Take Up Your Cross

Imagine you are dragging this large heavy box behind you. It’s so hard to pull. You have several miles left in your journey to dispose of the box. It’s bulky, awkward, and debilitating. The worst part is the journey is all up hill. You struggle, you’re hurting, you’re tired, and you want this journey to end. You can’t let go of the box - it’s attached to you - it’s a part of you. In the distance, perched high on the hill, you can see your destination. A silhouette against the bright blue background a lone single cross stands. That’s your destination, that’s where you let go of your box.

You’ve carried this box so long that you don’t realize how heavy it is. You’ve been adding to it and don’t even realize it. You see, your box is full of items that you have faithfully served but have prevented you from being who God called you to be. Some are burdens that control us. Some are sinful habits, unforgiveness for those who have hurt you, doubt, unbelief, pride, pain, shame, and more. Some are the things we put before God like our own fleshly desires and wants.

Jesus paid an incredible price for you and me. When He hung on that cross, He was hanging there dying for our sins. He gave His life for us.

Crucifixion was one of the most horrible forms of execution in ancient days. This form of execution was first practiced by the Medes and Persians and later by Alexander the Great. It was such a barbaric way to die that the Romans restricted its use to slaves and crimes against the state.

Crucifixion was considered a humiliating punishment. To add to the slow agonizing death on the stake, the criminals were forced to carry the crossbeam on their backs to the place of death.

We are given this descriptive image of the death of Jesus in the Bible. We’ve seen the pictures and movies and can only imagine what it was really like.

We know Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but before this happened, Jesus tells His followers to carry the cross in their own lives and follow Him.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

If we want to follow Jesus, He tells us to grab our cross and go.

What is our cross? Your cross is what obedience to Christ costs you.

Inside the box are all the things that compete with Jesus for control of our lives.

Pride, selfishness, fame, glory, thinking we know better than God are all things that compete with Jesus.

You see, Jesus will not take control unless we give Him control. Jesus cannot sit on the throne of your life if you're already sitting there.

To take up your cross is to die to your own agenda, reputation, and your own kingship - that’s what is in your big box.

We spend a lifetime filling this box. We end up carrying things we should never have to carry.

The cross is where the things in our box stop controlling us.

Jesus tells us to deny ourselves. What are we supposed to deny? We should be denying ourselves the position of self-made kings. We should deny our own efforts to have our own agendas.

This box has no eternal value. It means absolutely nothing in Heaven. The tragedy is that some people spend their entire lives protecting a box they were never meant to carry.

Years ago, I was in Nicaragua doing some short-term mission work. One day our team left a remote section of the country to go into Managua, the capital city, and do some street ministry at this Halloween event. Before arriving at the event, we stopped at a fast food place to get something to eat. After boarding the bus for the event, we picked up some young missionaries who were to join us for the street ministry. When we arrived at the event, these young missionaries remained on the bus for a few minutes. Later, we discovered that they stayed on the bus to collect the packs of ketchup because they had not eaten is so long.

These 5 young missionaries, journeyed for more than 2 days, from the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, with no food and no money. They laid down comfort, they laid down convenience, they laid down security to come and minister to the hurting and the lost - and they did it with joy! This was a cross they chose to bear for the sake of the Gospel.

Maybe this sounds extreme, maybe it doesn’t, but it is a great example of carrying a cross for the sake of Jesus.

Jesus said to “Follow Him”. Where are we following Him to?

Jesus had just spoke about His death and resurrection.

Mark 8:31 (ESV)

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.

The disciples thought that Jesus was going to lead them forever. Now He is telling them He will be killed. They didn’t even pay attention to the part where He said He would rise again. They are stuck on the part where He is killed.

Don’t forget, your life doesn’t end at the cross - there is more beyond the cross. Life is beyond the cross. To live this incredible life with Christ, we have to leave some things at the cross.

Jesus was teaching them that following Him meant going through death to resurrection.

We must allow a part of us to die so we can live as Christ lives. To die to ourselves is to dump the box at the cross.

We follow Him to the cross - the place of sacrifice - the place where things die.

What are you saying, pastor? You mean we have to suffer like He did?

Jesus is saying, “I am walking toward sacrifice, rejection, and suffering in obedience to God.”

If we truly want to follow Him, we must do the same. His cross was a literal cross, ours is a spiritual cross.

This doesn’t mean that we will have to go through everything He did, but it does mean we will face people who reject us for our faith and we will have to give things up to live as God calls us to live. This is what obedience to God look like.

The cross is that place where we lay things down to follow Christ.

We can dump this box at the foot of the cross.

When we dump the box at the foot of the cross, the bitter person becomes free. The proud person becomes teachable. The fearful person becomes courageous, and the selfish person becomes loving.

The goal is to lose the box and replace it with the heart and compassion of Jesus.

We have to be real here. What does this really look like?

How does Jesus want us to live?

God doesn’t ask us to empty our hearts without filling them with something better and complete.

Let’s start with the greatest commandments:

English Standard Version Chapter 12

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

When we take up our cross we are making room in our hearts for the love of God and people.

The box gets exchanged for the love and will of God.

The Holy Spirit and the Word of God help us to identify the things we need to ged rid of so we can truly follow the life of Christ.

There is a life of peace and compassion waiting on those who choose to follow Christ.

You are nearly at the top of the hill. The box has worn you almost completely down. IT’s prevent you from a life of freedom and joy. You can see the destination, the cross standing alone up ahead. You find the energy to push on just a little longer, and there, at the foot of the cross you are finally able to untether from the box. You immediately feel the weight leave you. You feel light and free. "As you walk away from the cross, lighter than you've felt in years, you realize something. The box was taking up the place in your heart that belonged to Jesus."

Now, allow me to ask…what’s in your box? What is competing with Jesus in your life?

Are you willing to give it up and trade it for the heart of Jesus? There are more people to love, to care for, and to reach out to.