21 Jan 2024

The first statement:
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34)

This statement was made by the Lord Jesus after his sharing with his disciples of his impending death and his cross. Somehow, he already knew that he was going to be crucified and in this statement, he said that if anyone wants to follow him he must take up his cross – we see the same note of necessity coming through.

In the times of Jesus, it was obvious that someone carrying a crossbar, or patibulum, was recognised to be a condemned criminal on the way to the place of crucifixion and death. The imagery Jesus used illustrates the meaning of self-denial. Becoming a Christian and being a Christian and disciple involves a change so radical that no imagery can do it justice except death and resurrection – dying to the old life of self-centeredness and rising to a new life of holiness and love. Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). He elaborated, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24).
What this means is that there is a definite ‘break’ with the old life which centres on the self, its sinful nature, tendencies, and desires. This ‘break’ or radical change has to be affirmed again and again in the outworking of the life of the Christian because the believer is still living in the fallen world with the devil active and seeking to bring him/her under his bondage constantly. The ‘battle’ to affirm this ‘break’ involved a continual ‘struggle’ in self-denial and the abandonment of self-centeredness with a simultaneous pursuit of holiness and the choice to please God. Our pain and discouragement, in our Christian journey on earth are compounded by the unwillingness to enter into ‘dying to self’ and living ‘in the resurrection’ under a new Master.
It is interesting that Luke, in a parallel verse in Luke 9:23, added the adverb “daily”, i.e. the believer must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow the Lord.

Second Statement:
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35). This statement follows immediately after the first statement in the preceding verse.

What Jesus said actually means: If we insist on holing on to ourselves, and refuse to let ourselves go, but determine to live for ourselves, we will lose ourselves. That is the way of death, not the way of life. But if we are willing to lose ourselves, to give ourselves away in love, in the service of the gospel, then in the moment of complete abandon, when we think we have lost everything, the miracle takes place and we find ourselves. In other words, the only way to self-discovery is self-denial, and the only way to live is to die to our own self-centeredness.

Oftentimes, when we find ourselves complaining, grumbling against God and our circumstances, we can be sure that self has reared its head and refused to die. Self-centeredness is in operation instead of self-denial – this is the way to death instead of true life in God; we are refusing to carry the cross and to follow the Master. We allow the old life to “come alive” and we refuse to put it to death; when we ought to put on the “new life” and truly live in the joy of God.

The Christian must go through much tribulations to enter the kingdom of God; however, he needs not go through much of the pain and struggles caused by self-centeredness and a refusal to deny the old life and self. Instead, increasingly, he must continually put off the old self and put on the new self and grow to be like Christ. That is the path of true discipleship and it is not easy. However, it can be much easier in the Christian race without the unnecessary weights that hinder and entangle us (Hebrews 12:1).