Where One Life Ends and Another Begins
Mark 8:34-38
Lent is a season of preparation and reflection on our lives of following Jesus but more than anything, it is a journey to the cross. In the time of Jesus, the word for cross in Latin was, “crux” and was the ultimate symbol of shame and defeat. The cross was the Roman form of capitol punishment that sought not only to kill the person, but to strip them of every ounce of dignity on their way to death. They did this through public crucifixions on the most traveled road into Jerusalem so people would see the criminals being crucified and the agony and pain they suffered. The cross became so appalling that the word ‘crux’ was considered to be a cuss word and people refused to say it out loud. The cross was the worst thing imaginable until Jesus got ahold of it. Let’s get one thing clear, the Romans and Jews didn’t choose Jesus for the cross, Jesus chose the cross for himself. Two thousand years later, the cross is no longer a symbol of shame and humiliation but an enduring symbol of sacrificial love, grace and forgiveness.
But the cross is not just a symbol we look to or place our faith in, it is also a way of life for those who choose to follow Jesus. The word crux is defined as, “a vital, basic or pivotal point.” It’s the moment when everything changes, and it is the point of no return because when it happens, there is no going back. On a cosmic level, the cross is the vessel through which God’s redemptive love was revealed to the world, but on a personal level, the cross is this intersection where one life ends and another begins in Jesus.
For the next several weeks, as we journey through the season of Lent on our way to Easter, we’re going to be taking a look at the cross and the life that it calls us from and the life that it calls us to. The cross is difficult to grasp. In fact, it goes against our natural inclinations and almost everything that we’ve been taught our entire lives: to look out for number one, to call our own shots, to chase our dreams, to do whatever makes us happy. So when Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, we have a hard time with this. But we aren’t the only ones. Even Jesus’ earliest followers struggled with this. When Jesus talked about His impending death on a cross, His disciples balked. They tried to keep Him from going to Jerusalem, saying: "We don’t want you to die." This wasn’t their expectation of a Messiah or that of the Jews. A few years later, Paul wrote about the cross in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
There are several things about choosing the cross. First, it is a voluntary decision. It was for Jesus and it is for us as well. While Jesus calls and challenges us to take up our cross, it is our choice. Taking up a cross and following Jesus is voluntary. It is a daily decision for Scripture calls us “to take up our cross daily.” Our journey to the cross is not a one-time event. We have to make ourselves available and choose to pay the price to pick up our cross and follow Jesus every day in every moment, in every act and in every decision. Third, it’s an act of love. This is why Jesus chose the cross, because of the Father’s love for His children and Jesus’ love for all humanity. Cross bearing is an act of love for Jesus as our Savior. It is a task that we undertake, a price that we pay, out of love for Him. For Jesus, it meant going to a cross to die because He loved us so much He wanted to save us from our sin. For us, it means reaching out to people who are unlovable and unlovely and who may never return the love. And yet, we are to keep on loving because that’s what Jesus did. It means denying and sacrificing. It means paying the price regardless of the hardships we must endure.
Fourth, the beginning of choosing the cross is death. The decision to follow Jesus isn’t a casual one; it is a crux, a vital, pivotal turning point because it means one life ends, the life you currently know, and another begins, life in Jesus. Nick Cunningham tells the story of being invited to dinner at a church member’s home. He pulled up to the house and in the front yard was a guy with shorts and no shirt on, using a makeshift flamethrower to set his grass on fire. He soon learned that a lot of people in South Carolina burn their lawns in the early spring because there is lot of sand and clay mixed in the soil. When you set your lawn on fire, you not only burn up all of the dead grass that collects down around the roots, but the ash from the burnt grass acts as fertilizer that leads to a healthier and greener lawn. So by killing your grass, you can actually help it. The death of one lawn creates the opportunity for the life of a new and healthier one. When you look at creation, there seems to be this life from death process built into it. We see it in the forest fires which covered the news all last Summer and Fall that though it destroys living trees and brush, the burnt ash then leads to a new, healthier forest to grow. We see it in the spiritual journey and the call to the cross as well. For we are to “die to sins and live for righteousness.” 1 Peter 2:24 In order to follow Jesus and experience the kind of life that only he has to offer, you can’t just add Him to your life, He has to become your life! We have to die to our former way of life to make room for Him to become our life. We have to let go and turn away from all of our old ways, so that we can say ‘yes’ to Him and the cross. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Fifth, the cross is a call to sacrifice. There comes a point in time when all of us have to wrestle with the real call of Jesus to follow Him and take up our cross. We have become comfortable in our own lives. Sorren Kierkegard grew up in the countryside of Denmark where geese are farmed. Each Spring, he saw new baby geese born and then treated to limitless food upon which they would gorge themselves until they could hardly walk. When autumn came, wild geese would begin their annual migration south. They would circle in the skies over the farm calling out to all the geese to come join them. The farmed geese would lift their heads from the trough, look into the sky and then become animated running around the pen flapping their wings and trying to fly. But they were too fat from their gluttonous diet and life of luxury to fly. And after awhile, the wild geese would just fly off leaving the domesticated geese to return to their barnyard existence, ignorant of the farmer’s grim ultimate purpose: they were destined for the table. One year, a wild goose, decided to join the geese on the ground to help them understand their true nature and join the other geese in the wild on their migration south. Sadly, he began to live the life of luxury and became fattened just as those he was trying to reach. When the wild geese flew overhead many months later, like the other domesticated geese, he would flutter their wings and run trying to take off but would fail. He finally became content to remain with the tamed, fattened and flightless geese, destined for the table. Keirkegaard ends his story with this warning: while a wild goose can be tamed, seldom does a tamed goose become wild again.
We have become comfortable in our lives: we have homes, a career, a car, a 401K and we look forward to the day when we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. We’ve become comfortable in our faith too. We attend worship, maybe attend a Bible study, make a nominal offering of 2-3% to God rather than the tithe God has called us to. We occasionally serve in a ministry when it’s convenient. We basically do the religious thing but live our lives like the rest of the world during the week. And Jesus says to us, "There are some lost sheep and I need a shepherd to find them and bring them home again." But we say, "Lord, I don’t want to bear that kind of a cross. I don’t want to have to meet new people, go out of my comfort zone, go into dangerous neighborhoods, enter people’s messy lives and invest in people that are different from me. I don’t have time for all of that. I really need more time for myself." Sunday morning comes and Jesus says, "I have a classroom of squirming kids who need to hear the good news about Jesus." But we say, "Not me Lord. I don’t want to carry that kind of a cross." Or Sunday afternoon comes and Jesus says, my children are homeless and hungry and our response is, “But that’s family time Lord when in reality we just spend those hours watching TV. Over here are all the things that we want and the needs of a lost world, the words of Jesus come back to haunt us, "If you’re my disciple, then deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me."
As disciples, we are called to an untamed existence. We are to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him. Like the wild geese, we are meant to live wild and dangerous lives for the Gospel, going to people to call them to the authenticity of what we were created to do: to know God, love him and serve him sacrificially. Instead, we have allowed ourselves to be dulled into a life of mediocrity, where the only wild journeys we ever take are getting on the road with wild and crazy drivers as we come to worship. The only wild journeys for Jesus are really just in our dreams. We have become domesticated Christians.
Carrying a cross becomes a stumbling block and we keep falling over it. But Jesus makes it very clear, if we are going to follow him, if we are going to experience the kind of life that only he has to offer, then we are going to have to deny ourselves and take up our cross. Denying ourselves is about taking a fearless, personal inventory of our lives in order to identify anything other than our Savior defining us and leading our lives. What sins or habits do you need to repent from and deny? What things that may not necessarily be against God but which divert your attention and take up your time, talents and treasure in things other than God, do you need to turn from and deny so that you might say yes to the cross and make Jesus not just a part of your life but to make Jesus your life? Like the geese, what is fattening you up, slowing you down and keeping you from the path of Jesus?
Sometimes you’ll hear people talk about a problem or a burden that has absolutely nothing to do with following Jesus and they’ll say: “I guess that’s my cross to bear.” That’s not what it means to take up your cross. The cross is the demonstration of what God was willing to do in order to rescue a broken world He loves. For us, to take up our cross is about being willing to voluntarily suffer on behalf of the glory of God and the benefit of others. It’s about serving others and putting the needs of others ahead of our own. It’s about sacrificing everything for the sake of the kingdom and the will and purposes of God.
Taking up our cross calls us to a life, a mission, a purpose greater than ourselves. So what have you been giving your life to? A nice retirement and a healthy 401k? Your fun or happiness? Material possessions? A relationship? Jesus has called us to so much more. The truth is, following Jesus is hard. But you know what? It’s worth it. It’s so worth it. Following Jesus leads us to more than happiness, it leads us to joy. It leads us to peace. It leads to meaning. It leads to purpose. It leads to a deeper relationship with God. It leads us to the cross.
Following Jesus, the call of the cross, isn’t easy, but if we commit to bear it we will experience a depth of life way beyond anything we could have in our lives or what the world has to offer. We all have a decision to make. Are we going to follow Jesus, or not? Are you willing to deny yourself or not? Are you willing to pick up the cross of Jesus or not? Remember, the cross isn’t just a symbol, it’s a way of life, it’s an intersection where one life ends and another begins. You can’t have one foot in and one foot out.
This morning we offer you a cross. Not a life of ease, or a life where problems are solved or where only good happens or where you’ll find success on the job and financial security. We can’t promise that because Jesus doesn’t promise that. All he has to offer is Jesus and His cross.
Some of you can make that decision sitting right there in your seat, and that’s fine, but for some of us, that decision needs to be physically demonstrated. The altar is open. Maybe you’ve never said, “Yes” to Jesus, why not today, why not right now? The altar is open. Maybe you’ve said, “Yes” to Jesus, but you’ve had a hard time saying, “No” to everything else. Today is about renewing our commitment to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. As the band offers us this song the altar is open, so come and do business with God. Amen.
