“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.’”
Within this verse there are three commands for the Christ follower on how to follow Christ. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Him. Each is the idea that following Christ equals self-sacrifice for His glory.
What He commanding us to deny is our sinful fleshly desires. He is not telling us to starve ourselves or to deny any form of happiness, but rather to deny ourselves of sinful pleasures that keep us from glorifying God. Since you have been walking with the Lord, what are some sinful desires that you have been convicted to deny (maybe successfully or unsuccessfully)?
We need to remember that this is prior to Jesus dieing on the cross and that the listeners would have only associated "take up your cross" with the torturous execution of criminals. This is a frieghtening call. Crosses in Jesus' day were not the pretty little things that hang around our neck or on our walls, they were most brutal form of death known to them.
“We must love Jesus not only more than our families but more than our own lives. For all our talk about low self-esteem these days (and most of us do view ourselves as less than what God has called us to be), the vast majority of people still cling desperately to life (compare Eph 5:29; Epict. Disc. 2.22.15-16). But the moment we become Christ’s followers, our own lives and wills become forfeit; we die with Christ to sin (that is, to the right to make selfish choices, Rom 6:3-4) and choose a path that could lead any day to our execution for Christ’s name (Mt 16:24). Although we may speak glibly today of ‘our cross’ as the need to put up with Aunt Molly or a leaky roof, ‘taking up the cross’ in Jesus’ day meant being forced to bear the instrument of one’s execution past a jeering mob to the site of one’s imminent death as a condemned criminal.” (Craig S. Keener, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Matthew, pg210)
Let’s get past glib shallow ideas of what this verse means. Have you ever had to embrace your Christianity to the point that real suffering came upon you? Is there something wrong with our walks with the Lord if we have never really suffered for His sake?
Finally, Jesus commands us for follow Him and thus His ways. This is simply a call to live according to Christ’s example of love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and sharing the gospel. We are also to obey His teachings. If we are to follow Him then we must look like Jesus and fully embrace His Word the Bible. You cannot live an unforgiving life and claim to follow Christ. You also cannot reject clear teachings of scripture and claim to follow Christ. Things change when we embrace following Christ. Do others see a difference in you as a result of following Christ, or does you life look just like there's?
