Theme: Take up your cross daily and follow Christ
Text: Jer. 20:7-9; Rom. 12:1-2; Mat. 16:21-27
An important question we all need to ask ourselves is how a person becomes a Christian and what is expected of Christians? Peter confessed Jesus to be the Son of God but did not behave as if he believed it and this is the behaviour of many people today. How can we sincerely say that Jesus is God who created everything by His spoken word and not believe what He says? It is because as Christians we are also expected to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus Christ. We need to make Christ our priority and be willing to give up everything for His sake. Unfortunately many ‘Christians’ have other priorities even after confessing Jesus Christ to be their Saviour and Lord. Can this not be the reason why many of them feel frustrated and defeated even though they read the Bible, pray and witness for Christ? We can only experience victory in our lives when Christ becomes our priority and our desire is focused on fulfilling God’s Will no matter the cost. Peter, one of Jesus’ closest disciples, after confessing Christ as the Son of the Living God, shifted his priority from Christ to himself. He refused to believe the words of Christ that He would suffer and be killed and be raised the third day. He even rebuked Christ telling his Lord that He did not know what He was talking about, thereby implying that he knew more than God did. This sounds just like the way we often behave. We come to Christ accepting Him as Lord and then refusing to trust Him with our lives or believe His words. We chose to rely on ourselves rather than on Christ or what He says. We would rather do what we want than to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him.
Doing what we want or following our self-will often leads to misplaced concern as happened in the case of Peter. To correct Peter’s misplaced concern, Jesus turns to face him and then says, “Get behind me Satan.” Here Jesus refers to Peter as the devil, using the same words He used when He confronted the devil in the wilderness. This is not surprising since the devils message at that time was that there was no need for Christ to die and Peter was here repeating that same message. While Christ always remained focused only on God Peter here focused on himself and was motivated by his own desires. When Peter focused on his own desires rather than on the will of God, he became a stumbling block to God. Although Peter was speaking out of genuine concern and love for the Lord, what he said was contrary to the will of God. He was actually working against God - working in league with the devil to prevent Christ from fulfilling His mission. God wants our decisions to be based on His will and not on our own desires and emotions. When we live by our feelings and these are not in accordance with the Word of God, we end up supporting the kingdom of darkness. When Peter based his decision on his emotions rather than the Word of God, he was simply joining forces with the enemy. What God wants is far more important than what we feel and we should be willing to serve and be inconvenienced for the sake of God.
To follow Christ is to walk in His footsteps and grow up to become like Him. We cannot grow without first being born and to be able to grow and become like Christ we first need to be born spiritually. We need to be born again; we need to be first sanctified. It is only after being cleansed that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit who enables us to develop Christ-like qualities and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Acknowledging the Lordship of Christ is the beginning of an intimate relationship with Him. It is not following a set of laws or a set of beliefs; it is not following our thoughts or our emotions; it is having a relationship with Christ. This relationship is to become deeper and should be characterised and evidenced by growth. As with every relationship there will be times when we will get bored or tired and ask ourselves whether what we are doing is worthwhile. Many of us began our relationship with Christ with great devotion but is it the same today? Are we still enjoying our relationship with Christ? Are our decisions still based on pleasing Christ? Whether we like it or not every decision we make in life either promotes the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan. There are no neutral decisions in life. You are either on God’s side or on the side of the devil. The Scriptures teach us that “there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” “Therefore, whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, do all to the glory of God.”
To do everything to the glory of God is to be totally submissive and committed to Him. True commitment means no turning back even at the risk of death. It means to be willing to lay down our lives for Jesus’ sake. Submission to God should affect every area of our lives. We cannot be saved and still have aspects of our lives not under Christ’s control. Many Christians mistakenly believe that a full surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is optional and that they can choose which commands to obey and which to ignore. The truth however is that God requires our total obedience even when it means denying ourselves. To deny yourself is to say no to something you really want. It is willing to say no to your preferences in obedience to God. It is pleasing God alone and no one else. If you really want something and God says no, your response should also be no. Every person is given the opportunity to deny himself and take up his cross. To Charles Simpson “Your cross is where your will and the will of God cross.” Your cross is not your wife or your husband. Neither is it your child or a disease. Your cross is the place where you can make the decision not to please yourself but to please God even if it meant death. The irony is that by loosing our life we find a new life in Christ. We become Christ-like in thought, word and deed and we become Christ-like in our attitudes, ambitions and activities.
The decision to follow Christ has eternal consequences as it is based on recognising Jesus’ true identity as God. We cannot enter into a relationship with Christ, recognising Him as God and then refuse to obey His commands. An intimate relationship with Christ is much more than an emotional or sentimental desire for His blessings but unfortunately this is what many Christians today have. When the relationship is sentimental rather than intimate it makes it difficult to continue following Jesus when it comes to denying self and laying down their lives. This is what the world sees and this is one of the reasons why they often make fun of us and do not take us seriously. What we need to be and what we need to show the world is that we are people who love Jesus and obey Him totally by doing whatever He tells us. There is a story of a young boy who got his hand stuck in a very expensive vase he was not even supposed to touch. His parents did all they could to free his hand but to no avail. Finally they decided that the only option left was to break the vase. Just before they did so the boy looked into their saddened faces and asked, “Do you think it will help if I let go of the coin I’m holding?” As believers our behaviour in life is no different. Many of us are holding on to that power, that prestige, that money, that career and that relationship, the very thing that is threatening to break us. Instead of letting go have you been asking why God will not deliver you from that vase in your life? Are you holding on to the very thing that is destroying you? What you really need to do is to let go and submit your desires to God’s desires.
A lot of blessings are bestowed on those who do God’s will. To call Jesus ‘Lord’ is to recognize His true identity as the Son of God and to recognise that, as God He is the source of spiritual life and spiritual growth. To call Jesus Lord is to recognize His right and authority over every aspect of your life. To call Jesus Lord is to recognise His right to complete control of your life. And when Christ controls our life we will enjoy His blessings. We are not only rewarded in this life but also in eternity. In this life we become members of God’s family and can partake of the blessings that belong to the family. We actually gain God’s life when we lose our own life. If however we decide to live our own life instead of God’s life, we live a life that does not benefit us. If we decide to live our own life, run our own existence and develop our own agenda, we end up with a life that does not benefit us. But if we lose our life, that is give up all rights to our life, God will give us His life, and all rights to His life. God wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him. He wants us to put all our energy and resources at His disposal and trust Him to guide us and take care of us. This is just what Paul did. He gave up his life. He no longer had any plans or a desire of his own and was only interested in fulfilling God’s purpose. That is why he could say, “ 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” Gal. 2:20. The only thing that mattered to Paul was what mattered to God and for him “to live is Christ and to die gain.” We are not only rewarded in this life but also in eternity. The Scriptures declare that there is going to be an awards day in heaven and those deserving will be presented with crowns. Paul knew of that day and said to Timothy “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing” 2 Tim. 4:8.
Before God can use you, you have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him. That is why God tests us before He uses us. Before God could use Moses, he had to undergo a test. The test involved something very close to him, his shepherd’s rod. This rod was not only for his protection; it was part of his life. In the culture of the Middle East in those days, a person’s rod, another name for staff, identified that person. For those familiar with the story of Judah and Tamar, this was the reason why Tamar used the staff of Judah, her father in law, as an evidence to identify him as the father of her children. Because Moses identified himself with his rod, he was reluctant to cast it down when God told him to. But when he did so, his rod turned into a snake and Moses actually fled from it. Then God told him to pick up the snake by its tail. Anyone who knows anything about snakes will tell you that you do not pick up a snake by its tail. When Moses obeyed and picked up the snake, it turned into a rod again. From that time on it was no longer referred to as the rod of Moses but as the rod of God. With that rod Moses defeated the magicians of Egypt, stripped Pharaoh of his power, humiliated the gods of Egypt, parted the red sea and led the Israelites out of slavery into freedom. God wants us also to throw down our life, lose our life, and to pick it up again, receive His life. When Moses threw down his life and picked it up again, he was no longer the man he used to be. With his new life, with its unlimited potential, he was able to extend God’s authority into every situation where Satan was opposing the people and the purposes of God.
Nature reveals to us many spiritual truths. Watching a caterpillar crawling on the ground you can never imagine the potential that is locked within it - beautiful colours, wings and the ability and power to fly. But before these potentials can be realized the caterpillar goes through a process of change when it seems to die referred to as metamorphosis. When the process is completed, the butterfly struggles within its cocoon, breaks it open, emerges and flies upwards into the sky. Once an observer, realizing the struggle going on within the cocoon, decided to help and opened the cocoon with a razor blade. The butterfly emerged but died soon afterwards. What that man did not know was that the butterfly needed the struggle to strengthen its wings for its new environment.
Without a struggle, without denying yourself and without taking your cross, you will crawl through life. But when you break out from your old life, when you lose your life and take God’s life, when you accept total obedience to God, you will experience God’s power in your life. You will stop crawling like a caterpillar and soar upwards-in flight like a butterfly. You will then be able to fulfil God’s purpose for your life and your life of victory will serve as an example to others and glorify the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
