Cross Walks

Introduction: “ From that time on Jesus began to explain that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and on the third day be raised from the dead. There is a divine must with God. This “must” is a wonderful and blessed necessity in God that He is compelled to love. Like a good mother who is compelled to care for her child whose whole heart cries out for it. So it is with God and our Lord Jesus Christ. As a mother will do what must be done to save her child, through natural inclination, our Lord Jesus does to save us all. Because of His divine love for us Jesus only inclination is to make a cross walk to Jerusalem. There He will bear the guilt and sins of all people.

As Christians, God has put a divine necessity, “a must”, within us. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” We can do nothing else. We cannot help but follow Jesus and take up our own cross walk through life. We do not bear the sins of the world nor do we bear our own guilt or sin. We bare the name of Christ. Those people that bare His name have been guaranteed trouble, suffering, persecution and the cross. Everything we do and say, as Christians, is based in our walking with Jesus to and from His cross.

I. Cross Walks - To the Cross

Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had just finished confessing that Jesus was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Peter understands who Jesus is. Now Jesus lets him know how that saving must be done. To save the world Jesus must suffer. He must die. He must rise again. Peter couldn’t stand it. He takes Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. The American Translation puts it thus, “God be merciful to You, Lord. This must never happen to you.” If anyone is to receive mercy, it should be Jesus. HE has done nothing wrong that He deserves to suffer and die. Suffering and death are curses that God has allowed. Peter expected a Savior that would come in glory. He did not yet understand the prophesy of Isaiah. The Savior would be a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He would be despised and rejected by men while bearing their griefs and carrying their sorrows. He would be stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He would be wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities. Peter, and I imagine us, would prefer a fancier, dressed up Savior, like a night in shining armor. Instead, our Lord paints a bloody picture for us that the world would consider failure. Peter is inclined to think, “What kind of Savior is that?” The answer, “the only kind of Savior.” Jesus wants Peter and us to walk with Him to the Cross, and there, to understand why He must die.

II. Cross Walks – At the Cross

It is one thing to know who the Savior is. It is another thing to know why a Savior is needed. Peter knows that Jesus is his Savior. He doesn’t yet understand why he needs one. Peter, like all of us, struggled with understanding his own sinfulness. Because of our carnal nature we are inclined to be self-absorbed. The world revolves around us. What we say and do and what is said and done to us are the most important things. According to our sinful nature we are inclined to think that we are doing pretty good for ourselves. Of course there are those times that we admit we have fallen to temptation. It is still hard to admit our guilt. It is said that there are no guilty men in prison. Almost all of them say that they are innocent. Most of them have an excuse, and so do we. For those lapses in our judgment we appreciate God’s forgiveness and that He sent a Savior. By nature we believe that we are basically good. Many times I have asked lifelong Christians why they are going to heaven. Too many times they have told me that it is because they have lived pretty good lives with no major sins, “Not like some people you know.” Jesus leads Peter and us to walk with Him to His cross. There we look up at Him, bruised and beaten, bloody and dying and we see ourselves. God opens our eyes to see that Jesus Christ receives the punishment that we deserved. We see that we weren’t so good after all. On our own, without Jesus, we deserved a criminal’s death. As we see Jesus on the cross we see ourselves as the apostle Paul saw himself and said, "I have been crucified with Christ.” At the cross we see our need for a Savior.

III. Cross Walks – From the Cross

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” At first look this seems like a hard saying from the mouth of our Lord. He seems to ask the impossible of us. He tells us that we must deny ourselves. He doesn’t ask us to deny some portion of our self, some fault, some special desire or habit or some outer manner or practice. He calls us to deny the very center of our being. As sinful people we are turned in on ourselves. We cannot help it. But what we cannot do God can do. By God’s Spirit, through His Word, he turns us away from ourselves and turns us towards Jesus. Only then can we take up our own cross and follow Jesus. Here is a good spot for that favored of all Lutheran questions, “What does this mean” – take up our cross. Since you have died for me Lord, what cross would you have me bear? To this question there has been a lot of confusion. One wrong assumption is that since we are required to bear a cross we might think that we have something to do with our own salvation. This wrongly assumes that to get to heaven we must live lives of self-denial and service to our fellow man. Another wrong assumption is that the crosses of our lives are the difficulties and trials of life. All people, believers in Christ and unbelievers, experience misery and suffering. Misery and suffering alone are not the crosses of life. When a Christian suffers and still looks to Jesus for hope and consolation, this is bearing the cross. Bearing the cross a person is lead to say, “Not my will but your will be done for your purpose and to your glory.”

Crosses are for Christians. The cross that we bear, and each person in his own way, is the cross of bearing the name of Jesus Christ. By bearing His name we suffer the injustice of the world. We Christians are ridiculed when we look for salvation in a bloody God on a cross. What is the cross that we bear? It is the cross of looking to Christ alone for salvation. It is the cross of daily repentance and confession that we are sinners in need of God’s mercy and grace. While the religions of the world direct man to find holiness within himself, we see our holiness in Christ. We bear our cross when we do anything for Jesus sake and in His name, whether it is in suffering or in glory. In Christ our lives are centered in the cross where we find complete self-denial. There we find, as Paul did, that it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life, which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Conclusion: In a way it seems like bearing our cross is easy. Sometimes it is and some times it is not. Either way, for the Christian, it is as automatic as breathing. We cannot help ourselves. It is the divine “must of faith” that God has put within us. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Our Lord promised to be with us every step of the way through life, not giving us more than we can bear and bearing every burden with us. There is no better way of knowing this than walking with Jesus. To His cross and from His empty tomb, - Let us ever walk with Jesus, ever in His footsteps treading, Faithful Lord abide with me; Savior lead I follow Thee.

Matthew 16 21-26

Cross Walks

III. Cross Walks – From the Cross