luke 9:23 bible study
Luke 9:23
And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. (NASB)
My Observations for Luke 9:23:
Keywords and/or Phrases:
When I read this verse, there are three phrases that stand out to me immediately.
The first phrase is “come after Me.” The second phrase is “must deny himself” and the third phrase is “take up his cross daily.”
“Come after me.” – When I begin to think on these words I immediately think of what it means to go after a friend or a family member.
Going after them, would mean I would be following after them.
Which immediately brings to mind, what we are called as believers: Christians are called followers of Christ.
So if we wish to come after the Lord, then we are wishing to be His followers.
“Must deny himself.” – The word must is defined as “it is necessary.”
The biblical definition of the word deny means to “disown totally.”
Now, to further develop the word deny, let’s also look up the definition of the word disown.
Disown means to “refuse to acknowledge as one’s own,” and “to deny the validity or authority of.”
Now that we’ve defined all the words in this phrase, let’s put them together to find the entire meaning.
This phrase means: It is necessary to refuse to acknowledge one’s own authority of himself.
WOW!
So, our Lord is teaching us in this verse that we must refuse totally our own authority of ourselves.
And I am sure whose authority should take the place of our own: Christ’s Authority.
So, as believers, we should no longer follow our own authority and our own will, but subject ourselves to the will and authority of our Heavenly Father, as Christ Our Lord did before He took up His cross.
Consider the following verse:
Luke 20:41-42 – And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done. (NASB)
“Take up his cross daily.” – The word take means to grasp or grip something.
So, when I think of “taking up a cross,” I think of Jesus right before His crucifixion, when He took up His own cross.
I am sure the cross He carried was unimaginably uncomfortable, and painful.
However, He endured His cross for our sakes.
And do you remember where he was going when carrying his cross?
He was on His way to die.
So if we are following our Lord, then we are on our way to die as well.
However, we know that the cross we are to carry is not a physical one.
Our Lord is speaking to us figuratively in this verse.
Our cross is spiritual, crucifying our flesh, our will, and our own authority.
We also learn that this crucifixion is a daily process, as this verse outlines.
We should and must take up our cross daily.
So, the question now becomes, “How do we practically take up our cross on a daily basis?”
My Application for Luke 9:23:
This is a question that I have struggled with greatly.
I mean, “How do we take up our cross each day and what does that actually look like?”
So, I began to search for answers, as most Christains do today…I googled it.
I found an article titled “What Taking up Your Cross Might Look Like Today?”
In this article, one of the verses referenced was:
Romans 6:6 – “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (NASB)
So, in this spiritual crucifying, our body of sin is being done away with, so we would no longer be slaves to sin.
Our bodies are our flesh. We also know this crucifiction is not a physical one, but a spiritual one.
So we are crucifying the desires and the will of our flesh.
The flesh desires things that are contrary to the will of God.
Consider the following verses:
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another…” Galatians 5:17 NASB
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 NASB
So we have learned from these two verses that the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit of God, and we’ve learned exactly what the deeds of the flesh look like in our everyday lives.
And these deeds of the flesh are what we must deny ourselves and take to the cross to crucify.
However, we know that we cannot deny these things in our own strength.
I cannot just say, “I am not going to do (whatever it is)!” Then, bam, all of a sudden I am done with.
There has to be a spiritual weapon or principle where I can place my feet in this battle against the will of my flesh, right?
Well, the Word of God provides an answer for that also.
Consider the following verses:
Galatians 6:8 – “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (NASB)
Romans 8:5-8 – “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (NASB)
Ok!
We have the solution now.
We have learned that the mind set on the flesh is unable to subject itself to the will of God. So, our flesh is unable to subject itself to Christ, when we have sown to it with our minds.
We have also learned that, if we are of the Spirit (followers of Christ), then we must set our minds on the things of the Spirit. If we sow to the Spirit, we will reap from the Spirit.
So, if we are to take up our cross, and put our fleshly nature to death, subjecting it to the will and authority of God, then we must purposefully take our minds off the things of the flesh and set them on the things of the Spirit.
This battle is won or lost, first, in our minds. Remember Proverbs 23:7 which says, “For as he thinks within himself, so is he.”
This verse reminds us that our actions are a result of our thinking.
Now then, what are these things of the Spirit in which we should set our minds?
The things of the Spirit are the things of God.
And there is no better place to examine the things of God, than in His holy Word.
The Word of God also outlines His will for our lives.
So, in whatever way you may be struggling with your flesh today: the Word of God has your answer.
So be obedient, and set your mind to it.
You can begin by searching the Scriptures to see what the Word of God has to say about your particular issue.
I have found that the easiest and most effective way for me to set my mind on the things of the Spirit, is by meditating on the Scriptures as Joshua 1:8 outlines. (Learn how to meditate on the Word, here).
Joshua 1:8 also teaches us that if we meditate on the Word of God (day and night), then we will make our way prosperous and have success. God desires for us to have success in spiritual matters.
We are also reminded in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 that our weapons against the flesh are NOT physical but are spiritual. (Learn more about 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, here.)
This means we are to fight with the spiritual weapons that the Lord has provided.
So, let’s be successful, by following the Scriptures.
Let’s set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
Prayer & Praise for Our bible Study:
Lord Jesus, thank You for this time in the Word and thank You for that we have learned through this verse. May we seek You as we should, may we follow You as we ought. May we live in a manner that is pleasing in Your sight. In Your holy name we pray, amen.
