Chapter:
Forty-eight
When we think of the cross, the first thought that usually
comes into the mind of a believer and follower of Jesus Christ is His being
crucified upon it so that we would have the opportunity to accept His sacrifice
for our sins and receive the gift of eternal life. However, I would like to challenge you to
consider the cross from a different perspective.
We read in Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me", but what does that Scripture really mean? Many think that it means that in becoming a
follower of Christ we are to accept the challenges and trials that will happen
in this life as a result. However, the
purpose of the cross in a believer's life is meant to be much more, and must be
much more if we are to truly allow God to have His way in our lives. Just as
Christ died upon the Cross, we, also, have to die upon it. Luke 14:27-28 says, "And whoever does not bear his
cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to
build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost..." .
Let me quickly put in a disclaimer. We are not expected to literally climb up on
a cross of some type and die upon it as Christ did. There are some who have misinterpreted this
text or have been taught in error and they resort to such things as self
flogging, having themselves nailed upon a cross and other such torturous
methods that they mistakenly think will either grant them favor with God, draw
them closer to Him or will do away with any sin they have in their lives. This is not what Scripture means when it says
we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ.
Unfortunately, many believers do not understand the true meaning
of "carrying one's cross" as it has been downplayed by modern
Christendom. The modern way of viewing
one's cross does have its earthly, temporary benefits as it requires little to
no sacrifice on the part of the believer. He/she still lives for their own
pleasure although their lives are often not as immoral as before their
salvation and that is good enough for them. They still focus mainly on enjoying
living in the world, and are satisfied that they have cleaned themselves up to
some degree.
In addition, many pastors or preachers do not preach "dying to self" and instead pacify
believers by telling them that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands or
sacrifices. Blessings and how God wants you to live a happy life is what is
preached to those who sit in their pews.
They do not challenge Christ's followers but instead just teach a more
moral way of living. And the downfall of this type of erroneous teaching is
that it totally misses the point of the cross in a believer's life...that being
the necessity of totally giving up their lives to God so that He may raise them
to a newer, holier life.
"I have been
crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I
now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Paul had written this to the Galatians who had
become known for their backsliding, going back to their bad habits and old ways
of living. Paul was trying to impress upon them
that becoming a believer and follower of Christ was much more than receiving
salvation...it also involves giving up all of our rights and allowing
Christ to live in and through us.
When Paul says "I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live", he was referring to
his fleshly, carnal nature being put to death.
When he says, "...but Christ lives in me" he is referring to
exactly that...Christ now lived in him and had taken up residence. Luke 9:23
says, "Then he (Jesus) said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" The
man with a cross no longer gets to choose his destiny, no longer gets to make
choices in his life, but finds that he has to forsake all the world has to
offer so that he can follow Christ. But, we
do not want to truly "carry our cross" because deep down we know the
cost and are not willing to pay it.
Dietrich
Bonhoffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” He went on to say, " Self-denial is
never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not
suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is
to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before
and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self denial
can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him.”
Stop and think about
that for a minute. When you became a
believer and accepted Christ into your heart, you were to give up all rights to
yourself and hand all your rights over to Christ. Hopefully this was properly
explained to you beforehand, and your
acceptance of Christ and having the privilege of going to Heaven was not just
sold to you as fire insurance or a way to receive wonderful blessings from God
and an easier life while here on earth. When you accepted Christ you were to
die, just as Christ died, but for a different reason. You were to die to yourself, to your sinful nature. And now that
you are dead and your sinful flesh nature has been crucified, you are a new
person...and Christ lives in you. You now have the opportunity to live out the
fullness of what God has for you, and that involves being changed on the
inside, so that you become more like Christ. But, this is where the difficulty
arises.
As Christians, we
might as well admit and come to terms with the fact that even though we are in
right standing with God, our flesh, our
sin nature, continues to haunt us and it must be dealt with. Our flesh is our
ego, our plans, our desires, our ideas, our frustrations, our pride, our
self-centeredness, and any other trait of our old self that shows to us that
sin and our own desires are still alive within us. When the Lord says kill the
flesh, He means we are to put ourselves on the cross. But this is where we do not want to go. While we despise those things that we still
find repugnant within ourselves, the idea of crucifying our flesh is something
we fight. But what we
do not realize is that by refusing to give up those things our flesh enjoys,
and crucifying the plans and desires we have for our lives, we are missing out
on really living and being used by God. We are our own worst enemy in
this regard.
Galatians 6:14 says,
"God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
We say in our prayers and in our songs that we want
only what God wants and that He can guide our lives, but in reality we resist;
we hesitate when we hear we must totally give up our selves and are desperate
to hang on to some part that we can still control. We want to continue to seek
after our own interests and thus refuse to die on the cross. We can talk all we
want about wanting to have a deeper walk with God, but we spend a lot of energy
staying off that cross. Until you reach the place where you truly are desperate
for God, are willing to give up your own interests in order to walk close with
Him, you will always climb off the cross. Christians who truly want to obey God
will have to deal with the cross at some point in their walk and become true bondservants.
God wants to give us life, but not a new and improved version of
the old life. If we do choose to take up our cross, we have to count ourselves
dead and be willing to readily accept whatever sacrifice will be asked of us when we are living a
consecrated, obedient life to God. Are
we willing to submit as it says in
Matthew 16:24-25: "Then Jesus said to his
disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses
their life for me will find it."
How do we do this, give up our old life and carry our cross? After
we repent, receive salvation and give up our sinful life, we must then go on
and give up all rights to ourselves. We cannot make a deal with God in order to
hold on to some of our old self, or our own plans/desires for our lives. We
must be willing to do whatever God wants by becoming His bondservant. If you decide to embrace that, you will find
that Christ will raise you to a new, holier life. Christ must have first place in your life
and you begin by taking up your cross
and following Him. Remember that beyond your cross awaits life and being in the
presence of God. God knows that only good can come as a result of our dying to
self and obediently following Him, and the method He chooses is the cross for
each of us.
Oswald Chambers said, "The inescapable spiritual need each of
us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our own sin nature. I must
take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them
into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I
have to my right to myself."
Our carrying our cross has to be our choice. God will not force it upon us. He knows it is the choice that we need to make, just as Jesus did in John 10:38
when He said, "No one take it (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my
own accord."
Like us, Jesus had the
opportunity to escape the cross but He chose not to. Taking up our cross and
following Christ is a choice that must be made with forethought and
determination. Taking up our cross implies that as believers there will be
suffering as we endure the consequences of following Christ through obedience.
It is often assumed that the believer's own cross will be accepted voluntarily.
However, many have refused it. Jesus
said about believers, "He must...take up his cross daily and follow
me." In our everyday lives we must
carry our cross so God can not only continue to slay the evil nature that
continues to live within us in order to set us free from its power, but so He can
also guide us in what He wants us to do with our lives for His Kingdom.
