Sermon: How to Deny Yourself and Take Up the Cross — Setting Your Mind Only on the Things of God

Introduction: More Than an Idea 0:02

Peace to you, brothers and sisters. The sermon I want to share with you today is titled “How to Deny Yourself and Take Up the Cross,” and after the colon, “Setting Your Mind Only on the Things of God.” A topic that will sound very familiar to you. It begins with “how to practise” — or “how to live out” — denying yourself and taking up the cross. Why does it need to be practised?

Brothers and sisters, I think every one of us treats self-denial as an idea. Like when we say, “Fear the Lord, praise him at all times” — that kind of idea. We do not think every minute, “Every sentence I say must be praising the Lord.” Praising him is a disposition; our whole person lives in a state of praising him. It is not on our lips every moment, yet it runs through all our work.

But what I want to share today is that self-denial is, at bottom, something that governs our entire life. Our entire life — whether you think about it short-term, medium-term, or long-term, at every stage of life — you will face one thing very clearly: the values of the world, set against what Jesus Christ teaches us today, self-denial, which is a necessary condition for following the Lord.

Taking up the cross, I think, is the same. We all know the cross is what Jesus Christ carried; the one who truly bore that cross, vividly before our eyes, is Jesus. Those punished under Rome by carrying a cross are another matter, of course. The one who truly took up that wooden cross and became the true pattern of the cross is Jesus alone. So when we say we take up our cross — how do we carry it? It is an idea: taking up the cross means being joined to self-denial, and then each of us has our own hard places, our own things to do.

Brothers and sisters, in what I share today on denying yourself and taking up the cross, first we must understand clearly what this cross is. Then we must go further and stress that self-denial and cross-bearing are to be our motto at every moment — every thought, every plan, every decision, brothers and sisters, falls within this scope. So what we are stressing is: how to make it real, carry it out, put it into practice.

1. The Measure: Setting Your Mind Only on the Things of God 4:16

We just read Matthew chapter 16 clearly, the passage on taking up the cross. Every one of us remembers that it starts at verse 24:

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

Everyone knows this verse well. Verses 25 and 26 that follow also tell us why we must carry it. But there is a verse before it — verse 23 — that tells us how we are able to carry it. The answer is in verse 23:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” — Matthew 16:23

Brothers and sisters, what we stress today is this: the measure for practising self-denial and cross-bearing lies in our setting our mind only on the things of God, and not on the things of man.

I had actually planned to bring this up in the conclusion: what the Lord Jesus Christ showed in Gethsemane is just this simple truth. He knew clearly that the way of the cross was hard. Was there a part of him that did not want to carry the cross? There was, wasn’t there? He asked God, asked the Father, to let it pass. But he prayed clearly to his Father: we act according to the Lord’s will, according to the Father’s will, and not according to my own will. So when all of this is joined together, we have the theme we share today.

This week, thinking about which direction to take, I remembered the rich young ruler we spoke about two or three weeks ago — that story. I felt there was more to say, because that story really raises a very important truth: he wants us to do what the Lord commands. What was the Lord’s command to him? To sell all that he had and give to the poor — not to hand it to his relatives and descendants as a family inheritance — give it to the poor, and then come follow Jesus. So I thought of today’s passage as a way to think further about the question of setting one’s mind on the things of God. The young ruler should have set his mind on the way Jesus Christ gave him; that way was the Lord’s will, God’s will. But he could not do it.

2. The World’s Values, and the Exchange of Self-Denial 8:22

Within this line of thought, this week I also had an exchange online with a brother. What about? About a person who, in his life, wants to display some talent of his; but to display that talent he must cooperate with certain people — with those in power, say. In realising and showing his talent, he is in fact standing on the side of the powers that are against Christ, even though he can show his own ability, his professional skill. I would rather not spell it out here, so let us take an example.

In the Bible, in Roman times, there was a profession called the tax collector. The Israelites of that day hated them. Why? Because they acted according to the statutes the Roman Empire gave them — the law. But did they really act according to the law? Was that law just? When the tax collectors enforced that law, did they line their own pockets?

Let me extend it a little. Suppose someone today is an expert in the law, with the standing of a scribe. The tax collectors’ crowd comes and asks him, “Would you proclaim the tax law to the people of Israel for us?” So he becomes an interpreter of the law among the ordinary people. Who is behind him? The Roman Empire. Among his peers and his own people he shows off his legal gifts, and behind him stands a great patron. I do not know, brothers and sisters, whether the analogy fits, but I want you to think about it: in such a position, a man who interprets the law can say, “Because that is the law, my work, what I do, is legitimate.”

Everyone can see this clearly: all the powers hostile to God — hostile to us — from ancient times until now, have used law to deal with God’s servants. They all use their laws. Not every word of a law is bad in itself; but when a law is enforced, the point of its enforcement, what it presents, is anti-Christ. This example is very relevant to today’s theme: wanting a foothold in this society, or to raise one’s own standing — like the man I described, going around giving speeches on Rome’s behalf. What does that represent? Expertise, power. And what is he really doing? He is really doing the enemy’s work.

So a problem emerges here. In our lives we very easily forget “set your mind on the things of God, not on the things of man.” From childhood — from the first day of school — a person has an ambition: to succeed. First to do well in studies, to pass with honours, then to build a career and make money, so as to bring honour to the family. Right? Nothing wrong with it; people develop toward the world’s summit. That is the mind of man, the mind of human culture.

These words today, “deny yourself and take up your cross,” are precisely about taking down the values we are used to, the whole system of values, and throwing it away. We know the word for “deny,” in Greek, is aparneomai. What does it mean? It is not merely “to give up”; it is total: all ownership, all personal benefit, all personal standing must be let go. What others in the world possess, we not only give up; we adopt the same attitude toward it — we despise it, we refuse it, as Paul says, “counting it as rubbish,” which we will come to later — we throw it away like refuse, discard it, cut off any recognition of its value. Its value is enormous to others, but to you it counts for nothing.

What replaces it? Why do the world’s values come to nothing? Think about it: everything the world’s values give us is brief, because of one very plain fact: everyone must die. We thank God for letting us enjoy life, and even more for giving us death — without death we would not know what life is. A person’s lifelong striving thinks it can achieve something; there are many Chinese proverbs — “man can conquer heaven,” and so on — about overcoming difficulties and proving oneself, by human logic and human methods. We need only discard everything from our old culture, from the world, and exchange it for receiving God’s limitless, unending good — our eternal goal.

“Enjoyment” and “fear” — I don’t know if you follow this: when you suddenly enjoy many things, you know that behind the pleasure may be consequences you cannot bear. You eat and drink to excess, and your body ends up with this illness or that. I think I have made a fortune, and what may follow? Robbery, or your child kidnapped, or someone who cannot stand you burning your house down. Look at the people of past dynasties; they only ever undermined each other. Those who could truly enjoy anything for long were very few. So you want money, yet fear having too much. What God gives us in the kingdom of heaven is not like that, is it?

So denying yourself and taking up the cross is in fact an exchange: trading away the so-called benefits of what can never last for us — things that may bring disaster — for the abundance God has prepared for us, the peace and joy he gives that never fade.

3. Examples from Scripture: Moses 19:29

In Scripture, we have just spoken of the most important example — the teaching of Jesus. Denying himself and taking up the cross, his own example: he deliberately poured out his soul to the Father in prayer, laying these ideas out clearly for us to hear, so that we might learn the principle. He prayed, he knew the Father’s will, and he acted on it. So, brothers and sisters, let us also learn a little from other figures in Scripture. There are a few I especially want to share with you, to consider what they did.

The first is Moses. Christ is the King of heaven; Moses could have belonged to the royal house of this world, couldn’t he? He could have been one of Pharaoh’s household. What did Moses decide? He decided to belong to the people of God. That one decision completely changed the rest of his life; yet for God, for the work of bringing Israel out of Egypt, he became God’s servant. The exodus is a very great event in the whole Bible: leading people out of the enemy’s hand to serve the Lord.

What we can think about next is this: do we clearly know how to be like Moses, at that critical moment in his day, willing to lay down all the enjoyment we might have had? Hebrews 11:24–26:

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. — Hebrews 11:24-27

This is very clear. Once Moses had received a goal, that goal required him to leave the very comfortable circumstances he had; instead he had to spend forty years as if in self-imposed exile, in flight. And he regarded “the reproach of Christ” as greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. That is a very clear yardstick. We say, “I want to do that too” — to bear reproach for Jesus, for the Lord, for the Lord’s word, and count it greater wealth than the riches of the world, the treasures of Egypt — can you do it? He saw it clearly: for bearing the reproach of Christ, he knew the reward he would receive was great, plainly greater than the treasures of Egypt. He could not see God then, but he believed in this God.

This God enabled him to understand — whether through his mother, or his sister, or the writings he had read — that this God was the God of the people of Israel, and that this God was the great God who created the universe. We know Moses was commissioned by God to write the Pentateuch, Genesis, so great a work. We know all the books of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is the true original author. But when the Spirit sought someone to write, he found the right person, one he had already formed beforehand in his life. So from Moses’ writing of the Pentateuch we cannot help believing that Moses’ mind held rich views and knowledge of many things. These of course came from studying many writings; I personally believe Egypt did not lack such material for thought. Much of that knowledge is a record of facts, yet often a record of facts is given a label, an interpretation, and led off in the wrong direction; such writing is common.

So when we look at anything — whether or not it is Scripture, God’s inspired word — I want to look at it with the Holy Spirit. When we read other things, and there is something in them for us to absorb, I would urge you too to invite the Holy Spirit to read with you. The Spirit is always there to help you understand what true knowledge can be learned from it — and that can change your whole way of thinking and affect the decisions of your daily life. To sum up, all this effort to learn is so that we may better live a life that is set on God’s will, on God’s will alone.

4. Examples from Scripture: Mary 27:31

The second, whom we often hear people mention, one who had all but denied herself and taken up her cross — who is it? Mary, the mother of Jesus in the flesh. We know clearly from the Gospels that the angel came to bring her the good news. On one hand it was good news; for an unmarried girl of that time it may also have been a matter of risking her life. In that age, who could understand that God had caused a virgin to conceive and carry the Son of God? If some people failed to understand, they might well have stoned you to death. Could she face her family, or the husband to whom she was betrothed but not yet married?

At that moment Mary did not ask many questions. She did not ask how this would be resolved or that. She simply, clearly, set her mind on the things of God. Mary answered the angel:

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” — Luke 1:38

That one simple sentence lets everyone recognise: this was God, her God, who sent the angel to deliver his plan to her. God’s word is not necessarily called a command, but God’s word is what we must obey. It was not that she had not considered it, not that she was naive; she knew the risks she would face, yet she was clear: “let it be to me according to your word,” because “I am the servant of the Lord.” She was wholly God’s servant, his handmaid — whatever God wanted of her, however he chose to save. Is this not exactly a model of denying oneself and taking up the cross?

5. Examples from Scripture: Paul 30:34

The third, the most obvious in Scripture, is Paul. He certainly did a great deal, but let us first understand: what was Paul’s background? We know he had standing in society: from birth he was a Roman citizen, which in that age was an unmistakable mark of distinction. He was of the tribe of Benjamin, a thoroughgoing Israelite, a Jew. Like many he pursued learning, studying under the famous teacher Gamaliel. So his credentials, his background, were more than enough to boast of.

On the path of his life, it was not that he could not find work; he was clearly doing what he considered an honour to his family: he was a man of the synagogue, of the Pharisees, connected to public authority, and he carried out for them a very important task — hunting down those who believed in Jesus. Think about it: that work carried social standing in that day. That he could do it, and had such a background, makes us believe his family did not lack money either. From the world’s point of view, he was doing very well indeed.

Now look at him today: when he knew, when he recognised, that the world’s wealth was rubbish, and he could receive all the abundance of heaven — Jesus Christ called him — this was entirely a decision of replacement: eternal blessedness in place of the world’s wealth and status, which are as rubbish.

So today, brothers and sisters, let us come back and think for ourselves. When we face choices, we often hope to climb the ladder of life — that desire, that effort, is, within the whole social machine, an achievement people dream of. When it is within my reach today, we are of course very likely to plunge in without a thought. The hope of today’s message is that when any of us meets such a situation, we stop and think about the principle Jesus Christ laid down in Matthew 16:24: will we hold to it? Will we live it out? Or shall we put it off for a while and let our success in this world go a few more steps first? That is a test.

6. Paul’s Teaching: Count Everything Loss, Boast Only in the Cross 36:39

Paul’s missionary journey, we all know, held many dangers and much suffering; he too was holding to his choice. And in his letters he gave us much teaching. In the time that remains, let us look at some of these passages that help us.

The first to mention is Philippians 3:7–8, which we touched on earlier:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. — Philippians 3:7-8

Brothers and sisters, look at what Paul says. On one hand he states the principle. He does not say, “I have recognised, I know Jesus Christ is precious, I know all things are loss to me” — knew it, and then just lay flat? He set out to work at one thing: to throw away. It was about how to cut himself off from the world’s benefits and no longer receive them — because of what the world had given him before: how he hunted the disciples of Jesus for the synagogue and received all kinds of rewards and praise, rising step by step in social standing. He would throw away these achievements he once counted precious. Why? Because he now had a very clear, replacing goal: to gain Christ.

We sometimes hear a preacher speaking to you, teaching you how to believe in the Lord, seemingly trying every means to please you, begging you to believe quickly; and then, it seems, he has earned a mark, some credit, hasn’t he? No. Believing in the Lord takes effort; it is something to be won, not free. Grace God gives me freely — but how do you win this free grace? You know clearly there is one domain: to lay down your longing for the world, to give up and discard the abundant returns the world offers you; not to pursue the notion of “being first in the world,” not to become one who chases after these things of the world.

There is a fine passage in Jeremiah I want to share with you, 9:23–24:

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” — Jeremiah 9:23-24

This passage clearly fills in a very important truth for us: when we remove and discard the things of the world we once pursued, a space is left. People always have something they love, something they pursue — true; and Jeremiah says, what do you pursue? Only this: knowing the LORD — knowing him, understanding him, knowing he is a God who practises steadfast love, justice and righteousness. The one who knows the LORD is, among all people, already one who has received enormous blessing from God. So in this matter it is not that God’s grace demands something from you — God’s grace costs you nothing to receive — but if you do not treat it as precious, neither are you worthy to receive it.

Galatians has another verse I find wonderful, 6:14:

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. — Galatians 6:14

This sentence runs parallel to the passage in Jeremiah: there the boast was “understanding and knowing the LORD”; what is Paul’s boast? Knowing Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ was what he counted most important. He knew the importance of this cross; to everyone he spoke of nothing else, only the cross of Jesus. So important was it that, through preaching the cross of Jesus and boasting in the cross of Jesus Christ, he nailed the world to the cross — to the world he was no longer one of them; as far as the world was concerned he was a man the world had crucified, living out, as it were, the role of one judged and punished by the world. This is a complete separation; the contrast is stark.

So from here we must consider a question: what is our cross today? If you are still carrying the cross, will you still count the world’s benefits as benefits? Will you still go and lecture on that “Roman doctrine” we spoke of? No. You will no longer say that the laws of the world are what I must obey, respect and serve. You would be wrong. The laws of the world have always stood opposed to the law of God. Is that clear?

In 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 Paul teaches us how to face this world — which from our childhood has governed our minds, our thinking: all the philosophies of life, the old “thick-face, black-heart” school and the like, all the marketing methods, all the theories produced by human wisdom, flooding our lives. So we must understand: if we are to walk the way of the cross, we must not only cut ourselves off from these things but guard against their erosion of us. 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 says:

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. — 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Take every thought captive to obey Christ — no longer following the mind of man, still less the mind of the world, but setting our mind on and submitting to the mind of God alone. This is what we have kept stressing today.

In fact we see many people give a kind of reverence to human philosophy, finding it lofty and impressive. I may at times have criticised some — particularly people who have perhaps not read much and have no real degree; I know some such people, including pastors, elderly pastors — who idolise philosophy and preach philosophy all day, forever talking of Confucius, Laozi and so on. In truth they do not really understand it; what you hear from them is very hollow. They keep philosophy on their lips, as if using philosophy to prove theology, to prove the holiness of God. In fact people have raised philosophy to that position — a position it holds only within a worldview; before the truth of God it has no standing at all. Colossians 2:8:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. — Colossians 2:8

Yes — when you have been taken captive, remember to take your heart back. So much of this kind of thing that we face erodes us; in the course of our lives it becomes a kind of totem, a badge of status or learning: do you know this philosophy? Then you are a superior person, a learned person. Truly, let us not chase that kind of learning because we lack learning. Where is true learning? In what Jeremiah said just now: true learning is in knowing the LORD, knowing Jesus Christ. Is that not so? Other philosophies, other people’s theories, are all empty. And that emptiness is not merely a grey area. Emptiness looks harmless on the surface; but when something is empty, it will replace what you ought to have, the LORD God who should be in your inmost being. Nothing is truly grey, nothing truly harmless; before the LORD God, pursuits identical to the world’s are all harmful, all loss. Go that way, and you have become a Pharisee.

Let us learn what Proverbs says, 3:5–6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. — Proverbs 3:5-6

It is not that your own paths are straight; it is God’s teaching, his leading, the Spirit’s prompting, that are enough for us to walk a straight path to God. On that path we receive commendation, because we please God, because every day we live out the meaning of life and glorify God. Romans 12:2:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. — Romans 12:2

What verse 2 expresses is that today we walk for this alone: we are to live a life that understands God’s will. If you really seek it, will it be hard? If what you wanted before does not fit, and you cannot deny yourself, then it is hard; but if you are willing to let go of what you had, and to take up your own cross, then you are well able to seek God’s will — which is acceptable, which is perfect. Brothers and sisters, this truth is really not hard to understand; but we must be willing to let go.

7. Gethsemane, and the Paradox of Life 54:53

For Christ too endured testing, did he not? When we spoke earlier of Gethsemane, he was praying. Matthew 26:39 — what was he praying?

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” — Matthew 26:39

As the Father wills: Father, you carry it out. Christ was willing to accept this cup. When we hear this command of Jesus Christ today — deny yourself and take up your cross — it is like this: we must live it out concretely and with constant watchfulness, not be blinded by this world; not be carried off, taken captive, because something matches the values of our old self. The way we have described today is to lay down our own will and set our mind only on the things of God.

Then Matthew 16:25 — the sequel to verse 24 — gives us a clear definition: Christ wants us to do this, why we must do it, and how we can. We have said: set your mind on the things of God; if we truly can, then denying ourselves, taking up the cross and following the Lord, we receive the very clear principle verse 25 gives us. You could call it a paradox:

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” — Matthew 16:25

Is that clear? Do you want to gain life? Then you must throw away, for Jesus Christ, the life you had, and God gives you an eternal life. If you try to preserve your own life, you truly will not gain life. Jesus Christ goes on to teach us in verse 26:

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” — Matthew 16:26

Brothers and sisters, yes: you gain the whole world but have no life — no life with which to live out your worldly values — what profit is that? Is that not plain? No life with which to live out the achievements you supposedly wanted, the regard people give you — thinking you a learned man, or a rich and successful one — you have no life at all to live it. Is that not empty? What shall a man give in return for his life? All the things of the world you have cannot buy you one more moment. Is this truth really unclear?

Conclusion and Prayer 58:55

Let us go back and think carefully about how to set our mind only on God’s will and submit to it, to follow Jesus, to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow the Lord. May we all think much on this very serious subject and keep watch over ourselves, so that when these temptations come, we can quickly, by God’s help, recognise them as temptation and turn away. Thanks and praise be to God: we need not worry, because we have this heart, this willingness — “Lord, I am willing to follow you; help me” — and the Lord will surely help us.

Let us pray together. Dear heavenly Father, once more we offer ourselves and place ourselves in the Lord’s hands, the hands of our gracious Lord. What the Lord commands, we are willing, and it will surely be done; what we cannot do, the Lord will surely help us with. God, you send the Holy Spirit into our lives and into our hearts; with the Spirit in us, what we are willing to accomplish, nothing is too hard for God, and it will surely be done. For such a promise of God we give thanks. Because of our knowledge of the LORD God, our knowledge of the Lord, our knowledge of the Lord’s cross, we offer thanks, and in it we rejoice, and once more we offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice; may God use us. With this thanksgiving and petition we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.