"If Any Man Will Come After Me..."

Luke 9:23-25

  1. ... If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
  2. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
  3. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Commentary

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." What does it mean to deny oneself and take up the cross? Self-denial, as used in this verse, means more than simply giving up worldly pleasures; it means utterly disowning and rejecting our natural man. The cross, though often used as a figure of earthly trials, meant just one thing to the original hearers of this statement – an instrument of execution. In other words, to follow Jesus we must die – and dead people, by definition, have no ambitions, no goals, no pride, and no rights.

To the flesh this seems a great sacrifice, but Jesus goes on to show us that it is really no sacrifice at all: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." Our lives are going to be lost anyway – to the consequences of our choices, and finally to death itself. By trying to hang onto what is "ours," we can only delay the inevitable. What Jesus offers us is not a painful duty to lose our lives, but a glorious opportunity to save them! When we choose death and burial with Christ, we are also included in his resurrection (2 Tim. 2:11) – not just to eternal life, but also to a new life here and now (Rom. 6:4). The joy and peace we receive so far exceeds what we must surrender that there is no comparison.


All Scripture references from KJV. Commentary ©2011 Hitchcock Family Ministry. Unaltered text may be reproduced freely without financial gain. Original commentary and Scripture song available at http://www.freescripturesongs.org/if-any-man-will-come-after-me.