Crosses are everywhere these days. You see them on buildings, stationery, jewelry shops…
• You noticed now that crosses seem to be a chief feature of punk style and the outfits of young celebrities, even rock band members.
• Crosses have become a standard fashion accessory.
Crosses didn’t have any religious meaning in Jesus’ time.
• A cross was an instrument of torture and death the Roman government used to keep people in line.
• Nothing worse could happen to you than being hung up on a cross and you would do anything to avoid it.
But Jesus was heading towards it. He told them plainly in 8:31-32.
• Not surprisingly, the disciples didn’t like what they were hearing.
• Peter, who represents you and me in the story, pulled Jesus aside and started rebuking him. “Why are you saying this? Have you lost your mind? We’ve got something good going here out in the countryside. Everything will be fine.”
• Peter was not only frightened by what Jesus was saying, he was worried.
• I think he loved Jesus and didn’t want him to die. And besides, if Jesus was in danger, they all were.
At this Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then blasted Peter saying, "Get behind me, Satan!" And then He told his disciples what neither they nor we would like to hear:
8:34 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Jesus needed to correct the wrong thinking that Peter’s remarks revealed.
• If being a Christian is all a bed-of-roses; if we expect Christians to live longer, have lower blood pressure, have a great career; to have everything fine and good, then we may gotten a wrong picture of Christianity, or what Jesus’ mission really mean.
• Like Peter, following Jesus so far is all about having a good time! All game and no pain?
These words weren’t just meant for them, but you and me today.
• And Jesus said it with such a passion that suggests it was a non-negotiable — something we can’t avoid if we’re going to take Him seriously.
Jesus puts it straight – if we are serious with Him; if we are determined to follow Him, then we have to be prepared for some sacrifices.
• Jesus took up His cross, and we were told to take up ours.
• To be faithful to God in a world as troubled as this one, it will mean having to face up to some hardship and sacrifices.
Carrying the cross has nothing to do with carrying burdens or enduring suffering or pain.
• Or worst still, to copy what Jesus has done – to carry the cross and nail yourself to the it, like what some people in Philippines does every Good Friday.
• It has nothing to do with inflicting pain.
Later on in Mark 10, Jesus spoke to the Rich Young Ruler: 17 "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?"
• He claimed to have kept the commandments from his youth.
• Mark 10:21-22 (NKJV) 21Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." 22But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus was talking about making sacrifices.
• The man wanted to follow Jesus and keep everything else the same.
• He wanted Jesus and not prepared to make any sacrifices.
Mark 8:34 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself…”
• It is making the choice to follow another person’s way rather than making our own way.
• The new generation is pragmatic and individualistic. People tend to be self-centered and self-righteous. They do not know how to deny themselves.
Jesus turned the tide around - he denied himself and renounced the heavenly glory, honor and power of His kingdom, and came down to be born in a stable of an animal and was laid in a manger.
• Jesus is the Son of God, yet he chose not to come down from the cross (even though people scorned him for not saving himself when he had saved others.)
• He stayed on the cross – to obey God’s will. That’s carrying the cross for Him!
• He denied himself and was crucified on the cross. And this is the attitude we must have!
I was preparing FPM when I saw this – Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-5 (turn to it and read)
• We want to glorify God. Consider this – God was glorified when Jesus was hung upon the cross. When Jesus completed the work God has entrusted to Him, God was glorified.
• God’s glory is seen in our sacrifice. Not sacrifice for sacrifice sake, like inflicting pain upon yourself. It is the sacrifice made to accomplish God’s will! That glorifies God the Father!
John 12:24 “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
• Some things must be given up – your time, comfort, efforts…
• What have you sacrificed today? Hwee Hwee once asked, if a Christian finds life totally a bed-of-roses, no hardship, no sacrifices of any kind – is this right? Is he lukewarm? Not really in battle finding the devil…
You notice Jesus doesn’t say, "Take up my cross," as if we are expected to imitate Him.
• He says, "Take up your cross" – there is a cross in your life, my life that we are to pick up.
• Jesus has to carry His cross, and for Him it would mean dying on the cross.
• We can’t carry that cross. He was to be the Saviour of the world.
• We have to carry our own cross.
For us, it would mean making sacrifices in our lives so that God’s purpose can be fulfilled.
• It would mean, making time for my friends so that they would come be understand God’s love
• It would mean, taking the efforts to talk to newcomers at church and make them feel welcome.
• It would mean, doing my best at the workplace so that people will see Christ in my life.
• Those are the crosses we are to take up. Those are the sacrifices we are called to make.
Go back to the prayer Jesus made in John 17:4. Look at it.
(1) on earth; (2) task entrusted; (3) completed it.
Will you carry your cross?
Will you make sacrifices so that God’s purposes can be fulfilled in your life, through you?
• If Jesus refused to take up His cross, what would happen to us today?
• If the disciples refused, would the great commission be fulfilled? Will we be here today?
• If any of our predecessors had refused to make sacrifices, will we be saved?
If we refused to take up our crosses, how would God’s plan be accomplished this generation?
• How would others be helped if we failed to deny self and make sacrifices for His sake?
• Will selfishness cause us to step around our cross each time it presents itself?
• Will self-centeredness cause us to ignore the cross that God has placed before us?
The measure of your life is not in what you receive, but in what you give.
• The measure of a ministry is sacrifice. And how much you are willing to sacrifice, that’s the measure of your love.
A missionary society wrote to David Livingstone:
“Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you,” wrote a missionary society to David Livingstone.
He replied, “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men strong and courageous enough who will come even if there is no road at all!”
“If Jesus Christ is God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.” …Charles Thomas Studd (1862-1931)
SEE IT THIS WAY – WE GLORIFY GOD BY CARRYING OUR CROSS!
“Our notion of sacrifice is the wringing out of us something we don’t want to give up, full of pain and agony and distress. The Bible idea of sacrifice is that I give as a love-gift the very best thing I have.” …Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
It’s like a parent, sacrificing time, money, efforts to make a child happy and well-cared for.
Or someone who makes sacrifices for his or her loved ones, spouse, etc.
• The sacrifice is always a joy. In fact, they may not even call it a sacrifice.
• Like what Oswald Chambers says, it’s more of a love-gift to God.
• If that joy is missing, then we need to rekindle our love for God!
It is the attitude of King David, who said (2 Sam 24:24), “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
The Bible tells us – that which we sacrifice for God is never lost.
(1) God remembers and rewards, and (2) the person is benefited or blessed.
It’s not something we do one day and then we’re finished.
• In Luke’s Gospel (Luke 9:23), Jesus says, "Take up your cross DAILY and follow me."
• Daily is the key word. Our commitment to Christ, however genuine and wholehearted it may be today, must be renewed tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that…
• Every day we have to renew our commitment to God - until we step back into home in heaven.
What is your cross? Jesus doesn’t say go out and find your cross.
• Just open your eyes. Look around you, and pick it up. Look at the world with Jesus’ eyes.
• Look out for opportunities to serve, to give, to make sacrifices; so that God’s will be done through us.
Look around you today, and you’ll see your cross.
• For God’s sake, don’t walk around it, don’t ignore it.
• Take it up and follow Jesus – do as He would have done.
• Don’t just carry the cross around your neck. Carry it in your life.
TAKE UP MY CROSS, by Phil Freeman:
My Savior died upon a cross;
He bore my sin, He took my loss.
He left this word about the tree:
’Take up your cross and follow Me!’
If I would glory in His cross,
Live all for Him, count not the cost,
Then I must let this world grow dim,
Take up my cross and follow Him!
Oh Lord, I long like Paul to be
Dead to the world, the world to me;
My life a portrait of Your grace,
Your dying love upon my face.
Help me today my world to reach!
Your Word to share! Your claims to preach!
I thank You, Lord: You showed the way
’Not my will, God, but Thine today!’
©1996 by Phil Freeman
