The Way Up Is Down: Deny Yourself, Follow Jesus

Sep 06, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Worship Words Clash With Stubborn Knees

The gap between sung declarations and lived surrender reveals our hidden holds. Like a raised hand refusing to kneel, we often honor God with lips while clutching control in white-knuckled fists. True worship requires physical alignment with spiritual reality – postures that cost comfort, decisions that decrease our self-rule. Every refusal to bend reveals thrones we’ve yet to vacate. [54:05]

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain.” (Matthew 15:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Where do your sung declarations of surrender most conflict with your actual willingness to kneel? What physical act of submission is Jesus inviting you to practice this week as worship?

Day 2: The Cross Isn’t Your Burden – It’s Your Death Certificate

Ancient crosses meant terminal surrender, not temporary hardship. When Jesus calls us to carry crosses, He dismantles our martyr complexes and comfort-driven compromises. This isn’t about enduring life’s annoyances but daily executing self-rule. Like a prisoner signing their own death warrant, cross-taking means signing over every plan, preference, and protection mechanism. [58:53]

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24, ESV)

Reflection: What “cross” have you been mislabeling as mere hardship? What specific area of self-rule needs execution today?

Day 3: Baptizing Your Rival in the Jordan River

John the Baptist models decrease as spiritual warfare. When Jesus’ ministry overshadowed his own, John baptized his obsolescence with joy. True humility isn’t self-deprecation but sober celebration of Christ’s expansion – even through our diminishing. Every jealousy, territorial instinct, and credit-clinging impulse reveals where we’ve built personal kingdoms rather than preparing His way. [01:05:20]

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you resent others “crowding your Jordan River” ministry? What rival’s success can you celebrate as Christ’s increase today?

Day 4: When Your Dung Clings Like Cologne

Paul’s assessment of past achievements as “rubbish” (skubala) literally means excrement. Yet we often treat our accomplishments like designer fragrances – subtly ensuring others notice. Spiritual maturity smells like fresh humility, not the lingering stench of self-congratulation. Each resume item, spiritual credential, or ministry success needs Gospel deodorant. [49:58]

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:7-8, ESV)

Reflection: What “spiritual fragrance” are you still wearing to be noticed? How can you let the stench of self-achievement dissipate today?

Day 5: The Peace of Unclenched Fists

Anxiety flourishes in grip-tight living. Paul’s command to “not be anxious” follows his call to financial generosity – showing how clenched fists around money, control, or outcomes strangle peace. Uncurling fingers becomes worship when we trust the Father’s hands to hold what we release. Each open palm practice – tipping generously, listening without interrupting, yielding preferences – trains us in low-path living. [50:48]

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6, ESV)

Reflection: What are you white-knuckling that’s choking your peace? What small act of open-handed release can you practice today?

Sermon Summary

Jesus’ way is the low way. Philippians has pressed that question from every angle: how low can a disciple go? Christ chose sacrifice, humility, generosity, meekness, restraint, and finally the cross. Paul calls the Philippian church out of Rome’s self exaltation and into Jesus’ upside down economy, where the way up is down.

Philippians 2 puts the low way right into relationships: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,” but count others more significant. Humility releases the need to win, to put personal needs first, and to seek good at somebody else’s expense. Philippians also joins love to discernment, because sincere love without deeper knowledge of Christ can still be incomplete. Christ frees his people to release wrongs done against them and live in peace as far as it depends on them.

Christ’s sufficiency also reshapes identity, contentment, security, anxiety, and money. Paul’s “I can do all things through Christ” is not a promise of endless positive outcomes. Christ gives contentment on mountaintops and in low valleys. Paul counts his old accomplishments, his ego, and the things that once made him somebody as dung compared to knowing Christ. God’s generosity loosens clenched fists, because money, outcomes, and even personal stories were never theirs to own in the first place.

God works in his people to will and act for his good purpose, yet Paul still calls them to practice what they have learned, received, heard, and seen. Transformation does not come through another nifty handout or a list accomplished in personal power. Jesus calls disciples to abandon their own path.

Mark 8 makes that abandonment plain: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ. Jesus uses a word for denial that means ending acquaintance with the old self. Scripture places a sharp choice before the heart: refusing to deny self becomes denying Jesus. The cross is not merely a difficult season. The cross meant death, humiliation, self abasement, and the surrender of the right to remain in control.

John the Baptist shows what that surrender looks like. John receives influence and fruit as gifts from heaven, then joyfully lays them down when Jesus increases. “He must become greater; I must become less” becomes the posture of a life that knows it is only a conduit. Christ asks for daily resignation, not temporary imitation. Jesus can be King of the heart only when self gives up the throne.

The Spirit exposes the places where self keeps increasing: agendas, fears, people pleasing, self sufficiency, control, and the stubborn hidden hold over life. The cross does its full work when surrender joins the Spirit’s power. Christ changes, shapes, and remakes those who lay it all down.

Key Takeaways

1. The way up is down. [44:07] Christ does not redefine greatness as better branding, stronger influence, or getting ahead. Christ reveals greatness through the downward path of service, restraint, and costly love. Humility is not passivity or low self esteem. Humility is seeing Jesus as worthy of the highest place and others as worthy of real care. [44:07]
2. Refusing self denial denies Jesus. [58:22] Mark 8 does not offer a softened version of discipleship. Jesus calls for a break with the old self that insists on comfort, control, and personal preference. The refusal to surrender can look spiritual on the surface, even while lips honor Christ and the heart stays distant. Christ asks for more than religious agreement; he asks for the throne. [58:22]
3. The cross is daily resignation. [01:00:43] Luke’s daily cross confronts the idea that surrender was settled once and for all in the past. Jesus calls his people to lay down agendas, fears, self reliance, and the need to be affirmed again and again. The cross feels costly because self preservation runs deep. Christ meets that death to self with restored life now and eternal life forever. [60:43]
4. Jesus must increase, self must decrease. [01:06:53] John the Baptist receives his ministry as something given from heaven, not something to protect. John’s joy becomes complete when attention shifts to Christ, even as his own influence shrinks. This posture breaks rivalry, comparison, and the hunger for recognition. Christ becomes visible when personal greatness is no longer the goal. [66:53]
5. The Spirit reveals what must be laid down. [01:15:31] God does not ask his people to manufacture transformation through willpower. The Spirit searches hardened places and identifies where self has tightened its grip. Submission makes room for the cross to do its full work. Christ remakes a life as control is surrendered in concrete, honest obedience.

## [75:31]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[41:43] - How Low Can You Go?
[43:29] - Jesus’ Downward Path
[44:34] - Slowing Down for Transformation
[47:03] - Three Themes in Philippians
[47:26] - Going Low in Relationships
[48:42] - Contentment and Identity in Christ
[51:11] - God’s Work of Transformation
[52:30] - Beyond a Practical Handout
[54:49] - Deny Yourself and Take Up Your Cross
[55:31] - What It Means to Deny Self
[58:22] - The Cross Means Death to Self
[62:23] - John the Baptist Lays It Down
[68:09] - How Low Is Jesus Asking?
[71:49] - Letting the Cross Do Its Full Work
[75:31] - Learning How to Lay Down

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 8:34 — “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” [55:31]

Philippians 2:3-4 — “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” [47:26]

John 3:30 — “He must increase, but I must decrease.” [01:06:53]

Luke 9:23 — “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” [01:00:43]

Observation questions

In Philippians 2:3-4, what attitudes and actions does Paul name as harmful to relationships, and what does he put in their place? [47:26]
What are some areas of life that can become places where self tries to stay in control—according to the list connected with taking up the cross daily? [01:01:27]
In John the Baptist’s response to his followers, what does he recognize about his influence, ministry, and the fruit he has seen? [01:05:16]
How does the message distinguish “bearing a cross” from simply going through a painful or difficult season? [58:42]

Interpretation questions

Jesus connects following him with denying self and taking up the cross. What does it mean for a believer to surrender more than a few preferences, but the right to remain in control? [59:25]
Philippians 2 calls believers to consider others more significant than themselves. How can this kind of humility bring peace to a strained relationship without pretending that wrongs do not matter? [48:12]
John the Baptist had influence, loyal followers, and a clear calling. Why was he able to respond with joy rather than rivalry when attention moved from him to Jesus? [01:06:24]
Luke says the cross is taken up daily. Why might daily surrender be needed even for a believer who has already trusted Christ for salvation? [01:00:25]

Application questions

Where has selfish ambition, the need to win, or the desire to be right been affecting one of your relationships? What could it look like to genuinely consider that person’s interests this week? [47:38]
Is there a wrong done to you that you are still holding tightly? What would it look like to release the desire for payback and pursue peace as far as it depends on you? [48:12]
What outcome are you most tempted to control right now—your finances, health, work, family, future, or reputation? How might surrendering that outcome to God change the way you pray and act this week? [01:14:43]
John the Baptist received what God gave him without treating it as something to protect. Is there an ability, role, opportunity, or recognition that you have begun to hold too tightly? What would it mean to lay it down with joy so that Jesus can increase? [01:06:42]
Where does the need to be liked, affirmed, or accepted by others most influence your choices? What is one honest act of obedience you may be avoiding because of what people might think? [01:01:43]
What part of your old self is Jesus asking you to leave behind—an agenda, fear, sinful pattern, self-sufficiency, or habit of control? What specific step of submission could you take in response? [56:35]
Rather than trying to change yourself by willpower alone, how can you make space this week for the Holy Spirit to reveal what needs to be laid down? [01:15:17]

Sermon Clips

44s

#DailySurrender

“But for those of us who've already claimed his free gift of salvation, this is the ongoing call on our lives. In Luke's gospel, Jesus says that we have to take up our cross daily if we're gonna follow him. Because going low with Jesus isn't a short term strategy, It's wholehearted surrender day by day by day. And it's not merely imitation, it's resignation. We sang that song, king of my heart. If we want Jesus to be the king of our hearts, well, we've gotta give up the throne in our lives so he can sit where he belongs. Can't have a king without a throne.”

42s

#DieToSelf

“And I'm not trying to diminish anyone's suffering in this space. But the cross in Jesus' time, it symbolized one thing, death. An excruciating, humiliating death by crucifixion. If someone was carrying a cross, they were on their way to die. And so taking up our cross isn't about enduring hardships, it's about self abasement and self sacrifice. It's the ultimate surrender, surrendering of our very selves. It's actively choosing to live in Christ by dying to ourselves.”

36s

#LeaveTheOldYou

“Thinking of denying ourselves as simply saying no to ourselves is a watered down interpretation that leads to a diluted measure of surrender. Jesus is pleading with us to completely sever our ties with our broken human nature so we can more fully embrace our redeemed identity that he literally secured with his blood, his sweat, and his tears. He's asking us to end our acquaintance with our former way of life.”

30s

#JoyfulSurrender

“This is exactly what dying to self looks like. John could have soaked in all the attention and the accolades I would have been tempted to. He could have bathed in the spotlight that people were placing on him. He could have looked at Jesus as a rival, as competition. But instead, when the time came, John took everything that God had given him, and he joyfully laid it all down because it wasn't his to begin with.”

55s

#LearnToLayDown

“One of my favorite Tom Petty songs is learning to fly, but this past week, god showed me that I'm still learning how to lay down. So maybe the most hyperpractical thing we can do today after twelve weeks in Philippians is to close by asking the spirit to identify for us the areas in our lives that we are most prone to increasing So we can become better at laying down, not in our own power, that's impossible. Jesus wouldn't have had to do what he had done if we could fix this ourselves. But in unison with the spirit, as we choose submission to Jesus over all our selfish and self reliant tendencies. So cross the cross can do the full work of changing us, shaping us, and remaking us more and more into Jesus's image.”

39s

#SurrenderForRestoration

“Now if you haven't given your life to Christ, this should seem like a huge ask because it is. Because Jesus' way runs counter to what the secular self actualized culture would have you practice and believe. Jesus gave everything for you and for me on the cross. And in return, he asked you to surrender your old ways, your old patterns, your old thoughts, your old you, so he can give you something so much greater. Restored life now and eternal life forever.”

42s

#LayItAllDown

“To truly go low with Jesus, we've gotta lay down. Lay down our agendas and our plans, lay down our selfish ambition and our conceit, lay down our crippling need for control, lay down our fears and our insecurities, even laid on our desires for our kids, laid on our stubborn self sufficiency, laid on our need to be liked, to be affirmed, to be accepted by other people, Lay down the sins that so easily entangle and yet still so easily entice. Lay down our 10 tendency to try to be someone other than who Jesus says we are.”

26s

#SeeJesusFirst

“In other words, if we genuinely wanna follow Jesus on this downward path, we have to somehow lose sight of ourselves and our own interests. It's almost like looking in a mirror and seeing Jesus before I ever see Jamie. And then allowing the interests and desires of Jesus to guide my decisions instead of the interests and desires of Jamie.”

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