"The denying ourselves and the taking up our cross, in
the full extent of the expression, is not a thing of small concern: It is not
expedient only, as are some of the circumstantials of religion; but it is
absolutely, indispensably necessary, either to our becoming or continuing [to
be] his disciples. It is absolutely
necessary, in the very nature of the thing, to our coming after Him and following Him; insomuch that, as far as we do
not practise it, we are not his disciples. If we do not continually deny
ourselves, we do not learn of [Messiah], but of other masters. If we do not
take up our cross daily, we do not come after Him, but after the world,
or the prince of the world, or our own fleshly mind. If we are not walking in
the way of the cross, we are not following Him; we are not treading in his
steps; but going back from, or at least wide of, Him." John Wesley,
"Self-Denial"
In this sermon of "Self-Denial",
John Wesley was specifically referring to Luke
9:23-24 in which Jesus says, "If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his own life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."
Make no mistake. This is not about the contemporary concept of
"personal salvation" by merely "accepting Jesus Christ as your personal
Lord and Savior", as popular in some traditions as this has become because
it is theologically and biblically questionable whether "personal
salvation" is even possible apart from intentional discipleship; that is,
"daily" following Messiah. And
what Jesus is talking about and what John Wesley is emphasizing is
discipleship; intentional, purposeful, sometimes radical, sometimes downright
dangerous discipleship. It is as literal
as the Bible can actually be except for one small misunderstanding; the life we
gain or lose is not necessarily nor exclusively being taught in terms of how we
have come to understand "martyrdom" - not strictly speaking, anyway. It is rather about a life devoted to Messiah rather
than to self.
We (that is, potential and active
disciples) are called by Jesus to "deny ourselves daily" of
our base instincts and selfish purposes.
We are to live our lives not according to our own desires or what society
or our culture expects from us, but we are rather called to follow Jesus and go
where He will lead us - never expecting or demanding even for a moment that He
will somehow turn and follow us in the path we choose for ourselves. This is NOT the role of a shepherd.
This is the trickiest part of trying to
understand what is happening with the disciples the day after the
Transfiguration (Luke 9:37-43). The disciples had been called upon to cast a
demon from a boy, but they apparently failed to do so even though they had been
empowered by our Lord to act in His behalf (Luke
9:1-5). What went wrong? What happened between the time of empowerment
and the time called upon to fulfill that empowerment and put it to good use?
Clearly the disciples were unable to
cast this demon from this boy and it might have been easy for them to believe
only the Lord to be powerful enough to deal with this particular demon, yet
Jesus did not allow that they were incapable or that this task was perhaps just
a little too big for them. They were unable
to do what they had been empowered to do because they had been unwilling
to submit themselves fully to that empowerment.
The disciples were unable to cast this demon out because they were
depending on their own resources - which, it turns out, they didn't have. And they didn't have what they needed
because, as Jesus suggests, there was a substantial "disconnect" by
their own neglect; maybe their arrogance.
A detail that Luke leaves out in this confrontation is recorded in Matthew's and Mark's gospel. Each account
follows the Transfiguration and nearly every detail is present except for this
one explanation from Jesus as to why the disciples were unable to cast this
demon out: "This kind does not go out except by prayer and
fasting" (Mt 17:21). And Mark's
gospel, in addition to the fasting and prayer prescription, gives this simple
admonition: "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who
believes" (Mark 9:23).
And this, I think, is where the real
"litmus test" of discipleship rests because I might suggest many of
us, maybe even most of us, have an intellectual willingness to
acknowledge Jesus as Messiah because it is what we have been taught since
Vacation Bible School; but to BELIEVE, to EMBRACE from the depth
of one's soul (that is, to give oneself fully to the better part of who we
truly are) means we have to dig much deeper.
I suspect many of us find ourselves in the same spiritual place as the
father of the possessed child as recorded in Mark's gospel: "Lord, I believe; help my
unbelief" (9:24); because,
truly, when and where have any of us really been so spiritually pushed? We WANT to believe but if we are unwilling to
completely submit and let go of everything around us, how committed can we
really claim to be?
It is not enough to be "astounded
at the greatness of God" as the crowd was after Jesus had cast the
demon from the boy; that "astonishment" alone did not make
them disciples. It was not enough for
the Israelites to be astounded at the Parting of the Red Sea and it was never
enough for the Israelites to witness the power of the Lord when they watched
water come from a rock or when they gathered manna every morning for each day's
sustenance for the journey. There is
nothing "radical" about being astounded or amazed.
I know from speaking with several that
many have personally witnessed what they would call a "miracle",
being amazed at the power of the Lord at work, but that's THE LORD'S POWER -
not the "empowerment" He offers to His disciples. That kind of empowerment, according to our Holy
Father's Messiah, is going to require much more from us than intellectual
acknowledgement, a profession of faith, a personal credo, or even a willingness
to "be
astounded". No, we are
going to have to go deeper.
It is as St. James points out in his
epistle, it is not enough to "believe with fear and trembling as the
demons do". And it is not
enough to mindlessly claim to be a Christian without the real mark and measure
and intentional effort of discipleship.
Consider Jesus' admonition to His disciples after they had failed to
cast out the demon. Jesus was not amused
at their failure; He seemed rather put out with them that they were incapable
of acting in His behalf for His people!
"You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be
with you and bear with you?"
Think of a parent, after showing a child
time and time again how to do something and the child still can't quite get
it? Good
grief, child, how many more times do I have to show you?? Each is being prepared for the day when
the parent - or Jesus - will no longer be around to do the things which must be
done! But the child does not quite grasp
because the child is not completely committed to the task. Nor are the disciples; not enough to have done
the necessary prep work BEFOREHAND - fasting and prayer.
The time was coming for the disciples,
and is upon us now, when we will be called up to act in the name of Jesus on
behalf of Jesus for those who cannot do for themselves! Yet we should not be surprised that nothing
happens by our hands if we lack the discipline of being truly, genuinely, and
completely connected with our Lord through "prayer and fasting". According to Jesus, it is the only way anything of any real consequence is going to
happen. Oh, we can go through the
motions, of course, but we have learned to trust in modern medicine or the
government to get the really "astounding" or "amazing"
things done.
It is not enough to simply acknowledge
that our lives are pretty good just as they are. This is a little too inwardly focused to
really be "kingdom-oriented"; and "kingdom-oriented" is
what disciples of Christ are called to be!
It is not about "me"; it never was. To claim a "personal" salvation and
then reject opportunities for discipleship calls into question what we
actually, deep-in-the-soul, believe about our Lord and the mission of His
Church to which disciples are called.
The "radical way" of
discipleship - when it stops being about "us" and our
"personal" issues and "personal" blessings - is but a
"fast and a prayer" away.
It is by "fasting and prayer" that the
forces of this world will no longer have power and dominion over us because we
are, by "fasting and prayer", completely submitting
ourselves to our Lord and His Will and His Way ... and His POWER and His
EMPOWERMENT!
Maybe this is precisely why devotion to serious,
self-sacrificing fasting and serious, contemplative prayer have gone largely by
the wayside; we are afraid of what the Lord may actually call upon us to do, or
we are unwilling to heed that call. Or
our faith, such as it is, is a little too "personal"; that is,
without regard for anyone else. That is
NOT our Methodist heritage. That is NOT
discipleship.
If we want to serve Him, truly serve
Him; Jesus is offering the means by which truly committing ourselves to Him is
even possible: denying ourselves
daily in fasting and serious prayer.
That is to say, deliberately setting aside time each day to put aside
creature comforts and the burdens of work and connect only with Him - just
as Jesus did the many times He went away to pray.
Going without food for the modern
Christian is not so radical. Saying a
prayer while engaged in some other activity is not so radical. Serving our Lord fully and completely and
being earnest in discipleship and the means of grace like fasting and prayer,
Scripture study and worship of our Lord?
That is truly the "radical way". And THAT is who and what we are called to
be.
In the name of the Father, the Son, the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
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