Matthew 16:24-28 Denying Self
This is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture that invokes a serious response within every believer. But what is it NOT saying? I once knew a minister who believed that the true Christian service in “come after Him” was meant to include suffering. That one could never be a true disciple unless suffering of some kind was involved.
This is not a new teaching, it's actually very old. The idea that our own suffering in life gives us extra consideration before God is called gnosticism. This was one of the earliest forms of false teaching that existed. It led to two main problems reflecting a different aspect of that teaching.
First, the idea was that since Jesus was Spirit, that everything done by Him in the flesh required suffering as anything ‘physical’ was considered sin. This form of teaching led to monasteries teaching believers to whip themselves bloody for having sinful thoughts, again, that their suffering was adding to their salvation.
Second, on the other end of this scale of false teaching that taught that since the ‘physical’ is evil and the spirit is good, that nothing done by a believer that is ‘physical’ counts toward salvation so all sinful acts were permissible which is so far from true biblical doctrine it isn't even questionable.
So what does it mean? He's not talking to the casual believer, Jesus is speaking to a believer who wants to make a difference for His kingdom. Not the hangers-on who don't want to make waves, these words are for those who take their discipleship seriously.
What does it mean to deny self? No Jesus is not saying He's looking for a marauding band of miserable followers to sourpuss their way across the world in Jesus name. Denying of self and taking up one's cross only has one connotation that makes sense. The person who desires to follow Jesus must be wholly willing to die for Him.
We must as Christians be willing to offer ourselves fully including giving our own lives before we ever choose to follow Jesus. The willingness to lay it all down, our lives, our finances and desires to surrender all that in His name is foundational to our walk with Jesus.
The next verse tells us that if we seek to save our own lives rather than to live for Him calls to mind a situation many of us don't consider as being a part of our first world life. The idea of facing execution for becoming Christian doesn't even enter our thoughts and yet it is a very real possibility in many third world nations. Many new believers face the very real possibility of being hunted and executed in majority Muslim or Hindu countries. And that may be a decision none of us will ever face.
Perhaps though, our decision to follow Jesus costs us our job, our friend group, or our entire career. It costs the OnlyFans model her entire network of support and her income. It costs the bar owner who decides to give up a trade in alcohol and drunkenness, the former cultist who learns the truth may lose their family when they leave catholicism, mormonism or other religion when they were highly ranked within their organization.
And Jesus permanently links our eternal salvation with our own willingness to give up everything we hold dear for His sake. He asks, What good is it to own everything only to have it stripped from you at death? Michael Jackson had millions, a mansion or two, a theme park and he gave it all up for a ‘high’. What does Michael have now? There is absolutely nothing anyone can own that would equate to an eternal relationship with Jesus.
Why is this important? Because as Jesus says in the next verse, He's coming back to repay every person according to his deeds. So that judgment is not ours to face but is reserved for all who rejected the Gospel. At the final judgment, the lost will receive the penalty for their own sin.
The last verse in this passage gives us something to think about.
Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Some have taken this to mean that there is a chance that there is a living Apostle now, some claim this for John as another passage seems to suggest its possible. Personally, I do not believe this explanation. Verse 28 here is not discussing the Second Coming. If it were, then every other prediction of Christ's first coming would be counter intuitive.
So when did anyone standing there see Jesus coming in His kingdom? There is a very public event on its way and some standing there will witness it. That means this isn't an event in our future, but in theirs.
The problem occurs when modern interpreters equate Jesus teachings about the Kingdom with His teaching on the Second Coming and it is not the same thing. Remember that Daniel predicted that the Kingdom of God would survive the total destruction of the Roman empire, and would continue to grow over the face of the earth.
That means the Kingdom of God must have appeared before the fall of Rome. So this Kingdom that would come would be with power that the gates of Hell will not survive. Jesus is talking about the Church being the Kingdom of God.
It came in Acts 2 and was witnessed by all. Tongues of fire rested on their heads, and what they spoke was understood by all as the miraculous Tongues allowed foreign believers to understand the words spoken because they heard the words in their own language while the apostles were speaking Hebrew.
So the question to ask ourselves is this, are we willing to lay down our lives, our future or our families to follow Him? What are we holding on to that negatively affects our walk with Jesus? A relationship? A career? A habit? Lay it down, take up your cross and follow Him.
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [26] For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. [28] “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
This is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture that invokes a serious response within every believer. But what is it NOT saying? I once knew a minister who believed that the true Christian service in “come after Him” was meant to include suffering. That one could never be a true disciple unless suffering of some kind was involved.
This is not a new teaching, it's actually very old. The idea that our own suffering in life gives us extra consideration before God is called gnosticism. This was one of the earliest forms of false teaching that existed. It led to two main problems reflecting a different aspect of that teaching.
First, the idea was that since Jesus was Spirit, that everything done by Him in the flesh required suffering as anything ‘physical’ was considered sin. This form of teaching led to monasteries teaching believers to whip themselves bloody for having sinful thoughts, again, that their suffering was adding to their salvation.
Second, on the other end of this scale of false teaching that taught that since the ‘physical’ is evil and the spirit is good, that nothing done by a believer that is ‘physical’ counts toward salvation so all sinful acts were permissible which is so far from true biblical doctrine it isn't even questionable.
So what does it mean? He's not talking to the casual believer, Jesus is speaking to a believer who wants to make a difference for His kingdom. Not the hangers-on who don't want to make waves, these words are for those who take their discipleship seriously.
What does it mean to deny self? No Jesus is not saying He's looking for a marauding band of miserable followers to sourpuss their way across the world in Jesus name. Denying of self and taking up one's cross only has one connotation that makes sense. The person who desires to follow Jesus must be wholly willing to die for Him.
We must as Christians be willing to offer ourselves fully including giving our own lives before we ever choose to follow Jesus. The willingness to lay it all down, our lives, our finances and desires to surrender all that in His name is foundational to our walk with Jesus.
The next verse tells us that if we seek to save our own lives rather than to live for Him calls to mind a situation many of us don't consider as being a part of our first world life. The idea of facing execution for becoming Christian doesn't even enter our thoughts and yet it is a very real possibility in many third world nations. Many new believers face the very real possibility of being hunted and executed in majority Muslim or Hindu countries. And that may be a decision none of us will ever face.
Perhaps though, our decision to follow Jesus costs us our job, our friend group, or our entire career. It costs the OnlyFans model her entire network of support and her income. It costs the bar owner who decides to give up a trade in alcohol and drunkenness, the former cultist who learns the truth may lose their family when they leave catholicism, mormonism or other religion when they were highly ranked within their organization.
And Jesus permanently links our eternal salvation with our own willingness to give up everything we hold dear for His sake. He asks, What good is it to own everything only to have it stripped from you at death? Michael Jackson had millions, a mansion or two, a theme park and he gave it all up for a ‘high’. What does Michael have now? There is absolutely nothing anyone can own that would equate to an eternal relationship with Jesus.
Why is this important? Because as Jesus says in the next verse, He's coming back to repay every person according to his deeds. So that judgment is not ours to face but is reserved for all who rejected the Gospel. At the final judgment, the lost will receive the penalty for their own sin.
The last verse in this passage gives us something to think about.
Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Some have taken this to mean that there is a chance that there is a living Apostle now, some claim this for John as another passage seems to suggest its possible. Personally, I do not believe this explanation. Verse 28 here is not discussing the Second Coming. If it were, then every other prediction of Christ's first coming would be counter intuitive.
So when did anyone standing there see Jesus coming in His kingdom? There is a very public event on its way and some standing there will witness it. That means this isn't an event in our future, but in theirs.
The problem occurs when modern interpreters equate Jesus teachings about the Kingdom with His teaching on the Second Coming and it is not the same thing. Remember that Daniel predicted that the Kingdom of God would survive the total destruction of the Roman empire, and would continue to grow over the face of the earth.
That means the Kingdom of God must have appeared before the fall of Rome. So this Kingdom that would come would be with power that the gates of Hell will not survive. Jesus is talking about the Church being the Kingdom of God.
It came in Acts 2 and was witnessed by all. Tongues of fire rested on their heads, and what they spoke was understood by all as the miraculous Tongues allowed foreign believers to understand the words spoken because they heard the words in their own language while the apostles were speaking Hebrew.
So the question to ask ourselves is this, are we willing to lay down our lives, our future or our families to follow Him? What are we holding on to that negatively affects our walk with Jesus? A relationship? A career? A habit? Lay it down, take up your cross and follow Him.
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [26] For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. [28] “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Matthew 16:24-28 Denying Self
This is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture that invokes a serious response within every believer. But what is it NOT saying? I once knew a minister who believed that the true Christian service in “come after Him” was meant to include suffering. That one could never be a true disciple unless suffering of some kind was involved.
This is not a new teaching, it's actually very old. The idea that our own suffering in life gives us extra consideration before God is called gnosticism. This was one of the earliest forms of false teaching that existed. It led to two main problems reflecting a different aspect of that teaching.
First, the idea was that since Jesus was Spirit, that everything done by Him in the flesh required suffering as anything ‘physical’ was considered sin. This form of teaching led to monasteries teaching believers to whip themselves bloody for having sinful thoughts, again, that their suffering was adding to their salvation.
Second, on the other end of this scale of false teaching that taught that since the ‘physical’ is evil and the spirit is good, that nothing done by a believer that is ‘physical’ counts toward salvation so all sinful acts were permissible which is so far from true biblical doctrine it isn't even questionable.
So what does it mean? He's not talking to the casual believer, Jesus is speaking to a believer who wants to make a difference for His kingdom. Not the hangers-on who don't want to make waves, these words are for those who take their discipleship seriously.
What does it mean to deny self? No Jesus is not saying He's looking for a marauding band of miserable followers to sourpuss their way across the world in Jesus name. Denying of self and taking up one's cross only has one connotation that makes sense. The person who desires to follow Jesus must be wholly willing to die for Him.
We must as Christians be willing to offer ourselves fully including giving our own lives before we ever choose to follow Jesus. The willingness to lay it all down, our lives, our finances and desires to surrender all that in His name is foundational to our walk with Jesus.
The next verse tells us that if we seek to save our own lives rather than to live for Him calls to mind a situation many of us don't consider as being a part of our first world life. The idea of facing execution for becoming Christian doesn't even enter our thoughts and yet it is a very real possibility in many third world nations. Many new believers face the very real possibility of being hunted and executed in majority Muslim or Hindu countries. And that may be a decision none of us will ever face.
Perhaps though, our decision to follow Jesus costs us our job, our friend group, or our entire career. It costs the OnlyFans model her entire network of support and her income. It costs the bar owner who decides to give up a trade in alcohol and drunkenness, the former cultist who learns the truth may lose their family when they leave catholicism, mormonism or other religion when they were highly ranked within their organization.
And Jesus permanently links our eternal salvation with our own willingness to give up everything we hold dear for His sake. He asks, What good is it to own everything only to have it stripped from you at death? Michael Jackson had millions, a mansion or two, a theme park and he gave it all up for a ‘high’. What does Michael have now? There is absolutely nothing anyone can own that would equate to an eternal relationship with Jesus.
Why is this important? Because as Jesus says in the next verse, He's coming back to repay every person according to his deeds. So that judgment is not ours to face but is reserved for all who rejected the Gospel. At the final judgment, the lost will receive the penalty for their own sin.
The last verse in this passage gives us something to think about.
Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Some have taken this to mean that there is a chance that there is a living Apostle now, some claim this for John as another passage seems to suggest its possible. Personally, I do not believe this explanation. Verse 28 here is not discussing the Second Coming. If it were, then every other prediction of Christ's first coming would be counter intuitive.
So when did anyone standing there see Jesus coming in His kingdom? There is a very public event on its way and some standing there will witness it. That means this isn't an event in our future, but in theirs.
The problem occurs when modern interpreters equate Jesus teachings about the Kingdom with His teaching on the Second Coming and it is not the same thing. Remember that Daniel predicted that the Kingdom of God would survive the total destruction of the Roman empire, and would continue to grow over the face of the earth.
That means the Kingdom of God must have appeared before the fall of Rome. So this Kingdom that would come would be with power that the gates of Hell will not survive. Jesus is talking about the Church being the Kingdom of God.
It came in Acts 2 and was witnessed by all. Tongues of fire rested on their heads, and what they spoke was understood by all as the miraculous Tongues allowed foreign believers to understand the words spoken because they heard the words in their own language while the apostles were speaking Hebrew.
So the question to ask ourselves is this, are we willing to lay down our lives, our future or our families to follow Him? What are we holding on to that negatively affects our walk with Jesus? A relationship? A career? A habit? Lay it down, take up your cross and follow Him.
[24] Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [26] For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. [28] “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
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