Take Up Your Cross

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Women’s History Month:

SPOTLIGHT 1:FAITH EURY CHO

~ She has been a gospel preacher since she was 19-years-old. Currently, she is a pastor, a pastor’s wife, writer, and an itinerant speaker. The mission of her life is for all to know and enjoy the gift of the gospel, which is the Presence of God. She holds a Masters of Divinity with a concentration on Global Studies. Fun Fact: She enrolled in seminary at 22-years-old, but she graduated by the age of 30 because in that span she got married, relocated multiple times for ministry, and had four children. Consequently, she had attended Bethel Seminary, Alliance Theological Seminary, and finally graduated at the Rawling School of Divinity at Liberty University. She has been ministering in the church for 18 years.

~Faith is the CEO and founder of  The Honor Summit, a nonprofit organization that centers Asian American women in the mission of God. Alongside her husband, Pastor David Cho, she is also the co-founder and co-pastor of Mosaic Covenant Church in NJ.

~She just led over 5000 church planters and leaders at Exponential and reminded us in a powerful way to “Move with The Holy Spirit. Move until the trumpets blow!”

We will be in Mark 8 today!

BUT FIRST LETS PRAY!!

When we Get Jesus Wrong Section:

Read Mark 8:27-33

Mark 8:27–33 CSB

Jesus went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered him, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.” “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he strictly warned them to tell no one about him. Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke openly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”

I want to talk to you about something that is very important - how we get Jesus wrong. It's unfortunate but true that many people misunderstand who Jesus is and what he came to do.

Peter, Jesus’ right-hand man, is capable of thinking like a mere mortal, not looking at things from God’s point of view and gets Jesus wrong. This is a challenge to all of us, as the church in every generation struggles not only to think but to live from God’s point of view in a world where such a thing is madness. This is the point at which God’s kingdom, coming ‘on earth as it is in heaven’, will challenge and overturn all normal human assumptions about power and glory, about what is really important in life and in the world.

This has led to a lot of confusion and even outright rejection of his message. But if we can understand where we've gone wrong, we can start to get back on the right track and experience the true power and beauty of Jesus' teachings.

One of the biggest ways we get Jesus wrong is by reducing him to a mere moral teacher or inspirational figure. While it's true that Jesus taught us many valuable lessons about how to live our lives, he is much more than that. He is the Son of God, sent to redeem us from our sins and reconcile us to our Creator. His message is not just about being a good person; it's about finding salvation and eternal life through faith in him.

Another way we get Jesus wrong is by ignoring or downplaying his divinity. Some people see Jesus as a great prophet or religious leader, but they don't believe he is truly God. This is a problem because Jesus himself claimed to be God and his divinity is a central part of Christian doctrine. If we reject this truth, we miss out on the fullness of who Jesus is and what he can do for us.

We also get Jesus wrong when we focus too much on his teachings and not enough on his person. Jesus didn't just come to tell us how to live; he came to reveal God's love for us and to make a way for us to be reconciled to him. His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead are the most important events in human history, and they are what make our salvation possible. If we don't understand this, we miss the whole point of why Jesus came in the first place.

Finally, we get Jesus wrong when we make him into an idol or use him to justify our own prejudices and desires. Jesus was a radical figure who challenged the status quo and called us to love our enemies, serve the poor, and forgive those who wrong us.

He didn't come to endorse our political views or personal agendas. If we try to use Jesus to justify our own beliefs or actions, we risk turning him into a tool for our own purposes rather than letting him transform us into the people God created us to be (This is what peter and many of the disciples and jews did as well when it came to Jesus).

So, let us strive to understand who Jesus truly is and what he came to do. Let us not reduce him to a mere moral teacher, but embrace him as the Son of God who offers us salvation and eternal life. Let us not downplay his divinity, but acknowledge him as the Lord of all creation.

Let us not just focus on his teachings, but also on his person and the incredible sacrifice he made for us. And let us not use him to justify our own desires, but follow his radical call to love and serve others. For He is King! How we view/know Jesus will mold us and prepares us to properly walk out what we are going to talk about next.

May we all grow in our understanding and appreciation of Jesus, and may his love and grace transform our lives and the world around us.

Take Up Your Cross Section:

Read Mark 8:34-38

Mark 8:34–38 CSB

Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? What can anyone give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

What does it mean to take up one’s cross? As Christians it’s easy to say we have to do this or for us to say we are bearing our cross. But are we really doing it? The cross is a tool for a painful death. Are we dying? Or are we still simply “bearing” and living? Most of us are still living and living for ourselves rather than for our Savior.

The cross was a brutal instrument of execution in the ancient world, particularly in the Roman Empire where it was widely used. It was typically made of wood and consisted of a vertical post and a horizontal beam that was attached to it.

The cross was used as a means of punishment and public humiliation for those who had committed serious crimes, particularly those considered to be a threat to the state. It was reserved for slaves, foreigners, and those who were not Roman citizens. The purpose of the cross was not just to execute the person, but also to make an example of them, to discourage others from committing similar crimes.

The person who was to be crucified would often be flogged or beaten before being led to the place of execution, where they would be stripped of their clothing and nailed to the cross. The nails would be driven through the hands and feet, causing excruciating pain and making it difficult for the person to breathe. The person would be left hanging on the cross for hours, sometimes even days, until they finally died of suffocation or other causes.

The use of the cross as an instrument of execution was a brutal and barbaric practice, and it remains a symbol of suffering and death. However, for Christians, the cross has taken on a different meaning. It has become a symbol of hope and redemption, representing the incredible sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for the forgiveness of humanity's sins.

We like the idea of dying to self and picking up our cross. But the actual action of doing this we stay away from because it’s to “hard”, “scary”, “unknown”, “not controllable”, and “not what we truly want”.

The allure of this world is very enticing and we are only fooling ourselves if we say it’s not. We may say it with our mouths but the way we live and our actions reflect how we really feel about this world and how we feel about God’s kingdom

Let’s talk about what Jesus didn’t mean in this verse. Many people interpret the “cross” to be taken up as some burden they must carry in their lives: a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness, etc. With self-pitying pride, they look at their difficulty and say, “That’s my cross I have to carry.” Such an idea is not what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

When a person carried a cross in Jesus’ day, no one thought of it as a persistent annoyance or symbolic burden. To a person in the first century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by crucifixion. To carry a cross was to face the most painful and humiliating means of death human beings could develop.

Two thousand years later, Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love. But in Jesus’ day the cross represented a torturous death. The Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion (see John 19:17). Bearing a cross meant one was about to die, and that one would face ridicule and disgrace along the way.

Therefore, Jesus’ command to “take up your cross and follow Me” is a call to self humiliation and self-sacrifice. One must be willing to die in order to follow Jesus. Dying to self is an absolute surrender to God.

After Jesus commanded cross-bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Although the call to take up our cross is tough, the reward is matchless. Nothing in this world is worth passing up eternal life.

Wherever Jesus went, He drew crowds. Their view of who the Messiah really was—and what He would do—was often distorted. They thought the Christ would immediately usher in the restored kingdom (Luke 19:11).

They believed He would free them from the oppressive rule of their Roman occupiers. Some hoped He would continue to provide free lunches for everyone (John 6:26). Jesus’ statement that following Him requires taking up a cross made people think twice about their motivations and level of commitment.

In Luke 9:57–62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus pressed them, however, their commitment was shown to be half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None were willing to take up their cross and crucify upon it their own interests.

Jesus’ apparent attempts to dissuade people from following Him surely limited the number of false converts and insincere disciples (see John 6:66). But God seeks “true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). Jesus’ call to “take up your cross and follow Me” serves to screen out the disingenuous, double-minded, and dissembling.

Are you ready to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Consider these questions:

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your closest friends?

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family?

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your reputation?

-Are you willing to follow Jesus even if it uncomfortable?

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job or financial security?

– Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life?

In some places of the world, these consequences are a reality. But notice the phrasing of the questions: “Are you willing?” Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean all these things will happen to you, but the disciple of Christ must be willing to suffer loss. Are you willing to take up your cross? If faced with a choice—Jesus or the comforts of this life—which will you choose?

Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, and even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple (Luke 14:27). The reward is worth the price. Remember that, as Jesus called His disciples to “take up your cross and follow Me,” He, too, bore a cross. Our Lord led the way.

Living a Crucified Life Section:

Several places in the Bible speak of being crucified with Christ or having died with Christ: for example, Colossians 2:20; 3:3; and 2 Timothy 2:11. An extended discussion on the subject is found in Romans 6:3–14. Since no believer was literally crucified with Christ, the phrase crucified with Christ is symbolic for a spiritual truth.

Galatians 2:20 is a key passage: “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.”

The context of Galatians 2 is how the believer is made right with God. False teachers were telling the Galatian churches that faith in Christ was not enough. To be saved, they said, believers must also be circumcised and become “Jewish.” Only then would they be wholly right with God. In Galatians 2:15–16 Paul counters that idea: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul says, “Through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:19). While Paul was trying to please God by keeping the Law, he was not really living for God. The more he tried to keep the Law, the more he saw how much he failed. It was only when he gave up trying to achieve righteousness on his own and accepted the righteousness of God by faith in Christ that he truly began living for God. Justification by faith actually makes it possible to live for God.

Being crucified with Christ means that we are no longer under the penalty of the Law. That penalty was paid by Christ on our behalf. When Christ was crucified, it was as if we were crucified with Him. The penalty was fully paid—just as surely as if we had been crucified for our own sins. When Christ rose from the dead, we rose, too. Now the risen Christ empowers us to live for Him in a way that pleases God. We used to seek life through our own works, but now we “live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).

Being crucified with Christ means that we are new creations. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old life is dead and gone. We walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

We no longer live and act the same way we did before Christ we are a new people that have been bought and brought into a new beautiful family of redeemed men and women!

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new love. The lusts of the flesh and the love of the things of this world have been crucified (Galatians 5:24). Now we love Christ, though we have not seen Him (1 Peter 1:8).

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new commitment. We are dedicated to the service and glory of the Lord, and that dedication destroys selfishness and surpasses ties to family and friends. We have taken up our cross to follow Him (Matthew 10:38).

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new way of life. At one time we “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2). But that way of life was nailed to the cross. Now we follow Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and we seek to please Him in every way (Hebrews 12:2).

The idea of being crucified with Christ emphasizes our union with Him and His death on our behalf. We trust in Christ’s crucifixion as payment for our sin penalty, and we rely on His power to live in a way that pleases God. The emphasis is on what He has done for us, not what we have to do for God.

Too often, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is Christ who lives in me” becomes “I need to crucify my sinful desires and try harder to live for God.” When this becomes our perspective, we have slipped out of grace-living and back into law-living, and we minimize the power of Christ’s death for us. We are relying less upon the power of Christ and more upon our own power—and that will never work out well!

In short, Galatians 2:20 tells us how we escaped the penalty of sin to live a life that pleases God. Knowing that we are “crucified with Christ” should give us great encouragement in our Christian walk. We have the power to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God.

I want to leave you with this quote:

READ G.D. Watson

God doesn't want your gift and abilities HE has given you. HE doesn't want what you could possibly do for Him. He wants you! Simply you, yes the you with all that pain, trauma, brokenness, and doubts. He want you so He can give you true freedom and show you how to truly live and be human the way He designed for you.

Questions

1.Have there been times in your life where you felt like you got Jesus wrong or misunderstood Him?

2.Why do you think some people struggle with seeing Jesus as a suffering servant?

3.How has taking up your cross looked in your life?

4.Are you ready to truly take up your cross and die to self so that you can live for Him?