Matthew 16:24-26 (NKJV) 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For 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?
In our last post, I began discussing another important truth that will help us unlock the potential God has placed in us as supernatural people in the natural world. From Matthew chapter 16 we saw a wonderful transformation in the life of Peter. Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was. Peter’s answer was that Jesus was the Christ, Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus said that “flesh and blood” had not revealed this to him, but it came from the Father in Heaven.
Jesus says that receiving this “revealed” knowledge from God had changed Peter. He said he was no longer Simon, which meant a reed, but was now Peter, a stone. He had become more solid because he had experienced a deeper knowledge than what his senses could tell him. This gave him keys that would unlock the power of the Kingdom of heaven in his life. This was not just for him. Anyone who can walk in the knowledge that God reveals has access to these keys. Every believer has the capacity to receive this kind of knowledge and use them. However, in verse 23 of the same chapter Jesus calls this same Peter Satan and says, “Get behind me! You offend me. You are not thinking like God but like men.”
In verse 17 Jesus was thinking like God and Jesus called him blessed. In verse 23 he cannot accept that Jesus must suffer and die. Why? Because he could not get past what he knew by his senses. He loved Jesus. He knew how important he was and could not accept that losing him would benefit anyone. If he had yielded to the deeper knowledge revealed by God, he would have understood that God had a plan that was far greater than Jesus the earthly son of man. What he would do in his death, burial and resurrection would be something that would change everyone and everything.
Jesus gives us some insight into what we must do if we want to walk in the kind of knowledge Peter had received. He says we must lose our life to find another life. Obviously, he is not talking about physical death. The word used in verses 24-26 of this chapter is the Greek word Psyche. In these verses it is translated both “life” and “soul.” In this context I believe the best meaning is self or identity. We must be willing to let go of one self, one identity, in order to gain another, stronger self or identity. Jesus is speaking of an identity that will be dominated by revealed knowledge, such as what Peter received earlier in the chapter instead of the sense knowledge that dominates him later. How can we do that.?
Jesus gives us three things that we must do if we are to find the self that he wants us to have. Remember, this is not something that is in anyway negative. Jesus wants to unlock the potential we have been talking about this whole year. These three things appear in verse 24. They are:
- He must deny himself.
- He must take up his cross
- He must follow me.
These are things that may seem harsh on the surface, but remember, Jesus says we must do them for his sake. He intends to give us something much better. Their importance is underscored by the fact that he makes them a prerequisite for following him.
The Victor Bible Background Commentary Says it this way. “ The decision to follow Jesus and take up one’s cross means the loss of the old self. It also means the gain of a new self! How clearly the NT shows us that the “I” we leave behind is wisely abandoned, while the “I” we become is the person we have always yearned to be. A person we can only become as God works His grace in our hearts.”
First, we must deny ourselves. What does this mean? The Greek word means to disown ourselves. We must realize at the core of our being that we do not own our lives. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that we are not our own because we were bought with the price of the precious blood of Jesus. According to Romans 10, to receive salvation we must confess Jesus as the Lord of our lives. That means he is the one in charge, not you or me.
This is a very difficult concept, especially for Americans. We value independence and rightly so. It is the foundation upon which our nation was built. There is, however, a paradox in that. Our independence, or liberty, was first to be used to worship God as we see fit. For a Christian, that means that we must deny ownership of “ourselves” and yield to the fact that Jesus is the one who must be in charge of our life.
The implication is that if I try to hold onto the self that is outside of Jesus’ control and dominated by sense knowledge alone, I will never be the supernatural person he needs me to be. If I am willing to deny or disown that life, I will find access to a life far greater than I could imagine. In John 10, Jesus calls it abundant life.
Disowning my life leads to the next step. I must be willing to take up my cross. I want to make it very clear that Jesus is not talking about physically dying as he did. That was his cross or his responsibility. My cross would be the responsibilities that I have been given as a Christian living in the world. Most often we tend to focus on the trials that may come our way. That is certainly part of what Jesus’ is talking about.
It is not easy to walk as a Christian in the world. We must walk in holiness, righteousness and integrity. That is usually not going to be in tune with how the world thinks. Jesus says we will be persecuted in the world. He also says we will have tribulations or troubles. Jesus never says that we will be protected from all the trials of life. However, he gives the power to overcome them all (Ps. 34:19).
Our cross means more than just the trial we may face. I believe it means we must take up the responsibilities we are called to carry as believers. We must be willing to pick up prayer as a lifestyle. We must be willing to study and meditate in the Word of God. We must be willing to function in the body of Christ as God has planted us. We must be willing to share our faith with the world around us. These things and more are our cross and our joy. If we are not willing to take it up, we will never be supernatural people in the natural world. That is a choice we must make daily. It is part of how we must set our priorities in life.
Finally, he says we must follow him. We must be willing to go wherever he goes. We must be willing to be whatever he needs us to be. We must follow him through any and all difficulties. We must be willing to forsake personal comfort and desires if we want to have the kind of life he has for us.
I am reminded of Enoch. Genesis says he walked with God. It really says very little else about him. Nevertheless, he bypassed death and was taken to heaven. The only thing that was different about Enoch was that he walked with God. I asked The Lord why that was so important. He said that we usually want Him to walk with us and he will. However, if we walk with God, God sets the destination. God determines how we get there, and we must walk according to his ways. I believe that is what Jesus is saying when he tells us we must follow him.
There is risk in this. If we lose the self that we know, we have no guarantee that we will gains something greater except the promise of God in the words of Jesus. We risk becoming someone that we may not be sure we want to be at all. However, if we choose to save our life as it is, we will never know all that God has in store for us. We will never be able to walk in his power and the destiny he has planned for us.
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