cross meant. It meant that you were on a one-way trip and you weren’t coming back. Your desires, your will, your life was not yours anymore and it was about to be over. Jesus used this imagery to talk about discipleship. For Jesus, discipleship meant giving up our desires and wants to follow his will, not that we would die physically but that our wills and desires for ourselves would die. Jesus also added a condition to this principle. Disciples shouldn’t do this just on Sunday or Wednesday nights or whenever they are in church or in a gathering. Jesus said to do this daily. Every day we need to make a conscious commitment to surrendering our will to his and denying our earthly pleasures for his glorious ones. This isn’t easy and it isn’t going to be. Taking up a cross is not easy and it will take sacrifice and devotion to realign every day. 

For the disciples, following Jesus meant literally walking with him wherever he went. They gave up their jobs, status, and wealth to walk around with Jesus learning from him. Today Jesus lives within every believer through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so following Jesus means we take his teachings we read about in Scripture and the promptings from the Spirit, and live in the same manner he did.