The uncomfortable Cross

The Uncomfortable Cross

Uncomfortable Wk2

INTRO: Another brick in the wall.

A. Dream church / Church is not about our preferences

· American culture is a culture of comfort

· Dream church is a myth

· Becoming a brick in the house that God to lives in

B. Last week we said to Embrace the uncomfortable

· Elliptical that is to wide. Still just as good.

· Things get uncomfortable in the church because church has different people.

· All different levels. Each of us has many hats to wear.

· As your Pastor I have to be your leader, teacher, preacher, coach, cheerleader, mentor, confidant, counselor, friend and brother.

· I am not good at all of these. Sometimes its uncomfortable to move from coach to preacher.

· As we move through the church our hats change. At home we may be the leader. At life group we are a student. At work we are now a preacher.

· Even Prayer leader (Rhonda) Have you started your prayer ministry? We expect things to change in your prayer life. Cards.

C. God expects you to be the house he lives all the time

· He uses us where we are weak and where we are strong.

· Every situation we have to fall back on Dr. Floyd’s theology. Pink Floyd. All in all we are just a brick in the wall.

· Find the hat, the place you belong in your situation and be that brick.

>>> It can and will be uncomfortable. It will be uncomfortable because our faith is centered around a torture device and a cemetery. The glorious cross and the Victorious empty Tomb! Talk about uncomfortable! The message of the cross focuses on the uncomfortableness and sacrifice that the Christian faith calls us to embrace, and the Savior, Jesus, who provides the perfect example. The message of the empty tomb is inexplicable! Supernatural! They are uncomfortable subjects.

The Christian faith is a faith that calls us to the foot of a cruel cross and to accept the unacceptable. (promo for Easter) This is a difficult thing to accept. (laugh) It is not a secret! Everyone knows about it! It can be uncomfortable.

I. At the Center of the Christian Faith Is the Cross—An Execution Device (v. 34)

NLT Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

A. Take up your cross.

· Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd that has gathered to hear him speak that anyone who wishes to follow him must “take up their cross” (v. 34).

· American Christianity has tamed the cross, turning it into a symbol found on coffee mugs and throw pillows.

· Taking up my cross has become putting on a pretty chain to keep the twilight cast from attacking me.

B. We have lost the terror of the cross

· We’ve lost some of the barbarity and terror of the cross.

· First-century listeners would’ve understood—and probably been horrified by—what Jesus was saying.

· The cross is a method of execution—and a profoundly brutal one at that.

· Even the electric chair is kinder and gentler.

· In antiquity crucifixion was considered one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death.

· Probably originating with the Assyrians and Babylonians, it was used systematically by the Persians in the 6th century BC.

· Alexander the Great brought it from there to the eastern Mediterranean countries in the 4th century BC, and the Phoenicians introduced it to Rome in the 3rd century BC.

· The Romans perfected crucifixion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine I in the 4th century AD.

· 3 hours to 4 days depending on the shape you were in. Roman guards would build a fire if lucky.

· Crucifixion is still one of the Hadd punishments in Iran. If a crucified person were to survive three days of crucifixion, they are set free. (Sign me up! I did a half marathon once.)

C. difficult it is for us to grasp

· What would it have been like, in Palestine and in the wider Roman Empire, to see a crucifixion or to hear it being discussed?

· There is nothing in America today to which we could compare it. … Crucifixion was specifically designed to be the ultimate insult to personal dignity, the last word in humiliating and dehumanizing treatment.

· Degradation was the whole point

No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily…

No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily…

· Did you know this is why Friedrich Nietzsche rejected Christianity, “the religion of pity” which “makes suffering contagious.”

· The cross is offensive to Isalm. The apparent weakness of God on a cross. a religion that both denies the historical fact of and need for Christ’s crucifixion, finding it “inappropriate that a major prophet of God should come to such an ignominious shameful end.

· Today the cross remains “folly” because it undermines human logic and wisdom. We have ideas about what redemption and revolution should look like. Yet the wisdom and power of God confounds us.

“The gospel of the cross will never be a popular message because it humbles the pride of our intellect and character.” John Stott

· To the disciples and crowds, this would’ve been confusing and disturbing, not a sign of hope.

>>> Jesus is being completely honest with us, his followers: This isn’t going to be comfortable. If we’re not careful, we can begin to lose sight of what actually happened on the cross. If we miss that, then we’ll miss what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus. We must never forget that the brutal cross is at the center of our faith.

II. Following Jesus Means Denying Ourselves(our comfort) and Taking up Our Own Crosses (v. 34)

NLT Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

A. What does it mean to give up our own way. (to deny ourselves.)

· Taking up our own crosses requires that we deny ourselves and deny the things the world sees as praiseworthy.

· When we think of taking up our cross, we often think of martyrdom and persecution. We should think about that.

· It’s more likely that taking up our cross will require less extreme, daily sacrifices.

B. What does it look like

1. The loss of being your own boss.

· You don’t march to the beat of a different drum. You march to the beat of the drummer whether he is playing or not.

2. The loss of Consumer Religion

· It’s not about self-promotion or ambitions of greatness. It’s about following Christ’s example

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

· This is why Islam attracts young men. Power. Greatness.

3. The loss of pride.

· One of the most offensive things about the cross of Christ has always been its leveling aspect, giving “insider” access to prostitutes, tax collectors, and the pariahs of society just as much as to religious and cultural elites

· Gentiles just as much as to Jews. The wretched thief on the cross didn’t and couldn’t do anything “good” to save himself, but Jesus still welcomed him into his kingdom.

· Secret sunshine. Make my sorrow fair.

4. The Loss of Power, Coolness, and Cultural Respectability

· Christianity calls people to ways of living that are decidedly uncool, politically incorrect, and just plain weird.

· Unfortunately many pastors and Christian leaders find this hard to accept; they want to be culturally respectable and perfectly at home in the hallways of power and celebrity

5. The Loss of Health, Wealth, and Comfort

· The cost is generosity. Open handedness

· As if the loss of wealth, property, and family are not enough, the loss of health and life itself are also possible costs of discipleship. Physical suffering, persecution, and martyrdom

Illustration: In 1986, Alan and Eric Barnhart started a crane-and-rigging company. They viewed their company as God’s company, though, and decided to cap their income at the same level as the average middle-class families in their hometown, Memphis, so they could give their money to causes that advanced God’s kingdom. Their company is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and yet their salaries have only changed for cost-of-living adjustments. The Barnharts have done what is folly in the eyes of the world: denied their own desires for prosperity in order to follow Jesus

C. The Christian faith not only centers on the cross of Jesus but another cross. Your cross.

· What we gain from that loss is worth it.

· Weakness, suffering, and loss are not the end of the story. They lead to victory, resurrection, and eternal gain.

· In what areas of our lives do we need to be willing to make sacrifices?

· What comforts are we holding too tightly?

>>> As followers of Jesus, we must accept and embrace the call to deny ourselves and take up our metaphorical cross.

III. Jesus Provides the Ultimate Example (v. 34)

NLT Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.

A. His disciples didn’t understand it yet, but when Jesus warned of the cost of discipleship, he was soon going to be taking up his own cross—the real cross of crucifixion.

· Jesus is saying that to truly follow him means following him to the cross—the ultimate denial of comfort, safety, power, and wealth.

· Jesus never asks us to do something that he has not already done. He goes before us, setting the perfect example, so that we may find comfort in sharing in his sufferings (). When we take up our cross, we’re never alone.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Illustration: In the 19th century, a Belgian priest named Father Damien left the comforts of home behind and moved to the Hawaiian island of Molokai to minister both physically and spiritually to a group of lepers that had been quarantined there. Eventually, Father Damien contracted the disease himself and decided to remain with the other men instead of leave for treatment. Similarly, Jesus willingly left heaven and became a man, entering into our sufferings and literally taking up his cross. Father Damien was simply following the example that Jesus set for us.

B. “Want to follow Jesus? Join him at the cross. …

· To be a follower of Christ is to join his journey of abandoning comfort and enduring suffering, a journey that is foolishness in the eyes of the world”

Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community 2 The Uncomfortable Cross

Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. . . . Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in

The only way we can deny ourselves and take up our cross is by remembering that we’re not alone and that Jesus has entered into the discomfort he’s calling us to and has emerged victorious.

· The only way we can deny ourselves and take up our cross is by remembering that we’re not alone and that Jesus has entered into the discomfort he’s calling us to and has emerged victorious.

Conclusion: This text teaches us some key truths about what it means to follow Jesus. If we’re honest, these truths can be difficult to accept at times. We can find comfort in knowing that as we walk our own road to Calvary, Jesus is with us every step of the way. There is a struggle to being another brick in the wall of the place where God lives. We do not walk on unfamiliar ground. Our God has trailblazed for us. Let me read you the lyrics of song.

Phillipians2:6-11Though he was God,[a]

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];

he took the humble position of a slave[c]

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,[d]

8 he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor

and gave him the name above all other names,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.