Disciples of Jesus Die

When God repeats a truth in His word, it indicates that truth is something that we as followers and disciples need to know so we can live it out.

Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Mark 8:34
And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Luke 9:23
And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

Disciples die.

Jesus gives us three steps in these passages to being His disciples.

Step #1: Deny ourselves

We don’t do our will. We don’t build our kingdom. We don’t live life for our sakes.

We do God’s will. We build God’s kingdom. We live life for God.

Step #2: Take up our cross

A cross is not some burden we have to carry through life. A cross is a place to die. Jesus might say today, “Take up your electric chair or your lethal injection.” The only thing that happens on a cross is death.

Step #3: Follow Jesus

You can’t get to step three until you do steps one and two. You will give up following Jesus if you don’t first deny yourself and pick up your cross.

What do disciples die to?

Disciples die to our natural lives.

Romans 7:5
When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

The natural life or old nature brings forward sinful desires.

Ephesians 4:22
Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

Paul tells us to throw of or get rid of the natural life because it is characterized by lust and deception.

So because the natural life leads us into sin and ultimately causes us to die we need to take action.

Colossians 3:5
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.

The action we need to take is to put the natural life, the old nature, the old life to death.

Disciples die to the law.

Romans 8:2
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

If we try to follow Jesus based on the law (rules, traditions, rituals) we will fail. If we follow Jesus based on the filling of His Spirit, we will succeed.

Romans 7:4
Likewise my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

If we try and follow Jesus based on the law we will ultimately follow the law. If we die to the law and follow by the leadership of the Spirit we will truly follow Jesus.

Disciples die to our own will.

Luke 22:41-42
And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”

Jesus as He went to the cross was completely following the Father’s will. He had surrendered His will to do the will of the Father.

Disciples pray, “Father, let me have no will of mine own, but only Your will. Let me have no desires, but Your desires. Let me have no thoughts, but Your thoughts.”

Following Jesus is not about doing what you want and asking Him to bless it. Following Jesus is about not doing or saying anything that He does tell us to do or say. It is about seeking and doing His will exclusively.

Disciples die to sin.

Sin kills.
Sin destroys.
Sin is hated by God.
Sin activates God’s wrath.

Romans 6:6-7
We know that our old sinful self was crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

When I am crucified with Jesus, I die to sin and come alive in Him and live by faith in Him.

Sin holds us captive and only by dying can I really live in relationship with Jesus. Only by dying to sin can I really live.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about dying. It is about dying to our natural life, the law, our will, and sin.

Death is painful. When we die to these things it will be painful, but it will lead to experiencing life as God created us to experience it. It will lead to true peace.

Dying So God Can Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls
Joe