Cross Walking!

An encouragement to live for Christ above ourselves.

Today we have a “freebee” sermon, not part of a series as such, but helpful all the same.

One of our mission values at Life Church is Sacrificial Living. What does this look and feel like. 

The Christian life is one of our response to His ability. It is not a passive life though. It is active. it is demanding. It is challenging. 

Let’s focus this morning on one of Jesus’ most well known phrases and see where we go:

Luke 9:23: Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 9:23: Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (NKJV).

Luke 9: 23-25 Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? (The Message)

This Easter season is a great time to consider the implications, not just of Jesus’ cross, but ours! We each have one!

It is vitally important to recognise that salvation is free. Grace though is not cheap! Salvation is free at the point of delivery but it is costly for God. We cannot cheapen the grace of God by being consumers of His grace. 

We do not earn salvation. We do not earn His grace. 

We are changed by these things though! If we are going to be followers and disciples of Jesus we have to bear a cross! 

The Cross Calls to Us!

Then he said to them all…

Jesus’ call goes to everyone! The Church is not designed to be a country club of exclusivity. The gospel reaches beyond the four walls of the local church to everyone.

Jesus is always clear with His call. He does not hide His agenda. He tells everyone following Him is not always easy, it is demanding. 

The call of the cross tells all of us that we will have to live a life that is one of self-denial and servanthood. yes we gain more than we lose, but we still lose something! 

We do not like this kind of talking, we prefer to be ‘seeker sensitive,’ which is OK. I tend to think that ‘seeker sensitive’ is not putting people off the gospel by being weird around non-Christians, speaking a language that they don’t understand, but being authentic, genuine, honest and victorious in our lives.

We also have to accept that Jesus sometimes let the would-be convert off the hook! The rich young man went away sad when he counted the cost of discipleship, (Luke 18: 18-30).

If we want true purpose in life we will hear the call of the cross and we will live for Jesus. Everything else in life may be gain, but without Jesus, is worthless (Luke 9:23, see also Matthew 6:33).

The Choice of the Cross

“If…”(NKJV)

“Anyone who intends…” (Message)

“If” is a big word. So is “intends.” Intentions are all well and good but without acton an intention is a wish, a desire, a dream, but not substantive; having no basis in reality.

A desire, the “if” of the cross, finds its reality in action not in wishful thinking.

To follow Jesus is always a choice. Even when we have made the choice to accept his love we have to keep choosing to follow.

Too many today want to have the crown without the cross, the reward without the refining, the testimony with no test and the blessing without the believing.

Jesus was emphatically clear:

Luke 14: 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Christianity without His cross is a fruit bun at Easter! It’s meaningless. The cross is the pivot upon which everything hangs. If there is no cross there is no upper room of Pentecost! If there is no cross-bearing in our lives there is no power to be displayed.

Think about what happened on the cross when Jesus died:

Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross

The cross of Jesus disarms the enemy. One of the greatest keys in disarming the enemy in our lives is to pick up the cross, the cross of discipleship and servitude, and go for it. 

The enemy of your soul will wage war against this attitude and thinking. Living for Jesus means choosing to humiliate the enemy daily through reminding him that he is disarmed and a spectacle by walking with a stoop of the cross in our shoulders!

There is good news too: it’s not too heavy!

Matthew 11:30: For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The Cost of the Cross

The cost of the call is self denial!

“…my disciple(s) must deny themselves…”

This is tough. It is a choice to surrender our advantage in life for others. Not just with money or time or skills, but with our hearts too.

There are many things in life we could all be doing rather  than being here today, but we have chosen to come and worship, to listen to the message, to continue to live for Him and not ourselves. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Was hanged for his faith a few days before Germany surrendered in WWII. This is what he wrote about denying oneself, “The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our  lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. (The Cost of Discipleship, 99, http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dietrich-bonhoeffer-was-hanged-today.)

We are dead men and women walking. Today I should look across our sanctuary at corpses, dead to sin, alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-14)!

There are four hallmarks of discipleship

• Servanthood (Matthew 20:25-28)

God is not interested in our contribution, He wants our surrender!

• Stewardship (Matthew 25:15-28)

Stewardship is based upon the biblical assumption that everything we have and are belongs to God and must be used according to God’s will.

•  Sacrifice (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Tim. 2:1-4)

We have to live for Christ and therefore recognise that we no longer belong to ourselves, but Him! That means living as He did, sacrificially!

•  Suffering (Phil. 3:10; Gal.6:17; 2 Cor. 11:23-30).

Suffering for Jesus is more common now in our nation than before. Some people suffer for being weird. We share in His glory We share in His suffering.

The Discipline of the Cross

“…take up their cross daily…”

The picking up of our cross is a daily thing. It does not mean that we repent daily of old sins. It does not mean that we look miserable and downtrodden. 

It means we choose daily to allow the cross to transform our character every day. 

It means we walk in integrity each day. 

We choose Christ-likeness over our preference and convenience. 

We commit to not going AWOL!

That daily choice brings fresh blessings:

Lamentations 3:23-24: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

It is interesting that this well known promise is found int he book of laments - a lament is an expression of grief, sorrow, pain, loss. In the middle of this is the promise of God’s fresh blessing every day.

The Momentum of the Cross

“…and follow me.”

We are not called to pioneer, we are called to follow. Even Christian pioneers are followers of Jesus!

Following is tough at times. The road of life may be potholed, ricky, hilly or slippery, but it is always narrow.

We can be assured though as follwers that Jesus’ feet have already trodden there. 

Every new situation we face, He has walked there before us. 

Every challenge we have He has already overcome. Every victory we enjoy is because He is victorious.

The Christian faith is a a faith of momentum, it progresses. It includes growth and change. We should not be the same as we were a year ago, five years ago, or fifty years ago.

The walk of the cross transforms us:

2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

The walk of faith changes us but He is constant:

Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

That means our way is sure! The destination is guaranteed as long as we follow!

Wrapping This Up:

Do you aspire to having the power of God demonstrated fully in your life? 

Pick up the cross.

Do you aspire to live in a way that will be totally countercultural, foolish to those around you?

Pick up the cross. 

1 Corinthians 1:18: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God