Take up your cross of self-denial

Luke 9:18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" ¹⁹ They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." ²⁰ "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." ²¹ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. ²² And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." ²³ Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

“No.”

It’s a little word with a lot of influence, especially for parents. “No, you may not have ice cream before dinner.” “No, you should not crack a dozen eggs on the coffee table.” “No, you may not sit on the roof of the garage.” “No, you may not go on a date until you are 16.” Those are all things that have been said to my daughters at one time or another throughout the years.

Children are notorious for asking for things. They want CDs, DVDs, MP3s, iPods, and other things that don’t have a lot of vowels. Teenagers want tattoos and belly rings, they want to drive the car without having to pay for gas or insurance, they want to have money without having to work for it.

Parents, you have to be strong and tell them, “No.” It’s a small word that requires great conviction. It’s a short word with a lifelong lasting impact. It’s a negative that achieves much positive.

We live in a permissive society where “Yes” is the ruling force of the day. Parents may think that saying “Yes,” to all their children’s desires will make their children happy, but it in the end, the result is a spoiled, undisciplined child, who has never heard “No,” and can, therefore, never appreciate a “Yes.”

Perhaps you have heard about Ricardo Portillo, a Salt Lake City soccer referee who died from injuries incurred while refereeing a youth soccer game. Portillo had given the 17-year-old goalie a yellow card for pushing an opposing player. While Portillo was filling out the yellow card, the goalie punched him in the face. Portillo was in a coma for a week before he died from massive head trauma.

Sadly, this is not the first incidence of violence toward referees of youth sports. But what I find even sadder is that many youth and sports psychologists are saying that the rise in violence may be because so many of these children are hearing “No” from an authority figure for the first time.

It’s not only our children that we don’t like to say “no” to. We don’t like to say it to ourselves. By our very nature as sinful human beings, every breath we take is in the hope of accomplishing our own will. Whether it is an infant crying for attention or just a changed diaper, or a child moping because he didn’t get to go to the zoo, or a teenager slamming her bedroom door because she was grounded from going to Six Flags, or adults who are depressed because it rained on our picnic or we didn’t get the promotion or our boyfriend/girlfriend broke up with us.

Today Jesus gives us one of His hardest teachings of all as He says: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” The word that Jesus for “deny yourself” literally means in the Greek to “say no to yourself.” This is one of Jesus’ hardest teachings, not because it is difficult to understand, but because it is so difficult to implement. If we don’t like to say “No” to our children, we most certainly do not like to say “No” to ourselves. That is why it is so difficult to overcome addictive behavior – alcohol, internet images, lying, gossip, etc.

But Jesus says that if we want to be a follower of His, we must say “No” to ourselves and say “Yes” to Him. It is a willing, cheerful understanding that we live not for self but for Him who loves us and gave Himself for us. It is a life that is lived in harmony with the law of God, in works of service to our neighbor out of love for Christ. This is what pleases God.

God already taught denying self and taking up Christ’s cross when He gave us His very First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). At its core, self-denial and cross-carrying are exactly what the First Commandment requires – saying “No” to ourselves and our desire for other gods, and saying “Yes” to the one true God. Martin Luther surely understood this in his explanation of the First Commandment: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Self-denial, cross-carrying and First Commandment-keeping all fly in the face of self. It isn’t a stretch to say that all of our conscious sins, and the countless sins of which we are unaware, are caused by our refusal to carry our cross, our refusal to deny self, and our refusal to fear, love and trust in God above all things.

We know from experience that self is near and dear to us, and that its denial is extremely difficult. In fact, there is nothing more difficult than self-denial. If we think our kids mope and pout and throw tantrums when they hear the word “No,” imagine how your sinful nature reacts when it hears you tell it “No.” When we hear or experience “No,” that’s when we become jealous, angry, envious, discontented, grumpy, frustrated, and a whole host of other self-involved emotions.

Let me ask you this – is it possible that you suffer from discontentment and frustration because of the bad theology that is flowing freely in our world? A bad theology that appeals to our sinful self?

Despite the popular preachers on TV and the Christian self-help books in the stores and our own confused sinful nature … following Jesus is not going to make you wealthy. Following Jesus does not guarantee that you are going to be healthy. The message throughout Scripture and emphasized today in Luke’s Gospel is that following Jesus does not mean everything goes right, but that Jesus is enough, no matter what happens to you, no matter who hurts you, no matter how much you might suffer in His name.

Prosperity gospel is unbelievably popular in our American culture. These popular preachers and teachers are espousing a theology of glory, where Scripture and history teaches a theology of the cross. Joseph was thrown in prison because he did the right thing and did not sleep with Potiphar’s wife. He loved God more than sex (Genesis 39:6-23). Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to be mistreated along with God’s people. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:24-25). Every apostle in the Bible (except John) dies as a result of persecution. It’s not like they weren’t looking when they were crossing the street and got hit by an oncoming donkey. They were beheaded, crucified upside down, run through with a spear or thrown to the lions. The Christian Church has been built through the centuries on men and women who were willing to lose their lives for Christ.

The Christian Church has been built upon the blood of martyrs, not on the wealth of feel-good Christians. The theology of glory makes Jesus a philanthropist for what He gives you, instead of being preeminent for who He is. That is not Christianity! That is something totally different, and it is heresy. It is not about what Jesus gets you in this world. It is about what Jesus gives you for the world to come.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians, “And [Christ] is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Colossians 1:18) – supremacy, preeminent, top, nothing above him, nothing else to gain, nothing else to get, the goal, the end – it is always and only about Jesus.

Jesus is enough. If we pray for healing and don’t get it, that’s OK. Jesus is enough. If we work hard for money, but it doesn’t come, that’s OK. Jesus is enough. If we try for success in the classroom, the workplace or the athletic field, but nothing happens, that’s OK, too. Jesus is enough. Even if we lose all things, Jesus is enough. Even if we deny ourselves all kinds of cool things, Jesus is enough. Because only Jesus saves. Nothing else can. Not health. Not money. Not success. Only Jesus saves. He is sufficient. Nothing else to want. Nothing else to pursue. He is preeminent. He is supreme. He is enough.

He is the One who denied self, who was always mindful of the cross He would carry and who always kept the First Commandment. Every thought, every word, every deed in Christ’s life was a thought, a word, a deed that consciously and perfectly worshiped God, loved God, and benefited mankind. It was all – from beginning to end – conscious, deliberate, willing, joyful obedience and submission on the way to the ultimate obedience and submission at the cross.

We see that even in the miracles of Christ during the years of His earthly ministry. Healing the centurion’s servant and raising the widow’s son did not benefit Him, but was done for the benefit of others. We see that in the flak He took for the company He kept. Forgiving the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume caused hard stares and judgmental thoughts from the religious men gathered around the table, but the forgiveness was offered for the benefit of this courageous woman. Jesus said “No,” to His own will and “Yes” to His Father’s divine will when He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

For our sakes, Jesus denied the glory of heaven, so that He might endure the gore of the cross. For our sakes, Jesus denied the pleasures of a palace, so that He might be born in a barn. For our sakes, for three years, Jesus denied His rightful place at the Father’s right hand, so that He might sit with fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners.

Christ, as the perfect Bridegroom, denies everything for Himself, so that He might grant all good eternal things to us, His bride. And that is why we were created and redeemed by His blood, so that we would be the bride of Christ. That marriage to Christ involves the surrender of our will to that of the Bridegroom, for He knows best. As Christ went to the cross, so now we, His followers, take up our crosses and follow Him. Denying self, carrying our cross and obeying the First Commandment.

As a parent, you know how hard it is to say “No” to your child. You want to be their friend so you want to give them everything they want. But if you are a good parent, you realize that your children have many friends, but they only have one set of parents. In addition, children need and want boundaries. It makes them feel safe and protected. It even makes them feel loved and cared for.

God is a perfect Parent and Jesus is our perfect Brother. They know what is best for us. They have set boundaries for us. They keep us safe and protected by telling us that certain things are harmful to us and are off-limits. They keep us safe and protected under a theology of the cross, instead of a false theology of glory. They only want to give us everything that we need, everything that is best for us. And when we don’t get something we want, or there is something sinful we desire, and God says “No” to us, that is the perfect time to take up our cross and practice self-denial.

It is during this time of self-denial that we realize that only Jesus saves. Nothing else can. Not health. Not money. Not success. He is sufficient. Nothing else to want. Nothing else to pursue. We say “No” to self and “Yes” to God. He is preeminent. He is supreme. He is enough. Amen.