The Cross and Discipleship

In Matthew 16:21 we have a transition in the ministry of Christ.  He was nearing the end of His ministry and now was the time for Him to start zeroing in on His private ministry with the disciples. Jesus is now in earnest teaching about the Cross and discipleship.

Matthew 16:21 (ESV) ²¹  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus now becomes very specific about what lay ahead for Him and it is no accident He confronts them in His suffering, the Cross, and Resurrection. They would soon head to Jerusalem for our Lord’s last Passover, and it would be there He would be betrayed, and He would willingly go to the Cross to complete His ordained mission for us, to fulfill the promise of redemption as the real Paschal Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36).

Now began the time where Jesus’ training of the disciples takes on a new urgency, with a hard and realistic view of what it means to be a follower of Him. Peter had just answered the question, “who do you say that I am?” (vs.22).  Now was the time to begin to teach the disciples just exactly what that would mean to them as followers of Christ.

There would be a cost.  There would be a commitment, and there would have to be a new understanding of their relationship with Him in light of the Cross. Things were not as they thought they would be.  They were still expecting the establishment of the Kingdom with Jesus reigning.  And that was no doubt what brought about the response of Peter (vs.22).

Now was the time for these men to come to grips with what it would mean to be a believer, a disciple, a Christian (And for the purpose of this article these terms are one and the same.). What now came next from our Lord was not what they were expecting;

Matthew 16:24-28 (ESV) ²⁴  Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 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? ²⁷  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. ²⁸  Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

This kind of teaching was now to become the norm for Jesus right up to the Cross (Luke 14:26, 28-30, 33; Mark 10:17-22) regarding being a disciple. They would not really understand the full import of this until Pentecost and the indwelling of Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, 2). Then, the grace of God would capture their hearts and catapult them into a hazardous ministry that would cost them their lives in life and death.  They would become “witnesses” (marturéō) to the grace of God found at the cross and many would be the ultimate witnesses (martyrs), as they gave their lives for Christ and the Gospel.

The apostles and early disciples would be whole-heartedly (John 10:27) sold out to the Gospel of grace and Christ.  They understood that they had been “bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:30) and they “were not their own.”  They didn’t serve Christ for their own interests but that of Christ’s interests.  They were “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6).  The saw themselves as identified in the death burial and resurrection of Christ (Romans 6:3-6). They did not see their relationship or position in Christ as one that fulfilled their every desire, hope, and dream Philippians 1:21). For these early disciples, God’s grace, while being free, came at a great cost, and they were its beneficiaries. It was not about their health, wealth, prosperity or happiness.  It was about spending themselves for Him who bought them.  Because of God’s grace in salvation, they had become His workmanship (Ephesians 2:8-10).  They were truly the working out of James 2:14-24.  They now understood what Jesus was getting at in those alone times with Him as He expressed the cost of discipleship – believing in Him.

This kind of discipleship has no resemblance to the modern church of personal ambition, personal fulfillment, and felt needs. The Church that Jesus purchased and inaugurated at Pentecost was a church of servants (doúlos), SLAVES (124 times in N.T.) for Christ (Romans 6:22). The Church is owned by Christ.  We don’t own Him!  We serve Him because we are overwhelmed by His grace.

2 Corinthians 5:14 (ESV) ¹⁴  For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

-Michael Holtzinger

Some resources:

Slave, The Hidden Truth About Your Identity In Christ  By: John MacArthur

Don’t Waste Your Life  By: John Piper