Introduction
Last week, we began a new series called “Things that make us uncomfortable.” And we said there are certain situations we come upon or certain times that occur in our life that make us uncomfortable, and rightly so. If you have preconditions that make you more suspect to get a severe case of Covid 19, then you feel uncomfortable in places where there are a lot of people. If you are one of the unfortunate ones to receive an IRS audit, and you sit across from that IRS agent and he or she is reviewing your taxes and writing things down on his pad, you feel uncomfortable. The truth is we all are going to experience times where we do not feel comfortable, and rightly so.
But we also explored that there are times that we should feel uncomfortable, but we do not. Last week, we talked about church; it should be a place that makes you feel uncomfortable. If church causes you to look at your real self, deep down on the inside, and you see the sinfulness that is there, you ought to feel uncomfortable. If church is challenging you to declare the excellent greatness of our God to your family, friends, and co-workers then you should feel uncomfortable because talking to others about Christ probably is pushing you out of your comfort zone.
Today, we want to talk about another thing that should make us feel uncomfortable but most of time it does not. And that is the cross. People collect crosses. They have crosses hanging on the walls of their home. We have one hanging in the church. There are a lot of people who wear crosses on their neck, and you ladies sometimes will wear cross earrings. We are amazingly comfortable with crosses, but we should not be because it was on a cross that our Savior died. And in the Bible, we are called to carry our cross, and that should make us uncomfortable. Let me explain.
Scripture
Mark 8:34 (NKJV)
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Point #1
WE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE CROSS BECAUSE WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND THAT A COMMITMENT TO CHRIST REQUIRES A COMMITMENT TO THE CROSS.
"Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Commitment to Christ and selfishness cannot coexist.
In that verse, the Gospel Writer Mark talks about the desire to come after Christ; the desire to pursue Christ which speaks about my personal commitment to Christ.
Mark tells us that this commitment to Christ is open to “whoever”. In other words, this commitment to Christ is open to everyone. It is not for a select few. It does not matter if you are the worst of sinners, Jesus offers you an opportunity to commit to Him. If you are willing to commit to Christ, He is willing to accept your commitment. It is an open invitation to whoever.
But look at the very next phrase, after the call to commitment. It is the fly in the ointment. It is the elephant in the room. “Let him deny himself.” And what Mark is telling us is that the Commitment to Christ and selfishness cannot exist in the same space. I can either be committed to Christ or selfish with my time, my talents, my finances, and the list goes on and on.
Remember the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus. He approached Christ wanting a commitment to Christ and to retain all his possessions. He did not want Christ or his possessions, he wanted both. And do you remember Jesus’ response to him. Matthew 19:21-22 (NIV)
21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
And the young man’s response is that he wanted his possessions more than a commitment to Christ. When it came to his selfishness or a commitment to Christ, he chose his selfishness.
Write that principle on your heart so you never forget it because it is one that you will deal with all your life. Commitment and selfishness cannot coexist. When we have selfish motives, we cannot commit to anything outside those selfish motives. Those selfish motives govern the decisions that we make.
So many Christian marriages end in divorce because one or both spouses are committed to their selfish motives rather than their spouse. When you get married you are saying I chose you over my selfish motives. Remember your vows went something like this “I will love you in sickness and health, for better or worse, for richer or poorer.” But after the marriage vows have been said, sometimes later you switch your commitment to your spouse to your own selfish motives and the result is inevitably divorce.
A Commitment to Christ must be voluntary.
and take up his cross
Notice Mark did not say that Jesus will force us to take up our cross. It must be our decision. Unfortunately, ambitious preachers sometimes keep the altar call open to long and press the congregation real hard to eventually someone feels compelled to come up to the altar. I wonder how much of that is a voluntary decision of the person or the manipulation of the preacher. Mom and dad cannot force you to take up your cross; your best friend cannot force you to take up your cross. It must be your own decision.
Speaking of decisions. There are some decisions, with favorable outcomes. Hey, let us go out to eat. Who does not enjoy eating? It is a decision with a favorable outcome. We make some decisions that have little bearing on the outcome. Do I take Hwy 51 to McComb today, or do I take I-55 to McComb? I decide to take either Hwy 51, or I-55 but the outcome is the same, I end up in McComb. And then there are some decisions that have tough outcomes. Jesus is inviting us to volunteer to make that type of decision- a decision with a tough outcome. Take up your cross. Following Christ is not an easy life if you are truly following Him.
When Mark talks about the cross, he is not talking about a cute gold cross, or an ornamental cross, but the type of cross that Jesus carried on the way to His death. Jesus is obviously not a politician because He is not painting an easy road and a lot of easy promises but a difficult road, a difficult life. But remember, He is not asking us to do something that He did not Himself do.
And why should I take up my cross- because it is the greatest example of loving. We all know John 3:16-
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And our cross-bearing shows that we love God which is the first commandment and it shows that we love our neighbor which is the second commandments. And Jesus says all the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
A Commitment to Christ means that I follow behind Him.
and follow Me.
Before the Covid 19 pandemic, one of the things that Anne and I enjoyed doing was going out to eat. When you enter a restaurant, you are usually greeted by a host or hostess. They will usually consul their seating chart and then pick up a couple of menus and say, “follow me.” And that host or hostess leads us to our destination. If we follow a waitress instead of the hostess, we will not end up at our destination. If we follow the bus boy rather than our host, we will end up at some unclean tables but not our destination. The only one who is going to get is to our destination in the restaurant is the host or hostess.
In this life, the only one who will lead us to the destination that God has for us is Jesus Christ. The world will lead you some place but not to your destination. My flesh can lead me, but it will not lead to the destination God has for me.
The only way to get to the destination that God has me today and the life to come is to follow behind Jesus.
Conclusion
So, we need to see the cross for what it is- it a place of uncomfortableness.
Let us pray.
