24Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.
I thought this text sounded awfully familiar. Back in Matthew 10:38-39, Jesus said: "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it." At the time He was instructing the twelve apostles that He was sending out. Here He is instructing His disciples. This is a very important lesson that Jesus must have felt worth repeating. Especially as His disciples are starting to get concerned about what is in store for Jesus.
This is right after Jesus was telling His disciples that He "must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day." What did Jesus mean here when He said those who desire to "come after Me"? Come to Jerusalem? Suffer and be killed? Be raised the third day? Continue Jesus' work after He is gone? Regardless of what Jesus meant by "come after Me", these seem to be the instructions for those who desire to follow in Jesus' footsteps, for whatever reason.
Also in Matthew 10:32-33, when He was instructing the twelve apostles that He was sending out, He said "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." In today's text He again talks of denying oneself. This is right after Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God and Jesus praised Him. But soon after that, Peter tried to deny that Jesus should have to go through suffering and death. Immediately, Jesus denied Peter, called Him Satan and an offense. In this part, Peter was being mindful of things of men, not of things of God. As Jesus said He would do in Matthew 10:32-33, when Peter confessed Jesus before men, Jesus praised him, but when Peter denied Jesus, Jesus immediately denied Peter. So in today's text when Jesus talks of denying oneself, I think He is instructing His disciples by continuing the lesson of what happened to Peter. Peter needs to deny his concerns, which were of men. Anyone who wishes to follow Jesus must deny themselves, deny their concerns which are of men, and take up their cross, and follow Him.
But what does it mean to take up your cross? Back in my discussion on Matthew 10:38-39 where Jesus gave the same instruction to the twelve apostles, I said:
| I had always thought of our cross as being our own personal burdens that we each carry: our responsibilities, our guilt, our sins. He doesn't say to leave them behind, to pretend they don't exist, when we follow Him, but to carry them with us. They are a part of us and we must take ownership of them. |
But by saying we need to take up our cross, I think He is saying that we are not to let our cross tie us down, prevent us from doing what Jesus would do. We must take up that cross and follow Jesus.
But note what happens to our cross when we deny ourselves, when we deny our concerns which are of men, and only carry the concerns which are of God. Many of those things we struggle for, many things we feel guilty about, simply go away. The sins we carry, Jesus wipes away. The responsibilities we carry which are concerns of God are actually a joy to carry. For as Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Pick up your cross and follow Jesus.
Jesus went on in today's text to talk of whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it. Back in my discussion in Matthew 10:38-39 where Jesus gave the same instruction to the twelve apostles, I said:
| He who searches for peace in his life on earth, finds a status quo he is comfortable with, settles down in his own contentment, a master of his own life, may feel like he has found the perfect life. But he will lose his life in the end. The only way to final salvation is to give up your life to Jesus, let Him guide your life rather than you directing it yourself. Do not be the master of your life, but let Jesus be the master for you. You would not own your life while on earth, but you will find your life in your final salvation. |
Yes, in denying yourself, you are giving up a life you thought you desired. But the price of the choice is your soul.
One interesting part of this text that the footnotes in my Bible didn't comment on was when Jesus said "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works." This made me step back and wonder too. I had been taught that we are saved by grace alone, not by the works we do. Is Jesus saying here that when He returns with His angels, we will each be rewarded according to how many good works we do? This statement taken completely by itself seems to be saying just that. But I believe that Jesus meant it to be taken in the context of the verses before it.
Are we struggling and working for things of men or things of God? I think Jesus is saying here that if we are working for things of men, we will be rewarded by things of men. But if we are working for things of God, we will be rewarded by things of God. I think Jesus is talking about what we are working for, not how many good works we do. The only way for us to be working for things of God is to deny ourselves of our concerns of things of men, pick up our cross and follow Jesus. When Jesus comes in the Glory of His Father with His angels, we will hope to be rewarded by things of God. Our eternal soul is depending on it.