Date: November 12, 2015 ()

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Once there was a man who was so tired of carrying his cross.  It was heavy, it was tiresome, he wanted another one—a different one.  So the Lord told him, “Go into that room and try on all the crosses there and pick the one you want.  He went into the room and spent all day trying different ones on.  Finally, at the end of the day, he found one that fit him.  And guess what?  It was the one he went in with.

So what is your cross?  It is what you deal with in dying to your old life.  It could be the burdens in your life; like a sick child, a sick spouse, a difficult job situation that make you die to your own desires and make you determined to follow Jesus no matter what you are going through in your life.

If you continue to hang on to the life you want, the self interests you want, and do not shoulder the events in your life and continue to follow Jesus anyway, you will not be able to follow him like He wants you to.  Look at these three translations of the same verse.  By reading them, can you get an idea of what it means to take up your cross?  Mark 8:34-35 (NLT) Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.  Mark 8:34 (AMP) If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] take up his cross, and joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me]  Mark 34-37 (MSG) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?

What did Jesus say it was if you wanted to be his follower?  He said to turn from your selfish ways.  What are your particular selfish ways?  Here are some to think about:  only watching out for yourself, being stingy, having a negative outlook on everything, thinking everything has to go your way and benefit you, thinking everyone has to fit your time schedule, being inconsiderate or self absorbed, always wondering what’s in it for you, not biting your tongue and instead saying what you think.

What is actually involved in taking up your particular cross—the hard thing in your life that costs you to follow Jesus?  We each have something that struggle dealing with in order to follow Him.  And it can be something different at each of the different stages in your life.   So much of the time it involves suffering of some kind, usually internally, however, I have met people around the world who have lost jobs, their children were denied schooling, they were mocked, etc, just for being a follower of Jesus and not being willing to deny that.  I know one man in Belarus during the Soviet times who was the manager of a company and he was called in and told to deny Jesus.  He would not do it and lost his job.  We are to follow Jesus—wherever He goes.  Have you ever suffered for the sake of the gospel?  In what ways?  Jesus says to lose your life as you want it to be for His sake and for the sake of the gospel and you will keep your soul.  Do not be ashamed of Him and of His message.

What else did He say in other places in the Bible to explain it in more detail:  Matthew 10:34-39 (MSG) "Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me.  "If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.

What was a cross in Jesus’ day?   “Taking up the cross" in Jesus' day meant being forced to bear the instrument of one's execution past a jeering mob to the site of one's imminent death as a condemned criminal (taken from commentary at biblegatgeway.com).  Dying by death on a cross was an embarrassing way to die, it was the death for a common criminal.  It would be like dying in an electric chair today.  God did not call all Christians to die on the cross or by some horrible death, but many did and many still do even in our world today.  You must be willing to die to anything important in your life that keeps you from God, and you must be willing to do anything God asks of you.

What are some examples of what people think “their cross” is today:  your personal health, family issues, or situations in your life that make it hard on you.   Although we may speak glibly today of "our cross" as the need to put up with Aunt Molly or a leaky roof, it is much more than that.  It is living in this world as a Christian when others around you are not.  It is denying yourself in order to serve God.  Your cross is whatever it is that makes it harder for you to follow Jesus and stay true to God.

Does Jesus matter more than anything to you?  You have to love Jesus more than life.  We must love Jesus not only more than our families but more than our own lives. For all our talk about low self-esteem these days (and most of us do view ourselves as less than what God has called us to be), the vast majority of people still cling desperately to what they want.  The moment we become Christ's followers we forfeit our own lives and wills; we die with Christ to sin (that is, to the right to make selfish choices; Romans 6:3-4) and choose a path that could lead any day to our execution for Christ's name (Matthew 16:24).  And this continues challenging us until the day we die.  Remember, Paul said he died daily.  We must also.

In order to reach the reward at the end of anything, you usually have to go through pain.  To be in the mainstream of God’s revival, it will require something of you.  “Jesus, I want to be on the cutting edge with you, not at the back and not in the middle.”  Costs you something, including the mainstream of Christianity not understanding what you are doing or why you are doing it.  “The closer you walk with Jesus, the thinner the crowd gets.”  Self-denial is a call to inconvenience.  No longer can we be controlled by emotions and whether we feel like it or not.  Example:  Story of a pastor in South Africa.  He had a radio program and many atheists called in constantly harassing him.  He was so tired when he got home one night and there was a man at the door wanting to talk to him.  The pastor did not want to do it and then he heard Jesus say, “I own you.  Let him in.”  He did and the man said, “I heard you on the radio tonight and I wanted to see if you were for real.  I had decided if you were for real, then I would accept Jesus.”

If we don’t deny ourselves, there will be a day we deny Jesus.  So get started now!  Concerning family, you have to prioritize Jesus as being first in your family and add everything else after Him.  It means dethroning ourselves and enthroning Jesus as first place in our hearts. What are some examples of your cross?  When demand crosses your will, there is your cross.  A cross is what you would rather not do.  An example is being with people you do not want to be with, giving or spending money you do not want to spend, interruptions or a rebuke you do not want to respond to.

There is a reward to all of it:  Your cross becomes a crown.  Jesus’ cross became his crown.  It is the one thing we think of when we think of what Jesus has done.  The thing that was most despised as a way to die has become the thing that millions wear around their necks to remind them of Jesus.

There is no ministry or call born of convenience or out of natural talent and natural giftedness.  It is all by the Lord’s design for your life.  As you yield to Him and take up your cross, He empowers you in great ways.  Isaiah 42:6 (NLT) “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.  I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them.  And you will be a light to guide the nations.

 

Quiet Time Questions
1.  What did Jesus say was involved to be His follower?
2.  What are some scripture references that help in understanding what it means to take up your cross?
3.  What are some selfish ways that need to be done away with?
4.  What did it mean in Jesus’ day to take up your cross?
5.  What does taking up your cross mean today?
6.  What is the starting point to taking up your cross?
7.  What is the reward for taking up your cross for Him?
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