How Are We Doing As One Of Jesus' Disciples?
"You will never glory
in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself."
- C.H. Spurgeon
Mark 8:34 tells us - "And when He
had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto
them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow Me."
The Christian life is a life of self-denial,
mortification, and contempt of the world. It is a life whereby the
followers of Christ renounce all Self and depend totally on their
Master for everything.
The question is - Are we
living this kind of life?
"Whosoever will." It is
never a forced issue with the Lord Jesus. He is always looking for
willing vessels.
The will of man is so very important in Christianity. God will not
surpass our wills. Today we either will to do His Will
or our own.
How important it is that our wills be
in subjection to God's Will!
If they are not, then Jesus is not Lord, and we are not saved!
The Lord warned us in Matthew 7:21 with these words -
"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of My Father which is in heaven."
Again in Luke 6:46, He said -
"And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?"
His first call to the people gathered around Him was
to "...come after
Me..." -
"And when He had called the people
unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever
will come after Me..."(Mark 8:34)
What He was simply calling the people to do was to become His
disciple - join, accompany, and follow Him. In order to do so, there
were some stipulations - one of which was to deny Self
- "...Whosoever will come after Me, let
him deny himself..."(Mark 8:34)
This is a tall order, wouldn't you
say?
What does it really mean to deny one's Self?
To do so is to lose
sight of one's interests and take on the interests of another.
Self is our greatest enemy. Many times we blame the devil
for things that have happened in our lives when it was simply Self
that got in the way.
Read what Samuel Rutherford said about this enemy -
"Every man blames the devil for
his sins; but the great devil, the house-devil of every man,
the house-devil that eateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that
idol that killeth all, Himself. Oh! blessed are they who can
deny themselves, and put Christ in the room of themselves! O sweet
word: 'I live no more, but Christ liveth in me!'"
Other writers had some very thought-provoking things to say
about Self as well -
Doug Barnett said - "The biggest
problem with me is ' I ' ."
An anonymous writer once said -
"The person who is all wrapped up in
himself is overdressed."
Francois Fenelon said -
"You may ask me what is the cure of this love of self. There is no
question of a cure; the thing must be killed."
Andrew Dhuse said - "God
does not want us to think less of ourselves. He wants us not to
think of ourselves at all."
Donald Grey Barnhouse said -
"Self is to be dealt with by crucifixion,
not forgiveness."
John Calvin said - "The
denial of ourselves will leave no room for pride, haughtiness, or
vainglory, nor for avarice, licentiousness, love of luxury,
wantonness, or any sin born from self-love."
Is there any doubt as to why the Lord Jesus would make the
denial of Self the first requirement in following Him?
Secondly, He told each follower that he must
"...take up his cross..."
-
"...Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross..." (Mark
8:34).
Read what a writer by the name of J. Ford said -
"We read in Scripture of taking up the cross, but never laying it
down."
A.W. Tozer said -
"We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we
can do - flee it or die upon it."
The cross has always been a symbol of death. When
Jesus calls us to take up our cross, He is actually calling us to
die to our will and desires - just as He obeyed the Father even unto
death.
Notice that He made it very personal when He said that each man must
"take up his cross."
Each and every one of us has a cross to carry. It is not
- as some believe - a sickness. Jesus does not tell us to take on a
disease or a sickness for our "cross."
However, it certainly is any thing in our lives that causes pain,
heartache, separation, rejection, loneliness, etc. for His name's
sake.
Lastly, He calls His disciples to
"Follow Me"
- "...Whosoever will come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
Me."(Mark 8:34).
Many times in the Bible the word
"follow" means to imitate. So His disciples are
commanded to imitate Him in doing the will of the Father - even
being faithful unto death.
Come after Me.
Deny Self.
Take up your cross.
Follow Me.
Are you a true disciple of Jesus today?
May God Bless His Word.
Connie
