Deny Yourself

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”    -Luke 9:23 (ESV)

We talk a lot about believing in Jesus but don’t say all that much about denying ourselves.   How do you deny yourself in a culture that says it’s all about yourself?

In Matthew 19 Jesus meets the Rich Young Ruler.  “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  (vs.16)

Jesus eventually tells him what he needs to do…

“…sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me.”  Luke 19:20

This man can follow the path that leads to materialism or he can follow Jesus; but he can’t do both!

What is the crossroad you are at?  What decision do you need to make whether to follow Jesus or not?   You can’t follow Jesus without walking away from a different path.

Jesus never left open the option for selective commitment.  “I’ll follow Jesus but…”

o   Don’t ask me to forgive the person who hurt me.

o   Don’t ask me to give, my resources are already spoken for.

o   Don’t ask me to save sex for marriage.

o   Don’t ask me to serve, I’m too busy as it is.

They call themselves Christians, but they’ve made some exceptions.  Like the Rich Young Ruler what you are truly committed to is revealed when you refuse to deny self.  He wanted to be close enough to Jesus to have eternal life, but not so close that it required personal sacrifice.

The American Church in large part has been seduced into infusiing the idea of American Capitalism into areas of faith. 

We have a culture of consumers in our churches.  Instead of approaching their faith with a spirit of denial that says, “What can I do for Jesus and His Church?” they have a consumer mentality that says, “What can Jesus & His Church do for me?”

Many congregations have become companies that measure success by the number of customers they have attracted.  And how do we get more customers?  By trying to make the customer feel comfortable, important & happy.

The message of many churches sounds less like “Deny yourself” and more like Burger King’s slogan, “Have it your way.”

So when someone comes in “church shopping” we try and show them what we have to offer.  But it’s not about us, its about Jesus.