Pick up Your Cross and Follow

In v, 20 he tells his disciples to tell no one that He is the Christ, because the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, on a large scale must be accompanied with a greater sign than what has been shown already.

Jesus has given signs. The birth of the Church is soon approaching. The messengers of the Gospel will be given the authority to proclaim it far and wide, but not yet. Not at this point in the story.

So Jesus pulls the disciples to the side and begins to show them and teach them about the necessity of His suffering and death at the hands of the religious leaders, as well as His resurrection on the third day.

Read v21.

The first point I want to make to you is this...

1. Christ’s mission and path to glory was suffering, death, and then resurrection.

This was His mission, and it is central to Christianity. Anyone who claims to be a Christian, but does not also agree that Jesus is the eternal God who put on human flesh in order to suffer, die and be raised, is not worthy of the name Christian.

Is that the Christ you serve? He’s either the Christ you serve, or the Christ you push aside, but nonetheless he is Christ, the chosen one of God, God in the flesh and here stands the path he chose for our redemption…He took the road of suffering and death.

Brothers and sisters, we cannot forget that because Jesus is our Saviour AND MASTER, there will be some semblance of this that marks our path to glory, and it begins with the very first step a person takes toward Jesus.

That’s what Jesus began to make clear to them. And you can be sure that it was clear as Jesus taught it.

But there are many obstacles in the way of this path. And that’s point #2.

2. The World, the flesh and the Devil want to hinder the mission of the cross.

Look at v22 and 23. We see all three of these in the text.

Peter was well meaning, bold, protective, zealous - and yet none of these made him right in his actions. Peter calls a private meeting with the Lord and rebukes him. Why does he rebuke Jesus? For the thought that He must suffer and die at the hands of the Jews. But notice what he makes no comment on, the resurrection.

Our world views, and our outlook on life is drastically affected failing to acknowledge and believe in the hope of resurrection.

Let’s not lean into our tendency to soften the offence of this statement from Peter. Jesus makes it clear that Satan is behind such things. He looked right at Peter, not because he was possessed or anything, but because the offense of those words were so severe that it was as though Jesus was listening to the deceiver himself.

It’s as though He returned again to the wilderness temptations where he confronted the Devil once already when he tried to give him the easier path to glory.

Church, we have a committed Savior, and nothing stopped him from fulfilling all that was necessary to save us. As Paul tells the Philippians in Philippians 2:8, “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Jesus said to Peter, who just got his new name “rock”, you are a stumbling stone to me, and at the root of this is something that Jesus points to in this statement... “For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

The Devil wants to hinder the mission of Christ by blinding, deceiving, and distracting the world from seeing and savoring the real Jesus Christ in His suffering and glory. Suffering AND glory. Those who see Jesus as a self help guru, or a life coach, or a nice little addition to the trophy collection of gods are no threat to darkness. The Devil knows his defeat lay in Christ’s suffering for sin. Because if Christ will suffer, then he will die, and prove His humanity to the world. And if He will rise from death, what does He prove to the world, that He is the Son of God…and if the Son of God dies for sinners as a substitutionary atonement, then sinners can be free from the grip of sin and death. Glory be to our great God!

Be on your guard. The whispers of Satan are subtle. He wants you to believe there’s some other way to our salvation outside of a willing suffering King, but there isn’t. Jesus will repeat this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. In His humanity, desiring some other way than the cross, but in His obedience submitting to the Father “Nevertheless, your will be done.”

Th part of us that desires some other way, something other than Christ, something other than the way of the cross, is what the bible calls the flesh. We see it in operation here in Peter. His mind is flesh-focused and self-focused. Man focused. World focused. And the only way to really have our mind set on the things of God in this world is explained in the following verses.

.24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Point #3 is this:

3. Self denial and a willingness to die are prerequisites to following Jesus.

Why would you follow after Jesus? Because he’s the King who brought His Kingdom. He’s that stone from heaven that grows into a mountain to crush the earthly kingdoms. That’s the truth, so we set our eyes toward him, just as the disciples are here. They’re looking at Him. But then he says these two things that one must do if you desire to follow. You must deny yourself. Peter was blind to this. What did he do? He ignored the clear teaching of God in favor of his own ideas. Jesus said, plain and clear...I must suffer, die, and rise again.

No, Lord, this cannot happen to you.

What do we call that? Disobedience.

But we want to sugar coat it today, don’t we? Disobedience to the clear teaching’s of Christ run wild among professing believers today, and it’s sad. You’d be in the shoes of Peter in this case. A disobedient Christian is a stumbling block to the cause of Christ. But notice the words of Jesus in v24. If ANYONE would come after me.... SO this is not just to Peter, but everyone with that desire…anyone who would take a step in the direction of following Jesus must take up these two prerequisites. 1. Deny self 2. Pick up your cross.

Now, we have to understand that for either of these things to happen the holy Spirit must be at work. But that is how true salvation has always happened. We believe in the regeneration of the spirit by the powerful working of God. There is no other way, for a sinner cannot save himself. The law of God is perfect, and we all look at that righteous requirement of the law and we fall short. Not in the way that many understand it, that we need help so we can do better. No, the unsaved person is so marked with spiritual death that there is nothing that can be done move him or her to a place of favor before God. So, the looking to Jesus and desiring to follow, that is from God. God be praised that anyone has EVER looked to Christ.

But in the very next breath I can say that Scripture urges us to call out to the sinner, and cast a broad net into the sea of lost souls, urging sinners to come to Jesus today and find life. So it is to that end that I aim this not just at the professing believer, but the sinner who has never confessed their sins to God, and is dead. Come to Jesus, and believe. But be sure you come according to Scripture, because that is the best way.

We all must deny something before following Christ.

Deny your sin. Deny the impulse to make an excuse or to look for another day. Deny the false gods and religions of this world that offer something easier. Deny your habitual sins. Deny your idolatrous love for worldly success, money, revenge. Deny self. This is first, and it’s that way for a reason, because in doing this you just might begin to see that there’s hope, not in yourself, but outside of yourself.

This word in the Greek that is translated to deny is quite pointed.

It means...

to affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone

to forget one's self, lose sight of one's self and one's own interests

Yes, that’s the Christian life. All of life comes under this banner…It’s not about me any more. If it’s still about you, then as a matter of truth…you cannot be His disciples.

Let me press this a bit further, because when you do this, when you deny youself, it’s not over. In fact, all Christians know that this is when it gets harder. If all we had to do was deny fleshly desires to be right with God and get into heaven then all we’d have to do is become monks.

But It’s the next part that makes Christianity distinct among all religions, and Jesus unique among all other gods. He calls us all to pick up the cross and follow him. This is the ultimate identity statement for the Christian.

There are people who wear a cross around their necks and place them in their homes who disgrace the cross because they would never follow Jesus and associate with his true identity as Lord and God.

Peter wouldn’t here, at least not yet. His mind was not on God.

Would you follow Jesus to the cross, associate with him in His shame and death, or are you ashamed of Him among your friends. Would you speak His name as clearly as your best friend’s name, or do you find his name not worth mentioning for the scoffing it may bring to you?

And then of course we have to answer the question…what’s so good about the cross in the first place? It’s not beautiful by itself. It’s an instrument of death, suffering and shame. And the answer for the Christian is that it’s good, glorious, and wonderful, because Jesus took His cross up for me and for you, and he is not ashamed to call me friend. He did it for me, and did it with joy. The brutality of the cross in the hands of Rome becomes a most cherished symbol, but for no other reason that what Jesus did there to save sinners.

What follows in the remaining verses are really the natural conclusions for the one whose eyes have been opened to this truth.

v25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

point 4. is this…

4. Life without Christ is no life at all

The center of all of this is Jesus.

The one who seeks to save his life, lives only to preserve, takes it into his or her own hands, is denying the true source of life, and therefore this person will come to the end after all the expended efforts and will lose his life in hell… but BUT “whoever loses his life for my sake, JESUS SAYS, will find it.”

Do not misunderstand. Jesus is not in favor of death by suicide. Jesus wants you to live, but to truly live, and all who’s eyes have been given sight, understands what so many don’t. That Life and death is not just bodily experiences, but an eternal realities.

When a sinner trusts Christ in this way, turning from sin and self, and is joined to Him by faith, that person lives for the very first time.

Listen to how Paul speaks about this very truth in Romans 6… For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In light of this, we know that in the flesh there is no profit, even if you were to gain the whole world. Because the soul is of far greater consequence. The soul is of such great value that there is truly no price or trade on earth that is equal to it, and isn’t that exactly what the devil is working to convince people of. Just give me your soul, and i’ll give you ________! It’s an age old serpentine lie.

Now, as much as I’d like to begin an explanation of v27 to 28 right now, it did not seem fitting, so it will be included with the teaching on the transfiguration account in chapter 17. But I’ll say this before a final exhortation… the fact that Jesus ties together the path of His suffering and resurrection, and a person’s need to die to self and follow Him…with this language of a coming judgement and repaying each person according to what he has done....should impress upon every hearer the importance of this message. Christ is enthroned and His Kingdom is here. He has judged in history, and there is a judgement still to come when he will raise the dead, separate the sheep from the goats, and welcome only those who have believed this message into His presence.

I urge each one of you to examine your life, forget one's self, lose sight of one's self and one's own interests and follow Jesus with all of your heart!

“Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it that like Moses you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble.

May the Lord help you bow your spirit in submission to the divine will before you fall asleep tonight, so that waking with tomorrow’s sun, you may go forth to the day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit that is fitting for a follower of the Crucified.” Spurgeon