"Prepare for the Cross."

Last night as I was reading through the lectionary reading for today and praying for which one God wants me to preach on for Ash Wednesday service, I wasn’t inclined towards one or the other. It wasn’t till in the middle of the night that God directed me towards what He wanted to say to us today. And this is what was put in my mind during my sleep in the night- “Prepare for the Cross.” Immediately, my attention was drawn to the Gospel of Luke where Jesus turns his face towards Jerusalem for the specific purpose of dying on the cross (Luke 9:51). So I went to Luke 9:51 and there is where I found what it is that God wanted to say to us today. It was later confirmed when Pastor Marshall sent me an article about Lent and it has the same theme. Read with me Luke 9:18-27

Luke 9:18–26 NASB95

18 And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” 20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” 23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. 25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? 26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

I. Jesus is called Christ [v.20]

II. Jesus is called to the Cross [v.22]

III. Jesus calls us to the Cross with Him [v.23]

It is evident to me that Luke is piecing together a journey that Jesus is about to take heading to the cross, and the same journey will be made by those who declare Jesus is the Christ. In one sense, Luke is revealing to us that Like Jesus who accepted the call of the Cross which identifies Him Christ, we t00 are to embark on the same journey which identifies us as those who follow Christ. Therefore, if we want to follow Jesus, if we want to be like Him, if we want a deeper relationship with Jesus, then we need to “Prepare ourselves for the Cross.” But how? How do we prepare for the cross? This is what I believe the season of Lent is all about. Consider what Jesus says about being called to the cross:

A. Lose yourself [v.23]

You must decrease and Christ must increase. You first need to get out of the way so that Jesus can come in and clean house.

B. Lose your life [v.24]

You need to get rid of your old life and take hold of the new. (Repent and Replace)

C. Don’t be ashamed [v.26]

The new you and your new life will be different than the world. You will stick out like a sore thumb. The way you approach things will be different and ridiculed. Jesus says, don’t be ashamed. Be bold, press on towards the cross and you will live!

Totality not Partiality.

Allow me to be very pointed here. Jesus is talking about Totality here. Not just some, not just almost, Jesus demands it all. If it cost Jesus everything then you bet it will cost you everything. It is all or nothing. Consider this:

1. Don’t Diminish the work of Jesus by keeping some part of yourself.

If any part of you remains then logically Jesus could not fill you. In addition, you embarrass Jesus by passively claiming that there is some part of you that is good enough to keep so really Jesus only needs to redeem the bad parts of you and you can keep the good parts. Jesus doesn’t mix words. You have to deny your full self- all of you so you can get all of Jesus. Don’t diminished the work of Jesus in your life by hanging on to some part of yourself. Give all of yourself to Jesus.

2. Don’t water down Jesus’ words about your life.

Jesus says lose your life in order to gain a new one. How can you live a “new life” when there are still parts of the “old life” on display? How serious are we taking Jesus on this matter? Why do some of our lives reflect very little change from old to new? If you are hanging on to any part of your old life then you are not taking Jesus seriously at His word about how one follows Him, and you believe that Jesus didn’t mean what he said.

3. Don’t make Jesus out to be an idiot.

In addition, the way of the Cross requires the Totality of who you are and life you lead. Jesus expects those who follow him to have full denial of self and of the life born in sin. But some follow as if there are some redeeming qualities in them or in their life. If that describes you, then Jesus endured the cross unnecessarily. If you possessed enough will-power to do good, if you have the capacity to live like Jesus did at ANY level, then there would be no need for the very son of God to take on flesh, bear the cross, and die. Essentially, God overreacted and didn’t have to shed His own son’s blood. You make God out to be an idiot when you believe you don’t have to deny yourself or give up your old life to follow Jesus.

Take heart. God is patient with you. He will perfect this new you and new life in you by the Holy Spirit. Even now much of who you are and much of your life looks differently today than it day last year. But we must keep going. Friends there is no better time than the present to consider all these things and prepare for the Cross. Lent is for this very reason- to consider the parts of yourself and the parts of your life that need to be crucified with Christ. We don’t skip the cross to get to Easter Sunday. We go through the cross to get to Easter. So I hope you will follow Jesus to the Cross. I hope that as Jesus’ face was turned towards the Cross, your face will bear the marks with ash, to demonstrate a commitment to prepare for the coming Cross of Christ where your life of sin is put to death only to be raised to a new life.

These 40 days will be hard. The path to the Cross was hard for Jesus and so we can expect the same. Much had to be done to afford you a right to life and a life that is right. Listen to the words of Paul as he shares with the church 1) the cost and 2) the celebration of a life following Jesus...

2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10 NASB95

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 1 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— 2 for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”— 3 giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, 4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, 6 in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, 7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, 8 by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; 9 as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, 10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

This is the acceptable time, this is the season to call out for help, and the call to journey to the Cross that Jesus tells us to take with him. If anyone here wants to follow Jesus, then get ready, prepare for the Cross. Search now those things that need to be put to death in your life so that new life can be put in its place. If you are prepared for the Cross, then I invite you to participate in the Lenten Discipline and to receive the imposition of ashes as a sign that death is taking place so that new life can manifest.