Read Matthew 16:24–28
Questions from the Scripture text: Who spoke to whom in Matthew 16:24? What desire does He encourage? Whom must they leave/behind in order to do so? What must they take up in order to follow Him? What desire does He warn against in Matthew 16:25? What will happen to the one who tries to do this for himself? What must he give up, for Whose sake, instead? What will the outcome of that be? What would it be worthless to gain, even if you could (Matthew 16:26)? What can’t he keep in this way? Why—what will the Son of Man do (Matthew 16:27)? In what glory? To do what? Who will do what, before when (Matthew 16:28)?
How does one follow a crucified Christ? Matthew 16:24–28 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that we follow a crucified Christ by taking up our own cross, in dependence upon Him.
Jesus has refused the temptation to have a kingdom without a cross.
If we follow a King Who goes through a cross to glory, then we must be followers who go through crosses behind Him to go to glory with Him.
In order to be Christ’s we must leave behind being our own. We cannot be our own purpose, must not attempt to live by our own power, ought not to live for our own pleasure. This, of course, is no loss at all—however impossible it is for our flesh to be that way. Who can compare being one’s own to being Christ’s in any of these areas?
One of these areas is of particular importance. In Matthew 10:39, it was him who finds his life who loses it. Now, in Matthew 16:25, it is the one who desires to save his life who will lose it. If Christ cannot come into His glory except through a cross, how much more this is true for us: we cannot come to His glory with Him, except through His cross. We must give up saving ourselves, or else we will lose our lives. Losing our lives for His sake begins with losing any illusions of being our own savior.
But being crucified with Christ is not only how the Christian life begins. It defines how the Christian life proceeds. Galatians 2:20 is the Bible’s own commentary on the concept that Jesus teaches here. To be crucified with Christ means that it can no longer be we who live, but Christ Who lives in us—that the life that we live in the flesh can only be lived by faith in the Son of God, Who loved us and gave Himself for us.
Though only Christ’s cross can atone for ourselves or achieve our standing with God, each of us have our own cross assigned to us by God. The One Who created us and loves us has assigned to each of us our own cross. We are not permitted to take up His cross; we are not offered anyone else’s cross but ours. Whatever pain, whatever shame, whatever death He might assign to us, it comes with the territory, and that territory is Christ. How worthwhile each believer ought to consider his own personal cross to be.
If we would spare ourselves pain to seek comfort, or spare ourselves shame to seek status, or spare ourselves death to prolong life… what would we gain? Suppose you could achieve all of those things to the maximum. When the Son of Man comes in the glory of His Father, what will all that you had, taken altogether, amount to by comparison? And when He begins to reward according to works, what could be your hope without Christ and His works? You cannot give anything in exchange for your soul (Matthew 16:26, cf. Psalm. 49:6–9).
Indeed, some disciples were just about to get a glimpse of that glory (Matthew 16:28, cf. Matthew 17:1–8). And every Christian is one who has seen that glory by faith (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6).
What is your purpose in life? How are you bringing that into the purpose of each day, specifically? By what power do you live? By what means has He given you to depend upon Him and His power? What crosses has He given you to bear? In what hope do you bear those crosses?
Sample prayer: We praise You, our crucified Lord, and ask that by Your grace, we might be Yours and not our own. Grant that we might lose our lives for Christ’s sake and come into His glory with Him, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP49A “Hear This, All Earth’s Nations” or TPH332 “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise”
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