Luke 9:23 (ESV) And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Jesus has just acknowledged that He is the promised Messiah. Now, what does he tell his disciples are to do with that knowledge? They are to do three things, deny themselves, daily take up their cross and follow Jesus. These three things are another way of presenting the gospel.
To deny yourself is to turn away from your selfish life of sin, to repent. To daily take up your cross is to completely die to your old way of life and sin and put your trust in Jesus. Finally, to truly believe in Jesus, one must follow Him, doing the things that Jesus did.
Luke 9:24-25 (ESV) For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Jesus is teaching his disciples and us today, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We are to lose our lives for Jesus’ sake. That means that we are to spend our whole lives serving Him, not living for ourselves. The end result of losing your life for Jesus is that you will save your life for eternity. The world that we see around will not last in its present form. Jesu sis tell us that we must live for eternity by giving up everything to follow Jesus.
Luke 9:26 (ESV) For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Some are ashamed of Jesus and the things he said. Why would that be? Most likely because they care more about what the crowd thinks than about Jesus. If Jesus is ashamed of someone on judgement day, they won’t be spending eternity with Jesus. So, we must put Jesus first above everyone else in our lives.
Luke 9:27 (ESV) But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
What is Jesus talking about here? We’re going to see in the next passage that we study this morning. Jesus is going to unveil himself in a way that he had never done before in his earthly ministry. Jesus was going to reveal what the king of the kingdom really looks like to his closest disciples. We must follow Jesus the Messiah.
Jesus gives us some frank instruction as to what it takes to follow him as the Messiah. Following Jesus is not just getting a ticket to heaven. Following Jesus is taking up our crosses for him, just as Jesus took up his cross for us. Following Jesus is to deny ourselves and putting Jesus and his kingdom in first place in our lives. It means we can’t live life like the crowds around us. Yet the rewards, both in this life and eternity make it all worthwhile.
I’d encourage you this week to think what Jesus’ words mean for your life. What does it mean to deny yourself and daily take up your cross? What does it mean to follow Jesus all through life? God will give you answers to those questions. As you follow Jesus, the Messiah, God will bring blessing into your life.