Deny Yourself

(Matthew 16:24-26)
by Rev. Dr. Sergio E. Arevalo, Jr.

Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

INTRODUCTION

This passage contains the ever-recurring themes of Jesus’ teaching. In the four Gospels we can read these things, too. It means Jesus gave emphasis to this important teaching. It’s about the challenge of the Christian life. These are the things which man must be prepared to do, if he is to live the Christian life.

I. HE MUST DENY HIMSELF. This phrase connotes that we need to give up something. However, in the theological parlance, this means three things:

1) No to self and yes to God. It is difficult thing to say no to ourselves, since it means struggle within. And the tendency of our body is grabbing all opportunities and craving for pleasure. How could we say NO to ourselves if we like and enjoy what we are having and enjoying?

I met this woman from Mexico on the Internet. She is a lawyer but she quit law practice and shifted to teaching English to elementary students. She has responsible husband and one daughter with one adopted son. I met her long time ago when she was problematic on her adopted son. The boy has a sickness which she could not know how to deal with so she consulted me on that matter and I gave her sound advice. Then our communication had gap for many months. Later, she contacted me again through ICQ. Then she narrated to me her new problem. She said she met this Mexican man through Internet, and she loves him very much. She said he always told her “I love you very much.” And he tells her many sweet nothings and the woman feels that he is really in love with her, and the woman felt the same thing in which she did not feel towards her husband. The woman had already slept with that man many times. This is now her big problem. She does not want to destroy her family and at the same time she does not like to separate from that man. I advised her to leave that man and build her family, but she said she cannot do that since she is deeply in love with him.

This is an example of craving and enjoying pleasure instead of denying oneself for the goodness of the family.

2) Dethrone yourself and enthrone the Lord. If we have high education and high caliber position in our nation, the tendency of our society is to enthrone us to a pedestal. That’s also the experience of Jesus when he healed a lot of people. They wanted him to be the political king of Israel. However, he escaped from the will of the people. But for common people this kind of opportunity is unique and that opportunity should be grabbed. However, there is a big question here: if we are sitting on the king’s throne, are we willing to be dethroned? Can we give up our high position for the glory of the Lord if necessary? Jesus said, “Deny ourselves” which means let us put ourselves down in the feet of the Lord. And this requires dethroning ourselves and enthroning the Lord.

3) Obliterate yourself and let God rule in you. “Obliterate” means exterminate, and here we are encouraged to exterminate ourselves. Indeed we need to exterminate the ruling principle. In our decision-making, actions and judgments, let us kill ourselves and let God alive in us.

II. HE MUST TAKE UP HIS CROSS. In the Roman society in Jesus’ time, the cross was a symbol of shame since it was used to punish people; it’s the capital punishment at that time. It was the “lethal injection” in their time. Thus, if somebody died on the cross it was a shameful death! Jesus used the symbol of the cross in order to show us the gravity of Christian life. It’s like bearing the shameful cross, or as if you are in death chamber and people are feasting while you are receiving lethal injections. Here Jesus told us that Christianity or discipleship is not an easy task, it means death!

1. Take up the burden of sacrifice. Jesus encouraged us to take up the burden of sacrifice. “Sacrifice’ may mean two things: forfeit and offering. “Forfeit” means you lose by omission. In other words you offer something in your own volition. There are three things that we need to sacrifice:

a. Time. If we are serving the Lord, we need to offer the right time, the punctual time to Him. The one who offers right time does not offer late time since if you do; it reveals that you do not sacrifice at all.

b. Talents. Every Christian has unique talents or gifts of the Spirit. God gives them to us for free in order for us to serve Him mightily. We should not use these talents to hamper the work of the Lord or to destroy others, but instead let us use these in serving Him and in the propagation of the Gospel.

c. Treasure. Not all people have material treasures on earth. We can see the unequal distribution of nation’s wealth. However, I do not say that the rich are sinners because of their treasures, or the source of their treasures is the devil. On the other hand, I see treasures as God-given to some people out of His loving abundance. God’s richness is showered upon His people. However, their treasures are not only for them, but also for the welfare of other God’s children. In other words, the rich are just stewards of God’s treasures. Thus, they should sacrifice to share God’s resources to others who are in need.

III. HE MUST FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST. Following Jesus requires perfect and constant obedience.

1. “Perfect obedience” means we should follow the Lord wholeheartedly. We should follow Him wherever He leads us and whatever He wants us to do.

2. Constant following of Jesus in thought, word, and action. Following Jesus does not end. The Evangelist Luke included in his Gospel the word “daily’ to mean that following Jesus does not end and does not rest. In other words following Jesus is every moment.