SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Devotional Thoughts : Matthew 6:24 ~ Matthew Henry

Print Thread (PDF)

PosterThread









 Matthew 6:24 ~ Matthew Henry

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

2. What are the great things required of those that will be Christ's disciples; If any man will come, ei tis thelei—If any man be willing to come. It denotes a deliberate choice, and cheerfulness and resolution in that choice. Many are disciples more by chance or the will of others than by any act of their own will; but Christ will have his people volunteers, Ps. cx. 3. It is as if Christ had said, "If any of the people that are not my disciples, be steadfastly minded to come to me, and if you that are, be in like manner minded to adhere to me, it is upon these terms, these and no other; you must follow me in sufferings as well as in other things, and therefore when you sit down to count the cost, reckon upon it."

Now what are these terms?

(1.) Let him deny himself. Peter had advised Christ to spare himself, and would be ready, in the like case, to take the advice; but Christ tells them all, they must be so far from sparing themselves, that they must deny themselves. Herein they must come after Christ, for his birth, and life, and death, were all a continued act of self-denial, a self-emptying, Phil. ii. 7, 8. If self-denial be a hard lesson, and against the grain to flesh and blood, it is no more than what our Master learned and practised before us and for us, both for our redemption and for our instruction; and the servant is not above his lord.

Note, All the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ must deny themselves. It is the fundamental law of admission into Christ's school, and the first and great lesson to be learned in this school, to deny ourselves; it is both the strait gate, and the narrow way; it is necessary in order to our learning all the other good lessons that are there taught. We must deny ourselves absolutely, we must not admire our own shadow, nor gratify our own humour; we must not lean to our own understanding, nor seek our own things, nor be our own end. We must deny ourselves comparatively; we must deny ourselves for Christ, and his will and glory, and the service of his interest in the world; we must deny ourselves for our brethren, and for their good; and we must deny ourselves for ourselves, deny the appetites of the body for the benefit of the soul.

(2.) Let him take up his cross. The cross is here put for all sufferings, as men or Christians; providential afflictions, persecutions for righteousness' sake, every trouble that befals us, either for doing well or for not doing ill. The troubles of Christians are fitly called crosses, in allusion to the death of the cross, which Christ was obedient to; and it should reconcile us to troubles, and take off the terror of them, that they are what we bear in common with Christ, and such as he hath borne before us.

Note, [1.] Every disciple of Christ hath his cross, and must count upon it; as each hath his special duty to be done, so each hath his special trouble to be borne, and every one feels most from his own burthen. Crosses are the common lot of God's children, but of this common lot each hath his particular share. That is our cross which Infinite Wisdom has appointed for us, and a Sovereign Providence has laid on us, as fittest for us. It is good for us to call the cross we are under our own, and entertain it accordingly. We are apt to think we could bear such a one's cross better than our own; but that is best which is, and we ought to make the best of it.

[2.] Every disciple of Christ must take up that which the wise God hath made his cross. It is an allusion to the Roman custom of compelling those that were condemned to be crucified, to carry their cross: when Simon carried Christ's cross after him, this phrase was illustrated.

First, It is supposed that the cross lies in our way, and is prepared for us. We must not make crosses to ourselves, but must accommodate ourselves to those which God has made for us. Our rule is, not to go a step out of the way of duty, either to meet a cross, or to miss one. We must not by our rashness and indiscretion pull crosses down upon our own heads, but must take them up when they are laid in our way. We must so manage an affliction, that it may not be a stumbling-block or hindrance to us in any service we have to do for God. We must take it up out of our way, by getting over the offence of the cross; None of these things move me; and we must then go on with it in our way, though it lie heavy.

Secondly, That which we have to do, is, not only to bear the cross (that a stock, or a stone, or a stick may do), not only to be silent under it, but we must take up the cross, must improve it to some good advantage. We should not say, "This is an evil, and I must bear it, because I cannot help it;" but, "This is an evil, and I will bear it, because it shall work for my good." When we rejoice in our afflictions, and glory in them, then we take up the cross. This fitly follows upon denying ourselves; for he that will not deny himself the pleasures of sin, and the advantages of this world for Christ, when it comes to the push, will never have the heart to take up his cross. "He that cannot take up the resolution to live a saint, has a demonstration within himself, that he is never likely to die a martyr;" so Archbishop Tillotson.

(3.) Let him follow me, in this particular of taking up the cross. Suffering saints must look unto Jesus, and take from him both direction and encouragement in suffering. Do we bear the cross? We therein follow Christ, who bears it before us, bears it for us, and so bears it from us. He bore the heavy end of the cross, the end that had the curse upon it, that was a heavy end, and so made the other light and easy for us. Or, we may take it in general, we must follow Christ in all instances of holiness and obedience.

Note, The disciples of Christ must study to imitate their Master, and conform themselves in every thing to his example, and continue in well-doing, whatever crosses lie in their way. To do well and to suffer ill, is to follow Christ. If any man will come after me, let him follow me; that seems to be idem per idem—the same thing over again. What is the difference? Surely it is this, "If any man will come after me, in profession, and so have the name and credit of a disciple, let him follow me in truth, and so do the work and duty of a disciple." Or thus, "If any man will set out after me, in good beginnings, let him continue to follow me with all perseverance." That is following the Lord fully, as Caleb did. Those that come after Christ, must follow after him.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.Matt.xvii.html

 2008/7/19 8:49
JoanM
Member



Joined: 2008/4/7
Posts: 797


 Re: Matthew 16:24 ~ Matthew Henry

Thank you Roniya for this post. I was lead to new thoughts that might be of interest.

[u]Matthew Henry wrote in part[/u]: [i]First, It is supposed that the cross lies in our way, and is prepared for us. [b]We must not make crosses to ourselves, but must accommodate ourselves to those which God has made for us. Our rule is, not to go a step out of the way of duty, either to meet a cross, or to miss one. [u]We must not by our rashness and indiscretion pull crosses down upon our own heads[/u], but must take them up when they are laid in our way[/b]. We must so manage an affliction, that it may not be a stumbling-block or hindrance to us in any service we have to do for God.[/i]

What Mr. Henry wrote about [u]our cross[/u] (essential death-of-self following) is also true about the cross of our brother or sister. In the past, learning and sharing with women about the extreme problems in the Body of Christ caused by, [b][u]picking up the offense of another[/b][/u] has been very fruitful. What I quoted with highlights led me to a useful picture and another level of understanding of what we do when we pick up the offence of another.

[u]Nutshell of thoughts today[/u]. Remember the relationship between the cross and “an offense/being offended”, the Greek of it. God has uniquely made us, for His pleasure, to know Him, and be known in Christ. The cross with the death of our old man is essential. (Phi.3:10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;) How like Him to have uniquely prepared a cross for each of us. How important it is to [u]let others take up their own cross[/u]. What a dis-service we do them (sin) by picking up their cross, picking up their offence. This dis-service delays and deforms them. It is not at all the service we had hoped to do for them.

Jesus did not pick up the peoples' offense at the Roman occupation. He set is face to embrace the cross God had prepared for Him. By doing likewise, a similar joy is set before us and, in addition, we will not be an obstacle in another’s growth in Christ as they also seek to follow Him.

This in no way negates all that the Bible says [u]we are to do[/u] in service to one-another with our gifts of mercy, helps, encouragement, weeping, rejoicing, praying, etc. Offences will come and Jesus told us how to respond. Every “offence” is an opportunity for the cross. Between brothers and sisters it is an invitation for two.

[u]Application[/u]. I called a dear older Christian, a Chaplin’s wife and prayer partner who worships with me, to share this dimension because she would really understand. Two years ago, when she heard the truth and dealt with the sin of [u]picking up the offense of another[/u], God freed her from 20+ years of depression and restored a broken relationship (much more including the end of her need for medication). The point here is to be armed with the truth of the depth of injury we can cause to the person that we desire to help. With this view, we can set a guard against any flesh that would derail us into picking up the offense of another. She is better equipped to help another woman in the church who is seeking (or who looks irresistible to) those who would pick up her offence. She meets with this other woman tomorrow. The other woman is blind to this of course.

God’s timing is perfect. Many people thank you Roniya for this post.

 2008/7/19 21:15Profile









 Re:

Quote:

JoanM wrote:

How like Him to have uniquely prepared a cross for each of us. How important it is to [u]let others take up their own cross[/u]. What a dis-service we do them (sin) by picking up their cross, picking up their offence. This dis-service delays and deforms them. It is not at all the service we had hoped to do for them.




This just pulling one good little tidbit from what sister Joan has gathered together. These are wonderful thoughts, sister, it brings a new dimension to my study on Matthew 6:24 with Matthew Henry. To see it as a 'dis-service' to take up an offense or even try to rescue someone from the cross Christ has meant for them to bear! It's hard for us to grasp that sometimes loving one another means the more difficult task of not getting involved or as you said taking up offenses.

Quote:
Jesus did not pick up the peoples' offense at the Roman occupation. He set is face to embrace the cross God had prepared for Him. By doing likewise, a similar joy is set before us and, in addition, we will not be an obstacle in another’s growth in Christ as they also seek to follow Him.



And we are to follow in His example...

[i]Thank you[/i] Joan, for your post. I hope many ponder over it as well as Matthew Henry's commentary on this.

Blessings,
Joy

 2008/7/19 22:47





All sermons are offered freely and all contents of the site
where applicable is committed to the public domain for the
free spread of the gospel.