The Cross Ought To Make Us Uncomfortable Series

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.