Take Up Your Cross

Introduction

In the passage from Mark there is a lot going on. Peter’s confession, Peter’s reprimand and rebuke, prompting Jesus to clearly define what it means to follow him. These three things could be sermons in and of themselves but they are what leads Jesus to the crucial point he has to make to us today. As followers of Christ we share Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God. Like Peter too often we see things from our own human understanding and try to get the will of God to line up with our own ideas and understanding. To follow Christ we must deny ourselves, empty our selves of our human ideas and understanding and take up our cross and follow in Christ’s foot steps to advance the mission of God to redeem all creation.

Deny Yourself

What does it mean to deny yourself? To me it means to put someone or something above your own needs, wants and desires. Why was Peter rebuked by Jesus here? PETER WAS TEMPTING JESUS TO STRAY FROM THE MISSION OF GOD!.Because he was struggling with self denial. Peter had his own understanding of who the Messiah was and what he was going to do and his version had nothing to do with struggle, suffering and death, but of conquest. His idea of the Messiah was the one who would restore the Kingdom of Israel, and overthrow the Roman government not die by their hand.

Peter in his reprimand of Jesus, whom he just proclaimed to be the Messiah, Son of the living God, was appealing to the human temptation Christ was struggling with to not embrace the cross. To not embrace the path of suffering and death. Satan, in the form of one of his closest friends was again tempting him, to take his way instead of God’s way. Peter unknowingly was influencing Christ’s humanity to not deny himself and take up his cross and follow the will of God the Father. This is a battle that was very real for Christ. We see it when Christ is praying in the Garden before he is arrested. “Abba, daddy, if there be any other way let this cup pass from me! Nevertheless not my will but yours be done!”

To best understand what it means to deny ourselves, we must not over think it. We must think of it literally, to say no to self. So to deny our self and follow Christ means to say no to self and yes to Christ. We must say no to our own natural love of ease and comfort. We must say no to every course of action that is self seeking and self will. We must say no to things that tempt us to do the wrong things, forbidden things. We must without hesitation say yes to the voice and command of God.

If I had to reduce the things God has taught me over the course of my journey with Christ down to the two most important, or the two that come up the most it would be this. 1 To deny yourself take up your cross daily and follow me. 2 Love God with every thing you have, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. These 2 things I have come to realize are really intertwined. I have found that is impossible to do one and not the other. You cannot love others without denying yourself, and you cannot love God without taking up your cross and following Him.

Take up Your cross

I once had a teacher tell me after complaining to them about them repeating something over and over again seemingly on a daily basis, that repetition is the mother of all learning. This challenge to take up your cross and follow Christ is captured by Matthew 16:24, here in Mark and it is so important to Luke 9:23, 14:27 that the challenge is there twice. After Peter rebukes Jesus he calls the crowd following him in closer because what he is about to teach them is crucially important.

What does it mean to take your cross and follow Christ? It means to embrace the discomfort of self denial. To embrace the same sacrificial love displayed in the life of Christ. It means to embrace God’s will even when it is uncomfortable, and uncoventional . To take up your cross is to cry out in the tough times in our lives “Abba, daddy, if there is any other way let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, thy will be done.” To take up your cross means that come what may, suffering, or comfort our attitude is always God Thy will be done!

Mark 8:36 NLT

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Conclusion

When Christ tells his followers to take up their cross he doesn’t mean as a decoration but as an instrument of suffering and death. When we take up our cross we are denying,saying no to, dying to ourselves, and saying yes to and living for Jesus. We are called to walk his same path of suffering and death as we follow after Christ. We walk the path out of love for God and others to find that, when we sacrifice ourselves out of love we discover resurrection.

To come back to Peter he correctly confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, Son of the Living God. He had his own Human ideas of who the Messiah was supposed to be, and the path of suffering and death did not line up with his own human understanding. Peter is immediately rebuked for challenging Jesus mission to go to the cross. Peter’s and our Human point of view don’t see things the way God does. What does Jesus taking up his cross and following the will of God look like?

Philippians 2:5–11 NLT

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 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.

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 87.70 κενόω

87.70 κενόωb: to completely remove or eliminate elements of high status or rank by eliminating all privileges or prerogatives associated with such status or rank—‘to empty oneself, to divest oneself of position.’ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν ‘he emptied himself’ Php 2:7.

This is the mission of God! We also must like Christ empty, or deny ourselves take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Christ to advance the mission of God.