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Then
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come
after Me, he must deny himself, and take
up his cross (Luke adds "daily") and follow Me.
"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but
whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For
what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for
his soul? "For the Son of Man is going to come
in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN
REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. Matthew 16:24-27
What on earth is Jesus talking about?
Theologians for centuries have given their opinions as to
what this phrase , "take up YOUR cross," means to us
as believers. Some have taken this phrase very literally,
there have been many believers martyred for the cause of Christ.
Is this fulfilling the command Jesus is giving? Some
have considered severe treatment of the body to be fulfilling
this command. Beds of nails, cold stones for mattresses
and pillows, starvation, no verbal communication, no pleasures
of life, drab clothing, no music and the list goes on.
Are these the fulfillment of the command? Colossians
2:23 disqualifies them. What then is it? Perhaps
God will make you sick, give you cancer and you must bear
it. Is this what Jesus was telling His disciples?
Remember now, Jesus was telling them this before
His own death on Calvary. Perhaps you think your cross
is the stinking spouse you're married to and God is getting
you back for being such a rotten person. You deserve
this treatment so bear up under it, it is your cross to bear.
Hogwash! These all present a perverted view of who our
Heavenly Father really is.
Let's make some observations. In
the context of scripture the main subject of Jesus' words
is this; denial or death of self / life / will. The
consequence being the loss of soul. I think we could
all agree that Jesus was speaking with reference to His own
cross, rather than the disciples view of what death on a cross
might mean. They had seen criminals crucified.
It was inconceivable for them to see Jesus crucified as one.
Remember, Jesus spoke these words before His cross but
Matthew penned them after. Matthew is writing them with
a FULL knowledge of what Jesus meant, having watched Jesus
die and resurrect.
I believe the scripture plainly tells
us that the wooden cross is not what killed Jesus. He
died ON the cross, not FROM the cross. ( John 19: 31-34)
Jesus was already dead when they came back to break his legs,
quite ahead of the normal schedule. The cross
no more killed Jesus than the wood of the Temple sacrifices
killed the oxen and sheep. Does this matter? Yes,
especially in our understanding of what Jesus' words really
mean. He was telling His disciples and us to do what
He was about to do. Not to be killed by a piece of
lumber , but to voluntarily surrender our life. Jesus'
death historically is rightly called His "passion."
From this we get "Passion Plays," and what are they about?
His death. The actual truth is Jesus was walking the
cross before He was ever nailed to it. It was this passion
that brought Jesus' mortal life to an end. It was the
breaking of His heart over our sin and the destruction that
that it brings that killed Jesus. It was our rejection
of Him and the aimlessness that causes that killed His body.
It was us choosing our bondage rather than His freedom.
He saw the millions who were ignorant of His Father's goodness
and it was more than flesh and bone could contain. He
had to die. If He had not died, surely He would have
exploded. The sun stopped shining that day, the earth
rumbled. How could creation possibly respond to such an action
by the Creator? God Himself, not Jesus alone, but the
Father and His Spirit as well were heart broken. God
must now turn His back on the sin of man, embodied in His
own son. Do you see it? Are you feeling it?
This is this cause of death for Jesus.
It is shallow thought indeed to believe that
anything short of this kind of passion, this burden, is our
cross. Living a "normal Christian Life" is not walking
the cross. The cross is about dying. Paul says
in Romans 9 that he would gladly become accursed so that Israel
may be saved.
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience
testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow
and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that
I myself were accursed, {separated} from Christ
for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
ROMANS 9:1-3
Paul got it! He would go to hell
so his people could live. Most Christians I know
say they love the lost or have a burden for them, but so few
live it out.
It is not your circumstances that determine
your cross. It is your passion, your attitude, your
heart. It is you abandoning what you perceive to be
yours, reserving nothing and giving your life for others
just as Jesus did. It is to love some individual or
group of people so much that it aches inside you. Not
for your benefit, but for theirs. It is being
willing to die so that they might live, not just as a cliché,
but evidenced by your actions. With the same intensity
and fire, with the same pain but also the same result as Jesus'
cross: Death for you and life for others. The
cross is typified by pain resulting in death. Your love
for the lost and for the Bride is your cross to bear.
This is the bursting heart of the "Great Commission."
Your burden is the pain that results from this heart of passion.
Your joy and reward is to see people saved and set free.
Read the following passages with this in mind.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh
I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church,
in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
Of {this church} I was made a minister according
to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit,
so that I might fully carry out the {preaching of}
the word of God, Colossians 1:24-25 NAU
0 "Truly,
truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the
world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be
turned into joy."
Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour
has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer
remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has
been born into the world. "Therefore you too have grief
now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.John 16:20-22NASU
..so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions;
for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
For indeed when we were with you, we {kept} telling
you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and
so it came to pass, as you know. For this reason, when
I could endure {it} no longer, I also sent to find
out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have
tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. But now
that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good
news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly
of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you,
or this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction
we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we
{really} live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for
all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account,
as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may
see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?
Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct
our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and
abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as
we also {do} for you; so that He may establish your
hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
1 Thessalonians 3:3-13 NAU
Even Jesus asked that if it be possible,
let this cup pass from Him. God has not deceived you
into thinking this will be easy. It is us who deceive
ourselves, it is us who deny the scriptures, it is us who
builds perverted joy doctrines and perverted suffering ones
as well. The cross speaks of a cruel punishment resulting
in death. Jesus drank the cross' cup any way.
Why? Obedience? Yes, but not obedience alone.
For the joy set before Him! What Joy? The
joy of seeing His living creation gathered in. Jesus said
yes to the cross, the question is; Will you?
Any lesser opinion of what our "cross"
might be is a compromise to total abandonment to God.
God is not asking for religious service, He is asking for
everything. Your time, your money, your home, your children,
your career, your future, your reputation, your life; Will
you give them? We so easily preach, "Give the Lord your
fears, your anxiety, your burdens, your sin, but today Jesus
asks; Will you take up my burden?
Jim Waldron
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