Bearing the Cross

Our text is from Luke 14. We’ve been here before, and that rather recently. It’s here that Jesus explains what is required if someone is going to be one of His disciples. We’re here again because there was something Jesus included that I didn’t deal with last time. Today, we’re going to take a look at that.

Please listen as I read Luke 14.25-33.

Jesus is being clear and up front. It’s important to count the cost before anyone decides to follow Him. So, Jesus says that disciples must hate their families, hate their own lives and they must renounce all that they have. And if someone is not willing to do these things then, ‘He cannot be My disciple.’ With that in mind we’re going to consider what Jesus means when He says, ‘Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.’ Following Jesus includes bearing a cross.

What is Jesus talking about? First, a little background. A cross was a Roman method of execution. The condemned would carry a cross – his own cross – to the place of execution and then be nailed to it, hanging there until he died. It was a fairly common sight in Jesus’ day. So, what was Jesus’ point in using this familiar image? There are several ways that Jesus’ words might be taken. I suppose that someone could take Jesus’ words very literally and think that He is requiring all of His disciples to die by being nailed to a cross. Now, clearly that cannot be what Jesus means. For one thing, we know that one of the Twelve, James, was executed for the faith, but not by crucifixion. He was killed ‘by the sword’, which I take to mean beheading. Was he disqualified? Jesus isn’t talking about literal crucifixion. Another way that some might understand Jesus’ words is that a disciple must die, by whatever means, a martyr’s death. That is, disciples need to live in such a way that people will hate them and kill them. This also can’t be right. Few have died as martyrs. Are the rest not really disciples? According to what has been handed down to us, the Apostle John died an old man from natural causes. Does anyone want to say that he wasn’t a true disciple of Jesus? One more. This one was, at one time, a popular use of Jesus’ language here. There were those who used to say, ‘I have my cross to bear’. And by that they meant that they had some hardship to face, like a difficult mother-in-law or something like that. Also, not true, unless we’re ready to say that we are all to have difficult mothers-in-law.

So, what does Jesus mean? This is one of that places where we don’t take the Bible literally because it was not intended to be taken literally. Jesus is being, shall we say, poetic. He is using an image to make a point, like talking about a camel and some needle. He’s speaking in a metaphor. And His point is at least this: ‘If someone is going to follow Me he will need to understand that it’s going to hurt.’ Now, that fits the other things going on in the text as well as fitting the image of a cross. There may be more going on here, but certainly not less. Following Jesus will hurt.

I could have said, ‘Jesus is talking about Christian suffering. Following Him will entail suffering for the Gospel.’ That would have been accurate, but it’s just more church words. And while church words are true, they too often hide more than they reveal because we don’t really listen to them. I think that it is better, clearer, to say that Jesus is warning potential disciples that following Him will include pain. It’s going to hurt.

It’s important that you see that the pain that Jesus is pointing to need not be physical pain. And it’s also helpful to see that this expectation isn’t anything new. So, consider Abraham. God called him to sacrifice his son, his only son whom he loved, Isaac. This certainly fits with what Jesus means when He talks about hating family. ‘Abraham, it’s time to choose: him or Me? Which will it be?’ Is it going too far to say that Abraham felt pain when he heard those words, that he felt excruciating pain as he lifted the knife to end his son’s life? What do you think? Did it hurt?

Then, there’s Joseph. God sent him to Egypt, and He sent him there as a slave. And while he was there, a pattern emerged. He would do what was right. Life got better. And then it all came crashing down. And after that it would start over again. So, he went from Jacob’s favorite son to a slave far from home. Then, he went from top man in Potipher’s house to the dungeon. Then, hope revives when Joseph interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh’s two officials. But he is forgotten and left to rot. That’s Joseph’s life as God’s agent in Egypt. Thirteen years of being lifted up and then tossed down. Is it okay to call that painful?

One more. This is about the Apostle Paul and his thorn in the flesh. He called it a messenger of Satan sent to torment him. He prayed about it, asking Jesus to take it away. But Jesus told him that it would be better if it stayed. We don’t know what this was, whether it was something physical or not, but I think that we can say that whatever it was, it hurt.

The point of all of that is just to say, being a faithful follower includes pain. That has been true down through the ages. Sometimes it was some physical pain – but not always. And it’s still true today for all who would follow Jesus. It’s going to hurt.

Now, a question. Why does it have to hurt? You need to bear in mind that we live in a place that is profoundly broken. It’s been that way since Adam and Eve rebelled. And since then, God has been at work to fix it all. That’s the point of the Gospel, to change all of this from broken to fixed. It’s important to remember that evil is involved and evil doesn’t want anything fixed. So, evil fights against the change. It fights against the Gospel. And that is the backdrop to our text. Jesus is in the process of fighting and defeating evil. It’s warfare against evil, the evil within each of us, as well as the evil that is all around us. So, when we read about how Jesus has come into the world to save it, what we’re reading about is how Jesus has come to defeat evil and fix all that is broken. And all who would follow Him will also be about the business of defeating evil. In our text Jesus is just giving fair warning. Doing that is going to hurt.

So, let’s take a minute to consider the change that needs to take place. First, there is change that needs to happen within a disciple. There is evil within us that needs to be defeated. One place that talks about this is Hebrews 12. Here, the topic of God changing us through His corrective discipline is dealt with. ‘For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’ Defeating evil within by the discipline of God is painful. But it’s worth it.

The Gospel is also about dealing with the evil that is around us. Let’s return to Joseph. He is sent to Egypt. While he is there, some of the evil within him is dealt with. He is changed. That’s what the being lifted up and then tossed down was about. God’s corrective discipline. But there is also the evil that is outside of him. So, he tells his brothers, ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.’ Joseph suffered so that the people of God might be rescued from the famine. But it’s not just about surviving the famine. If the people of God had perished, the hope of a coming Messiah would have perished with them. Joseph was sent to Egypt so that evil might be defeated, ultimately through Jesus. What he experienced there was not fun. It hurt. But because of what happened with him God’s plan took another step forward.

So, do you see what is going on in our text? Jesus is recruiting those who will join Him in defeating evil. And He is clear. It will hurt. There will be a cross. To be sure, following Jesus is also filled with joy and happiness. It is utterly fulfilling. There is a lot to enjoy. But I would be deceiving you if I left out what Jesus includes here. If you follow Him, there will also be pain. Jesus wants people to know that up front.

Now, it may well be that you’ve never thought about following Jesus in these terms. Maybe it wasn’t part of the evangelistic message that you heard when you were converted. Or it may be that you never thought that you had a choice in this. You were born, your parents got you baptized and here you are. But you always have a choice. So, it seems right for me to pose this question: Are you willing to follow Jesus, that is, to follow Him on His terms? Are you willing to hurt so that evil – within you and around you – will be defeated? You always have a choice. We’ll come back to this during the Lord’s Supper.

Now, another question. What could possibly motivate someone to pursue this kind of life? Let’s consider some possible answers. First, there is the whole thing of habit. Doing the Christian thing is, for some, a well-established habit. As a result, there are those things that one just does. There’s Bible reading, prayer, church on Sundays and that sort of thing. Now, those things can be very good. But if they are pursued only because of habit, then that’s not following Jesus.

Let me speak to you kids here. You do the Christian things you do because your parents established those habits in your lives. And that is really good. But you are going to have to take what are habits that you have inherited from your parents and make them more than just that in your own lives. You need to choose to follow Jesus and to follow Him in His way. This choosing isn’t a one-time thing. It’s actually more like a day by day thing. But it is something that each of you needs to do. You need to follow Jesus because you want to follow Jesus, not because it’s just some habit handed to you. So, habits are good if they are your habits and if they are habits that help you follow Jesus.

Here’s something else that people look to as a motivation to follow Jesus: a sense of duty. ‘I do this because I’m supposed to.’ It’s an appeal to a list of rules written down somewhere. I think that it’s interesting that you never hear Jesus say something like, ‘You need to do this because of duty.’ Now, it needs to be said that, like habit, there is a place for duty. There are times when you need something like this to make you do what you should do even though you would rather not. But duty as a primary reason to follow Jesus will never work. Following Jesus merely out of duty is like following Him merely out of habit. More than that is needed to follow Him well.

Well, those don’t work as motivators. How shall we answer our question? What motivates someone to follow Jesus on His terms? I think that the big three fit here: faith, love and hope.

First, faith. Because of faith, the disciple says, ‘Jesus, I trust You. You’ve sent this pain into my life. It really hurts. But, You say that my dealing with this will result in evil being pushed back some more. The evil in my life and the evil in this world will lose another battle. That’s what you tell me, and I believe You and I trust You. So, I will follow You now, even though it hurts.’ Faith motivates discipleship. And it becomes easier to trust Jesus as you develop a history with Him. It helps to see Him in action in your life. So, this matter of trust is something that is developed over a lifetime. An opportunity to trust Him leads to a choice. And choosing to trust Him in that situation – and finding Him trustworthy – gives greater confidence to trust Him the next time, when it’s a little more challenging, a little more painful. And on it goes. Evil is dealt with. Life is being fixed by the Gospel.

But trust does not function alone. Behind trust is love. A disciple is wiling to trust Jesus because he loves Him. Love is all about the other person, the person being loved. It includes a willingness to do whatever for the sake of the beloved. So, because of love, Jesus carried His cross to defeat evil and to do that for you, His beloved. And His followers carry their crosses for Him. They endure the pain of fixing life, and they do it for the sake of their beloved. This is where it becomes clear that mere habit or duty will not cut it. There are things that love will do that habit or duty will never attempt.

And that leaves hope. A disciple endures the pain of being Jesus’ follower because of the hope of the age to come, heaven. When Jesus speaks to the rich, young ruler He calls him to give all his money away. That is painful. If you doubt me, try it. But Jesus also calls him to the hope of treasure in heaven. ‘Yes’, says Jesus, ‘it will hurt. But later will be so good.’ Paul explicitly connects the pain of now with the enjoyment of later. ‘For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen.’ Paul encourages the saints as we wrestle with evil. Our experience of the pain is doing good now. But in addition to defeating evil, it is also producing something that we will enjoy in the age to come, something that will be so good that the evil we suffer will be completely overshadowed and forgotten. Part of how we deal with the pain of following Jesus now is by holding on to the hope of eternity promised to us.

So, three motivations to accept the pain of following Jesus: faith, love, hope.

Now, what do I want you to do with all of this? For one thing, I’d like you to step back and see your life in a larger context. It is so easy – and way too many of our friends and neighbors fall into this – to think of life just as the things that are the calendar. You get up, work through whatever it is that is on your to do list: things for work, things at home, school and whatever else. Once you finish enough of that to placate your conscience you go to bed. Interspersed are birthday parties, holidays, fun projects. But it’s too easy to live life as one big list of habits and duties.  Don’t fall into that trap. You are disciples of Jesus. The context of your life is His calling. So, from time to time, step back and remind yourself of the bigger picture.

Here’s another thing: expect evil to come your way. That won’t mean that it won’t hurt if you do. But it will mean that you won’t be surprised. You’ll understand something of what is going on. You won’t say, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ You’ll know why. Jesus is at work. He is, once again, calling you to deal with some evil. It’s an opportunity to choose to follow Him as He – and you – fix life by battling evil.

Now – and this is very important – none of this is possible unless you pray. If you try to deal with all of this on your own, you will fail. The pain will be too much. You might still go through the motions of habit or duty, but there will be no following Jesus. You want to stay as far from that as possible. So, you need to pray. You need to ask that the Spirit give you the ability you need. And at the heart of that is the ability to trust, love and hope.