Bearing Your Cross!

Following the First World War a terrible flu epidemic took the lives of thou-sands in India. People lived in isolation & many died from dehydration. Dr. Brand’s parents cooked a huge vat of soup & took it in buckets to the afflicted. When the wife of the Hindu priest became ill, the Brands lovingly ministered to her, but she also died.

When the priest himself became ill, the Brands brought soup & attempted to assist him. But before he died, he asked the Brands to adopt his daughter. He told them, “All my life I have served my people, but now that I am hurting no one comes to help me but Christians. I don’t want my daughter to grow up as a Hindu.”

Because of the obvious love & concern shown by Christians, even to those who had persecuted them, their witness & mission in India grew & grew. (Bob Russell in the 2-24-2002 “The Lookout” Standard Pub. Co)

SUM. That is what cross-bearing means. It means taking the love of God even to the ends of the world - to touch the lives of people who are unlovable. It means denying & sacrificing. It means paying the price regardless of the hardships to be endured.

III. CROSS-BEARING IS HARD

A. Now it is not hard to understand that people have always had trouble with that idea. Whenever the message of the cross has been preached people have always objected to it. "Wait a minute. That is hard. I can't do that."

Jesus talked about His impending death on a cross & His apostles balked at that. They tried to keep Him from going to Jerusalem. They said, "We don't want you to die." When He did die on the cross they hid behind locked doors, fearful of what might happen next.

A few years later, when Paul wrote about the cross in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 he said, "Jews demand miraculous signs & Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews & foolishness to Gentiles,

"but to those whom God has called, both Jews & Greeks, Christ the power of God & the wisdom of God."

That hasn't changed much, has it? We can understand the Jews stumbling over the idea of their Messiah hanging on a cross. They were an oppressed people. They had been oppressed by Assyrians & Babylonians & Greeks, & now by the Romans.

But one thing kept them going through it all. Every night they came together in their family circles & read again God's promise of the Messiah.

Fathers would tell their children, "One day the Messiah will come & set us free. He will be a magnificent king with legions of soldiers behind him. They will defeat our enemies & make them bow down before us. And God's people will be in control."

Then the Messiah came, but not as they expected. He came as a carpenter from Nazareth. Some called Him a madman. His army was made up of twelve men. And instead of great military victories, there was a crucifixion.

So the cross was a stumbling block to the Jews. It wasn't what they expected. It wasn't what they wanted. But it was what they needed!

B. Jesus' talk about bearing a cross bothers us, too. As we lean back in our easy chair, hot coffee in our cup & a loving companion by our side, rejoicing in our successes, we hear Him say, "Take up your cross & follow me."