Deny Yourself

Jesus was clear. "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." (Luke 9:23) Not ambiguous at all. But ... what did He mean?

The monks thought He meant "Deny yourself any pleasures, possessions, comforts, whatever you may want." That doesn't quite work out, though. Do you know why?

Jesus went on to say,

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:24-27)

Do you see the problem? If "Deny yourself" is meant to convey, "Don't give yourself any pleasures, possessions, comforts, or joy," then why is Jesus telling them to avoid doing things that will lose them things and to do things that will gain them things? If "Deny yourself" means that you should lose your life, in essence, then Jesus's first sentence would have the opposite meaning. "Whoever would save his life will lose it" would mean, "Do that" because, after all, we're denying ourselves.

No, that notion is mistaken. Over and over we are told to make choices to our benefit and to avoid choices to our disadvantage. It's just that those choices to our benefit or disadvantage are not the natural choices of everyday people. The clear fact is that Jesus intended that we would have benefit. There are lots of rewards in Scripture which, if the aim was to deny ourselves any benefit, would be contradictory.

So, if "Deny yourself" does not mean "Don't look for any good for yourself," what does it mean? Paul carries the thought forward in Romans.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Rom 8:12-13)

He contrasts living by the Spirit and living according to the flesh. If by the Spirit, "You are putting to death the deeds of the body." And what are those deeds?

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)

What is in view, then, is not to deny self everything, but to set aside old desires and pleasures and replace them with God. It isn't "nothing"; it is "something else entirely."

In Philippians 3 Paul details his reasons "for confidence in the flesh" -- the things that are in his favor (Phil 3:3-6). He has righteousness under the law, birthright, a "Hebrew of Hebrews," knows the law ("a Pharisee"), zeal ... he is "blameless." These he does not list as "bad". He does not suggest "Get rid of them." What he says is "Whatever gain I had" (referring to all of these as "gain") "I counted as loss for the sake of Christ" (Phil 3:7). Since he lists them as gain, in what sense are they loss? "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil 3:8). That is denying self. It is not that we can't have nice things, whether it is physical comforts or education or possessions or anything at all of this world. It's that nothing of this world compares to "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus." It is placing all that is of this world in a lower category of "gain" -- so as to be "loss" -- in view of the absolute value of a living relationship with Christ.

Not having nice things, then, is not in view in Jesus's "Deny yourself." Not valuing them is. It is, in fact, a complete realignment of what we value. It is a putting to death of "the works of the flesh" in favor of the work of the Spirit. It is classifying what everyone around considers "really, really good" as loss in comparison to knowing Christ. It is death to the fleshly values and a new life in heavenly values. If we are unwilling to do that, dying daily, we are not able to be disciples of Christ.