August 18, 2025 - Luke 9:23 - "The Daily Cross of the Disciple"

Luke 9:23

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

The LORD Jesus, in this solemn word, declares the true nature of discipleship. He is not calling men to add religious duty to their natural lives, nor is He bidding them to improve the flesh. He speaks to those whom the Father has given Him, those who will by His sovereign grace hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27-29). The call is universal in sound—“He said to them all”—yet it effectively reaches only the elect of God, for only they are given ears to hear (Matthew 11:15).

First, the LORD lays the necessity of self-denial. “Let him deny himself.” To deny oneself is not merely to refuse certain pleasures, but to renounce self-will altogether. The natural man seeks to exalt himself, to preserve his way, and to establish his righteousness (Romans 10:2, 3). But the disciple, taught by grace, learns that in himself dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18). He bows to the righteousness of Christ alone, confessing, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). By the sovereign grace of God in Christ, the sinner is brought to cease from self-confidence, resting wholly in Christ and His finished work on the cross for the justification of those the Father gave Him to save.

Secondly, the LORD requires us to take up the cross daily. The cross is not an ornament to wear as jewelry, but an instrument of death. To take it up is to embrace the reproach, suffering, and death to self that inevitably attend following Christ. It is not a once-for-all act of commitment to Christ, but a daily bowing to the LORD Jesus in identifying with Him in His death for His elect. Each day the believer, sustained by Grace, is called to reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our LORD (Romans 6:11). This daily bearing of the cross is not a work of human resolve, but the fruit of the Spirit’s continual operation within the soul, causing the believer to persevere in faith and a lifelong submission to Christ.

When our LORD spoke of “taking up the cross,” His hearers understood it not as a piece of jewelry to wear or a symbol of religion, but as an instrument of death. To “bear the cross” meant public shame, rejection, and the suffering of one condemned. Thus Christ pointed not to a light inconvenience, but to a radical identification with Him in His rejection by the world.

The cross was the very place where the LORD Jesus, the sin-Bearer, suffered under the wrath of God for the sins of His people (Isaiah 53:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:21). To “take up the cross” daily does not mean that a believer adds to Christ's finished work on the cross, but that he confesses openly: “I am one with Him Who was crucified for me.” Paul expressed this in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” The believer, through faith-union with Christ, reckons the old man as crucified with Him (Romans 6:6). Daily taking up the cross is the continual embrace of that death—turning from self-reliance, self-rule, and self-righteousness, and acknowledging that Christ bore the curse that was mine.

To follow Christ is to share in His reproach. The world that hated Him will also hate His disciples (John 15:18–19). Taking up the cross daily is symbolic of willingly bearing that reproach: confessing Christ before men, though it brings mockery, hostility, or loss. The apostle writes, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). To take up the cross is to accept this portion, not as punishment for sin (Christ alone bore that), but as the inevitable mark of being His.

Our LORD said “daily,” because discipleship is not a one-time resolve but a continual renunciation of self and a continual identification with Him. Each day the believer affirms:

• My righteousness is not my own but His.

• My hope is not in the world but in the crucified and risen Christ.

• My path is not one of ease, but of the faith of Christ and preservation by Him until glory.

This daily cross-bearing does not end in despair, but in glory. Just as Christ endured the cross and despised the shame for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), so those who bear His reproach will also reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12). So, taking up the cross daily symbolizes a believer’s conscious identification with Christ in His death for sin, expressed in self-denial and willingness to endure the world’s hostility, in the Faith and Hope of sharing His resurrection glory.

Finally, the Savior says, “Follow me.” Here lies the heart of discipleship—not merely rules kept, nor burdens to bear, but a Person to be followed. Christ Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. By sovereign grace, His sheep hear His voice, and He knows them, and they follow Him (John 10:27). They are not left to walk in their strength; the same Grace that called them out of darkness enables them to walk in His steps.

These words of our LORD Jesus reveal both the impossibility of discipleship in the flesh but the sufficiency of Christ in grace. What He commands, He supplies. The believer’s denial of self, daily cross-bearing, and following Christ all flow from union with Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us. Truly, Salvation is of the LORD, and discipleship is the effectual outworking of His sovereign grace in Christ Jesus.