I. The cross – an instrument of death.
a. This needs to be understood the way those in this audience would have heard it.
i. We view that cross as something on a necklace, pendant, or the cover of our Bibles.
ii. We know what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection, so the cross reminds us of love, hope, and forgiveness.
iii. When Jesus spoke these words, His hearers did not have any idea about His crucifixion and the victory we have because of it.
iv. They knew the cross only as an instrument of execution.
1. A condemned person would be forced to carry the crossbeam to the place he would die.
2. The procession to the site of the execution exposed him to humiliation and announced the death that awaited him.
3. The person carrying that cross was on his way to execution.
4. This was his green mile moment.
v. This is the image that Jesus chooses to describe discipleship.
vi. Jesus could have spoken only of work, inconvenience, or difficulty, but instead speaks of a cross.
vii. The cross tells us how complete the surrender to Jesus must be: faithfulness to Jesus must reach beyond our desire to preserve our own lives.
b. To Jewish hearers, hanging on a tree also carried the association of a curse.
i. Deut. 21:22-23.
ii. The passage originally concerns the public display of an executed person’s body but Paul took it further (Gal. 3:13).
iii. Paul explains that Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
iv. Think of the obstacle this presented to those people: Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah, but the road Jesus has to walk leads to a death associated with condemnation and disgrace.
v. Paul also describes Christ crucified as a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23).
vi. How could the promised One die such a death?
vii. The answer lies in why Jesus died.
1. Jesus bore our sins, although He had committed none Himself (1 Pe. 2:22-24).
2. The shame He endured reveals the depth of the sacrifice He made for us.
c. The cross demands more than dealing with an inconvenience.
i. We all experience burdens of some kind.
ii. Experiences like these can become occasions for faithful endurance.
iii. But the command in Mark 8 cannot be completed by simply saying, “Everybody has problems.”
iv. Jesus is describing the cost of following Him.
v. The next verse ties the loss of life specifically to Him and the gospel (Mark 8:35).
1. A cross is involved when obedience requires sacrifice and we choose obedience anyway.
2. It is involved when loyalty to Jesus brings rejection and we remain loyal anyway.
3. It is involved when preserving our earthly lives would require denying Him, and we refuse.
d. For some Christians, faithfulness has meant actual death.
i. (Discuss missionary from Middle East showing pictures of what has happened to Christians there).
ii. Polycarp is probably one of the most well-known accounts of a Christian martyr.
iii. He was an elder in the church at Smyrna and had been taught by the apostle John.
iv. He was arrested at 86 and was told to renounce Christ or he would be burned to death.
v. When this ultimatum was given him, he replied: eighty and six years have I served Him and He never did me any injury; how then can I blaspheme my King and Savior?
1. He could have been spared and they really didn’t want to kill an old man.
2. He refused to purchase his earthly freedom at the price of his eternal soul.
e. If the cross is the instrument of death, what does taking it up require of those of us who may never face a Roman governor or an executioner?
II. The carrying – complete surrender to the Lord.
a. We have to surrender our will to His authority.
i. Taking up our cross begins with the deep conviction that the Lord has the right to direct our lives.
1. Our preferences do not overrule His commands.
2. Our feelings do not cancel His teaching.
3. Our desire for acceptance does not release me from obedience.
ii. Paul describes the change in 2 Cor. 5:15 – Christ died so that those who live would live for Him instead of continuing to live for themselves.
iii. This reaches every part of our lives.
1. What we do with our bodies.
2. How we spend our time and money.
3. How we speak.
4. How we treat others.
5. How we respond to those that have wronged us.
iv. It also reaches the decisions I would prefer to keep private.
v. We don’t truly surrender all to Jesus while maintaining an area of our lives where we say to Jesus: “Everything but this is yours – here You have no authority.”
vi. We will have struggles and need forgiveness.
vii. But we have to give up the claim that any part of our lives belongs to us and not Him.
b. We accept the cost of doing His will.
i. The cost will not look identical for each of us.
1. For one, it may mean refusing to be dishonest in our profession and losing a profitable opportunity.
2. For another, it may mean leaving a sinful relationship despite professed love and emotional attachment.
3. For still another, it may mean speaking up about biblical teaching when silence would preserve popularity.
4. For another, it may mean refusing to join friends in behavior that dishonors God, knowing that might cost us friends or future invites.
ii. These are the moments when surrender becomes concrete.
iii. It’s easy to speak like this about obedience when it is all theoretical.
iv. Cross-bearing becomes visible when obedience costs us something.
v. We have to remember 1 Pe. 4:15-16.
1. Notice that Peter makes a distinction between suffering for disobedience and suffering for being a Christian.
2. There is no credit from God for suffering because we messed up.
3. But God sees when we suffer for Him and He will remember.
c. We must surrender daily.
i. This is found in Luke’s account (Lu. 9:23).
ii. We can’t call in sick one day or take a day for ourselves.
iii. Some Christians may face a moment when they must choose between denying Jesus and dying.
iv. Every Christian faces repeated decisions about whether to obey Him.
1. Today, I have to surrender my resentment.
2. Today, I must turn away from temptation.
3. Today, I must speak honestly when a lie would protect me.
4. Today, I must do the good I know to do, although it requires sacrifice.
v. Yesterday’s faithfulness does not make today’s surrender unnecessary.
vi. Roman 12:1 – we place ourselves at God’s disposal while we are living.
vii. Our baptism into Christ points towards this changed life (Rom. 6:3-6).
1. This shows us our old man was put to death.
2. We no longer serve sin.
viii. We rise to walk in newness of life and that new life belongs to the Lord.
d. Complete surrender includes a willingness to die for the Lord.
i. We can’t reduce cross-bearing to a collection of little sacrifices and leave death out of the picture – the cross does not allow that.
ii. Jesus teaches that our allegiance to Him must be greater than our allegiance to our own lives.
iii. Rev. 2:10.
iv. Our commitment has to be deeper than, “I will follow as long as nothing too painful happens.”
v. It has to be, “Lord, my life belongs to you, so please help me to be faithful wherever obedience leads me.”
e. Why would anyone make such a surrender?
f. The answer is found in the next verse.
III. The cause – for the Lord and for the gospel.
a. We take up our cross for the Lord’s sake.
i. Mark 8:35.
ii. Our loyalty is personal – we belong to Jesus Christ.
iii. We remember who He is and what He has done.
1. He loved us when we were sinners.
2. He gave Himself for us.
3. He purchased the church with His own blood.
4. He offers us great spiritual blessings.
iv. Love for Jesus should make us change how we evaluate sacrifice.
v. When we remember what Jesus surrendered for us, we have great reason to surrender what He asks of us.
vi. Remember Paul’s statement in 2 Cor. 5 (2 Cor. 5:14-15).
vii. We don’t obey because suffering builds character or sacrifice impresses others, but because the One who died and rose again is our Lord.
b. We take up our cross for the sake of the gospel.
i. The gospel is God’s power to save (Rom. 1:16).
ii. To suffer for the gospel is to accept the cost of remaining faithful to that message and making it known to others.
1. We can’t change it to gain approval.
2. We can’t hide our association with Christ and His message when someone objects to it.
3. We can’t allow comfort to become more important than another person’s opportunity to hear the message.
iii. Paul’s imprisonment illustrates this commitment.
1. Php. 1:12-14.
2. Paul’s circumstances, being in prison, had worked out to help advance the gospel.
3. It encouraged other Christians to speak with greater boldness.
iv. In 2 Tim. 2:8-10, Paul again connects his suffering with the gospel and the salvation of others.
v. How much inconvenience are we willing to accept so that another person can hear and obey the gospel?
1. It may require difficult conversations.
2. It may require schedule interruptions or financial sacrifice.
3. Or worse.
vi. But souls are worth the effort and the gospel is worth the cost.
c. We also take up our cross because saving our earthly lives at the cost of Christ is a terrible deal.
i. We can cling to earthly security so tightly that we abandon Christ, but lose what matters eternally.
ii. We can lose all earthly advantages by being faithful, but receive a life that death cannot take away.
iii. This is what Mark 8:36-37 should impress upon us.
iv. Imagine gaining all the world has to offer but then standing before God without Jesus.
v. Nothing gained in this world will be able to repair that loss.
vi. On the other hand, there is no earthly loss that will compare with being with Christ eternally.
d. We also take up our cross because the rejected Lord is going to return in glory.
i. Mark 8:38 takes us from the hostility of this world to the glory of the Lord’s return.
ii. Jesus warns that being ashamed of Him now will have consequences when He returns.
iii. The world will be harsh towards us for standing for truth and not being ashamed of His words.
iv. But the world will not deliver final judgment.
v. The rejected Lord returning in all His glory will do that.