Pick up Your Cross

Get your mind right (v21-23)

The Lord has spoken

Genesis 1:1 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Isaiah 1:1 ESV

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Jeremiah 1:1–2 ESV

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

Ezekiel 1:1 ESV

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Revelation 1:1 ESV

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

We think we know

every generation has

especially when we are at ease

Amos 6:1 ESV

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

Hebrews 11:24–26 ESV

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Allow the correction

We are no better than Peter

We can be a hindrance

Man’s things can be dressed up as God’s things

if a man’s political candidate wins

if a business empire is built

if a retirement fund is doubly funded

if we help our children achieve academic or athletic greatness

A Cross; not a Decoration

An instrument of torture and death

An instrument of humiliation

Stigma

Galatians 3:13 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Public nature

Matthew 27:27–31 ESV

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

An individual instrument

Matthew 16:27 ESV

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

What it means

30 instances of picking up your cross

Read Romans 12:9-21

This is a call to arms. This is a call to action. This is a call to faithfulness. This is a call to repentance. This is a call to provoke one another to good and right deeds. This is a call for the church to act like who she truly is.

Lastly, this is an invitation to experience grace and blessing like we have never known as we walk closer with the Lord Jesus.