My wife has me reading a small book TITLED humility by Andrew Murray.

Yes that’s right the title is in small caps. Anyway it’s know to be a classic.

Mike’s article below also speaks about humility, and the passage where Jesus mentions taking up our cross.

The main passage on this was:

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luk 9:25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Luk 9:26  For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Luk 9:27  But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

And it’s mentioned again here…

Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

As you might guess all these concepts seem to converge at the same time. Another example is my son-in-law preached a sermon earlier this month on that concept, taking up your cross. https://youtu.be/GnqbhVwrMUU

I figured I’d look up what Old John Gill said and it wasn’t much. on Luke 14.

Whosoever doth not bear his cross,…. All reproach, afflictions, persecutions, and death itself, cheerfully and patiently; the Ethiopic version renders it, “of his death the cross”; it signifies whatever is trying and disagreeable to flesh and blood:

There is more written on Luke 9 and in Matthew.

any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me; the same is said here, as in Mat 16:24; see Gill on Mat 16:24, Mrk 8:34, only here the word, “daily”, is added; and which, though as Beza observes, is not in the Complutensian edition, nor in five ancient copies; yet is in others, and in the Vulgate Latin, and in all the Oriental versions; and to be retained, as having a very considerable emphasis in it; showing that afflictions, trials, and persecutions of one sort or another, are to be expected every day by the people of God, and to be continually submitted to, and borne with cheerfulness.

Matthew 9:24

let him deny himself: let him deny sinful self, ungodliness, and worldly lusts; and part with them, and his former sinful companions, which were as a part of himself: let him deny righteous self, and renounce all his own works of righteousness, in the business of justification and salvation; let him deny himself the pleasures and profits of this world, when in competition with Christ; let him drop and banish all his notions and expectations of an earthly kingdom, and worldly grandeur, and think of nothing but reproach, persecution, and death, for the sake of his Lord and Master: and

take up his cross; cheerfully receive, and patiently bear, every affliction and evil, however shameful and painful it may be, which is appointed for him, and he is called unto; which is his peculiar cross, as every Christian has his own; to which he should quietly submit, and carry, with an entire resignation to the will of God, in imitation of his Lord:

and follow me; in the exercise of grace, as humility, zeal, patience, and self-denial; and in the discharge of every duty, moral, or evangelical; and through sufferings and death, to his kingdom and glory. The allusion is, to Christ’s bearing his own cross, and Simeon’s carrying it after him, which afterwards came to pass.

Mike talks about this in words about Sanctification which unlike our Justification, we actually actively participate in.

Is this hard? Yes, it is very difficult because it is part of our sanctification. In contrast to our salvation, our sanctification is much more difficult because what is really happening is the reality of our salvation becoming manifest in us. This is bringing into reality that which is totally opposite from what is natural for us. Christlikeness is not something we can conjure up. We can’t go to college and learn it. We can’t simply decide to be so. No, this is God burning away that in us that is not of Him, replacing it all with that which is of Him. He does this as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12) We are called to remain loyal and obedient to our Lord while we remain in circumstances that demand and entice us to be disloyal and disobedient. Therefore, we come regularly to the throne of grace in fear and trembling because the battle is fierce and within it, we are commanded to love the brethren and lay our lives down for our Master by loving them as He does.

There are explanations for this in our two greatest commands – Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

And Paul and John both emphasized love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Which can be understood as…”brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence”

But just doing apparent good works, isn’t the solution as Paul earlier says..

1 Corinthians 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Nor did Jesus make it any easier when he said.

Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I’ll conclude with..

There is plenty of reading in the Bible about persecution and patience.

Plenty of bad actions to avoid doing. And plenty of service opportunities to you neighbor…even those of sacrifice. But if we do good works we would do well to heed what the old Confession’s and Catechism’s say:

https://www.opc.org/wcf.html#Chapter_16

HC 62 Q.Why can’t our good works
be our righteousness before God,
or at least a part of our righteousness?

A.Because the righteousness
which can pass God’s judgment
must be entirely perfect
and must in every way measure up to the divine law.¹
But even our best works in this life
are all imperfect
and stained with sin.²

¹ Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:10 (Deut. 27:26)
² Isa. 64:6

HC 63 Q.How can our good works
be said to merit nothing
when God promises to reward them
in this life and the next?¹

A.This reward is not merited;
it is a gift of grace.²

¹ Matt. 5:12; Heb. 11:6
² Luke 17:10; 2 Tim. 4:7–8

HC 91Q.But what are good works?

A.Only those which
are done out of true faith,¹
conform to God’s law,²
and are done for his glory;³
and not those based
on our own opinion
or human tradition.⁴

¹ John 15:5; Heb. 11:6
² Lev. 18:4; 1 Sam. 15:22; Eph. 2:10
³ 1 Cor. 10:31
⁴ Deut. 12:32; Isa. 29:13; Ezek. 20:18–19; Matt. 15:7–9

So to end with the WLC opeing…

Larger Catechism

Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

Or work for God’s glory not just our own “humility”.

Laying Down Your Life