Take Up Your Cross-Matthew 16:24

Matthew's Gospel, New Testament, Sermons

  • “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross…” (Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23).
  • “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).
  1. Explain: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him ‘Come and die.’ … Only a man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The Cost of Discipleship.
  2. Explain: “In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross. If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.” A. W. Tozer.
  3. Explain: “The crucified life is a life wholly given over to the Lord in absolute humility and obedience: a sacrifice pleasing to the Lord.” A. W. Tozer. The Crucified Life. How to live out a deeper Christian experience.
  4. What is the only thing that the cross does in Roman times (Mt 27:35; Mk 15:24; Lk 23:33; Jn 19:18)?
    • What should it mean for Christians to “take up [your] cross” (Mt 16:24b; Mk 8:34b; Lk 9:23b)? How (Mt 16:24a; Mk 8:34a; Lk 9:23a)?
    • What if you do not take up your cross (Ac 1:8a; Rom 1:16; 1 Tim 1:7)?
    • How do you follow Jesus (Mt 16:24c; Mk 8:34c; Lk 9:23c)?
    • Do you try to save or lose your life (Mt 16:25; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24; )? Do you love or hate your life (Jn 12:25)? How?
    • What if you dislike or do not take up your cross, which makes you an enemy of the cross (Phil 3:18-19)?
    • Why is “the message of the cross…foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18)?
  5. Why does Paul wish to know nothing “except Jesus Christand him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2)?
    • What does Paul mean (1 Cor 15:31)?
    • Are you crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20a)?
    • If you are crucified are you still living (Gal 2:20b)?
    • How do you resolve the contradiction of dying (crucified) and living at the same time?
    • If one truly follows Christ what must die and be put to death or mortified (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5, 8, 9)?
    • What happens to your life when you are crucified with Christ (Col 3:10; 2 Cor 5:17; Rom 6:4, 6-7, 11)?
    • Does this mean that Christians no longer sin (Rom 7:15, 17, 21, 23)?
    • What should Christians do and how should Christians live (2 Tim 2:3-4; 4:7; Ac 20:24; Phil 1:20-21)?
  6. Is it easy or hard to be saved considering that “the center of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much”? Oswald Chambers.
  • Why is the the cross and Christ crucified so important to a Christian?
  • Why is the cross of Christ the crux and the crucial core and the very center of Christianity?

 

  • “In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross. If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today. We want to be saved but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of man’s soul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar, but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.” A. W. Tozer. The Radical Cross. Living the Passion of Christ.

The Radical Cross, A. W. Tozer: At the heart of (Christianity) lies the cross of Christ with its divine paradox *. The power of Christianity (is) never in agreement with the ways of fallen men. The truth of the cross is revealed in is contradictions. The witness of the Church is most effective when she declares rather than explains, for the gospel is addressed not (primarily) to reason but to faith. What can be proved requires no faith to accept. Faith rests upon the character of God, not upon the demonstrations of laboratory or logic.

The cross stands in bold opposition to the natural man. Its philosophy runs contrary to the processes of the unregenerate mind, so that Paul says bluntly that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18). 

The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of old Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took Him down 6 hours later.

The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a violent persecutor of Christians to a tender believer. Its power changed bad men into good ones.

All this it did and continued to do as long as it was permitted to remain what it had been originally–a cross. Its power departed when it was changed from a thing of death to a thing of beauty. When men made of it a symbol, or hung it around their necks as an ornament or made its outline before their faces as a magic sign to ward off evil, then it became at best a weak emblem. As such it is revered today by millions who know absolutely nothing about its power.

The cross effects its ends by destroying one established pattern, the victim’s, and creating another pattern, its own. Thus it always has its way. It wins by defeating its opponent and imposing its will upon him. It always dominates. It never compromises, never dickers nor confers, never surrenders a point for the sake of peace. It cares not for peace; it cares only to end its opposition as fast as possible.

With perfect knowledge of all this Christ said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). So the cross not only brings Christ’s life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His true followers. It destroys the old pattern, the Adam pattern, in the believer’s life, and brings it to an end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and a new life begins.

This and nothing less is true Christianity, though we cannot but recognize the sharp divergence of this conception from that held by the rank and file of evangelicals today. But we dare not qualify our position.

(Every person who call themselves Christian) must do something about the cross, and one of 2 things only we can do–flee it or die upon it. If we should be so foolhardy as to flee, we shall by that act put away the faith of our fathers and make of Christianity something other than (what) it is. Then we shall have left only the empty language of (Christianity); the power will depart with out departure from the true cross.

If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross for the joy set before us (Heb 12:2). To do this is to submit the whole pattern of our lives to be destroyed and built again in the power of an endless life. The cross will cut into our lives where it hurts worst, sparing neighter us nor our carefully cultivated reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works.

 

Reference:

  1. The Radical Cross. A. W. Tozer. 2005, 2009. The Cross Is a Radical Thing, p. 3-5. That Incredible Christian, p. 101-103.

* A paradox is a statement or situation that appears self-contradictory, absurd, or counterintuitive but, upon deeper examination, may reveal a deeper truth, a hidden complexity, or a logical impossibility. It challenges our ability to reason and can lead to an unexpected conclusion, often requiring us to think beyond surface-level understanding to reconcile seemingly opposing ideas. 

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