Let Him Deny Himself

Simon had just ascended the pinnaciel of faith. He made the first recorded confession of the Christ. After asking what other people thought of Him, the Lorrd directly addressed His apostles, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) With his characteristic boldness, Simon plainly confessed for all the apostles, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

The Lord pronounced him blessed and bestowed upon him the honor of changing His name to “Rock” (Peter) (Matthew 16:17-18). Simon Peter had reached the spiritual pinnacle of faith.

It’s easy to fall from a pinnacle, and the fall can be deadly.

The Master then forbade His disciples to tell anyone He was the Christ (verse 20) and revealed what He faced before He could receive His kingdom.

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Matthew 16:21)

Simon, like the other apostles, completely failed to understand the divine plan and actually had the temerity to take the Lord aside and rebuke Him for His prophecy (verse 22).

Jesus turned, perhaps turned His back to Simon Peter, and sternly commanded, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (verse 23, ESV). Peter was acting in the role of Satan to turn Christ away from His necessary sacrifice for our sins. Simon had fallen from the pinnacle to the pit.

Then the Master declared the essential principles of discipleship.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

The Lord Himself is our ultimate example of self denial. The apostle Paul exhorted the Philippians to have the mind of Christ, the mind of humility. To both explain and illustrate his lesson, the inspired apostle revealed how Jesus became a man.

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB).

The Master gave up all for me. He left the glory, joy, beauty, and honor of a heavenly existence as God to become a man, even a servant. “He humbled Himself.” That humility extended to the point that He was obedient, obedient to the point of death, “even the death of the cross,” that is, the most shameful death of all (cf. Galatians 3:13).

He is our ultimate example of humble, self-denial. He voluntarily gave up the glory of a divine form to come as a man, a servant, the suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). He went to the cross and suffered, bled, and died for us. He gave up all the glory so we could be glorified with Him.

Paul followed the Master by giving up everything dear to him as a Jew in order to serve Christ (Philippians 3:3-11).

To be the disciple of Jesus, I must follow His example and deny myself (Matthew 16:24). I must forsake all that I have (Luke 14:33) and put Christ ahead of all else in my life (Galatians 2:20).

The one who puts Jesus first will hate his own family (Luke 14:26). Does this mean I must despise and turn against my loved ones? If this is what the Master demands, then, I must confess, I am unable to pay the price. Not even Jesus hated His own mother. Rather, He demonstrated the greatest love of a son for a mother, when, even in the midst of the indescribable suffering of the cross, He lovingly made provision for her care after His death (John 19:25-27).

The word “hate” in the Scriptures commonly means simply “to love less” (cf. Matthew 6:24). The Lord demands that we love our own families less than we love Him (Matthew 10:34-37). Even though my family might turn against me because of my faith, I must follow on to truly be the Lord’s disciple. I must not defend the sins my loved ones commit.

To be Jesus’ disciple, I must put the Lord ahead of riches. In Mark 10:17-27, Jesus told of a young man who lacked just one thing to be pleasing to God – he put his riches ahead of Christ (verses 21-22). The Master observed the extreme difficulty for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (verses 23-27). I must faithfully follow Christ, even if it is damaging to my job and wealth.

To be a faithful disciple of Christ, I am directed to put Him ahead of worldly pleasures (2 Timothy 3:4). I must be willing to give my life for Him if necessary, rather than reject my faith (Matthew 16:25-27).

I must willingly forsake all the sins that stain my soul (Romans 6:6; Galatians 5:24). I must truly put the Lord ahead of all else.

The cost of discipleship is indeed high! Does the return justify the investment? The apostles left everything to follow Jesus (Mark 10:28). Jesus promised them that, for every sacrifice they made, they would be rewarded “a hundredfold now in this time, … with persecutions–and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). The fellowship with those of like precious faith, the sharing we have with one another of both spiritual and physical blessings, the promise of life everlasting – what a wonderful reward! Will you not determine to pay the cost of discipleship?

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January 2026 | GROW magazine
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