What Did The Lord Jesus Ask Of His Disciples

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today we will reflect on a theme related to discipleship. And we will learn about the price a disciple must pay through what the Lord Jesus said in His teaching.

In the passage of God's word we see that the Lord Jesus told the people who were following Him about the suffering he would experience. And we also see Peter's reaction, from this it can be seen that Peter still does not understand the mission of Jesus Christ.

And the Lord Jesus took the opportunity to teach those who followed Him. Who are the people who follow the Lord?

Mark 8:34 says, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Mark divides them into two groups, namely the crowd and His disciples.

The crowds here are probably people who are just joining in, who just want to see miracles. In fact, many who follow Jesus Christ are just following. Sometimes people just want to be in a crowded place. Sometimes we also see a busy restaurant, maybe people just see it's busy, then join the queue there. Just because many people say it's delicious, they also find the food delicious.

Next we see what the Lord Jesus asked, through this opportunity Jesus Christ explained what to do or what God asked of a disciple, and here the Lord emphasized three things, he said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

The first requirement of the Lord Jesus is to deny ourselves.

Humans don't like to deny themselves: Humans are more inclined to elevate themselves, enhance themselves, magnify themselves, and satisfy their desires.

Self-denial is actually an attitude of humbling yourself before God. Paul wrote a beautiful example of the Lord Jesus emptying Himself in Philippians 2:5-11.

When the Lord Jesus became flesh, He completely denied Himself. From the example of the Lord Jesus, we learn the attitude of a self-denying person:

1. Those who deny themselves will put God's will first.

When the Lord Jesus was on earth, he did not live for himself, but to fulfill the mission entrusted by the heavenly Father. It is because of this mission that we hear these extraordinary sentences from the Lord: By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (John 5:30). And in John 4:34 the Lord Jesus said, “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

2. Those who deny themselves will hand over the authority of their lives to God

Paul said in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

My question is who lives in you? After we accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior, will He be the master or just a guest in our life? The guests may only be in the living room, but the host has full power over the house.

If you are a self-denying person, then you will surrender the authority of your life to God like what Paul declared about his relationship with God in the verse above.

Surrendering the authority of life to God, means putting your full trust in God amidst the storms and battles in your life. It means that even though you may be in a very difficult or painful situation, you always believe that God is with you in the midst of your suffering.

Jesus did not die on the cross to end human suffering. Just look around, the world is in pain. There are famines, natural disasters, crime, abortion and many other terrible things. Christ became flesh and filled pain and suffering with His eternal presence.

Jesus is there in the darkest hours of our lives, even in the struggles and trials we face every day.

As he willingly emptied himself for us, so we must deny ourselves for him.

3. Those who deny themselves are those who are willing to be renewed by the Holy Spirit at any time.

This is a real process of self-denial, through which we distance ourselves from self-centered idols.

This is in stark contrast to the world and the modern day, where everyone puts a lot of emphasis on carnal stuff like self-esteem, self-fulfilment, self-worth, self-actualization, and all kinds of self-centered emphasis.

The purpose of flesh-centered people is to enrich themselves, make themselves happy, and even if they experience God's miracles and works, they are not glorifying God, but fulfilling their own desires.