Post by Cindy on Jan 28, 2016 12:29:25 GMT -5
As I was studying Luke 9:23–26 this morning, I was reminded that there is a cost to us when we are saved: “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. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:23–26) When I looked at all the people I knew, including myself, I saw one thing we all had in common - all except 3 who were different - we all lived for ourselves. We were all basically selfish, even though we would of course do nice things for the people we loved and for those we wanted to please for some reason. We don't feel badly for being selfish though because the world tells us outright that we should put ourselves first, and so we do. The problem is that God's people don't put themselves first, they put Him first, His desires, His commands, His will, His plans, before their own or anyone elses.
Some folks saw this scripture and the others like it and decided that in order to deny themselves they would choose certain things and do without them. You know, things like chocolate and others that they really liked and enjoyed. They figured that way, they'd be doing what Jesus said. But that's not at all what Jesus is talking about! For one thing, we don't get to choose what we give up, or for how long; He does! Besides that, Jesus tells us that it's to be done daily, in other words, every day. When Jesus says we must lose our life for His sake, He means it. He means that we must stop living for ourselves and live for Him instead. We have to be willing to deny ourselves, just as He did His whole life. He didn't live His life for Himself, He lived it and died for us, to show us how to live, and how to die to self. Every word He spoke, every action, every moment of His life was lived according to the Father's Will, not his own. He calls us to do the same thing and gives us His Holy Spirit so that we can do it. He suffered and died so we would be able to live for Him and with Him for eternity.
What really grabs me though is when He said: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? ” Yet every single day when I look around me, I see people living in order to gain the world. All we have to do really is look at how we raise our children. What do we constantly impress on them by our words and our own lives? We're always telling them that they can be or do anything they want to; they can be the president if they put their minds to it, etc. We're always pushing them to do well in school so they can get a good paying job and make something of themselves in this world. We show them how important this world is by what we do in our every day life. We do this instead of impressing on our children (and ourselves) that we need to deny ourselves and give up this world in order to have eternity with Him. We're to impress on them that self-interest is not to be part of our lives any longer, and that we have to be willing to suffer and deny ourselves daily just as Jesus did. Schooling, jobs, money, popularity, power, fame, etc is totally meaningless when we know how very short this life is and that it's only meaning and purpose is to become more like Christ. It's up to us which we choose. We can choose having everything we can grab in this world for the short time we will be here, or we can give up what we might have gotten here, in order to have everything for eternity.
Let me share from my commentaries about this. Although they all basically say the same thing, each one adds something important for us to look at and reflect on:
Deny himself: Jesus does not speak of denying ourselves some thing. We are to deny ourselves, our ambitions, our self-interest. Self must no longer rule our lives. Take up his cross: Jesus pictures His disciples as condemned to death and carrying their crosses along with Him to the place of crucifixion. We must live dead to self-centeredness. The Open Bible
There is a gate and then a road (cf. Matt. 7:13–14). There is an initial response and an ongoing response. Both are necessary! This speaks of our once-and-for-all death to selfish ambitions and our ongoing fellowship of Jesus (cf. Gal. 2:20). The Jews understood that “the cross” referred to a once-for-all death. Condemned criminals had to carry their own cross (the top beam) to the place of execution. We die to self so as to live for God (cf. Rom. 6; 2 Cor. 5:14–15; Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:16). The fall has made mankind’s independence and self-centeredness the goal of life, but now believers must return to selfless dependence on God. This should become a world view and life directive (i.e. daily). It is not a one-time decision, but a recurrent, volitional choice of priorities (cf. Luke 14:33). The Gospel according to Luke
“If any man will,” that is, wishes to, “come after me, to follow me where I am going” (Jesus was going to his kingdom), “let that man be prepared to give up earthly ease and comfort, and be ready to bear the sufferings which will be sure to fall on him if he struggle after holiness.” This readiness to give up ease, this willingness to bear suffering, will be a matter, they must remember, of every day experience. The terrible simile with which the Lord pressed his stern lesson home was, of course, suggested to him by the clear view he had of the fearful end of his own earthly life—an end then so near at hand, though the disciples guessed it not. The Greek word here rendered “life” signifies the natural animal life, of which the main interests are centered in the earth. If a man grasp at this shadowy, quickly passing earthly life, he will assuredly lose the substantial enduring heaven-life. If, on the other hand, he consents, “for my sake,” to sacrifice this quickly fading life of earth, he shall surely find it again in heaven, no longer quickly fading, but a life fadeless, eternal, a life infinitely higher than the one he has for righteousness’ sake consented to lose here. St. Luke Vol. I. 1909
The Jewish nation had witnessed hundreds of Roman crucifixions & had come to classify the cross as a symbol of shame & suffering as well as death. Jesus didn't leave His audience room for conjecture, for He defined this metaphor of the cross as meaning self-denial. Furthermore, He extended His definition to encompass all of life, so the appeal to take up one’s cross daily & follow Him is a demand that the believer subject his whole life to Christ, just as thoroughly as a victim’s whole life was nailed to the cross. In case there should be any misunderstanding, Jesus repeated His point here (& parallels) as being that a believer loses his life to the cause of Christ so as to gain a fuller life, eternally. The stark choice that our Lord places before the human race is clearly stated—the faith that saves involves a sincere acceptance of His Lordship, even in the realization that this could turn one’s human life into one of sacrifice and suffering. However, our Lord contrasts the ‘cost’ with the alternative—utter ruination and complete rejection—cast onto the scrap heap of Hell. To gain the whole world is unthinkable, to possess the universe incomprehensible, and yet that is within the meaning of the comparison Jesus used to depict the value of your soul. One day Satan will give the whole world to a man (Luke 4:6) and that man’s damnation is so certain that he will be the first inhabitant of Hell (Rev 19:20). Jesus flatly refused the gift of the world from Satan’s hand, and thereby gave us an early example. Christian, shun materialism; shun it for your eternal well-being, and focus on winning souls, also to your eternal well-being! The Life of Christ
Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body (Rom. 12:1–2) and let God do the rest. Our motive should be to glorify Christ. The Bible exposition commentary
Jesus supposes the act of saving one’s own life accomplished with the most complete success … amounting to a gain of the whole world. But in this very moment, the master of this magnificent domain finds himself condemned to perish! What gain to draw in a lottery a gallery of pictures … and at the same time to become blind! “O flesh,” writes Luther, “how mighty art thou, that thou canst still throw darkness over those things, even to the minds of the holy!” Here follows the punishment in the world to come. It consists in the Judge’s solemn award to the man who has succeeded in saving his life in this world. The award is, “Depart from me: I know you not.” Of such a selfish soul, who here has loved his own ease, and has declined all self-sacrifice, will the Son of man, in the day of his glory, be justly ashamed. His assertion that He will return as Almighty Judge, is very remarkable. In the parallel passage in Matthew it is put even more clearly in Matthew 16:27. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” The lesson was very clear. His own might surely be content. Only let them be patient. In the poor rejected Rabbi now before them, they were looking really on the awful form of the Almighty Judge of quick and dead. St. Luke Vol. I. 1909
The Lord certainly gives us a lot to think about doesn't He? But then He was always upfront about the cost of being a Christian. The problem is that today, we don't hear much about it. Maybe that's partly why so many people are walking around unchanged and without the power of God in their lives.
Some folks saw this scripture and the others like it and decided that in order to deny themselves they would choose certain things and do without them. You know, things like chocolate and others that they really liked and enjoyed. They figured that way, they'd be doing what Jesus said. But that's not at all what Jesus is talking about! For one thing, we don't get to choose what we give up, or for how long; He does! Besides that, Jesus tells us that it's to be done daily, in other words, every day. When Jesus says we must lose our life for His sake, He means it. He means that we must stop living for ourselves and live for Him instead. We have to be willing to deny ourselves, just as He did His whole life. He didn't live His life for Himself, He lived it and died for us, to show us how to live, and how to die to self. Every word He spoke, every action, every moment of His life was lived according to the Father's Will, not his own. He calls us to do the same thing and gives us His Holy Spirit so that we can do it. He suffered and died so we would be able to live for Him and with Him for eternity.
What really grabs me though is when He said: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? ” Yet every single day when I look around me, I see people living in order to gain the world. All we have to do really is look at how we raise our children. What do we constantly impress on them by our words and our own lives? We're always telling them that they can be or do anything they want to; they can be the president if they put their minds to it, etc. We're always pushing them to do well in school so they can get a good paying job and make something of themselves in this world. We show them how important this world is by what we do in our every day life. We do this instead of impressing on our children (and ourselves) that we need to deny ourselves and give up this world in order to have eternity with Him. We're to impress on them that self-interest is not to be part of our lives any longer, and that we have to be willing to suffer and deny ourselves daily just as Jesus did. Schooling, jobs, money, popularity, power, fame, etc is totally meaningless when we know how very short this life is and that it's only meaning and purpose is to become more like Christ. It's up to us which we choose. We can choose having everything we can grab in this world for the short time we will be here, or we can give up what we might have gotten here, in order to have everything for eternity.
Let me share from my commentaries about this. Although they all basically say the same thing, each one adds something important for us to look at and reflect on:
Deny himself: Jesus does not speak of denying ourselves some thing. We are to deny ourselves, our ambitions, our self-interest. Self must no longer rule our lives. Take up his cross: Jesus pictures His disciples as condemned to death and carrying their crosses along with Him to the place of crucifixion. We must live dead to self-centeredness. The Open Bible
There is a gate and then a road (cf. Matt. 7:13–14). There is an initial response and an ongoing response. Both are necessary! This speaks of our once-and-for-all death to selfish ambitions and our ongoing fellowship of Jesus (cf. Gal. 2:20). The Jews understood that “the cross” referred to a once-for-all death. Condemned criminals had to carry their own cross (the top beam) to the place of execution. We die to self so as to live for God (cf. Rom. 6; 2 Cor. 5:14–15; Gal. 2:20; 1 John 3:16). The fall has made mankind’s independence and self-centeredness the goal of life, but now believers must return to selfless dependence on God. This should become a world view and life directive (i.e. daily). It is not a one-time decision, but a recurrent, volitional choice of priorities (cf. Luke 14:33). The Gospel according to Luke
“If any man will,” that is, wishes to, “come after me, to follow me where I am going” (Jesus was going to his kingdom), “let that man be prepared to give up earthly ease and comfort, and be ready to bear the sufferings which will be sure to fall on him if he struggle after holiness.” This readiness to give up ease, this willingness to bear suffering, will be a matter, they must remember, of every day experience. The terrible simile with which the Lord pressed his stern lesson home was, of course, suggested to him by the clear view he had of the fearful end of his own earthly life—an end then so near at hand, though the disciples guessed it not. The Greek word here rendered “life” signifies the natural animal life, of which the main interests are centered in the earth. If a man grasp at this shadowy, quickly passing earthly life, he will assuredly lose the substantial enduring heaven-life. If, on the other hand, he consents, “for my sake,” to sacrifice this quickly fading life of earth, he shall surely find it again in heaven, no longer quickly fading, but a life fadeless, eternal, a life infinitely higher than the one he has for righteousness’ sake consented to lose here. St. Luke Vol. I. 1909
The Jewish nation had witnessed hundreds of Roman crucifixions & had come to classify the cross as a symbol of shame & suffering as well as death. Jesus didn't leave His audience room for conjecture, for He defined this metaphor of the cross as meaning self-denial. Furthermore, He extended His definition to encompass all of life, so the appeal to take up one’s cross daily & follow Him is a demand that the believer subject his whole life to Christ, just as thoroughly as a victim’s whole life was nailed to the cross. In case there should be any misunderstanding, Jesus repeated His point here (& parallels) as being that a believer loses his life to the cause of Christ so as to gain a fuller life, eternally. The stark choice that our Lord places before the human race is clearly stated—the faith that saves involves a sincere acceptance of His Lordship, even in the realization that this could turn one’s human life into one of sacrifice and suffering. However, our Lord contrasts the ‘cost’ with the alternative—utter ruination and complete rejection—cast onto the scrap heap of Hell. To gain the whole world is unthinkable, to possess the universe incomprehensible, and yet that is within the meaning of the comparison Jesus used to depict the value of your soul. One day Satan will give the whole world to a man (Luke 4:6) and that man’s damnation is so certain that he will be the first inhabitant of Hell (Rev 19:20). Jesus flatly refused the gift of the world from Satan’s hand, and thereby gave us an early example. Christian, shun materialism; shun it for your eternal well-being, and focus on winning souls, also to your eternal well-being! The Life of Christ
Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body (Rom. 12:1–2) and let God do the rest. Our motive should be to glorify Christ. The Bible exposition commentary
Jesus supposes the act of saving one’s own life accomplished with the most complete success … amounting to a gain of the whole world. But in this very moment, the master of this magnificent domain finds himself condemned to perish! What gain to draw in a lottery a gallery of pictures … and at the same time to become blind! “O flesh,” writes Luther, “how mighty art thou, that thou canst still throw darkness over those things, even to the minds of the holy!” Here follows the punishment in the world to come. It consists in the Judge’s solemn award to the man who has succeeded in saving his life in this world. The award is, “Depart from me: I know you not.” Of such a selfish soul, who here has loved his own ease, and has declined all self-sacrifice, will the Son of man, in the day of his glory, be justly ashamed. His assertion that He will return as Almighty Judge, is very remarkable. In the parallel passage in Matthew it is put even more clearly in Matthew 16:27. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” The lesson was very clear. His own might surely be content. Only let them be patient. In the poor rejected Rabbi now before them, they were looking really on the awful form of the Almighty Judge of quick and dead. St. Luke Vol. I. 1909
The Lord certainly gives us a lot to think about doesn't He? But then He was always upfront about the cost of being a Christian. The problem is that today, we don't hear much about it. Maybe that's partly why so many people are walking around unchanged and without the power of God in their lives.
!!
