TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

 TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

   Take up your Cross; we may have heard sermons on this part of scripture.This is also a popular quote on all types of media :memes, posters, T-shirts, cups and etc.... Usually only part of the scripture "take up his cross daily and follow Me" , or just "take up your Cross" is quoted from Luke 9:22-24, Mark 8:34 or Matthew 10:38. The full text in Luke 9 says "22.The Son of Man must suffer many things,” He said. “He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 23 Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. .

   In Mathew and Luke Jesus is speaking to his disciples of his prophesied rejection,persecution death on the cross and resurrection. In fact, in the Gospel of Mark, Peter pulls Jesus aside privately to rebuke him about his words. Jesus then rebukes the source of Peter's words publically and corrects Peter; read the chapter for the full story. He then used the prophecy as a topic for the command  found in 3 of the gospels; in slightly differnt forms. Jesus is using the example of the CROSS because he was just speaking to the disciples about his sacrificial death. The cross was the Romans empires chosen method of execution. It was used for no roman citizens, major criminals and political rebels. It was bloody, horrible.and a long painful death.(1)  It is therefore very strong language for Jesus to use for a spiritual command. Those who were destined to die were forced by the Romans to carry there own cross,actually the cross beam, to be used for thier own execution. Jesus would do that very thing please read John 19: 17 "Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle."  

   The question then is what did Jesus mean by the command. Was he saying like some do every Easter, in some countries, to take a physical cross and drag it around. Did he mean every Christian should run a local store or go online to buy a cross!  No the CROSS was not jewelry at the time, it was horrible disgraceful way to die. For Jesus to say you must take up a cross was to tell his disciples they had to be willing to DIE! First the most obvious meaning was that any who follow him had to be willing to die a martyr. That would be part of the command. Christians have died like the prophets of the old testament for there testimony for 2000 years. The context of the  verses show Christians have to be willing to lose thier lives in both the physical and spiritual way. There is a deeper meaning because Jesus says this is something that must be also done daily! A martyr in the physical can only die once. So how you may be asking can you be martyred daily? is that possible? The answer is YES it is possible and Jesus did it daily and ONCE on Calvary. He took up his cross long before he ever picked up the physical cross on the road to Calvary.  Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane was praying to the Father about taking on the sins of the world and going to Calvary. in Luke 22:42 he says, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”  The "CUP" he would drink was the "CROSS" Jesus had to take up.The same event but a different word used. Jesus had to choose to die as a perfect sacrifice to do God the Father's will and not his own to. He had to kill the flesh before the actual flesh could be killed.  

   Notice that Jesus says a Christian who wants to be his disciple must deny himself.Take up HIS CROSS; it is a personal cross not someone else's, daily and follow Him.  It not one time martyrdom thier FLESH and WILL. it is daily thing for everyone who wants to be a follower of Jesus Christ.They have to choose to pick up THIER CROSS a sign of killing the flesh and follow. Paul said it this way in Galatians 5:24 "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Pick up the CROSS put you FLESH AND WILL on it and crucify it! Then you can "follow him" or "keep in step with the Spirit."  Every day 1000's of times a day we have to choose to not let "My will, but God's WILL, be done! All Christians have thier own personal CROSS; what may be easy for one person to pick up and follow Jesus another would find hard. That why many churches have a ministry for recovering substance abuse addicts. 

   All this talk of crosses ,crucifixion and death many seems strange to many Western Christians. In  modern Western Christianity the emphasis is sometimes dominated by Prosperity or Social Justice.God can do both but it should not taught while excluding other truths. The wounded or warriors Christians, who have trails and temptations in life are attacked for being bad Christians. What does the Word Of God say in Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" NKJV and Fianlly in Hebrews 12:4 "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin." NKJV. I heard one clergyman say "it is choosing God's will over your own. That may sound simplistic BUT it is a daily struggle to pick up YOUR cross, crucify YOUR flesh on it and follow Jesus. We fail and will fail but The Word says in 1 John 1:"8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." King James Version. In the West most follower of Jesus will not be have to pick up the CROSS of martyrdom, at least not yet , but they will have to carry their own spiritual cross.Lord help your children because either way its bloody.  

(1)(https://www.biblehistory.com/biblestudy/crucifixion.html

Very good mini sermon on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRI9jr49tjg from Dr. Charles Stanley

Written by SSligh blog creator/moderator