Modern American Christianity has become something that the early church wouldn’t recognize. We speak of the love of God without the wrath of God or the judgement of God. We rarely mention sin or repentance. In many modern pulpits today Jesus is no more than a footnote at the end of the sermon.
I get it. The modern, progressives don’t like to hear all of the negativity from their pastors. They don’t want to leave church feeling guilty or convicted; they would rather spend an hour being entertained with humorous quips, PowerPoint slides, and a positive message about living their best life now, and leave church feeling warm and fuzzy inside. In other words, they don’t want to hear the truth.
I get it. No one wants to feel guilty or unworthy, but the simple fact is, you are unworthy, we all are. That’s a fact. We are all sinners, none of us knows how to be good, none of us seek after God, and we all deserve Hell. That’s difficult to hear, but it’s a fact. We deserve to spend eternity in Hell.
We read the New Testament and we see our Lord as loving, and He is, He gave His life for us after all. We see Him healing the blind and lame, raising the dead, and forgiving people that sinned. This is all true. However, if you read every word that’s recorded, instead of just the nice loving words, you will see that while Jesus showed much love and compassion, He never justified nor tolerated sin. Ever person that he healed or forgave, He always made it clear that they were to go and sin no more. In fact, in a couple of cases He told people that He had just healed, to sin no more otherwise something even worse would happen to them.
Yeah...the modern, progressive crowd likes to skip over those sections.
The truth is that Jesus said a great many things that are hard to swallow. For the modern, progressives, it’s like a child taking a dose of medicine, they know they need it, they know it will make them better, but they would just as soon swallow a mouth full of dirt.
Yes, Jesus was and is loving, but He also means business. He does not tolerate sin and He never will. Some of His sayings seem harsh and very unloving to the ears of the lost and perishing. But they are needed. We need to hear all of His words and obey them. Take for instance the following verse...oh, the progressive crowd really hates this one:
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. Luke 9:23
Wow, deny yourself. That’s a tough one. Deny my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions, my life? He can’t possibly mean that. That goes against everything I’ve ever been taught, It goes against everything I believe. This is not the Jesus that I’m used to. What about my self esteem? What about living my best life now? He cannot possibly mean what He says. I’m afraid He means exactly that. We are to put Jesus above all else, family, friends, job, money, everything.
What about taking up the cross? What does He mean by that?
Many people interpret “cross” as some burden they must carry in their lives: a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying pride, they say, “That’s my cross I have to carry.” Such an interpretation is not what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”
When Jesus carried His cross up Golgotha to be crucified, no one was thinking of the cross as symbolic of a burden to carry. To a person in the first-century, the cross meant one thing and one thing only: death by the most painful and humiliating means human beings could develop.
Two thousand years later, Christians view the cross as a cherished symbol of atonement, forgiveness, grace, and love. But in Jesus’ day, the cross represented nothing but torturous death. Because the Romans forced convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion, bearing a cross meant carrying their own execution device while facing ridicule along the way to death.
Therefore, “Take up your cross and follow Me” means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called “dying to self.” It’s a call to absolute surrender. After each time Jesus commanded cross bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
Wherever Jesus went, He drew crowds. Although these multitudes often followed Him as Messiah, their view of who the Messiah really was—and what He would do—was distorted. They thought the Christ would usher in the restored kingdom. They believed He would free them from the oppressive rule of their Roman occupiers. Even Christ’s own inner circle of disciples thought the kingdom was coming soon.
When Jesus began teaching that He was going to die at the hands of the Jewish leaders and their Gentile overlords, His popularity sank. Many of the shocked followers rejected Him. Truly, they were not able to put to death their own ideas, plans, and desires, and exchange them for His.
Following Jesus is easy when life runs smoothly; our true commitment to Him is revealed during trials. Jesus assured us that trials will come to His followers. Discipleship demands sacrifice, and Jesus never hid that cost.
In Luke 9:57-62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them further, their commitment was half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None was willing to take up his cross and crucify upon it his own interests.
Therefore, Jesus appeared to dissuade them. How different from the typical Gospel presentation! How many people would respond to an altar call that went, “Come follow Jesus, and you may face the loss of friends, family, reputation, career, and possibly even your life”? The number of false converts would likely decrease! Such a call is what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”
If you wonder if you are ready to take up your cross, consider these questions:
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing some of your closest friends?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means the loss of your reputation?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life?
In some places of the world, these consequences are reality. But notice the questions are phrased, “Are you willing?” Following Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean all these things will happen to you, but are you willing to take up your cross? If there comes a point in your life where you are faced with a choice—Jesus or the comforts of this life—which will you choose?
Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple. The reward is worth the price. Jesus followed His call of death to self (“Take up your cross and follow Me”) with the gift of life in Christ: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it”.
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