He and the ego

? Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone wants to come after me, give up on himself, take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24).

Before we develop the topic of this verse, let us comment on its terms. “If any”: the duty that is imposed is for all those who wish to join the disciples of Christ and commit thee under his banner. “If any will”: the Greek is very categorical, which means not only the consent of the will, but the full purpose of the heart, a determined resolution. “Come after me”: as a submissive servant to his master, a disciple to his master, a soldier to his captain. “Reject”: Greek means “to deny completely”. Renounce yourself: your sinful and corrupt nature. “And take”: do not suffer or passively support, but assume voluntarily, actively adopt. “Your cross”: who is despised by the world, hated by the flesh, but is the mark of a true Christian. ?And follow me?: Live as Christ lived? For the glory of God.

• The immediate context is more solemn and impressive.
• The Lord Jesus had just announced to his apostles.
• For the first time.
• The proximity of his death of humiliation (v.
• 21).
• Peter was afraid and said.
• “Lord.
• Have compassion on you?”(V.
• 22).
• This expressed the politics of the carnal mind.
• The way of the world is the pursuit of yourself and self-defense.
• “Have mercy on yourself? That’s the sum of his philosophy.
• But the doctrine of Christ is not “save yourself.
• ” but sacrifice yourself.
• Christ discerned in Satan’s counsel a temptation from Satan (v.
• 23) and immediately rejected it.
• Then.
• Turning to Peter.
• He said.
• Not only does Christ ascend to Jerusalem and die.
• But whoever wants to be his disciple must take his cross (v.
• 24).
• The best is as imperative in one case as it is in the other.
• Mediatorially.
• The cross of Christ is left alone.
• But experimentally it is shared by all who enter life.

What is a “Christian”? Someone who supports membership in an earthly church? No. Someone who believes in an orthodox creed? No. Someone who adopts a certain behavior? No. What then is a Christian? He is someone who surrendered and received Jesus Christ as Lord (Colossians 2: 6). He is someone who takes on himself the yoke of Christ and learns from him who is “meek and humble of heart. ” Is this someone who has been called into communion with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord? (1 Corinthians 1: 9): fellowship in obedience and suffering now, in reward and glory in an endless future. Belonging to Christ and life to please yourself does not exist. Make no mistake, “and whoever does not take up his cross and come after me, cannot he be my disciple? (Luke 14:27), Christ said. And again he declared: “But he (instead of denying himself) that denies me before men (right? For men: it is driving, walking, what is here in view), I will also deny it Before my Father, who is in heaven? (Matthew 10:33).

The Christian life begins with an act of self-denial and continues with mortification (Romans 8:13). The first question of Saul of Tarsus, when Christ seized him, was: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” life is compared to a ‘race’, and the runner is called to ‘let go of all the shame and sin that stalks us so closely’ (Hebrews 12: 1), to whom? Sin is self-love, desire, and determination to do what we want (Isaiah 53: 6). Are the great purpose, the end, and the task of following Christ before the Christian? Follow the example He left us (1 Peter 2:21), and did not please himself? (Romans 15: 3). And there are difficulties along the way, obstacles along the way, the main one is the ego, that is why it must be “denied”. Is this the first step to take? Christ.

What does it mean for a man to deny himself? First, it means the total repudiation of one’s goodness, this means to stop trusting in one of our works, recommending ourselves to God, does this mean an unconditional acceptance of God’s verdict that all our righteousness [our best performances] is like dirty rags?? (Isaiah 64:6). It was at this point that Israel failed: “For, not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, did they not submit to the righteousness of God?(Romans 10: 3). Now, contrary to Paul’s statement: “And to be found in Him, is he not pleased?”(Philippians 3:9).

For a man to give up on himself altogether, he must completely renounce his own wisdom. Can no one enter the kingdom of heaven if he has not become a child?(Matthew 18:3) “To the best of the wise in their own eyes and careful in their own conception!”(Isaiah 5:21). By saying they were wise, did they go crazy?(Romans 1:22). When the Holy Ghost powerfully applies the gospel to a soul, is it to destroy the counsel and all the pride that rises against the knowledge of God and to captivate all intelligence in Christ’s obedience?(2 Corinthians 10: 5). A wise motorcycle that every Christian can adopt is Don’t trust his own understanding?(Proverbs 3:5).

For a man to give up on himself altogether, he must completely renounce his own strength. Don’t you trust the meat? (Philippians 3: 3). It is the heart that bows to Christ’s positive affirmation: “Without me, can’t you do anything?”(John 15:5). It was at this point that Peter failed: (Matthew 26:33). Pride precedes ruin and pride The mind precedes the fall?(Proverbs 16:18). So how much is it necessary for us to pay attention to 1 Corinthians 10:12:?So whoever thinks he’s standing, sees he doesn’t fall?The secret of spiritual strength lies in the recognition of our personal weakness: (see Isaiah 40:29; 2 Chronicles 12:9). So let us be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus?(2 Timothy 2: 1).

For a man to give up on himself altogether, he must completely renounce his own will. The language of the open is: “Don’t we want this man to rule us?(Luke 19:14). The attitude of the Christian is: “For I, live is Christ?(Philippians 1:21)? To honor him, to please him, to serve him to renounce his own will means to respond to Philippians’ exhortation 2:5, “Be in you the same feeling that was also in Jesus Christ,” which is defined in the verses that immediately follows as self-denial. Is it practical recognition that you’re not yourself, because you were bought at a good price?(1 Corinthians 6: 19. 20). Is that to say with Christ, “Be not what I want, but what do you want?”(Mark 14:36).

For a man to renounce himself altogether, he must completely renounce his carnal desires or yearnings. “Is man’s ego a bunch of idols?(Thomas Manton, Puritan), and these idols must be repudiated. (2 Timothy 3: 1); but he who has been regenerated by the Spirit says to Job, “Am I vile here?”(40: 4), Do I hate myself? (42:6) is written: “Everyone seeks what belongs to them and not what Christ Jesus is?(Philippians 2:21); but of the saints of God, it is recorded: “Didn’t they love your life to death?”(Revelation 12:11)Does God’s grace teach us that, by renounting the wickedness and lusts of the world, we live this present century with sobriety, precision, and mercy?(Titus 2:12).

This self-denial that Christ demands of all his disciples must be universal. There are no reservations, no exceptions are made :?Do you have anything available for meat as far as its concupiscences are concerned?(Romans 13:14). Must be constant, not casual 😕 If anyone wants to come after me, they refuse, day after day, to take your cross and follow me?(Luke 9:23). It must be spontaneous, un forced, carried out with satisfaction, not reluctantly: “Everything you do, do it with all your heart, as for the Lord and not for men. How this condemns the complacent, pleasurable and worldly life of so many people who profess (but in vain) who are “Christians”!

“And take your cross. ” This does not refer to the cross as an object of faith, but as an experience in the soul. The legal benefits of Calvary are received by believing, when the guilt of sin is nullified, but the experimental virtues of the Cross of Christ are appreciated . Only when we are, in a practical way, consistent with his death? (Philippians 3:10). It is only when we really apply the cross to our daily life, that we regulate our conduct by its principles, that it becomes effective over the power of sin that dwells in us. There can be no resurrection where there is no death, and there is no resurrection. Can’t there be a practical walk? In the newness of life? until we bring the death of the Lord Jesus into our bodies? (2 Corinthians 4:10). The Cross is the sign, the proof of Christian discipleship. It is his “cross”, not his creed, that distinguishes a true disciple of Christ from the religious of the world.

Now in the New Testament, does the cross have a sense of definite realities. First, express the hatred of the world. The Son of God did not come here to judge, but to save; not to punish, but to redeem. He came here “full of grace and truth”. He was always available to others: to care for those in need, to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to free the devils, to resurrect the dead. He was full of compassion: meek as a lamb; completely sinless. He brought with him good news of great joy. He sought out the lost, preached to the poor, but did not disate the rich; He forgave sinners. And how was it received?Do you despise him and reject him? (Isaiah 53:3). He said, “Do you hate me without a cause?(John 15:25). They were thirsty for his blood. No ordinary death would appease them. They demanded that he be crucified. Therefore, the cross was the manifestation of the world’s hatred for the Christ of God.

The world has not changed, nor can the Ethiopian change its skin or the leopard its spots. The world and Christ are always in open opposition. Therefore, it is written: “Anyone who wants to be friends with the world is an enemy of God?(James 4: 4). It is impossible to walk with Christ and have fellowship with him until we have separated ourselves from the world. Walking with Christ necessarily implies sharing his humiliation: “So let us go out into the camp, accepting his oprobrium?(Hebrews 13:13). This is what Moses did (see Hebrews 11:24-26). The closer I get to Christ, the more misunderstood I will be (1 John 3:2), ridiculed (Job 12:4) and hated by the world (John 15:19) Make no mistake: it is extremely impossible to continue with the world and have fellowship with the Holy Christ, why?Take? Ma? Cross?Does this mean that I deliberately invite the enmity of the world by refusing to be “coherent”?(Romans 12:2). But what does the bleak gaze of the world matter if I appreciate the Savior’s smiles?

Take my cross it means a life voluntarily given to God. Like the act of wicked men, the death of Christ was murder; but like the very act of Christ, it was a voluntary sacrifice, offering himself to God. It was also an act of obedience to God. In John 10:18 he said, “No one takes my life; On the contrary, do I give it spontaneously? ¿and why he did it? His next words tell us: “This command that I received from my Father. ” The cross was the supreme demonstration of Christ’s obedience. In this he was our example. Once again we quote Philippians 2: 5: “Let the same sentiment be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. ” And in the following verses, we see the Beloved of the Father take the form of a Servant and become “obedient unto death and death on the cross. ” Now, should the obedience of Christ be the obedience of the Christian? voluntary, cheerful, unreserved, continuous. If this obedience implies shame and suffering, accusation and loss, we should not be intimidated, but by our face, like a pebble? (Isaiah 50: 7). The cross is more than the object of the Christian’s faith, it is the sign of discipleship, the principle by which his life should be regulated. The cross? means abandonment and surrender to God: “Therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God, I ask you to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, who is your rational worship? (Romans 12: 1).

The Cross, does that mean vicar service and suffering. Christ gave his life for others, and his disciples are called to be willing to do the same: “Should we give our lives for our brethren?(1 John 3:16). This is the inevitable logic of Calvary. (Philippians 2:7), that is what we should do, how it came to serve and not to be (Matthew 20:28), that is what we should be. So how did he not please himself? (Romans 15:3), so we must do it. Just as he remembered others, we should remember, “Remember the prisoners, as if they were related to them; of those who are mistreated, as if, in truth, you were being mistreated yourself (Hebrews 13:3).

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for me will find it?(Matthew 16:25). Words almost identical to these can be found in Matthew 10:39. Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24; 17:33, John 12:25 Certainly, such a repetition shows the profound importance of noticing and paying attention to this word of Christ. He died so that we could live (John 12:24), and we must do so (John 12:25) Like Paul, should we be able to say, I have nothing in my life so precious?(Acts 20:24). Life? That you live for ego satisfaction in this world, are you?Lost?for eternity; Will life, which is sacrificed for its own interest and abandoned to Christ, be “found” again and preserved for eternity?

A young graduate student with brilliant prospects responded to Christ’s call for a life of service to Him in India, among the lowest caste of the natives. His friends exclaimed, “What a tragedy! Yes, “lost” so far. as far as this world is concerned, but? Found?back in the world to come!