The Call of Christ to deny, take up, and follow

One of my personal struggles is second guessing myself. Once I’ve made decisions, especially big ones like moving to another state, taking another job, whatever it may be, there is always that transition stage when I question whether I made the “right” decision or not. Perhaps you could call it a form of buyer’s remorse.  For me, most of my second guessing comes from the fear of the unknown, going from the familiar to the unfamiliar, and of not knowing the future. One of the issues I have struggled with in my personal life as a follower of Christ is knowing whether I’ve been called, and by called, I mean called by Christ to take on a certain task or perform some function. It is a struggle for me to get bogged down in doubt, procrastination and second-guessing to the point that I become like one of the “double-minded” people James refers to in his epistle who are like a wave on the sea being tossed about by the wind. I do know that I am saved by grace through faith. I also know that faith is living and active in my life and will produce the fruit of righteousness. Even so, I have still struggled with this idea of whether Christ is calling me or if I am simply pursuing my own selfish ends. But there really is no need for me, or anyone else, to struggle with this.

During my prayer time one morning, my reading material focused on Luke 9:23, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’” As I read and meditated over the verse, the thought suddenly occurred to me. There is no reason at all to ever doubt whether Christ has called me. He basically offered an open invitation to anyone who had a desire to follow Him to do so. I believe this is one of the biggest challenges to my personal growth and development as a follower of Christ, to understand that Christ saved me, not just to go to heaven when I die, but to be His bondservant here and now, in service to His church and the world around me. My focus was on myself, on my past, on other people, or my circumstances. I needed to get my focus right by doing as He explained in this verse. There is no reason for me to continually question and second-guess whether Christ called me to carry out some specific task or function. I needed to focus on Him, on following Him, and doing the work that has been prepared for me to do. (Ephesians 2:10) Once I did that, serving Christ as His bondservant became much clearer. Not easy, mind you, but clear. Let’s look at this verse from the original language in more detail.

Εί = conditional conjunction translated “if” as a condition viewed or as one becoming factual

Τις = indefinite pronoun that points to a situation that is vague or not yet defined; can be translated as “someone” or “anyone” - *** this is the open invitation Jesus extends and it is to “anyone”

Θελεί = present active indicative verb meaning that the action “to desire” or “to want” is occurring now and being performed by the subject (anyone) in a situation that actually is as opposed to one that might be or was commanded to be; someone ready and willing to act because they have imagined a situation that does not yet exist and they want it; with these “desires” and “wants” there is an attractor that they move toward as they are not simply chaotic thought processes without a target or intent; in the chaotic world of a would-be follower of Christ the attractor is Christ and can be no other (not the past, not yourself, not other people, not the world)

Οπισω = adverb that qualifies the verb ϑελεί meaning that your desire or want is to get behind Jesus which is from the personal pronoun μου that means “of me” – Jesus explained that anyone who desires or wants to can “get behind Me,” or “get in back of Me” – He used this same phrase in Matthew 4:19 when He called Peter and Andrew, “And He said to them, ‘Follow Me (οπισω μου), and I will make you fishers of men.’”

Ελϑειν = infinitive form of the verb ερχομαί which means “to come;” it is in aorist tense so it indicates factual action but is silent on when the action takes place or how long it would last; it is active voice, so the subject performs the action; it is indicating a direction of movement; once we are behind or in back of Jesus there is intention, which is the intent to follow Him

● Jesus tells us to get behind Him, set our focus on Him, and to come along or follow Him. He called upon Peter and Andrew to get behind Him and they left what they were doing and went after Him. We must stop looking at our past, because when we look into our past that means that the future is actually behind us. We must stop looking at ourselves, at other people, at our circumstances and the world around us. It all blocks our sight from what we need to be focused on. We need to get behind Christ, look at Him, and go along. He becomes our future. Christ is the attractor that we move toward. It is interesting to note that in Matthew 4:10, just before the calling of Peter and Andrew, Jesus tells Satan οπισω μου, “get behind Me.” Basically, He tells Satan to get out of His sight. What I realized that morning when considering this verse was that my sight was set upon so many things that blocked my sight from being set on Jesus. He had already called on me to follow Him. I needed to get behind Him, look at Him and then go along, to follow Him.

Now that we have taken our place behind Jesus and gotten our sight set on Him, what does it take to “come along” or to follow Him?  Following up on His open invitation, Jesus gives three things for the potential follower to do: deny, take up, follow

Απαρνησασθω = this verb is in the aorist tense indicating the fact of the action without reference to when the action takes place; middle deponent voice indicating that the subject performs the action instead of receiving it; the mood is imperative which makes the action a command; this comes from the root verb αρνεομαι meaning “to deny,” or “to reject,” or to refuse to acknowledge someone’s identity or even their existence; together with the preposition απο which means “from” the meaning of this verb is “to deny from” – the preposition απο carries more meaning than simply “from” or “out of” but emphasizes a former relationship that had existed within a realm of origin but is now separated from both the relationship and the realm; that realm of identity is the self (εαυτον) thus the translation to “deny yourself” – because this is in the deponent voice remember that it is the one who has taken their place behind Jesus that is to deny or reject the existing realm of their selves - to get behind Jesus and follow along "you must deny yourself"

Αρατω = this verb is also in aorist tense and imperative mood as the one above, but the voice is active indicating the action is performed by the subject; this verb means “to lift up and carry along”

Σταυρον = an upright stake or stand; Roman instrument of crucifixion; this was the cross-beam placed at the top of the vertical beam that would form the capital T and would have been the beam Jesus had to carry to His crucifixion; the Roman σταυρον was an instrument of execution but it was also an instrument meant to fill onlookers with fear and disgust in order to demotivate would-be rebels and anarchists; it was a brutal form of punishment that caused extreme pain and suffering as the victims would hang there in terrible agony for hours or even days

● In that period of time, no one would have worn a cross as a piece of jewelry because it was reviled and feared. It was a symbol, not of love and forgiveness as Christians view it today, but of violent and horrible torturous death. It was a form of execution for the most reviled and dangerous criminals. When Jesus gave this instruction to take up a cross and carry it, He was telling them to take up and carry a notorious form of killing, akin to telling someone to take up and carry their lethal injection needle or electric chair.

Καθ ήμεραν = every day, daily, day by day (continuous, repeated action)

● This is sometimes explained as someone taking up a metaphorical σταυρον and, as Jesus did, to carry your cross to the execution of the self, as in the final defeat of your self will. This is incorrect. We are to deny the self, not execute it. We are to “lift up and carry” the cross every day, day by day, day after day. This is an active, repetitive and ongoing activity. Also, this is not the cross of Christ that we are taking up, as if we are somehow identifying with His execution. Christ Himself explains it as σταυρον αύτου, meaning “his cross” or “her cross.” This is referring to the “anyone who desires to come after Me” that Jesus is addressing. This is their cross, our cross, that is to be taken up. And since this is a form of execution we are to take up and carry, that means that we need to be in the process of dying every day.

Ακολουθειτω = this verb is in the present tense indicating the action is taking place right now; it is in the active voice so the subject performs the action and it is imperative mood meaning it is a command; this verb literally translates “to path-join” and since it is followed by the dative μοί it means “you path-join to Me now” indicating that the path-joiner is in the subservient or following along position

Luke 9:23 - "If anyone is desiring to get behind Me and come along, they must reject their self-identity, take up and carry their lethal injection needle every day, and path-join to Me now."