Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Follow me.

Here are my thoughts:

Jesus had just rebuked Peter because of self-interest/self righteousness and a show of the flesh insisting that Christ not suffer the death of the cross.

I believe it is a parabolic statement concerning the mortification/crucifixion of the flesh, related perhaps to:

Galatians 2
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.


HankD

 

To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only Him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. … All that self-denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to Him." "…and take up his cross." … Only when we have become completely oblivious of self are we ready to bear the cross for His sake. If in the end we know only Him, if we have ceased to notice the pain of our own cross, we are indeed looking only unto Him. If Jesus had not so graciously prepared us for this word, we should have found it unbearable.

Source: The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Deny Thyself - Christ needs to be the most important thing in our lives, and we should love Him even more than we love ourselves.

If we let anything else go first in our life, we'll be miserable, and we won't serve God as fully as we should. We won't be blessed as much either.

Take Up Your Cross:
Following Christ is not necessarily easy, and in fact, Christ warned us it would be hard. He warned us the world would hate us, and it does.
His love for us was sacrificial, and our love to Him is sacrificial. My daughter thought she was in love with a wonderful man. From the world's view, the man was almost perfect. Hard worker, not rich, but definately upper-income-bracket, well mannered, very intelligent, extremely well-mannered. She found out that when he said he was a Christian it was because, as a Mormon, he thought he was. She stopped seeing him so she could follow Christ's will. It was, I believe, the hardest thing she has ever done in her life.

Follow Me:
Follow the example He gives us.
Follow the commandments He gives us.
Do the do's.
Don't do the don'ts.
He came to save the lost.
We should teach the lost.

 

Just today I received an email from a friend that opened this thought of what it is to take up the cross.

 

deny yourself. When Jesus went the way of the cross his path did not look like a pretty one to follow. there was nothing of interest to want to follow after. The immediate outlook of the christian walk can sometimes look sorrowful while the wide and easy path of self fulfillment looks tempting and rewarding. We must choose to follow Jesus for our eternal reward for the other path has a temporary reward with a deadly cost. Next we are commanded to take up our cross. this is suffering, shame, humility, pain. the path at the end of the cross is calvary, it seems to be the end but oh what great joys come from the labors and pains of calvary. Jesus died on that hill but we have life through him. Our calvary, our destination that seems to be too hard a road to travel will become our reward of great joy one day.

But it is not enough to just deny yourself and choose the right life, you must give yourself completely to jesus.

throw out the old life, take up his burden, and follow him wherever he leads. the end result is truly unspeakable joy.

 

how can righteousness NOT be through obedience to the law?


John tells us to keep the the Law in order to live a righteous life (1 Jn 3:4-7).


Paul tells us to forsake sin in order to live a righteous life----one that is right with God (1 Cor. 15:34).


Paul is quite clear what he means by not sinning:


Rom
7:7
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."


We are the servants of RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 6:13-18)---which means we keep God's Ten Commandments (Rom 7:7).


so how can righteousness NOT be through obedience to the law?

 

so how can righteousness NOT be through obedience to the law?
-------------
Because no man keeps the law. Ergo, righteousness comes via Christ.