Taking Up Thy Cross Is Not Part Of The Gospel

Matthew 10:37-39, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

This is one of the most misinterpreted, misapplied and abused passages of Scripture! Notice that Jesus said whosoever refuses to take up his cross is “not worthy of me.” Jesus didn't say he is not saved, He said he is not worthy of Him. The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 calls the believer's discipleship our “reasonable service,” not our required or mandatory service. 1st Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” Every believer is God's exclusive property. We were purchased by God's own blood (Acts 20:28; 1st Peter 1:18-19; 1st John 1:7; Revelation 1:5; 7:14). The day you were saved dear friend, you and everything you own became God's. When you give to God, you are simply letting go of what is already His. Please remember that. We have a very good God!

Matthew 10:38-39 (and the entire chapter for that matter) is about the believer's DISCIPLESHIP, not the free gift of ETERNAL LIFE. Notice to whom Jesus is speaking in Matthew chapter 10, His “twelve disciples.” Matthew 10:1, “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” As an example of how preachers woefully corrupt, misinterpret and abuse this Scripture passage, consider the following heretical words by Pastor John MacArthur:

To be saved calls for a sinner to deny self so as to “consider the members of [his] earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry” (Col. 3:5). It is to “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and … be renewed in the spirit of [one’s] mind” (Eph. 4:22–23). 

The second requirement of discipleship is to take up one’s cross. This idea has profound meaning which must be understood. Taking up one’s cross is not some mystical level of selfless “deeper spiritual life” that only the religious elite can hope to achieve. Nor is it the common trials and hardships that all persons experience sometime in life. A cross is not having an unsaved husband, nagging wife, or domineering mother-in-law. Nor is it having a physical handicap or suffering from an incurable disease. To take up one’s cross is simply to be willing to pay any price for Christ’s sake. It is the willingness to endure shame, embarrassment, reproach, rejection, persecution, and even martyrdom for His sake. ... 

The third requirement of discipleship is loyal obedience. Only after a person denies himself and takes up his cross, Jesus said, is he prepared to follow Me. True discipleship is submission to the lordship of Christ that becomes a pattern of life. “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6). “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus declared; “but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). To continue in His Word is to be His true disciple (John 8:31).[emphasis added] 

SOURCE: How To Take Up Your Cross

Do you see how John MacArthur weaves in and out of the two subjects, speaking of them as if they are the same thing? They are not! Salvation is salvation, and discipleship is discipleship. No one ever got saved by discipleship! That is why the religious people in Matthew 7:21-23 weren't saved. Jesus called them workers on iniquity. Jesus said He never knew them! They followed Jesus their entire life. They made full surrender to Christ! They called Him, “LORD, LORD” (there's your heresy of Lordship Salvation in the Bible). Judas followed Christ. Matthew 27:3b says “Judas repented himself.” Judas had “a relationship” with Jesus (we hear this false teaching a lot these days). Dear reader, you can follow Christ, have a relationship with Him, you can repent of all your sins, faithfully run the race, turn your life over to Him, and even trust Christ in addition to all that stuff, but YOU WILL SPLIT HELL WIDE OPEN WHEN YOU DIE!!! You are not truly trusting Jesus, unless you are COMPLETELY RESTING IN HIS DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION ALONE TO SAVE YOU!!! 

Sadly, Dr. Steve Pettit and Bob Jones University are of the Devil today, preaching the same junk theology as John MacArthur. Dr. Pettit (president of BJU) said this to 2,700 BJU students in June of 2020:

“So I want to ask you, have you come to a genuine acknowledgment before God almighty of your sinfulness? Secondly, you have to change the way you view yourself. We call that 'repentance.' And repentance is sort of saying a 'No' and a 'Yes.'  It's a turning AWAY FROM and a turning TO. What am I turning away from? I'm turning away from my own self-righteousness. I'm to turning away from depending on me, and all that's involved in me—self-righteousness, self-will, self-assertion, living my own life—I'm to turning away from that way of thinking. And then finally what do I have to do? I'm to put my trust, or my confidence, in Jesus alone.” [emphasis added] —Dr. Steve Pettit, an excerpt from “What Does It Mean To Be Justified?” (The Daily Platform #741)

What you just read is of the Devil. Jesus told the Apostle Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23b). So I say to Steve Pettit, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” What saith the Scripture? Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” The Bible teaches something very different than what Dr. Steve Pettit is teaching! Steve Pettit says you must turn away from living your own life to be saved. That is a doctrine of devils! Steve Pettit is a devil-dog preacher! My destination is not based upon how I live my life, it's on whom that I trust to save me!!! Now that's the truth!

Pastor M.R. DeHaan accurately differentiates between faith in the Gospel of free grace that saves a sinner, versus the cost of discipleship for believers who choose to follow Christ:

“There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness.” —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, Hebrews; Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (p. 117).

The gift of eternal life is completely free, without any obligation to the recipient, available to any needy sinner who wants it. However, to take up thy cross and follow Christ is another matter entirely, which is based upon our faithfulness to God, and will cost us everything. We must never combine or confuse salvation (sonship) with discipleship (service). Here is another helpful quote by Presbyterian pastor, Everett Harrison (1902-1999):

"Certainly discipleship is a most important aspect of our relation to Christ, but it belongs to the sphere of Christian life rather than entrance upon that life... One does not become a disciple in order to become a Christian, but because he has become a Christian by faith in the Savior, it is fitting that he embark upon a life of discipleship". —Pastor Everett F. Harrison, "Must Christ Be Lord To Be Savior?No!"; Eternity, September 1959 (p. 14). 

Those are great helpful quotes. I highly recommend a classic helpful sermon by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) called: “Steps In Sanctification; Or, The Root Of All Heresy.”