Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Costly Call of Christ: Losing Life to Save It (Luke 9:23–24)

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The Costly Call of Christ: Losing Life to Save It (Luke 9:23–24) · Reformed Thinking

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Reformed thinking. Welcome to the deep dive.
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Our mission here is to take a stack of sources, theological
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arguments, historical context, linguistic analysis, and just
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pull out the essential Nuggets that help you become truly well
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informed. Today we are diving into a
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really searching passage of scripture.
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It's one that acts like a surgical scalpel in the human
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heart. Luke Chapter 9, verses 23 and
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24. You know, the modern cultural
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script is pretty much built on self preservation and autonomy.
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We're always told look within, follow your truth, protect your
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inner peace. Right, it's all about the self.
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Exactly. And into that context, Jesus
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delivers words that should sound frankly shocking to our ears.
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He says if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
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and take up his cross daily and follow me, for whoever would
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save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for
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my sake will save it. It's a complete inversion of
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everything we're taught to value.
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It is. This isn't just, you know, a
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strong piece of ethical advice. It's a complete returning of the
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assumed logic of existence. So today we're unpacking this
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specific saying to see what the cost truly is, how it redefines
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true life, and how this one statement acts as a critical
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doctrinal filter, correcting some major theological errors we
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see today. And setting the context for this
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statement is absolutely essential, because these verses
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are not some random proverb Jesus just offered in passing.
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The sources we've looked at all highlight this as the decisive
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turning point in Luke's entire gospel narrative.
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So what's happening right before this?
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Well, just moments before this teaching, the disciples have
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received what they think is the final confirmation of everything
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they've been hoping for. Peter has just delivered this
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massive confession recognizing Jesus as the Christ of God.
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The peak moment. The absolute peak.
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This is the realization that their leader is the promised
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Messiah, the king who's going to restore Israel.
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You can just imagine the excitement.
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But that's that's not what happens.
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Not at all. Instead of accepting the crown
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that Peter is basically offering him, Jesus immediately delivers
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a shock correction. He ties his messianic identity
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directly to rejection and death. He predicts the Passion, saying
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the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected and be
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killed. So he connects being the Christ
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with being killed. Precisely, And that teaching
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establishes A devastating connection.
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If the Christ's path runs directly through suffering
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before he gets to glory, then his followers, the ones who
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claim to be on his team, they can't expect a different Rd.
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This is the the paradoxical logic of the Kingdom we have to
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uncover. OK, let's unpack that
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juxtaposition. Because it is seismic, it's
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completely disorienting, especially for that original
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audience. Peter uses the highest possible
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title, the Christ Messiah, and Jesus instantly links that title
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not to triumph, but to the lowest, most shameful form of
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death imaginable, the cross. Right.
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The disciples, like pretty much everyone in 1st century Israel,
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had a very politicized idea of the Messiah.
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They were expecting political deliverance, national
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restoration, visible earthly glory.
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A king who would kick out the Romans.
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Exactly. A king who would execute
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judgment and restore Israel's sovereignty.
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And Jesus just completely shatters that notion.
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He establishes that the cross wasn't some unfortunate accident
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or a last minute detour on the way to the throne.
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It was the destination. It was the destination.
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It was the road map. The cross defined his entire
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mission and his methodology. You know, we talked about that
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analogy of the campaign manager. It fits so well here.
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Peter expects this prestigious cabinet position.
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He's thinking, great, I'm going to be the chief of staff in the
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new global Kingdom. He's standing right next to the
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candidate who is guaranteed a landslide allied victory.
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The inauguration is just around the corner, but immediately
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after Peter sort of accepts the job, the candidate pulls him
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aside and says that's right, I am the king.
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But to win this, I first have to be arrested, publicly shamed,
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falsely accused and executed by the state.
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And not just that, he adds. And if you want to be on my
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staff, you have to be willing to be arrested and potentially
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executed right next to me. It's a total correction.
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The victory doesn't come by bypassing the graveyard.
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The entire path is the graveyard.
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And that correction is so much more than just an ethical
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instruction. It is structurally significant
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for Luke's gospel as a whole. This teaching really sets the
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stage for the entire journey narrative in Luke.
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OK. What do you mean by that?
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Well, a little bit later in Luke 9.51, the text says that Jesus
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set his face to go to Jerusalem. This isn't just a geographical
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note like he's plugging it into his GPS.
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It's a declaration of resolve. He's on a mission.
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He's on a mission, and from that point on in the narrative, the
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entire gospel is structured as this steady, determined March
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toward the cross. The cross becomes the
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theological destination, and this teaching we're looking at
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in 9.23 provides the the essential theological equipment
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you need for that journey. So without this teaching, they'd
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be following him for all the wrong reasons.
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Exactly. Followers have to clearly grasp
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that coming after Jesus means walking the cross directed Rd.
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their leader is walking. Without this clarification, the
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disciples would be following a fantasy, expecting an immediate
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coronation when their master was actually heading toward an
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execution. It fundamentally separates true
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allegiance from, you know, misplaced messianic enthusiasm.
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In this context, it feels right into Luke's central theme,
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doesn't it? This theme of the Great
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Reversal. It absolutely does.
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This passage crystallizes that great reversal theme which Luke
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introduces right at the very beginning with Mary's
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Magnificat. You know, God bringing down the
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mighty from their Thrones and exalting those of humble state.
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Luke consistently details how God operates, counterintuitively
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overturning our human expectations and our status
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systems. And here Jesus applies it to
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life itself. That's it.
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He applied that paradox to the very nature of existence.
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The highest good, true eternal life is found by embracing what
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the world calls the lowest form of loss, self surrender and
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public rejection. The Kingdom operates on a
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completely inverted economy. The world says he who climbs
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highest wins. Jesus says he who descends
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lowest in service and self loss will be raised.
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This establishes that paradoxical divine logic that
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governs the Kingdom. The path to true life is found
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only through the apparent loss of self surrender, aligning the
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disciples life with that upside down economy of God.
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The victory isn't achieved by avoiding the cross, but by
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embracing it in imitation of the Master.
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OK, let's get into the specifics of the commands themselves,
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these three inseparable imperatives that define what it
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means to follow Christ. And a key point you raised
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earlier. Jesus addresses these words to
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all, not just to the 12. This isn't some optional elite
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spiritual program. No, this is the normal pattern
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of the Christian life for everyone.
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So the first command is, I think, the most countercultural
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one, both then and now. Let him deny himself.
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The Greek is Aparna Sastafutzan, you said.
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That's a pretty strong term. It's a very strong term for
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repudiation. In fact, it's the exact same
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intense language that's used later in the Gospel when Peter
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denies even knowing Jesus. Wow.
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So if you're using that same strong language to describe
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denying yourself, you're talking about a decisive, total
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abdication of sovereignty, a complete repudiation of your own
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self rule. That's where I need some
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clarification because I often hear people talk about
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self-discipline or moral improvement.
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You know, eating less junk food, getting up earlier, being nicer
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to your neighbor. How does deny himself differ
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from say, Stoicism or just any secular moral effort?
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If I'm denying myself, am I not just engaging in a better form
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of self-control? That's a vital distinction, and
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it goes right to the heart of Reformed theology, particularly
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regarding the fallen nature of man.
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See, self-discipline suggests that the self is still the
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manager, just a more demanding and morally rigorous 1.
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The self is still fundamentally in charge, still holding the
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steering wheel, just trying to follow a better map.
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Jesus demands total abdication, and we have to grasp the point
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our sources make. The autonomous self is not
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neutral. It is inherently corrupted by
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thin, always seeking to be its own God.
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It's a rival claimant to lordship.
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The autonomous self is well, it's an illegal entity sitting
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on the throne of your life. Till other philosophies try to
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reform the self. They try to reform it, maybe
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educate it. Christ demands that the
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autonomous self be dethroned. Self denial is a total refusal
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of the self's claim to ultimate authority so that Christ can be
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enthroned instead. You aren't erasing your worth as
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an image bearer of God. You're correcting the
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fundamental error in the hierarchy of your loyalties.
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I really appreciate that image of dethroning the usurper
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because it makes it clear this is a political act, not just an
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ethical one. It's like imagine the autonomous
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self is the mutinous first mate who has seized control of the
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ship and locked the rightful captain below deck.
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That works. Self denial isn't the mutinous
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mate just deciding to follow a better navigation chart or to
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clean the deck. Better self denial is unlocking
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the rig, handing the keys back to the captain to Christ,
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stepping away from the helm and saying I have no right to
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command this vessel. I have been in rebellion.
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You are the master, I am the servant.
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It's the restoration of the rightful hierarchy of the soul.
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That abdication is where the life of the disciple actually
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begins. And building immediately on that
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necessary abdication, we move right to the second command.
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Take up his cross daily again. Heart and strong will to Cath
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humorin. We really have to recover the
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sheer horror of what the Cross meant to that original audience.
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Yeah, it wasn't a metaphor for a tough day in the office.
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Absolutely not. The cross did not mean a
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difficult illness or a grumpy spouse or financial set back.
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Historically, the cross meant public shame and the most brutal
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form of execution. It was reserved for the lowest
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criminals and rebellious slaves. When Jesus commanded them to
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pick up their cross, he was essentially telling them, start
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walking to your execution site. It signifies total
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identification with the rejection and the shame of
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Jesus. So the implication is that if
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you follow Christ, you have to accept the world's judgement on
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you. That's it.
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The world executed Jesus. The world will reject those who
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claim allegiance to him. You're signing up for that.
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And that distinction is so crucial because we have totally
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sanitized the language of the cross today.
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We treat it like a piece of attractive jewelry, but
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historically, telling someone to take up their cross was like the
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state ordering them to die. It's about accepting the
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consequences that come from choosing loyalty to Christ over
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loyalty to your own personal safety, your reputation, or your
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comfort. And what makes Luke's record of
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this so unique, which we must not just pass over, is his
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inclusion of that one word daily.
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Kev Hammerin This takes the whole concept of cross bearing
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out of the realm of, say, exceptional martyrdom, like
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facing a lion in the Coliseum, and brings it right into the
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continual pattern of everyday life.
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So it's not a one time heroic act, no.
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The historical cross meant one brutal final act of surrender.
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The daily cross means a constant UN heroic readiness to choose
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faithfulness over comfort, reputation or safety in the
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mundane, ordinary struggles of life.
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That inclusion of daily is really the definitive antidote
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to the idea that discipleship is just reserved for these high
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stakes moral dilemmas. The cross isn't only for the
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martyr. It's for the manager choosing
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ethical integrity over a promotion, or the parent
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choosing patience over an outburst, or the student
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choosing truth over social approval.
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Yes, and this daily dying involves the practical holiness
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we associate with sanctification.
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It means saying a specific, continuous NO to the specific
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desires and sins that our autonomous self wants to
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indulge, whether that's sexual temptation, greed, destructive
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pride, or simmering resentment. You deny those specific desires
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because they no longer define you as a disciple.
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Christ does. And this daily bearing of the
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cross is the complete antithesis of any teaching, like prosperity
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theology, that promises circumstantial ease.
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So if we combine the 1st 2, we see the movement you are not now
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self rule and then you embrace the continual consequences of
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that renunciation and then we get to the third command and
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following. Right.
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And this provides the necessary relational direction.
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It ensures that the 1st 2 commands aren't just some
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generic asceticism like going on a strict diet or choosing
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voluntary hardship for its own sake.
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It's not. Suffering for suffering's sake.
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No, it anchors the cost in loyalty to a specific person,
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Christ. The verb follow implies an
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ongoing habitual action. And since Jesus is resolutely
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heading toward Jerusalem and his ultimate rejection, following
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him means walking that same cross directed Rd. stepping
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exactly where he steps. It binds the disciples life to
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the King's trajectory. So to summarize that movement,
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you can see how these three commands really describe a
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single, unified, continuous action.
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You have to renounce self, rule, deny self.
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You have to embrace the consequences of that allegiance,
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take up the cross daily, and you have to move forward in Christ's
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footsteps, follow Him. You can't separate them.
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You can't. A life that is truly trusting in
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Christ will be accompanied by this costly obedience.
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It's sort of like being a reservist soldier in occupied
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territory. You aren't called to someone
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time, heroic act of war. You have to put on the uniform,
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the cross daily, signaling to everyone around you which side
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you are on, despite all the hostility and shame it might
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invite from the occupying forces, which is, you know, the
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surrounding world's culture. And if you take that uniform off
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to blend in and be safe, you're abandoning your commander.
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Which brings us right to the core of the paradoxical logic
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that Jesus lays out in the very next verse.
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Right, we have to look at the great reversal that's
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articulated in Luke 9.24. For whoever would save his life
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will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save
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it. This is the core paradoxical
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divine logic of the Kingdom. And that first part of the
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statement, the fatal logic of self preservation.
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That's what the entire modern world system runs on.
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The drive to save your life, meaning clinging to autonomy,
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control, comfort, maximizing your own agenda.
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It feels entirely reasonable. It looks like wisdom, prudence,
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even psychological health to arrange your life to maximize
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safety and social approval right now.
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But Jesus calls that strategy suicidal.
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He does. The sources are clear that the
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outcome is certain. Whoever attempts to hoard their
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life will lose it. By clinging to the temporary,
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fleeting security, the present, the individual forfeits the
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eternal future. They secure the perishable now
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at the expense of the everlasting later.
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So theologically, this drive to hoard life and cling to
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self-control, what is that? It's identified as a form of
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practical unbelief. It judges present fleeting
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security as more trustworthy than Christ's eternal promises.
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It implicitly decides that Jesus's way, the way of the
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cross, is just too dangerous to be worth the risk.
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It refuses the pattern of the master because it prioritizes
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immediate visible payoff over the invisible future
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preservation. But the saving logic, the
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surrender of self loss, it turns that completely on its head.
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Completely. When Jesus speaks of losing
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life, he means a deliberate surrender out of loyalty to
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Christ. It means accepting the manifold
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losses, the loss of status, the loss of comfort, the loss of
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certain relationships, maybe the loss of financial opportunities
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that come with being faithful to Him.
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And the promise is that the life handed over to Christ is
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preserved eternally. The true outcome is revealed in
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the resurrection. So you're living by faith in an
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unseen future rather than by the sight of present advantages.
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Exactly. I want to spend a moment on the
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theological mechanics of why this reversal works.
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Why do you have to lose your life as a master to save it as a
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creature? Well, it works because of the
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nature of the self we established earlier.
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The self is the rival claimant to lordship as long as that
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usurper is on the throne. The person is disconnected from
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God, who is the source of all life.
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So to save your life by your own control is to keep the usurper
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in power, and that guarantees destruction.
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The self is rightly ordered only when it is surrendered to
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Christ's Lordship. So by surrendering your life, by
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losing it as the master. You're placing it back under the
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authority of the Creator, who alone can sustain it and give it
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eternal purpose. And secondly, the logic works
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because it follows the singular divine pattern established by
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the King himself. The cross before the crown, The
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Messiah descends into suffering to be exalted.
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The Master walked the road of loss and rejection to gain
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ultimate life and victory. So the disciple must follow that
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same cross directed Rd. We have to descend into service
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and death. The death of our self will to be
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raised into true life. So the ultimate decision this
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passage forces on us is really about investment.
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Where are you investing your true capital?
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Are you investing in a collapsing asset, your earthly
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life hoarded and controlled? Or are you investing in the
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promise of Christ? That's a great way to frame it.
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Let's go back to that image of the man holding a block of ice
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in a hot desert. That block of ice represents his
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earthly life, his comfort, his status.
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The world tells him to clutch it tightly to his chest, self
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preservation to protect it. Right, Keep it for yourself.
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But the tighter he holds it, the faster his own body heat and the
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external temperature just ensure it melts, leaving him with
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nothing but wet hands. It's utterly lost.
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And the divine logic says, pour it out into the roots of the
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tree of life, which is Christ. To the eyes of the world, this
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looks like complete waste. You're losing the water, losing
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the comfort, the money, the potential safety.
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But by losing it into the tree, by surrendering it out of
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loyalty to Christ commands, the water is absorbed, it's
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preserved, and it's transformed into fruit that lasts forever.
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You lose the ice to save the water.
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And this applies directly to our modern ethical and financial
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choices. If a career path demands you
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deny Christ in subtle ways, working on the Lord's Day,
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engaging in mild fraud, promoting ungodly ideologies,
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clinging to that job is saving your life and will result in
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ultimate loss. But losing that job, for
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Christ's sake, pouring the water into the tree, that's the
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pathway to eternal preservation. OK, now that we've defined the
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costly call and the paradoxical logic, we can see why Luke
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9.2324 has such a powerful corrective function.
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It really serves as a vital doctrinal filter that exposes
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and corrects 3 specific theological errors that are,
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well, really prevalent today, especially within modern
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Protestantism. The first correction is against
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legalism. OK, so define the error of
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legalism here. The error of legalism assumes
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that your self denial and your suffering earn your salvation.
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It effectively turns the cross we bear into a ladder that you
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try to climb to get into God's favor.
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The legalist believes they have to accumulate enough moral
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performance or personal suffering to prove they're
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worthy of God's acceptance. And how does the text correct
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that? The text corrects this by
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clearly establishing that cross bearing is the appointed path
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for those who are already reconciled by grace and
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justified by faith. It is not the grand of our
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acceptance. We cannot be accepted by God
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based on our self denial. Christ's atoning work is
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completely sufficient. Our cross contributes nothing to
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the satisfaction of divine justice.
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So if Christ's finished work is sufficient and we're justified
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freely by grace through faith, why is it necessary for the
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disciple to suffer rejection and loss?
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Isn't that just redundant suffering?
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That is the question that separates true faith from mere
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belief. It's not redundant because our
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cross bearing is not atoning, it's imitative.
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We follow the footsteps of Christ, accepting the path He
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appoints for His loyal subjects. We carry the cross because we
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have been made children of God and are united to Him, not in
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order to become one. The cost is required by
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Lordship, not by justification. So if you're carrying your cross
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to try and earn justification, you're a legalist.
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And your work is useless. But if you were carrying your
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cross as the natural consequence of having received
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justification, then your work is the evidence of true life.
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OK. The second correction targets
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easy believism, or what's often called decisionism, right?
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The error here is reducing salvation to a momentary
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decision, a quick prayer raised hand, a mental ascent.
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And then treating the subsequent shape of 1's life as basically
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optional. Christ as Savior, but self as
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Lord. Exactly.
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It presents Christ as a kind of spiritual accessory that you add
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to an otherwise unchanged self-directed life.
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The goal is to maximize the benefits of heaven without
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minimizing the comforts of earth.
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And Jesus just allows no room for that.
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Absolutely no separation between trusting Him and following Him.
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The text insists that saving faith is not merely intellectual
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ascent. It is a living act of reliance
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that issues in repentance and subsequent action.
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A Christ who never crosses our will or cost us nothing in terms
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of our comfort, relationships, or reputation is simply not the
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Christ of Scripture. So if a person claims to have
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faith but refuses to deny the self daily or bear the cross,
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the logic of this passage would lead us to question the nature
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of that faith. It has to.
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True faith is an entrustment of 1's whole life to him, which
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inevitably results in a cross shaped life.
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The decisionist tries to save his life by keeping the
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spiritual realm separate from the practical realm, but Jesus
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says the price of following him is total self liquidation daily.
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And the third major error corrected is prosperity
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theology. And this is perhaps the most
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culturally pervasive error that Jesus's words address.
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This teaching promises health, wealth, and earthly success as
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the guaranteed outcome of faith. It views God primarily as a
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means to maximize your personal comfort and preserve your life
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in this present age. It's the ultimate attempt to
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save one's life now. It is, it claims, a temporary
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blessing as an eternal entitlement.
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And the correction here is simple and stark.
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And it comes right from the historical context we discussed.
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Jesus establishes a cross before crown pattern.
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The disciple is called to union with a suffering Savior and is
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not guaranteed circumstantial ease.
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In fact, Jesus suggests the opposite.
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Expect rejection and loss daily. So to preach a gospel of
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guaranteed earthly comfort directly contradicts the command
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to embrace daily rejection. It's a profound and dangerous
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inversion. The disciple is called to lose
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their life in this age, accepting hardship, financial
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set back relational strain to save it in the age to come.
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We see prosperity theology manifest in the church whenever
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difficult commands are ignored or when people change churches
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because their current spiritual environment feels too
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challenging or not sufficiently blessed.
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They're refusing the cross directed Rd.
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Because they're chasing an immediate coronation that was
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never promised. And we can probably illustrate
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all three of these errors and distinguish them from true
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discipleship using that analogy of the marriage covenant.
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Yeah, that's a good one. So legalism would be like
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washing the dishes every single night in a desperate attempt to
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earn the status of being a spouse.
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You're trying to make the marriage status a payment due
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for your effort, rather than a gift received by covenant.
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Right and easy believism is saying I do at the wedding
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ceremony but then going home to live like a single bachelor.
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You refuse to share a life with your partner or let their will
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disrupt your own routines, your finances or your comfort.
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You claim the title but refuse the life.
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And prosperity theology. That's marrying someone solely
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for their presumed wealth or status.
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You expect them to cater to your every whim while you sacrifice
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nothing of your own comfort. And you're ready to file for
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divorce the moment any financial difficulty or rejection comes
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along. So what's true discipleship in
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this analogy? True discipleship is the daily
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costly labor of love that flows naturally from the fact that you
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are married and united to the one you love.
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The work, the self sacrifice, is the fruit of the union, not the
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purchase of it. That distinction, fruit not
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purchase, is essential. As we turn to the Reformed
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integration of this demanding passage, we have to hold the
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doctrine of justification by faith alone, which is central to
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our WCF adherence with this costly demand for total daily
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obedience. And the answer lies in that
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theological concept of distinction without separation.
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First, we have to clarify the nature of saving faith itself.
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True faith is not just intellectual assent to a list of
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facts. It is the act of entrusting
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one's whole life, including yourself, your comfort, your
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future, to Christ. The paradox of losing life to
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save. It belongs to the very nature of
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saving faith itself. You cannot truly trust Him as
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Savior while reserving the right to refuse Him as Lord of your
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daily life. And this directly reaffirms the
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rejection of legalism. Absolutely, we have to hold fast
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to the sufficiency of Christ's work.
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The cross of disciple bearers contributes nothing to the
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satisfaction of divine justice. We follow the footsteps,
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accepting the difficult path because He commands it.
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But we were not climbing a ladder to earn favor.
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We run the race of obedience from acceptance, not to it.
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And this is exactly what our confessional heritage, the
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Westminster Confession, affirms. It is, it teaches that
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justification and sanctification, though they are
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distinct in concept, are inseparable in reality.
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Good works and costly obedience, including self denial and cross
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bearing, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively
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faith. The faith that justifies is
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never alone. So a life that is truly trusting
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in Christ will inevitably be reoriented around his Lordship,
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which means embracing the cross shaped life, right?
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The doctrine of solified ensures that we are not earning our
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place, but the doctrine of union with Christ ensures that once we
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are placed in Him, we cannot remain unchanged.
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The two cannot be turned apart because both justification and
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sanctification flow from that union with Christ.
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Those who are truly united to Him will inevitably share in the
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pattern of His obedience, which includes suffering and
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rejection. We can clarify this whole
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relationship using that heart transplant analogy one last
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time, applying it to all three errors.
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So if justification is the heart transplant, the free gift of a
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new life and acceptance by God, then cross bearing is the
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painful rehabilitation that has to follow.
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Legalism is saying if you run enough marathons, carry the
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cross and suffer enough, then the doctor will give you a new
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heart. And that's false.
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You can't earn the heart. It's a gift of grace.
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And easy believism is saying the doctor gave me a new heart but I
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plan to stay in the hospital bed and never walk again because
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walking is uncomfortable. That is also false.
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A healthy heart inevitably produces activity and the
26:17
strength to walk. So the biblical view grounded in
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grace says. It says because, and only
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because you now have this new beating heart inside you, you
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will get up and walk and run the race, even when the
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rehabilitation is painful and demands self denial.
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The Walking, the costly obedience, is the proof of the
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life, not the purchase of it. And finally, this whole process
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aligns perfectly with that great reversal that Jesus introduced.
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Justification requires you to despair of your own ability to
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save your life or earn your acceptance.
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That is the ultimate reversal of human instinct.
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You have to lose the claim to autonomy and sovereignty to find
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preservation in Christ. Well said.
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So to recap, we've seen how Luke 9.2324 is Christ's comprehensive
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call to abdicate the throne of self, to embrace daily rejection
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and loss, and to follow His cross directed path.
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It is the defining, non negotiable structure of life in
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the Kingdom, not some elective course for spiritual
27:14
enthusiasts. That's right.
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And the passage forces a very clear confrontation with the
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idolatry of comfort in our own lives.
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It makes you ask, to what extent have I quietly arranged my life,
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my career, my spending, my time to ensure that following Christ
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never truly costs me anything significant?
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Have we secured our reputation, our finances, or our
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relationships by compromising on the full implications of wearing
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the uniform of the cross? Are be seeking to preserve a
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life that Christ says is doomed to loft.
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And the divine logic of the passage assures us that the only
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life that is truly secured is the one that has been fully
27:46
surrendered. The comfort we forfeit, the
27:49
status we lose, for Christ's sake, that's the only capitalist
27:52
preserves forever. So this leaves us all with the
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ultimate choice. Are you seeking to save your
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life on your own terms, clean to control and comfort, which risks
28:00
ultimate destruction? Or are you willing to lose it
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for Christ's sake, trusting that only in Him will your life be
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truly and eternally saved?