'Whoever doesn’t take their cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me.' Mat 10:38
_______________________________________________
'Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let them deny themself, take up their cross, and follow me.' Mat 16:24
_______________________________________________
'Jesus called the multitude to Himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let them deny themself, and take up their cross, and follow me.' Mark 8:34
_______________________________________________
'Jesus said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let them deny themself, take up their cross (daily), and follow me.' Luke 9:23 (Some translations have the word 'daily' added.)
_______________________________________________
'Taking up one's cross' is clearly a metaphor. Jesus is not expecting everyone who follows him to literally carry a full-sized cross!
Our burden?
Some take this as a metaphor for having a burden that we do not choose for ourselves, 'We each have our own cross to bear.' However, we are told to cast our burdens onto the Lord and take up His yoke, which He tells us is light and easy. Therefore, if you believe you have a burden, it didn't come from the Lord and you are supposed to hand it to Him.
'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”' Mat 11:28-30
Self-sacrifice and self-denial?
Some take it as a metaphor for living a life of self-denial. After all, Jesus mentions self-denial in three of the verses. I have heard it put that a person who was carrying 'their' cross in that day was going to die on it. In other words, to carry one's cross, meant putting yourself to death in terms of your desires and living for God's desires. That's all very well, but let's consider some points first.
When Jesus said this He hadn't been crucified. To us, from this side of the cross, knowing about Jesus' crucifixion, the image of taking up a cross and following Jesus means something. But, I'm sure to the people listening to Jesus this was a big puzzle.
Following Him
Each time Jesus talks of taking up a cross He also says we are to follow Him. So, let's ask the sensible question, once Jesus took up His cross where did He go? That may seem obvious, but let's follow this through: He was crucified, He died, was buried, was raised to life, ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
It is interesting that in all the writings of the New Testament, after the Gospels, 'taking up one's cross' isn't mentioned. However, the Bible tells us we who believe were crucified with Christ, buried with Him, raised to new life and are now seated with Him in Heaven! This is never said as something we need to do. It is said as something that is finished for the believer.
Crucified with Christ
'I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me' Gal 2:20
_______________________________________________
'Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.' Gal 5:24
_______________________________________________
'So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.' Rom 7:4
_______________________________________________
Buried and raised to new life with Christ
'Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,' Col 2:12-13
Seated with Christ in Heavenly places
'Even when we were dead through our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' Eph 2:5-6
Readiness for the new covenant
Taking up one's cross is only mentioned before Jesus was crucified. Remember, the new covenant could not begin until after Jesus' death had occurred. The people who were being told to take up their cross were, at best, under the old covenant. For anyone on this side of the cross, all we have to do is believe in Jesus and God does the rest - we come straight into the new covenant. For anyone before the cross, they had to wait until the new covenant began before they could enter it.
Their metaphorical preparation for dying, being buried, raised and seated with Christ, could only be preparation. A readiness represented by 'taking up one's cross.'
Humble self-denial
As a Metaphor, 'taking up one's cross' is essentially the first step to becoming a Christian. To the Jews Jesus was speaking to, this was to have a specific meaning. We could parallel this to Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). In it we hear the prayer of the Pharisee. We can see that the Pharisee made his prayer all about himself. If you take out everything he said about himself all you would be left with is, 'God, I thank You!'
‘The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: "God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get."’ Luke 18:11-12.
A worldly definition of self-denial might be to deny oneself the 'pleasures' of life. That might be anything beyond the bare minimum required for existence. Keeping life as simple and as uncomplicated as possible as far as things, clothes, food, houses, transport, etc. are concerned.
However, and this is a big 'however', this is not the self-denial Jesus is speaking about. As spiritual and noble as that life may sound, that is not the aim of the Christian life. James 4:6, tells us that God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. This ties in with the parable we just looked at. If we take the world's idea of self-denial, for example, we can see the problem simply by saying it must be possible to be proud of ones ability to deny oneself, and even gain a sense of self-righteousness from it.
We sometimes think of pride as, 'the big I am.' But pride can crop up in many forms. Here is a very simple picture of pride. Imagine you are standing on the edge of a wide ravine and on the other side is God and all His benefits. Around you are lots of things you might think will get you to the other side.
The truth of this ravine is that only God can get you across. In fact on His side, he has a button that He can push to extend a bridge over to you. So, what do you do? Do you assume you need to do it, it's up to you? Do you humbly ask God to help you gather the things together so that you can build your own bridge? Or, do you do the only thing you can actually do: Admit you can't do anything to get across? Do you ask God to provide the only means of crossing - that He went out of his way to put in place?
Self-denial, therefore, is the humble acceptance that we cannot save ourselves by our efforts. It is the acceptance that we need a saviour. It is accepting that Jesus died to pay for our sins and therefore we do not and cannot pay for them. It is the acceptance that our righteousness comes from Him and not us, and so on.
Who's on your shoulder?
I'm sure we are aware of the old cartoon image of having a little devil on one shoulder and a little angel on the other, each trying to persuade us. I've also heard the idea that each of us has tapes playing in our minds. One of these is called 'critical parent.'
Honestly, there are times when I think we have a little Pharisee sitting on our shoulder! We have to make everything harder than it's supposed to be. Self-denial becomes self-sacrifice. Giving becomes sacrificial-giving and give-until-it-hurts. Jesus says, 'I love you and I died for you - it is finished ' and we say, 'Let me make myself worthy!'
Self-denial for the believer
Having said 'taking up one's cross' isn't mentioned after the crucifixion, there are plenty of verses that speak of self-denial for the believer. But we have to realise the emphasis is different.
The self-denial Jesus was talking about in taking up one's cross was a definite condition that was required in order to follow Him. Those who are believers after the cross are encouraged to maintain a life of self-denial. Not because their salvation depends on it. It is to remind us that we chose to enter this new covenant and to reflect what God has done in us. We are now new creations, created in the image of Jesus and our lives should reflect that.
What we do is not in order to gain anything, it is in gratitude for what we have already gained. Neither is 'what we do' meant to be our main focus. Jesus is our main focus. We are to fix our eyes on Him. So, get this, fixing my eyes on Jesus means taking them off of myself! That sounds like self-denial! Stop focusing on me, what I want, how my needs are being met, how good I look to others and fix my eyes on Jesus. Also, if my eyes are fixed on Jesus, my eyes are not judging everyone around me.
Different translations translate this differently, some have 'Let's fix (or Fixing) our eyes on Jesus'. Some have 'Looking to Jesus' and others 'Looking only at Jesus.' The Greek literally says, 'Looking away from all else, unto. . . Jesus.' If we want a verse that is the Christian's top verse on self-denial, in my mind, it's this one. (By this I mean, when we are in a sticky spot and need a quick way to ground ourselves, 'Look to Jesus' is a much better mantra than than trying to remember some complex theological doctrine!)
Anyone who drives has probably learned that when you are going around a bend in the road you do not look at the ditch on the side of the road. If you do you can feel the vehicle pulling towards the ditch. Instead, you take your eyes off of where you don't want to be and look up the road to where you do want to be. But, what if there is something that you want to look at, like a beautiful scenic spot? This takes discipline and self-denial to stay focused on where you want the car to go. As nice as the view might be, it wouldn't be good to drive your car off of the road! (If you do, simply get back on the road and fix your eyes on Jesus again).
Every other encouragement in the New Testament has to come only once we have turned our eyes from all else and fixed them on Jesus. Or at least be framed in the context of that. For example, we can see this in the following:
'No soldier on duty entangles themself in the affairs of everyday life, but rather to please the one who enrolled them as a soldier.' 2 Tim 2:4
That may sound strange. After all, most of us Christians live an 'everyday life!' We are not all called away to missionary work as Timothy and Paul were. But we are to take our eyes off of the affairs of everyday life and fix them on pleasing the one who enrolled us, Jesus.
Ambassadors of Christ
Another example for us would be the life of ambassadors of Christ! As ambassadors we live by the rules of our true homeland, God's kingdom. Showing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, mercy, forgiveness, justice and being there for people when no one else is.
As ambassadors, we do not live for what we can get out of life or according to our wants. Our job is to infiltrate the world we find ourselves in and spread the good news of our homeland. That said, it is no good being so overt we make everyone suspicious and mistrusting putting people off. Likewise, it is no good in being so covert it is of no effect. We look for opportunities to serve our true master.
Foreigners and pilgrims
Peter tells us we are now the people of God. As such we are now foreigners and pilgrims. Or in other words, people who belong to another kingdom, and are just passing through. The word translated pilgrim here, gets translated in different ways because it is pretty much a sentence in itself. It literally means 'someone who is passing through but still having personal connections with the locals!'
'In the past, you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.' 1 Pet 2:10-12
The problem with a wrong focus
You probably know what a good government should be, but more than likely feel you haven't got one and you can't change it. You know what a good boss should be, but possibly haven't got one. You know what good parents should be but may feel yours "did their best!" You know what good children should be but yours, well you love them anyway.
The thing is we can't change the world by telling everyone else how they should be. If there was a standard rule book from God that pointed the finger at everyone but us, we could feel self-righteous or we could feel disillusioned because we haven't got what we feel we're entitled to.
When we look at other countries around the world that have better transport, shops, community, health, education, etc, it can make us feel like we drew the short straw.
A lifestyle guru says, 'You too can be like me, just follow my simple five-step plan, buy my book, sign up for my course' but has no power to make you like them. And you can't be like them, because you're not them. Also, they probably aren't that great anyway!
Psychologists have realised that if you hold someone up as a mentor, it is actually more demoralising than helpful because you can never feel that you have reached their level. All the time you have someone called a mentor, it is telling you that you are subordinate.
Other religions will tell you that if you want to be spiritual you need to deny yourself to the point of limiting what you eat, wear and enjoy to the bare minimum of only what is essential to keep the body alive.
Think about all of these things and realise these are ways some people look at the Christian faith. As if it is an instruction to everyone else around us. Or, as if Jesus has a check-list of things you need to do to become like Him. Or, as if self-sacrifice and self-denial lead to some kind of higher spiritual plane.
I'll give you the highest spiritual plane, take your eyes off of what you are doing and put them on what Jesus has done. Jesus changes our world by changing our perspective.
Comparing the two views of self-denial
Let's say you live in a big house. And compared to many people in the world, if you live in a house, it is a big house. The 'worldly' view of self-denial (for want of a better phrase!), would either say you need to downsize or make use of the space you have to benefit those who need somewhere to live.
The New Testament says, take your eyes off of your house and look to Jesus. Likewise, if you have a lot of money, take your eyes off of your money and look to Jesus.
We could break this down further, we could say we do not look to our possessions for our security instead we look to Jesus. We simply fix our eyes on Jesus.
We do this by reminding ourselves of the truth of who Jesus is, how He thinks/feels about us and what He has done for us. We do this by going over the scriptures that tell us these things. We reassure ourselves in His steadfast love for us. In an ever-changing and unstable world Jesus is our solid foundation.
The worldly view of self-denial is focused on trying to change the internal by changing the external. Jesus had something to say about that:
'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.' Mat 23:25-26
Remember that the Pharisees were under Law, not grace. Under Law, it was up to them to clean the inside. Under grace, this is done for you as a free gift.
Another analogy we could use is fruits and roots. We are busy trying to produce fruit, after all, that is the bit the world sees. But if we tend to the roots, the fruits will take care of themselves. So, when we say to ourselves, for example, I need to pray more, read the bible more, be more loving, etc, we are focusing on the fruit and trying to force it to grow by our effort.
Imagine a group of, say, 30 people who have come to Jesus. You say to them, "Now you have come to Jesus, learn to make Him your focus. Remind yourself of who He is, how He feels about you and what He has done for you. Do it like a baby drinks milk." What answers will you get? 'That's not how it works.', 'Life's too short.', 'I don't believe in all that.'
Of those who will do it, how many will forget? How many will assume they already know it and don't need to remind themselves?
When you put the parable of the wide and narrow path together with the parable of the Sower of Seed, we see the numbers go down and down. Few are they that find Jesus. Of those who do few are they that produce a crop. Of those who produce a crop, few are they that produce a hundredfold.
How it works
Jesus takes a person who is humble and seeking mercy. He then puts in that person the power to be transformed (The Holy Spirit). He speaks to them through His written word, which the Holy Spirit works with. He then uses the circumstances of the person's life to transform them, bit by bit.
He doesn't dangle the always-out-of-reach carrot, of making us try to attain His level of righteousness, holiness and sinless perfection. Instead, he gives these to us at the start. He doesn't scold us for failing. He equips us to move forward. Our journey is not measured by how close we have gotten ourselves to Jesus' standard. It is measured by how far we have come from where we started. That distance is not because of our works, we were transported by Jesus. Jesus already reckons us to be at His standard.
'Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, and in him you are made full/complete,' Col 2:8-10a
The encouragement is not, 'do in order to get.' It is 'do because you have received.' That's how God changes 'our' world, by changing our focus. When we renew our minds to believe and trust wholeheartedly in all that Jesus is and has done for us, 'we' are transformed.
There is a saying I heard again recently: The worst chains of slavery are not the ones around our ankles and wrists, they are the ones around our minds. Jesus frees us by the truth that he made us like Him the moment we believe and promises us a future hope beyond this life and world.
For us, the journey started with being crucified with Christ. So, taking up our cross would now be redundant! However, we are not to just carry on living as we were and simply call ourselves Christians. We are to walk with Jesus and fix our eyes on Him. Which means taking them off of everything else.
This reminds me of those obedience dogs that walk to heel, continually looking up at the owner with their head pressed to the owner's leg. But, Jesus doesn't insult us by calling us dogs, no, no, no, He calls us sheep! He is the shepherd. The wise sheep never lets the shepherd out of its sight and stays close to the shepherd.
I have heard no end of preachers who love to talk about sheep as not being the brightest of animals. But to me, it's not that Jesus says we are sheep that's important. It's that he says we are His sheep.
'Jesus therefore said to them again, “Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, they will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture. The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.' John 10:7-11
'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.' John 10:27-29
No comments:
Post a Comment