If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. There are four words which stand out and are the keys to following Jesus. They are let him deny himself.  Here is seen the contrast between Jesus and those who are invited to follow him; that contrast is denial of self as opposed to fulfilling fleshly ungodly desires and conduct. In Luke 22:42 Luke recorded the following: 42 Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. Jesus denied himself, did the will of God, and went to the cross. In contrast, Judas went for the quick money, betrayed Jesus, and then hung himself. He didn’t deny himself and couldn’t carry his cross of life as a result.

No one will ever bear the type of cross that Jesus had to endure. He knew his mission was to bring salvation to the world and that mission was his cross to bear. It was a horrible death, one of the worst imaginable, and yet he accepted the cross of his life and went forth as God instructed him to do.  

Many times the question is asked about what Jesus meant when he said “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  The answer begins with word deny himself. One can either deny the lure of the world or deny Christ. Self demands that worldly pleasure be the order of the day with no thought given to the requirements of God and the consequent denial of the risen Savior. The allure of sin is strong and destroys those who succumb to its clutches. It isn’t so much denying things, but denying the urges of the self, the sinful man for whom Christ died. That is what Judas couldn’t do. He forgot Christ and the self destroyed him. Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

When Satan showed Jesus the world, Matthew 4:8-9 and told him it was his, Jesus didn’t fall to the temptation. Jesus answered in verse 10: Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  Jesus could have proven his power to Satan, but worldly power wasn’t what Jesus would ultimately show to everyone. He denied self and the opportunity to show Satan his power. His words that one is to only worship and serve God defeated Satan and he left. In the process, Jesus denied his ego of self and kept focused on his Father.

Each person must weigh whether his worth in the sight of God is less than the worth of allowing self to do what the sinful man will do when Christ is denied. Can one actually say that self and the desires self has is worth more, and is of more importance and is greater than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Judas made the wrong choice and died.

Those who will follow Christ must bear the cross of self denial by pushing aside the lust of the flesh. In I John 2:16-17 we find: 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.  

Jesus said 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The way of Jesus is a light burden and enables those who will follow him to take up their cross of self denial daily and live a life pleasing to God.

© 08-08-2007 DEC

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