Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:24 NIVUK
There are a bunch of people who work for the European Union and their work, while seemingly really banal, is actually really important. They work to ensure that the food we eat is genuine. For example: that champagne actually comes from the Champagne region of France, that Scotch whisky is actually from Scotland, that Gruyere cheese is actually from Gruyere, that Arbroath smokies (smoked fish) are actually from Arbroath, and so on. Their work is important. It prevents us from being taken in by fakes.
Likewise, there are those who insist on safety standards for goods, on health and safety standards for food, etc. Their work is important because it keeps us safe.
Here Jesus is confronting the disciples’ – and their culture’s – opinions on who the Messiah and what He does, who His followers are and what they should do. These thoughts are substandard. They would lead to a Messiah who would not bring in the Messianic age.
He would not deal with the number one problem they faced:
Their sin.
And our sin.
And a Messiah that only dealt with the military and political issues of the day but left them to struggle with their own sin would be no Messiah at all.
In correcting the disciples’ thinking, He also points them towards the kind of person they should be if they really want to follow Him. And those standards are very high.
He said that if we are to truly call ourselves ‘Christian’ – which means ‘little Christ’ – then we must deny ourselves like He did (Philippians 2:1-11), we must take up our cross like He did and we must follow Him – not just by agreeing with Him or voting for Him or wearing His name on our clothes or bumper stickers, but by living like He did and following the same path.
No matter what the cost.
Lately our TV screens and social media feeds have been jam packed with tales of fools and fakes and charlatans. Often people we would normally trust have been taken in by those who talk a good game, but whose lifestyle belies their alleged ‘Christianity’. It may have seemed expedient at the time to side with such people and their mealy-mouthed promises, but now (and way too late) we see right through them.
We can’t allow ourselves to be taken in again.
Yet there verses are also a challenge to us. Do we choose to deny ourselves? Are we willing to take up the cross? Are we willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads?
The verses that follow remind us of what we gain when we follow Jesus, because it certainly is not all loss. Our soul is safe, saved and restored, and that is the most valuable thing we will ever possess. And Jesus will come again to reward us, compensating us many, many times over for whatever we have lost.
This is why Paul wrote these words to the Philippian church:
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Philippians 3:7-16 NIVUK
My hope and prayer for all of us is that we carry out the same calculation as Paul, and decide to follow Jesus, whatever the cost.
Our world is sick of fakes and fools.
It’s time to give them the real thing.
Christian, will you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus?
Questions
1. What wrong thinking did the disciples have about the Messiah? How did Jesus put this right? Why is this relevant to us?
2. Can you think of someone who claimed to be a Christian but later it seems that they weren’t? What was it that changed you (or the public’s) opinion of them?
3. If someone was to measure you against the standards of these verses, would they believe you are a fake or a real Christian? Why?
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