Hey everyone! As usual, I pray that all is well and all will be well in your lives.
I hope you have been enjoying and learning from these posts on the fundamentals of a Christian life. Today we will wrap-up the series with one more fundamental thing.
Prayer, fasting and reading the bible are things that I would say are active fundamentals. That is, you seek them out and consciously take the time to do them. There is also one more fundamental thing to talk about, which I would call a passive one, and that is to surrender to Jesus or as commonly said “to die to oneself”.
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
— Matthew 16:24 (NIV)
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
— John 12:24 (NIV)
These two verses from Jesus here are the same.
The former is commonly misused by people to denote some personal suffering or problem going on in their lives: “it’s my cross to bear”, but that is not what that verse means. It is very specific to the universal Christian way of living: denying your will, dying to the flesh, and following Christ, not your unique personal problems. Use Paul’s “thorn in my side” passage (2 Corinthians 12) if you want/need to draw strength for your personal sufferings.
The former, “take up their cross”, is the more shocking way of saying “die to yourself”. Whereas the latter, “kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies”, is a more universally understood way of saying it. Anyone living, has, or will, can understand that plants grow from seeds after they are put into the ground; a cross on the other hand not so much. Keep in mind, that when Jesus said “take up their cross and follow me”, his disciples weren’t fully aware/believed how he would die. A cross/crucifixion represented/was a horrible death at the time; it was not how we see and use the cross today as a glorious thing. So, for Jesus to say this it would have been somewhat unsettling. However, while unsettling, please read both passages in context and you will see the parallels. It is imperative that you one day come to an understanding of what Jesus is saying.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
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 they have done.
— Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV)
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
— John 12:24-26 (NIV)
“OK, so what does this all mean “to die to oneself” and why is it a fundamental?” you ask…
Let’s reread the first verse given one more time. It’s a deep verse and many sermons could be preached off of it.
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. — Matthew 16:24 (NIV)
The goal here is to be Christ’s disciple, and there are three parts to that: denying your will, dying to the flesh, and following Christ. These three are a trinity that must go together: they are the passive fundamental(s). We are focusing on “take up their cross”, aka dying to the flesh, because once you do that the others stop being a struggle and come inherently. But, dying to oneself is not an overnight process, it will take time and most of all Jesus to help you.
So, another thing to keep in mind when Jesus said these things to his disciples, is that they were still pretty carnal minded, and he very much knew that. They were carnal throughout the four gospels (which is why he didn’t have them fast, because it would have been a waste of time, Matthew 9:14-17) and it wasn’t until later, after they became more spiritually minded, that they could die to themselves and become mighty saints of God. You may struggle and fall while trying to be his disciple (be like him); we are human. Just remember that we need His help, and He wants to give it to us! We receive it best when we surrender all to Him.
I might be slightly avoiding answering the question, because “to die to oneself” is something that you must seek out and find on your own, hence take up “your” cross: I’m writing so that you are aware of it passively, as you do the active fundamentals of a Christian life. And, as you do the active fundamentals, pray and ask God to help you better understand this verse and to help you live it. Yes, that wording ended with a slight irony.
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old, in the faith in his name.
With his love and mine,
Chrom