What Is a Disciple?Намуна

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves" Mark 8:34-38

The first step of discipleship is to ‘deny yourself.’

But what exactly are we to deny?

There’s a testimony that you sometimes hear in Youth Groups which goes something like this; ‘I love playing the keyboards, so I wasn’t surprised when the Lord told me to give it up’. Or, ‘the one place I don’t like is *blank*, but that was the place God wanted me to go to.’

Frankly, I don’t have much time for this sort of ‘testimony.’ If the Lord has given you a gift, then he’s given it to you to use it!

So, what are we to deny?

We find the answer by looking at the context. Jesus says this immediately after Peter has tried to correct Jesus’s clear statement that he will be crucified.

But Jesus immediately rebuked Peter – and he did it publicly!

Choosing to deny yourself means choosing to deny your right to plan your own future. It means choosing Jesus’ plan for your life and laying aside your own plans.

The rich young man described in Matthew 19:22 chose not to deny himself. He had great riches, and he wanted to use them his way.

Jesus told two others that following him would mean not knowing where you would sleep at night and not having the time to attend your own father’s funeral (Matthew 8:20-22).

We’re not told if either of them chose to follow Jesus.

And there are others who like the seed sown on the rocky ground or among the thorns will need to keep money and wealth firmly in second place, and when the difficulties of life press in they know that they must keep on prioritising Jesus above all the other demands of life.

Denying yourself means turning away from hatred and sexual immorality because they damage us and others and turning away from idolatry because that ruins our love and obedience for Jesus (Acts 15:38-39, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 10:14).

Denying yourself means fully accepting that there will be tangible, difficult, very real sacrifices and costs. These will come at the beginning, the middle, and the end of our lives.

Stories from the Kingdom:

Years ago, I remember meeting an outstandingly gifted man who was on track to become a leading doctor in this country. But the Lord had called him and his wife – through the prophetic picture of a bottle of perfume being poured out – to be pioneer missionaries in Nepal. Graham Scott-Brown and his wife sacrificed their careers so they could serve Christ and help establish the church in that country. They later founded ‘the Shining Hospital’ in Pokhara. (They left a wonderful legacy both in the Kingdom of Nepal, and in the kingdom of heaven.)