Dansk (Google translator)

The Foundation of the Church

Course: The Cross

Lesson 9

Lesson Title:  Take up your cross  

 

Text:  Matthew 16:24  'Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'

 

Introduction:  Take up your cross.

·        It is not the cross on which Christ died for us.  This happened once for salvation. This is a cross we must carry daily.

·        A W Tozer - Wrote the article 'The cross is a radical thing'. He wrote that a person who took up his cross wasn't coming back.  The person who carried the cross was dead to his or her own ambitions.

 

Introductory  Story:  Personal Testimony - The Turnaround

 

Exposition:

1. Taking up the cross means being turned around from selfish ambitions.  The disciples needed to have a turnaround experience.

·        Peter was turnaround.  'And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you are converted, strengthen thy brethren.' (Luke 22:31-32). Peter was truly the disciple of Christ but Jesus told Peter he would be converted.  The word converted in Greek is epistrepho, this word literally means ‘to turn towards’.

 

Why did Simon Peter need to be turned around? 

Up until this time Peter was running towards the goal of a successful ministry. Peter sought to become great through a successful ministry. Peter was competitive and ambitious. He was part of a ministry team, but it was not the love of Christ that motivated him.

The Lord allowed Peter to be sifted in order to remove the chaff of self-glory from the wheat of love for Christ. Peter regarded himself as better than all the other disciples when he said, 'Although all shall be offended, yet not I’ (Mark 14:29). Peter's self confidence had to be broken before he could fulfil the ministry the Lord had called him to do. He had to be turned around.

 

·        All the disciples had seen their relationship with Jesus as an opportunity to achieve greatness.  'And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.' (Luke 22:24). They had very big ambitions for their ministries, and they sought to use their relationship with Jesus to gain a position where they would be highly esteemed.

 

·        Only Judas could not be turned towards the right goal. Satan was able to destroy Judas because Judas did not love Christ. The disciples all ran towards success, but Judas followed Christ for gain. The other disciples were not like Judas, which is why it was impossible for Satan to destroy them; he could only sift them. Satan cannot do anything without God's permission.

 

2. Taking up the cross is necessary for discipleship.  A disciple of Christ is one who learns to be like Christ.

·        The Greek word 'mathetes' which is translated disciple means 'a learner'. Disciples of Christ learn to rest in the Father's will. The disciples were learning Christ. They still had to learn the real nature of ministry. All of Peter's ambitions concerning a successful ministry died when Jesus was crucified. He thought everything was lost, but he was learning to be like Jesus who came not to fulfil His own ambitions, but to obey the Father's will.

 

·        Jesus taught his disciples the true nature of discipleship, John 13:34-35  'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.'  The disciples had to learn to take up their cross and die to their own ambitions and be willing to lay down their lives for one another. 1 John 3:16  'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.'

 

3. Taking up your cross means ministry must only be motivated by the love of Christ.

·        If we are motivated by love for Christ then we will look upon others as better than ourselves. If we are motivated by personal ambitions then we will seek to use others to elevate ourselves. Paul said it was the love of Christ that held his ministry together. 2 Corinthians 5:14.  See also John 21 - Jesus taught Peter that ministry must be out of love for Christ.

 

·        The minister who has been turned around seeks not a successful ministry, but to please the Lord. Look at Peter in prison sleeping, without concern. Herod had already executed James the brother of John, and it was certain that he would put Peter to death the same way. 'Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.' (Acts 12:5-6). The Lord had told Peter he would be in this position when he was old. He was not yet old, and Peter rested in the will of God. This was not a man seeking to build up his own ministry. He had no fear of death, and he had no ambitions of his own.

 

Summary:

Taking up your cross means

1.      To turn our backs to selfish ambitions and seeking only to glorify Christ. We can have selfish ambitions even when we are seeking to be disciples of Christ.

2.      To learn to be like Christ. 

3.      To minister out of love for Christ.

To seek the prize 'to win Christ'.

 

Course Index

Back to Bible Teaching Program