Illustration: Passion Season - Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. What is He denying himself? Jesus is in the garden of gethsemane. What is He denying himself? What cup does He choose? Jesus is put on the cross. What is He denying himself?
The path is different because it is the path of discipleship, of following Jesus. As we follow Jesus, we start to “look” more and more like him. The transformation that we undergo makes us look more like him, and less like the world.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)
Introduction: How is this new life in Jesus Christ different from our previous life and unlike any other? How is this road diverse from anything that we have ever experienced before? This is the path to discipleship for following Christ. It is our desire to imitate Christ more and look less like the world.
The first great stepping stone to discipleship is to ‘deny yourself.’ To “deny” yourself means to say “No” to yourself and say “Yes” to God. To say it differently, the process of denial is “to humbly submit our will to God.” It is to go through life living out the words that Jesus said the night before He died. When He was praying in the garden, He said to God His Father, “Not My will but Yours be done.” It is what millions of Christians have prayed for centuries when they repeat what we call the “Lord’s Prayer.” “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
(a) What does it mean to deny ourselves?
• It is not to deny ourselves of food, fellowship or any good things just to make us feel miserable.
• It means to put Christ’s claims and commands above our own desires.
• Denying self requires us to give up anything that we would want or seek that would hinder our doing the will of God.
• If what we know Christ wants from us clashes with what we want to do, we say ‘NO’ to ourselves and ‘YES’ to Him. That is the big order. And we’ll be joyful when we do so.
• Remember Peter denied the Lord.
• To deny self is to renounce self-centeredness. To deny it is about me. Deny self-love. Love God!
• Apparently to deny ourselves means to not know myself.
• It is to ignore the very existence of self.
• Usually we treat ourselves to be the most important person on earth and if we follow Christ, we have to completely forget our self-existence.
Matthew 10:38 says, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Denying yourself means saying “No” to the flesh and to its wants and desires. It is to strive for divine heavenly things, those that are born of the Holy Spirit and exalt God above everything else in our lives. In order for us to accept Christ as our Savior, we have to deny ourselves and submit to the will of God. Denying yourself entails denying all sinful behavior, ungodliness, lustiness and companions who assist in encouraging your participation in a sinful lifestyle. The ones that promote righteousness, justification and salvation are who we must cling onto and allow God to work through in our lives.
If Christ has died for us, why do we have to deny ourselves? Christ died on the cross and shed His blood for covering our sins and redeeming us from it. Our response to His sacrifice is to deny ourselves so that we are pursuing to be in His likeness. This means to give up our rights and live for His glory so that He is seen through us and not the world in us.
Denying self requires us to give up anything that we would want or seek that would hinder our doing the will of God. This does not mean that, if we want something, it is necessarily wrong. It means we must take our wants, and desires down from the throne and places Jesus and His will as the governing power in our lives. None of our wants, and desires can supersede the importance of Christ and His role in our lives.
Illustration: John the Baptist was a son of a priest who was married to the daughter of a priest. His birth was prophesied. He was raised strictly, with a view to his becoming a priest. He also was raised as a Nazarene, with the view of becoming a prophet. There were already priests in the land, more, in fact, than they needed. Few and far between were the prophets of God who stood out like Elijah. Israel did not need another priest. What they needed was a prophet! In fact, more than ninety five percent of the world’s pastors live in America. Therefore, the desperate need of our nation today is not for more pastors and ministers, but for bold and fearless prophets to step up to the pulpit.
Though John the Baptist was not a prophet of great miracles, he was the first soul winner we read of in the New Testament, and he was a pioneer in every sense of the word. His ministry probably only covered a time period of six months. He was a unique personality – rugged, strong, yet humble. John was in the wilderness in every way; geographically, morally, politically and religiously. What did he deny himself?
(b) What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Christ?
• Jesus knew what crucifixion meant. He experienced it firsthand.
• You'll never take up your cross and follow Him if you don't deny yourself.
• The cross was an instrument of death; Jesus was saying that His disciples are those who die to themselves.
• It meant to be prepared to face things like that for loyalty to God.
• It means to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true to God.
• Commit our lives to Him – not on our terms but His!
• Follow in His footsteps and in a Christ-like manner.
• Be ready to endure persecution, even if it means death.
• Every day we are to live in such a way that it is apparent to everyone that we have died to ourselves, to our selfish ways and ambitions, and live for God.
It does not mean that we have to suffer ourselves (penance) or to invite persecution. It is the attitude (heart) not the amount of suffering and shame we endure that counts in God’s sight. Carrying the cross can at times imply to a physical or emotional disability we might have. It could also be a spiritual burden upon our lives.
Illustration: Charles Colson in his book “Kingdoms in Conflict," describes Poland before the collapse of Communism. The government issued an order that all crucifixes were to be removed from classroom walls, just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions. Many church leaders stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately, the government relented, insisting that the law remains on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the classrooms.
However, one zealous communist school administrator decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung since the school’s founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well.
The next day, two-thirds of the school’s 600 students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched; crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by 2,500 other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest.
Soldiers surrounded the church. However, pictures of students inside of the church holding crosses high above their heads, flashed around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. “There is no Poland without a cross.” Today I would like to make it clear to everyone here as we witness the changing political and spiritual climate in America that, “There is going to be NO AMERICA without a cross.” Such is going to be the impact of the cross … Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32).
This is what we must remember at communion – that there is no forgiveness and no life without the cross. Revival revolves around this very notion and directly balances on the denial of ourselves and the cross we carry. Are we ready to take it on? Are we ready to carry our cross?
© What does it mean to lose our lives for His sake? (Luke 9: 24) Parallels denying ourselves …
• The questions are NOT ‘How much can I get? But How much can I give?’
• Not what is the safe thing to do? but what is the right thing to do?
• Not what is the shortest way to work it out? But the maximum possible way.
• The Christian must realize that God has given this life not only for ourselves but for others. To burn for God and others …
• Jesus did not mean that we seek a martyr’s death. His point was how we invest our life?
• If a person invests his/her life in attaining selfish pleasures and earthly fame, he will ‘lose it’ as this earth and the system in it are all temporary and perishable.
Should we take these words seriously?
Missionaries like David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, William Carey took these words seriously – that’s why they left the comforts of their homes and their country and traveled to uncomfortable and diseased situations in Africa and Asia. These were people who denied themselves and carried their cross and lost it all for Christ their Lord! What are we doing to be revived?
