28  A Portrait of True Discipleship   (Luke 9:23–26)

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (9:23–26)

This brief passage is a diamond of truth, clear and brilliant, and it contains the heart of Jesus’ invitation to sinners contemplating becoming one of His disciples. In His own words the Lord laid out what it means to be a genuine believer in Him; to be included in His salvation kingdom. It consequently reveals truth that is unsurpassed in importance.

What is most striking about the Lord’s call to discipleship is that it demands radical self-denial, perhaps to the point of dying, while also living in complete obedience to His commands. That puts the true gospel, preached by Jesus, in sharp contrast with the contemporary pseudogospel of self-fulfillment popularly proclaimed and received by many who identify themselves as Christians. Such false teachers in effect viewthe Lord as little more than a utilitarian genie, who grants people whatever they wish. Some claim that Jesus wants people healthy and rich, and if they are not, it is because they have failed to claim their blessings. Others maintain that God’s primary goal is to make people feel better about themselves by elevating their self-image (as if sinners had humility issues and needed more self-love) and eliminating their negative thinking. Some have even called for a “new reformation,” abandoning biblical, God-centered theology in favor of an unabashedly man-centered theology of self-esteem. This “seeker-friendly” approach came along to replace the biblical gospel of salvation from sin with a set of psychological props to elevate people to fulfillment and higher life purpose. This quasi-Christian narcissism unabashedly promotes self-love, which characterizes the false teachers who preach it (2 Tim. 3:2) and focuses, as they do, on their satisfaction instead of God’s glory.

A prayer from the pen of a godly saint of the past reveals the difference between today’s man-centered false gospel and the attitude consistent with true saving faith:

This is not an obscure passage that differs from Christ’s normal teaching. Our Lord’s teaching on the occasion of this passage is also recorded by Matthew (16:24–27 and Mark (8:34–38). The principles it contains are the same ones He repeatedly taught and modeled throughout His ministry. And since Jesus was the prototypical divine evangelist, He has given believers the pattern of how to evangelize. In Matthew 10:34–36 Jesus cautioned,

Believing in Him may actually make one’s situation on earth worse. But instead of promising that their circumstances would improve, Jesus insisted that His followers be willing to pay whatever price is necessary for following Him:

The supreme goal for believers is not the development of their self-confidence by the betterment of their life perspective and situation, but following Christ no matter how severe the consequences.

Jesus encountered an important, wealthy young man eagerly seeking the answer to the crucial question of how to be saved. Mark records that he “ran up to [Jesus] and knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’“ (Mark 10:17). Here was a seemingly sure-fire prospect. He had a felt need for salvation, went to the right person, and asked the right question. Yet in a manner that would have caused Him to fail any modern seeker-friendly course in evangelism, Jesus seemingly let him slip away In fact, the Lord intentionally set the standard for eternal life far above what this tragic young man was willing to pay: “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me’” (v.21).Crestfallen, “he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property” (v. 22). He wanted Jesus on his terms, with his wealth intact. He had no interest in self-denying sacrifice.

Three incidents at the end of Luke 9 further reinforce the principle that following Jesus demands a willingness to give up everything if He asks. When a would-be disciple said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go” (Luke 9:57), Christ replied, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (v. 58); in other words, following Him could be a homeless experience. More to the point, following Him promised nothing in this world. Jesus was not building an earthly kingdom of comfort and prosperity.

When Jesus challenged another man to follow Him, he replied, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father” (v.59). The implication isthat the man’s father had not yet died, and he wanted to delay following the Lord until he received his inheritance. But Jesus replied, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God” (v.60).Again, this would-be disciple wanted to wait until his father had died so he could receive his inheritance. He would follow Jesus when he had all the earthly treasure coming to him.

Finally “another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home’“ (v 61). Here was the same issue again. The man wanted to go home to negotiate some support from his family Jesus and earthly possessions were his requirement. Jesus’ reply “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (v. 62) confronted him with the true call to discipleship—let everything go and follow Me. Christ would later emphasize that a clean break with family may be required, since they are unbelievers. He said, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Those who would be His followers must be desperate enough to be delivered from sin and hungry and thirsty enough to pursue righteousness radically.

The Lord’s teaching in this brief but potent invitation may be expounded under three headings: the principle of true discipleship, the paradox of true discipleship, and the punishment of false discipleship.

THE PRINCIPLE OF TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (9:23)

The good news Jesus preached is the truth that God offers forgiveness of all sin and the gift of eternal life to those who genuinely follow Him in faith. It calls for the total abandonment of self; as Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

That message is radically different than the “easy-believism” that is rampant in the church today. The Bible speaks of becoming a Christian as difficult. In Matthew 7:13–14 the Lord used the analogy of two gates to depict the choice facing every individual. The first is a wide gate, which is easy to enter. It opens into a broad, easily traversed path. That easy way however, leads to eternal destruction (v. 13). The other gate is small andconstricted, and the path it opens into is narrow and difficult. Yet that difficult way is the only one that leads to eternal life (v. 14).

Later “someone said to Him, ‘Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?’“ (Luke 13:23). Christ’s reply reinforced the point He had made earlier in Matthew 7: “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (v.24). In Matthew 11:12 Jesus again stated the difficulty of entering the kingdom, noting that “from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force” (cf. Luke 16:16), while Peter asked rhetorically “If it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18). “You will seek Me and find Me, “God declared, only “when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). Sinners struggle mightily to come to true self-rejection, hatred of sin, and submission to Christ. And such a struggle ending in salvation is nothing less than energized by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in the sovereign purpose of God.

What makes the narrow gate so difficult to get through is the necessity for self-denial. Rejecting the Lord’s call for him to forsake all and follow Him, the rich young ruler, as noted above, “was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property” (Mark 10:22). Refusing Christ’s call for extreme and absolute commitment to Him, “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore”(John 6:66).

Because of the necessity for self-denial, Jesus challenged His would-be followers to consider what it might cost them to come to Him:

Then He applied the illustrations to His hearers: “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (v. 33). The Lord was not, of course, teaching that salvation comes by impoverishing oneself. The self-denial in view is not merely of material things, but of anything that merits salvation (Rom. 7:18) or is more important to a person than God. His point is that coming to Him involves full submission to His lordship and willingness to abandon whatever He asks for Hispurpose. That is the point of the parables of the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great price in which the treasure and the pearl were only acquired when the man sold everything (Matt. 13:44–46). The sinner is to understand the priceless value of eternal life and eagerly be rid of anything that would be a barrier to that everlasting joy

As noted, the gospel is so contrary to fallen mankind’s self-love, selfishness, and stubborn self-will that no one can come to faith in Christ apart from the convicting and regenerating work of the Spirit. The unregenerate, being dead in their sins, live lives totally controlled by personal desire driven by the lusts of the flesh (Eph. 2:1–3). By nature, they love the darkness of sin and hate the light of the truth (John 3:19–20), and are blinded by Satan so they cannot see that light (2 Cor. 4:4). Only when the Spirit convicts unbelievers of sin (John 16:8–11), draws them to Christ (John 6:44, 65) and gives them life (John 3:3–7) can salvation take place.

Having “summoned the crowd with His disciples” (Mark 8:34), Jesus began giving to them all this important teaching on genuine discipleship. A true commitment to Christ involves self-denial, cross bearing, and obedience.

SELF-DENIAL

he must deny himself, (9:23a)

Arneomai (deny himself) is a strong term, used to describe Peter’s vehement denials that he knew Jesus (Matt. 26:70, 72), reprobates who permanently deny Christ (Luke 12:9; Titus 1:16; 1 John 2:22–23; Jude 4), and John the Baptist’s insistence that he was not the messiah (John 1:20). It can even be translated “disowned,” as it is in reference to Israel’s rejection of Jesus (Acts 3:13–14; cf. 7:35).To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to disown one’s natural, depraved, sinful self. It is to give up all dependence on and confidence in oneself and one’s works to save.

No one had more impressive religious credentials than the apostle Paul. According to his own testimony, he was “circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (Phil. 3:5–6). On trial before Herod, Paul testified that he had “lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion” (Acts 26:5). Looking back on his career before his salvation, Paul wrote, “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions” (Gal. 1:14).

Yet when he met Christ on the road to Damascus, all of the zealous Pharisee’s religious accomplishments became meaningless to him:

Paul exemplified the “poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), who acknowledge themselves to be destitute, impoverished, and spiritually bankrupt. Like the tax collector, they mourn over their sin and cry out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13).

Like Paul, those who came face-to-face with God are overwhelmed with a sense of their own sinfulness. After God rebuked him, Job replied, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6 ESV). Having seen the Angel of the Lord (the preincarnate Christ), Manoah, the father of Samson, exclaimed, “We will surely die, for we have seen God” (Judg. 13:22). When he saw a vision of God’s glory in the temple, Isaiah, shattered by his sinfulness, cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). After He miraculously created an enormous catch of fish for him and his partners, Peter “fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’” (Luke 5:8).

It is against that dark backdrop of sin and helplessness that the magnanimity of God’s forgiving grace is manifested. Psalm 34:18 declares that “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” In his great prayer of contrition and confession David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51:17). “But to this one I will look,” God declared, “to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word”(Isa.66:2; cf.57:15).

The law provides no hope for natural sinners. It was not given as a standard or means by which anyone could achieve salvation (Rom. 3:20, 28; 8:3; Gal. 2:16; 3:11). On the contrary, it was given to show sinfulness, to reveal helplessness, expose man’s inability to gain salvation, and make clear the need for the Savior (Gal. 3:24). The law requires what isnot possible—absolute, perfect obedience (Gal. 3:10; James 2:10) or God is angry vengeful, and will punish the lawbreaker. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus attacked the Pharisaic religion, which was the most fastidious effort to keep the law. His message was designed to destroy their confidence in their superficial, hypocritical efforts at law keeping, and show how evil their hearts were (Matt. 5:17–48).

The realization that they are unable to satisfy the demands of God’s law by their own efforts has always been what drives penitent sinners to the Lord (Isa. 55:6–7). Repentance is at the heart of the gospel message. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32), preached the necessity of repentance (18:13–14; Matt. 4:17; James 4:6–10), and commanded that His followers do the same (Luke 24:47).

The New Testament uses three Greek words to describe repentance. Metanoeō (Matt. 3:2; Matt.4:17; Luke 10:13; 15:7, 10) expresses the mental aspect of repentance. It involves a reversal of one’s thinking; a change of mind by which sinners see themselves as God sees them—fallen, depraved, and helpless to save themselves. Metamelomai (Matt. 21:29, 32) describes the emotional aspect of repentance, the regret and sorrow that a person’s change of mind about themselves produces. Finally, epistrephō (Luke 17:4; 22:32; Acts 3:19; 9:35; 11:21; 2 Cor.3:16) refers to the act of the will in changing one’s direction in life; turning from sin to God (1 Thess. 1:9). Intellectually, repentance entails a recognition of sin’s vileness. Emotionally, it produces an overwhelming sense of sorrow, remorse, and brokenness. Volitionally the result is a change of direction in life away from sin to Christ.

It must be noted that repentance is not a meritorious human work. Sinners who are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1), spiritually blind (Luke 4:18; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4) and trapped in Satan’s domain of darkness (Col. 1:13) cannot repent of their own accord. Repentance comes when the Spirit of God uses the word of God to awaken sinners to their lost condition by convicting them of their sin (John 16:8–11). Acts 11:18 states that “God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” Paul affirmed the divine choice to give such repentance when he instructed Timothy to “with gentleness [correct] those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim.2:25–26).

Sinners, then, are in no position to set the conditions by which they will come to Christ; they take Him on His terms, not theirs. The notable seventeenth-century English Puritan Thomas Watson described what it means to exhibit the self-denial that characterizes the poor in spirit:

The following poem sums up in practical terms what self-denial means for a Christian:

CROSS BEARING

and take up his cross daily (9:23b)

In contemporary jargon one’s cross has come to represent any difficult or unpleasant circumstance, no matter how trivial. Some argue that their job, boss, car, mother-in-law, or wayward teenager is their cross. Others view taking up their cross as identifying in some mystical sense with the crucifixion of Christ. That would not be a notion the followers of Jesus would have entertained, since though He had told them of His death, He had not yet told them He would be crucified. The Lord’s hearers would be under no such illusions. To them, a cross represented only one thing—horrible suffering, pain, and death. Crucifixion was a common method of execution used by the Romans, and it was an all too familiar sight in first-century Palestine. Thus when the Lord declared that anyone who would follow Him had to take up his cross daily they understood perfectly what He meant. In the most graphic terms possible, Jesus was calling for a willingness to endure hatred, hostility, rejection, reproach, persecution, shame, even the most horrible death; to say no to self and no to safety for His sake (cf. 1 Peter 4:16). A sacrifice small when compared to the gift of eternal life.

Paul’s farewell speech to the elders of the church at Ephesus reflected the apostle’s willingness to suffer whatever was required of him for the cause of Christ:

A short while later Paul said to those concerned about his safety if he went to Jerusalem, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). “I die daily,” he told the Corinthians(1 Cor. 15:31), expressing the reality that he lived constantly on the brink of death (cf.Acts 20:19; 2 Cor. 11:22–33).

There is no crown without a cross. Eternal life is so precious that those who truly seek it are willing to give up everything to obtain it if the Lord wills and even suffer with joy (cf. 1 Peter 4:12–19).They can say with Paul, “Momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor.4:17).

OBEDIENCE

and follow Me. (9:23c)

The present tense of the verb translated follow indicates that a continual pattern of obedience characterizes a true disciple of Jesus Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, ‘will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matt. 7:21). In Luke 6:46 He asked the pointed question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Speaking to the apostles in the upper room on the night before His death, Jesus emphasized that genuine saving faith will inevitably manifest itself in obedience:

As is the case with repentance (see the discussion above), self-denial, cross bearing, and obedience are not meritorious pre-salvation works that make a sinner acceptable to God. Nor are they chronological, sequential steps that lead to conversion, but rather the logical components of saving faith. Neither repentance nor saving faith can be produced underhuman power; they are components of the divine work wrought by the Spirit of God.

THE PARADOX OF TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? (9:24–25)

Jesus further elaborated on the principle He had just given by noting paradoxically that whoever wishes to save his life will in fact lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. The only way for lost sinners to be saved from eternal punishment in hell is to experience the abandonment of everything for Christ.

This clear call must have been a regular part of our Lord’s preaching. Later in His ministry, He declared, “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). Earlier, as recorded in Matthew 10:39, He said, “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” John 12:25 states that during Passion Week He repeated this call: “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” Clearly, the message is that those who focus on self-love, self-esteem, and fulfilling all their desires, dreams, and ambitions in this life, even with a superficial interest in Jesus, will lose their eternal soul (cf. Matt. 7:21–23). But those who abandon their self-interests, deny themselves, hate their sinful condition, and give themselves wholly to Jesus Christ will be saved.

An important point to note is that Jesus was not investing all forms of self-denial with any inherent nobility. He was not saying that those who give their lives for social, political, or even religious causes will benefit spiritually from doing so. The self-denial the Lord called for was specifically, He said, for My sake.

Elaborating on His point, Jesus asked the rhetorical question, For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? Expressing the ultimate hyperbole, the Lord said in effect, “Assume for the sake of argument that you could possess the whole world—all that your passions hunger for, your eyes covet, and your pride demands (cf. 1 John 2:16). What would that profit you if you forfeited your eternal soul?”The obvious answer is “nothing.” Nothing in the world is of comparable value to a person’s eternal soul.

THE PUNISHMENT OF FALSE DISCIPLESHIP

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (9:26)

Jesus identifies those who will not repent and believe in Him as those who are ashamed of Him and His words (cf. Matt. 10:32–33).To be ashamed in this context means to reject, despise, and find unacceptable. Such people are proud of what they should be ashamed of; their “glory is in their shame” (Phil. 3:19). God said of sinful, unrepentant Israelites, “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush” (Jer. 6:15). Despite the fact that He manifested the glory of God (John 1:14; Rev. 5:12), sinners reject Jesus (John 1:10–11).The message of the cross is foolish and offensive to those who want to hold on to their sin (1 Cor. 1:18, 23), who love the approval of men rather than the approval of God (John 12:43).

Those who are ashamed of Him will in turn find that the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7–9). Christ’s words here reflect an Old Testament text with which His hearers would have been familiar. Daniel 7:9–10 describes the judgment also recorded in Revelation 20:11–15. Then verses 13 and 14 in Daniel describe the appearance of the Son of Man, who will render judgment (cf. John 5:22, 27) and receive His eternal kingdom. At that time all who were ashamed of Him and rejected Him will be sentenced to eternal hell.

On the other hand, Christians are not ashamed of Christ or His word (Rom. 1:16; Phil. 1:20; 2 Tim. 1:12; 1 Peter 4:16).The promise to those who are ashamed of themselves and their sin, who boast only in the cross (Gal. 6:14; cf. Heb. 12:2), is that God will redeem them and grant them forgiveness and eternal life. The wonderful truth is that Jesus “is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11) and “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb. 11:16).