Take up your cross!

* The following was preached in 2016.  I have cleaned it up for readability, but otherwise you will find it as it was first preached.

Coming back to Canada I had noticed a difference.  Christians here were not the same. There was a lethargy about them.  A kind of indifference to the things of God.  Some of the ugliness of sin was cleaned up, but they did not seem all that interested in God.

For years this bothered me. I had been taught that all a person had to do was ask Jesus into their heart; and all these people were saying that they had done that, and yet something was missing.   And I wondered what it was.

I will never forget the day I read about a massive study conducted in America which had found that statistically speaking evangelical Christians lived no differently than non-Christians.  No difference at all!  I felt sick to my stomach; and yet I wasn’t surprised.  This was exactly what I had been seeing and what had troubled me.  

I didn’t know it at the time but what I was seeing was the presence of tares among the wheat.  These weren’t Christians at all - they said they were, they thought they were and they had even been told they were, but they were not new creatures.  Old things had not passed, all things had not become new.

They had certainly prayed that prayer, they did go to church, they did believe the doctrines, they had memorized Scripture verses and busied themselves in the church activities, but they had never been born again.  They weren’t Christians.

It’s been said that every revival has been marked by a recovery of the biblical definition of a Christian.  We are urgently in need of the same in our day.  Sometimes in the reformed churches we encourage ourselves with the fact that we have not compromised… all around us churches are drifting, and we are holding fast.  But we are in some ways just as confused on the definition of a Christian as the broader evangelical world. We just happen to have better theology, which means we have more in common with the Pharisees.

You remember that the Pharisees were not like the liberal Sadducees. They were men of the book and prided themselves on their conservatism, but Jesus said to them “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you saying This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

And this is the danger we face.  Now you might ask “Why in the face of the majesty of this great and glorious King would anyone want to merely honour Him with their lips? how could their hearts be far from One so lovely?”  And the answer is very simple: They are blind.  Despite all the things they could say about Jesus they have no idea of what they speak - they’ve never beheld the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  

And I strongly suspect that some of you fall into that category.  You are hypocrites.  You’ve been singing the songs but you aren’t worshipping; you’ve got the tune right, your voice sounds good but your heart is far from God… You have your catechism memorized, you understand the theology, you diligently go to church, you’re involved in service, but you love the world and friendship with the world is enmity with God.  You are adulterers and adulteresses claiming to be followers of Jesus.

And so this afternoon I want to urge you to make your calling and election sure; and to do that I want you to consider with me what it means to be a Christian.  As we look at verse 24 of Matthew 16 I want to consider with you first what it does not mean.  Second, I want to look with you at the negative part of what Jesus commands, that we are to deny ourselves.  Third, I want to look at the positive, that we are to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

First, what it does not mean.

Years ago John Murray commenting on the first part of this verse said that it does not merely mean the denial of certain things… denial of this particular sin or that particular sin… sometimes non-Christians are very good at this… the Pharisees in particular had it mastered… they denied themselves even things that they might have enjoyed and they took pride in it!  And their example has been followed for years.  You have people who give up certain things and they are so proud of themselves.  Other people do it but they don’t.  And they pride themselves then that they are not only Christian but godly Christians because look at what they denied themselves!

And so you have Christians all over the country who have given things up in the name of Christ… they gave up swearing, they gave up a relationship, they gave up this other sin, they even gave up smoking and drinking and look at what good Christians they are - but you see all this a Pharisee can do. It’s not what Jesus meant at all.

Or look at the other part of this passage.  How many times have you heard someone speak of their suffering as their cross to bear??   They have some kind of lingering pain that never goes away, they are sick with some serious illness, they lost their job, and they tell you that this is their cross.

Now there’s no question those things are hard, and the Christian will recognize when it happens “it is the LORD” and because it is Him he will then say “let Him do what seemeth Him good.”  That is a godly response to suffering, but this is something more than that.

Second, let’s look at Jesus did mean.  First, the negative.  He says that if any man will come after me let him deny himself.

You see it does include the denial of particular sins, but it goes so much further.  Jesus is saying if you’re going to be my disciple you need to deny yourself!   Now remember the context.  Jesus had been telling them that the was going to suffer many things and then die and Peter didn’t like it.  And he had the audacity to rebuke Jesus and Jesus responded by telling him he was an offence because he savoured not the things that be of God but those that be of men. His perspective was worldly.

And I can imagine Peter now resigning himself to what Jesus has said, thinking to himself “well very well if that’s what you need to do I guess I can’t stop you, but I’m sure glad that I will have no part in it… I’m not going to die!”

But look at what Jesus says.  Peter’s whole outlook is entirely wrong.  Its not just Jesus who is going to suffer, but Peter too.  That is if he means to be a disciple.  And this isn’t special to Peter and the rest of that small band of man.  This is for anyone who would be a follower of Jesus.

We must not just deny ourselves this or that particular thing . No, Jesus calls us to deny our very selves.  You see your problem isn’t some particular sin..  Its you.  And so on one hand if you are going to follow Jesus you need to realize where the problem lies.  That you don’t just need rescuing from this or the other sin.  You sin because you are a sinner… its one thing to say that you believe Jesus is the Saviour of sinners, its another thing to be poor in spirit, to have that broken and contrite over sin, ovver the blackness and wickedness of your own heart, to realize that in me and my flesh there is no good thing, and then to cry out to Jesus to save you.

On the other hand, if you will Jesus you must understand the nature of your sin problem.  What is it?  It is one man put it that we  that we put ourselves in the place of God.  We have decided that we are the masters. We say sometimes, “Its my life!  No one’s going to tell me how I should spend my money, where I should live, what job I can or cannot have, who my friends are, what I do with my spare time…”

And you see a Pharisee has no problem denying himself some things. The fact that you are here is proof that you have learned the art - in part - of self denial.  Any one can do that.  Its not hard to deny this or the other thing. The question is have you denied self?   Jesus doesn’t just want your Sunday morning, and you honesty at work, and a good work ethic, and 10% of your income and clean language and a few other things.  He wants everything!  He wants you.  

He says “if you will follow me you must deny yourselves!!  You are mine; and I will have what I want when I want where I want. You will not be in charge of your finances, your home life, your free time. No, no if you will be my disciple I will have it all.”  Do you see? Jesus is calling for your surrender.  

The religious man, the Pharisee wants his religion, and he’s willing to make certain sacrifices and give up certain things, so long as you let certain other things alone.  And our churches are full of such people.  They make more sacrifices than their non-Christian friends, they’ve given up all these things  and so surely they must be Christian.  But Jesus is saying you cannot be mine unless you let me have it all.  You try to save your life and you will lose it. You lose your life for me and you will find it.

Third, the positive of what Jesus meant: “... and take up his cross and follow me.”  So having denied yourself Jesus is saying you must follow me in total commitment (Murray).  You ask, “how total”?  Even to death. And not just any death but the most shameful of deaths.    

This is what it was to take up the cross.  And you see Jesus understands this to be the nature of true conversion. That there is at once a denying of the self and a taking up of the cross.  The old life has been put to death and what has come in its place is a life of cross bearing.  In Luke 9 Jesus says let him take up his cross daily.

Now we’re familiar with this passage and we’ve heard talk in the church about it many times before, but you know what we have done?  We have toned down the meaning. 

Years ago AW Tozer wrote a piece called The Old Cross and The New Cross. This is what he said:  “ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental… The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. …. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually."

It’s painful to admit it but he was exactly right.  We have lost the force of these words. We have toned it down; made it more palatable. Someone says they are Christian, they’ve taken up their cross, and what they mean is that some of those old these are passed away, but the old man is still very much alive!  All things have not become new - the changes are all upon the surface, but inside is rottenness and death.   

So let’s think about this very practically.  I want to look at three areas. 

First, obedience.  You wonder what it means to follow Jesus. It means obedience to His commandments.  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 Jn. 2:3 KJV)  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

 (Eph. 5:5-6 KJV)

But you see where so many run into trouble is with the cost of obedience.  I was listening to a sermon on this passage this week and the minister who died  many years ago was talking about a problem in the church… something he had heard again and again.  “Pastor, I have to do things  I shouldn’t do. I simply have to do it in order to live” to keep my job.

Does that sound familiar?   After a sermon on the Sabbath I was asked “well what about in China? There, if students want to go to college they have to do an exam and it is only once a year and only ever held on the Sabbath. If they don’t do it they can never go to college.”  What are they supposed to?  Years ago I worked at a chain factory; and the machines didn’t always work as they were supposed to and spots were missed. It was supposed to be zinc plated or gold plated and it wasn’t and so you were supposed to take out a can of paint and paint the spot.  One time my boss took me over to large a crate and there wasn’t just one tiny spot but several feet of chain that hadn’t been properly plated and he wanted me to paint it all.  When I refused he threatened to fire me on the spot.

What was I supposed to do?  Surely God would understand.  Do you know for the Christian it’s not even a question!  Didn’t I deny myself and take up my cross?  Wasn’t I prepared even to die for Him?   

You know some of you would say “but I have to do it.”  No you don’t.  John Murray said, “We don’t have to live but there is something that we must do and that is honour God.”  We don’t have to have that job, we don’t have to keep our friends and our reputation, we don’t have to  live, but we do have to be faithful to Christ.    If you have to live at the expense of a guilty conscience better to die… Jesus take up your cross and follow me.  If you love me keep my commandments.  

Second, money.   Do you know from most Christians God only ever gets a tithe.  And we actually think this is significant. Do you remember the widow who had very little?  She put something in the box and it wasn’t at all like what the Pharisees gave, because they had money. They were relatively wealthy and what they gave cost them nothing.  But she gave everything.  And Jesus commended her.  She had given very little more but it was more.

How many of you give so that it hurts?  Is it not true that most of us give just enough that we don’t really notice. We don't really miss it. We can still afford all those nice things, buy whatever we want, go where we like, enjoy our hobbies and our holidays. But we’re giving our tithe.

Jesus didn’t ask just for your 10%. He asked you to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him who had no place to lay His head.  Who left glory and made himself of n o reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and humbled himself and became obedient unto death that we have life. 

James Thornwell one of the great Presbyterian theologians of the 19th century said  “What costs us little means little... Our labours for the conversion of the world, so far as they are spiritual sacrifices, must be crowned with success. What now hinders the result is, that there is so little sacrifice for it [!] We pray; but what is there of agony in our prayers? Who wrestles with God? whose soul is burdened with the weight of a perishing world? or who takes an hour from his sleep or foregoes a single meal in order that he may plead the cause of the millions upon millions that know not God? And are such prayers sacrifices? Are they more than breath? Again, we give; but who, like the widow, gives all his living? Who denies himself one luxury or refuses one indulgence that he may have the means of contributing more to the cause of the Redeemer? How many give only what they think they will not miss!... But the Church collectively, what has she suffered for Christ? What has she suffered for the heathen? Where are her sacrifices, where her tears, where the offerings that have cost her dear?... Have we done what we could? Nations sitting in darkness and the valley of the shadow of death cry to us for light. These nations we have been commissioned to enlighten; and because the work cannot be done with a sigh or a wish, or a little useless treasure that no one would miss, we, the priests of God, who have been bought with blood and appointed for self-denial, fold our arms and say they must die! We pity them, we are sorry for them, but it would require too much trouble to do all that their case demands, and we must therefore let them perish in their sins! O my God, have mercy on us! O blessed Saviour, reveal Thy love for ruined man and shed it abroad in our hearts!" 

You think of the commitment of Jesus to lost souls.  His zeal for them.  His love as He wept over Jerusalem and then made His way to Calvary. Had He not taken up His cross where would we be?  What would we have?  Everything maybe and yet nothing!!

You say you are Christian.  But have you taken up your cross?  Are you taking it up daily?  It’s so easy to say like the pharisee you can have this much and then to keep the rest to ourselves. But what profit is it if a man shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?  Jesus is saying this is what it is to be Christian - you cannot serve God and mammon.   

Third, time.  We’re all so busy aren’t we?  We have work commitments, family commitments, social commitments, time for recreation… and in the midst of all this busyness what haven’t we time for?  Have you noticed what gets neglected in the church today?  3 of the most basic activities of the Christian life - things which once marked the church and set apart… the very air that the early Christians breathed all neglected by a modern church.

What are they?  Evangelism, Scripture reading and prayer.  Think back to the last time that you gave an afternoon or evening to evangelism.  You went out knocking on doors, you handed out tracts, you had someone over not just to be friendly but to plead with them to be reconciled to God?   Can you remember it?  Or take the Scriptures.  I expect that some of you are not nearly so academically minded as others.  You don’t have a relish for theology and other things, but read a manual over enough times and you know that thing, and you’ve been a Christian for decades and still you don’t know where to find things.  Isn’t it true?  Never has the church had so many Bibles and never have we been so biblically illiterate.

Or think about prayer.  Have you been to a midweek prayer meeting?  The elders call you to prayer, and do you know how few Christians attend?  Everywhere you go its the most sparsely attended meeting in the church; and its a reflection of what is going on in the private life.  I asked you last week how many of you spent at least one hour in prayer today before you got to church??  How about the other days of the week?  

Why not?  We don’t have time.  But you see that’s not true.  The problem we like the idea of doing those things so long as we don’t have to sacrifice. Its the sacrifice of other things that we want to avoid… so we work hard and earn a good living, enjoy friends and family, keep up with the hobbies and the recreations and God gets what’s left over.   

Don’t you see its exactly opposite what Jesus is calling for.  He said you must lose your life, deny yourself, take up your cross.  Here’s Peter upset about Jesus’s talk about suffering and death and Jesus is saying its not just me.  Its you too!

We are living in age desperately dark - and yet as Ravenhill said the church can’t help because its asleep in the light.  We are so rich in doctrine, so rich in material wealth, so rich in creature comforts, but spiritually we are naked and poor and blind. Our forefathers didn’t pray 5 minutes here and 10 minutes here.  They gave hours every day to prayer.  The Lord Jesus was up before dawn praying, sometimes praying whole nights; and you’re trying to get along without it.

Its no wonder we have no power and no life.  We want to be spiritual men, godly men, without effort, without sweat and tears and pain… 

And I’m afraid most of you are going to go away and nothing is going to change.  Some of you will agree with I have said.  But you’ll count the cost and decide you’re not willing to pay the price.  Others will disagree - it sounds too hard, and not nearly so gracious as you’re used to.

But how do you think Peter felt?  Peter wants Jesus to have mercy on Himself, spare himself the suffering and the cross, and Jesus is saying its not just me, its you too… if you want to follow me then this is the life I want.  This is what it means to be my disciple. 

How many of us are trying right now to save our life? We want what Jesus offers and we want this life too. Jesus is warning you, you will lose it. You cannot have both.  You cannot live for the things this world lives for and live for me at the same time. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. 

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 Jn. 2:6 KJV) - you’ve been singing today of the grace of God.  What did it cost Him?  Do you realize you make your boast in a cross?  You have your life because He laid down His. He did nothing for Himself and then He died that shameful death.  

What right have we say that we are His followers if we have no intention of walking as He did?  Jesus said our commitment to Him will manifest itself in our willingness to give all. If we prize our life more than Christ’s honour than we are not His.  

I am simply calling you to remember that you were bought at a price. Do you remember Paul’s “earnest expectation and hope”?  “That in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.   For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phil. 1:20-21 KJV)