Recently released from jail, a young communist disciple wrote to his betrothed, breaking off their engagement: “We communists have a high casualty rate. We are the ones who get shot and hung and ridiculed and fired from our jobs and in every other way made as uncomfortable as possible. A certain percentage of us get killed or imprisoned. We live in virtual poverty. We turn back to the party every penny we make above what is absolutely necessary to keep us alive. We communists do not have the time or the money for many movies, or concerts, or T-bone steaks, or decent homes, or new cars. We have been described as fanatics. We are fanatics. Our lives are dominated by one great overshadowing factor: The struggle for world communism. We communists have a philosophy of life that no amount of money can buy. We have a cause to fight for, a definite purpose in life. We subordinate our petty, personal selves to the great movement of humanity, and if our personal lives seem hard or our egos appear to suffer through subordination to the party, then we are adequately compensated by the thought that each of us in his small way is contributing to something new and true and better for mankind.
There is one thing in which I am in dead earnest about, and that is the communist cause. It is my life, my business, my religion, my hobby, my sweetheart, my wife, and my mistress, my breath and meat. I work at it in the daytime and dream of it at night. Its hold on me grows, not lessens, as time goes on; therefore, I cannot carry on a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without relating it to this force that both drives and guides my life. I evaluate people, books, ideas and actions according to how they affect the communist cause, and by their attitude toward it. I’ve already been in jail because of my ideals, and if necessary, I’m ready to go before a firing squad.”
Although deceived and misguided, this young communist disciple possessed what so many professing Christians lack, commitment. We may shake our heads in pity for his deluded belief, but at least his belief was proved to be genuine by his actions, something that cannot often be said of those who claim to be followers of Christ.
Although many professing Christians claim to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, it’s quite obvious by their actions that they don’t believe at all. As Paul wrote, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him...” (Titus 1:16).
Jesus is the Creator of all people, the Judge of the living and the dead. He possesses a name above every other name. But in the minds of so many professing Christians, Jesus is Savior but not Lord. He’s a friendly neighbor, not the Head of the Church. He possesses all love but not all authority in heaven and on earth. He’s a best buddy, not King of kings. He’s a jolly good fellow, but not the One before whom every knee shall bow. He’s good but He’s not God. In reality, however, such a Jesus does not exist, and those convinced otherwise are the worst kind of idolaters - they’ve invented a god of their own imaginations.
And [Jesus] summoned the multitude with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38).
Is this invitation to salvation addressed to unbelievers or an invitation to a more committed relationship addressed to believers? As we read honestly, the answer becomes obvious.
First, notice that the crowd Jesus was speaking to consisted of “the multitude” and His disciples (v. 34). Clearly then, the “multitude” was not His disciples. They, in fact, were “summoned” by Him to hear what He was about to say. Jesus wanted everyone, followers and seekers, to understand the truth He was about to teach. Notice also that He then began by saying, “If anyone....” (v. 34, emphasis added). His words apply to anyone and everyone.
As we continue reading, it becomes even more clear who Jesus was addressing. Specifically, His words were aimed at every person who desired to “come after” Him, “save his life,” not “forfeit his soul,” and be among those whom He will not be ashamed of when He “comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” All of these expressions indicate Jesus was describing people who desired to be saved. Are we to think that there is a heaven-bound person who does not want to “come after” Jesus and “save his life”? Are we to believe that there are true believers who will “forfeit their souls,” are ashamed of Jesus and His words, and of whom Jesus will be ashamed when He returns? Obviously, Jesus was talking about eternal salvation.
Notice that each of the last four sentences in this five-sentence passage all begin with the word “For.” Thus, each sentence helps to explain and expand upon the previous sentence. No sentence within this passage should be interpreted without considering how the others illuminate it. Let’s consider Jesus’ words sentence by sentence in that light.
Sentence #1 “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
Again, note that Jesus’ words were addressed to anyone who wished to come after Him, anyone who wanted to become His follower. This is the only relationship Jesus initially offers. Many desire to be His friend without being His follower, but such an option does not exist. Jesus didn’t consider anyone His friend unless they obeyed Him: “You are My friends, if you do what I command you” (John 15:14).
Many would like to be His brother without being His follower, but, again, Jesus didn’t extend that option. He considered no one His brother unless they were obedient: “Whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother...” (Matt. 12:50, emphasis added).
Many wish to join Jesus in heaven without being His follower, but Jesus clearly conveyed the impossibility of such an occurrence. Only those who obey are heaven-bound: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
In the sentence under consideration, Jesus informed those who wanted to follow Him that they couldn’t follow Him unless they denied themselves. They must be willing to put their desires aside, making them subordinate to His will. Self-denial and submission is the essence of following Jesus. But to what degree of self-denial does Jesus expect? Was He speaking of giving up candy for Lent? Within the first sentence, Jesus used an expression that made His meaning unmistakable: “Let him... take up his cross.” It was, perhaps, not an original expression, but a common expression of His day. What does it mean?
In Jesus’ day, the only people who took up crosses were those condemned to die. Of course, it was the last thing anyone would want to do, because it was the last thing a person would ever do. When a criminal took up his cross, he lifted up the beam to which he would soon be nailed to so he would die a slow, excruciating death. It was a dreaded moment of facing up to the inevitable. Thus, the expression, “to take up one’s cross,” would have been synonymous with doing that which one wouldn’t want to do by natural inclination. It symbolizes a high degree of self-denial, doing what one was loathe to do. If it was a common expression of Jesus’ day, one can almost imagine fathers admonishing reluctant sons, “Son, you know it’s your responsibility to dig out the toilet when it’s full. Now take up your cross and get to it.” Or wives saying to grimacing husbands, “Honey, I know you don’t want to hear this, but today our taxes are due to the Roman government, and we have the money that is being required by that dishonest tax collector. We don’t really have any choice in the matter, so why don’t you take up your cross and visit the tax collector’s office this morning?”
Sentence #2 Jesus’ second sentence makes the meaning of His first sentence even more clear: “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it” (Mark 8:35).
Again, notice this sentence begins with “For,” connecting it with the first sentence, adding clarification. Here Jesus contrasts two people, the same two people who were implied in the first sentence—the one who would deny himself and take up his cross to follow Him and the one who would not. Now they are contrasted as one who would lose his life for Christ and the gospel’s sake and one who would not. The one who wouldn’t deny himself wishes to save his life but will lose it, while the one who would deny himself loses his life but ultimately saves it. Clearly, Jesus was not speaking about one losing or saving his physical life. The majority of His closest followers lost their physical lives sooner than what they probably would have because they followed Him, dying as martyrs. Moreover, later sentences in this passage indicate that Jesus had eternal losses and gains in mind.
The person in the first sentence who would not deny himself was the same person in the second sentence who wished to save his life. Thus we can safely conclude that “saving one’s life” means “saving one’s own agenda for his life.” This becomes even more clear when we consider the contrasted man who “loses his life for Christ and the gospel’s sake.” He is the one who denies himself, takes up his cross, and gives up his own agenda, now living for the purpose of furthering Christ’s agenda and the spread of the gospel. He is the one who will ultimately “save his life,” while the other will lose his. The person who seeks to please Christ rather than himself will ultimately find himself happy in heaven, while the one who continues to please himself will ultimately find himself miserable in hell and later the lake of fire, losing all freedom to follow his own agenda.
Sentences #3 & 4 Now the third and fourth sentences: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).
In these verses the person is highlighted who will not deny himself. He is the one who wishes to save his life but ultimately loses it. Now he is spoken of as one who pursues what the world has to offer and who ultimately “forfeits his soul.” Jesus exposes the folly of such a person by comparing the worth of the whole world with that of one’s soul. Of course, there is no comparison. A person might theoretically acquire all the world has to offer, but, if the ultimate consequence of his life is that he spends eternity in the lake of fire. He has made the gravest of errors.
From these third and fourth sentences we also gain insight into what pulls people away from denying themselves to become Christ’s followers. It is their desire for self-gratification, that's offered by the world. Motivated by love of self, those who refuse to follow Christ seek sinful pleasures, which Christ’s true followers shun out of love and obedience to Him. Those who are out to “grab all the gusto they can,” pursue wealth, power and prestige, while Christ’s true followers seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Any wealth, power or prestige that is gained by them is considered a stewardship from God and is used unselfishly for His glory.
Sentence #5 Finally, we arrive at the fifth sentence in the passage under consideration. Notice again how it is joined to the others by the word, for;: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).
This again is the person who would not deny himself, but wished to follow his own agenda, pursuing what the world had to offer, and who thus ultimately lost his life and forfeited his soul. Now he is characterized as one who is ashamed of Christ and His words. His shame, of course, stems from his unbelief. If he had truly believed that Jesus was God’s Son, he certainly would not have been ashamed of Him or His words. But he is a member of an “adulterous and sinful generation,” and Jesus will be ashamed of him when He returns. Clearly, Jesus was not describing a saved person.
The conclusion to all of this? The entire passage cannot rightfully be considered a call to a more committed life addressed to those who are already heading to heaven. It is obviously a revealing of the way of salvation by means of comparing those who are truly saved and those who are unsaved. Not once did Jesus say anything about faith or believing, although the entire reason a person would refuse to deny himself, continuing to pursue the world’s offers in sinful rebellion against Christ, is because he truly doesn’t believe in Christ. The fruit of all unbelief is disobedience. Jesus was not proclaiming salvation earned by works, but a true salvation that resulted in works, born from a sincere faith. By His definition, there is no such thing as an “uncommitted Christian.”
Perhaps the greatest example of wrongly interpreting Jesus’ salvation invitations as calls to a “deeper walk” is the modern theological classification that creates a distinction between Christian believers and disciples. So many in the church are convinced that one can be a heaven-bound believer in Christ without being His disciple. The level of commitment Jesus required for one to be classed as His disciple is so high that all professing Christians must readily admit that they don’t measure up. But, not to worry, because in their minds the step of discipleship is optional. Not understanding the nature of saving faith, they conclude that becoming a disciple is not synonymous with becoming a Christian, because there is a cost to become a disciple, whereas salvation is free.
Such an understanding is seriously flawed. An honest examination of the New Testament reveals that disciples aren't more highly-committed believers—they are the only genuine believers. In the early church, the modern distinction of “believers” and “disciples” did not exist. Everyone who believed in Jesus was His disciple. In fact scripture declares, “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26, emphasis added).
To believe in Jesus was to follow Him obediently, and it still is. Salvation is an unmerited gift, but one that can be received only by a living faith. The commitment that stems from such a faith is not meritorious; rather, it is validating. The grace that forgives us also transforms us. Any salvation that is genuine will always be a salvation that believes, applies and acts on the words of Jesus. The love of God that is given to the followers of Christ is an action word. All true love gives, and loving Jesus will cause us to surrender everything and everyone if necessary to love, obey and serve our Lord and Master.
C R Lord © 3/4/2016
Revised 1/14/2025
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