Taking up your cross
I listened to a sermon some time ago that really grated me.
Given, I have a real tendency to be grated during services, and more than one person in my life has told me that I can be critical, especially in churches. Also given, most of the time it's stuff that's probably not that important - how often should communion be given, why isn't the music better, did they really need new choir robes, etc, but this one really got me.
The pastor looked at the passage in Matthew 16:24, one of the boldest, offensive, flat-out statements in the whole Bible (which incidentally appears twice more in Matthew and Luke), "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"
Great verse isn't it? Wealth, pride, selfish ambitions, lust, double-mindedness, pretty much all bad things are mortified in light of this. Lordship salvation stands out in shining glory while easy-believism shrivels and dies in the shadows as Jesus speaks here, doesn't it? Yeah, I thought so too. Evidently, this pastor didn't
The pastor who was speaking on this verse, whom I respect, love, and believe to be a Godly man, completely did not see this verse in the same light I did. As he expounded on this passage, he made clear that there were actually 2 calls in one - one to the lost, and one to the saints. To the lost, a call to "receive Christ." To the saints, a call to "a deeper relationship with Him."
What grated me about that? It suddenly doesn't seem as clear as I'm looking at it on a computer screen. I think it's because I don't have a problem with either one of those two points, as both are true. Jesus is calling the lost to receive and the saints to continue. My problem is, the pastor separated them when in reality, they're really exactly the same call. The call to come to Christ, and the call to continue to grow in Christ are not separate. Come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me means exactly the same thing to the lost as the found.
I think the next verse illustrates my point, a verse which I think (but am not certain) was left out of the sermon. "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. " People have either saved their lives or lost them, and you can't lose your life twice. I would think it would be impossible for this to be two calls, because, if one lays down his life to come to Christ, he no longer has a life to lay down to know Him more deeply. This sermon seemed to suggest there is a middle ground. A sinner dies to himself by receiving Christ to get to Level 1, but then he should later to die to himself yet again to join the Honors Program. Of course, if he doesn't join the Program, he's still alright - he did, after all, die enough to himself to make it to Level 1 - the minimum requirement.
In a country where the vast majority of people claim to be Christian, and where very little Christian fruit is yielded in its culture, I think 2 big questions are worth pondering.
1. How many of these so-called Christians are Level 1 Christians? - okay, that's really not that big of a question - I think most people will agree that that is the vast majority of people calling themselves believers. Here's the really big question...
2. Is there really such thing as a Level 1 Christian?
I seem to observe that there are so many people in churches that call themselves Christians but have evidently not lain down their lives, taken up their crosses, sold their fields, etc. Yet that is exactly what Christ is calling. In fact, that's the only call He makes in these verses.
My fear is that in preaching such sermons, pastors are leaving people comfortable in Level 1 Christianity and making discipleship optional. This, in the end, would be the exact opposite of the fantastic message of Matthew 16:24-25
Given, I have a real tendency to be grated during services, and more than one person in my life has told me that I can be critical, especially in churches. Also given, most of the time it's stuff that's probably not that important - how often should communion be given, why isn't the music better, did they really need new choir robes, etc, but this one really got me.
The pastor looked at the passage in Matthew 16:24, one of the boldest, offensive, flat-out statements in the whole Bible (which incidentally appears twice more in Matthew and Luke), "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"
Great verse isn't it? Wealth, pride, selfish ambitions, lust, double-mindedness, pretty much all bad things are mortified in light of this. Lordship salvation stands out in shining glory while easy-believism shrivels and dies in the shadows as Jesus speaks here, doesn't it? Yeah, I thought so too. Evidently, this pastor didn't
The pastor who was speaking on this verse, whom I respect, love, and believe to be a Godly man, completely did not see this verse in the same light I did. As he expounded on this passage, he made clear that there were actually 2 calls in one - one to the lost, and one to the saints. To the lost, a call to "receive Christ." To the saints, a call to "a deeper relationship with Him."
What grated me about that? It suddenly doesn't seem as clear as I'm looking at it on a computer screen. I think it's because I don't have a problem with either one of those two points, as both are true. Jesus is calling the lost to receive and the saints to continue. My problem is, the pastor separated them when in reality, they're really exactly the same call. The call to come to Christ, and the call to continue to grow in Christ are not separate. Come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me means exactly the same thing to the lost as the found.
I think the next verse illustrates my point, a verse which I think (but am not certain) was left out of the sermon. "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. " People have either saved their lives or lost them, and you can't lose your life twice. I would think it would be impossible for this to be two calls, because, if one lays down his life to come to Christ, he no longer has a life to lay down to know Him more deeply. This sermon seemed to suggest there is a middle ground. A sinner dies to himself by receiving Christ to get to Level 1, but then he should later to die to himself yet again to join the Honors Program. Of course, if he doesn't join the Program, he's still alright - he did, after all, die enough to himself to make it to Level 1 - the minimum requirement.
In a country where the vast majority of people claim to be Christian, and where very little Christian fruit is yielded in its culture, I think 2 big questions are worth pondering.
1. How many of these so-called Christians are Level 1 Christians? - okay, that's really not that big of a question - I think most people will agree that that is the vast majority of people calling themselves believers. Here's the really big question...
2. Is there really such thing as a Level 1 Christian?
I seem to observe that there are so many people in churches that call themselves Christians but have evidently not lain down their lives, taken up their crosses, sold their fields, etc. Yet that is exactly what Christ is calling. In fact, that's the only call He makes in these verses.
My fear is that in preaching such sermons, pastors are leaving people comfortable in Level 1 Christianity and making discipleship optional. This, in the end, would be the exact opposite of the fantastic message of Matthew 16:24-25
posted by Andy at 2:05 AM
3 Comments:
Just deny yourself and take up your cross and follow HIM. I pray for you in France.
You're right - There aren't two meanings here. No one wants to see how hard Jesus' saying was - Take up your cross....Die...and follow me. Die daily - Be willing to lose your life...To live is Christ and to die is gain! I suppose one could argue whether or not this should be interpreted literally, but either way, we are commanded to take up our cross, to die for Him.
I am a drug addict, trying to lose myself, which brought me to this sight. pray for all of us to make the right decision which will glorify God. I truly know how difficult it is to overcome temptation. I am fighting always and at this point I am losing the battle. pray for me that I lose myself so I may do Gods will through Christ
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