Why does this teaching matter?
Sproul challenges comfortable Christianity with the daily reality of discipleship: dying to self is not a one-time event but a daily practice. This stands in stark contrast to prosperity preachers who promise that following Christ means getting more of what self wants — more money, more comfort, more success.
What did RC Sproul teach?
"If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether we are really following Christ."
Speaker: RC Sproul
Source: Sermon on discipleship
What does Scripture confirm?
Luke 9:23
"Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'"
— NKJV
Jesus says 'daily' — not once at an altar call. Cross-bearing is a daily practice of self-denial. Sproul simply echoes Christ's own terms for discipleship.
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
— NKJV
Paul describes the Christian life as crucifixion of self and replacement with Christ's life. This is the daily death Sproul speaks of — not self-improvement but self-replacement.
Matthew 16:25
"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
— NKJV
Jesus presents a paradox that destroys the prosperity gospel: true life is found through losing life, not gaining comfort. The one who clings to self loses everything; the one who dies to self gains Christ.