Lost in Translation: What It Means to Bear Our Cross

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. What is this cross that we're all called to bear? To bear the cross means one thing.

It means deny yourself and put God first. So many chase after happiness at the expense of nearly everything else. Today, Pastor Greg Laurie says happiness ultimately comes from pursuing after God.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy, but it's not by chasing happiness. You find it by putting God first in your life and following Him. So much of life is determined by our focus. Do we focus on career more than family or family more than career? Do we focus more on pursuing goals or enjoying the journey? Some focus on happiness. It's their most important pursuit in life.

And yet happiness isn't found through direct pursuit. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out happiness comes when we put God before ourselves, when His will becomes our will. That's our cross to bear. Jesus came to this earth to die for the sins of the world. But His disciples did not get that because it was lost in translation. Their hope and their belief was He was going to establish an earthly kingdom then and there. But before Christ would wear a crown, He would first have to bear a cross. Now, as we come to our text here in Mark chapter 8, His ministry in Galilee is coming to a close. This is a transitional moment in His ministry. And for the first time, He's going to speak very clearly and in great detail about why He has come. Let's look at our text. Mark chapter 8 verse 31. Notice the detail in those words.

He laid it out. Guys, here's who's going to betray me. It's going to be the elders.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law. And I will be killed and I will rise again in three days. He spoke plainly about this. Now look at this. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. And when Jesus turned and looked at the disciples, He rebuked Peter saying, get behind me Satan. For you do not have in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns.

Stop there. By the way, this is the first time Jesus ever talked specifically, clearly, and I might even add graphically, about the fact that He was going to die. I don't even think they heard the He'll be raised on the third day part. They just heard He was going to die.

I don't think I'm overstating it when this was really shocking to them. He was effectively saying, I, Jesus, who you've given up everything to follow, I'm going to be murdered in cold blood. I'm going to be taken from you.

And they're thinking, how could that be part of any plan? You're the Messiah. You're supposed to establish your kingdom here and now.

How is this going to be part of something good for you to be taken and murdered? And in fact, we've given up everything to follow you, Jesus. And we made these great sacrifices. And so Peter thought that he would sort of set Jesus straight. And we read in verse 22, Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

And by the way, in the original language, that implies it was done over and over again. I mean, I'm trying to imagine this. Peter says, Jesus, come here for a second. Buddy, listen, come on, man, what are you doing? I rebuke you, Jesus.

You cannot do this. He's rebuking God almighty. I mean, this is insane. And Jesus listens to him. And then Jesus says, I rebuke you, Peter. The devil gave you that thought to deter me from this course. I'm going to die on the cross.

And there's no getting around this. Now Jesus, shall we say, shifts gears. Now He personalizes it. And in effect, He's saying, look guys, I'm not the only one who's going to bear a cross. You're going to bear a cross too.

In fact, you need to bear a cross. And though these words were given some 2,000 years ago, they ring true for us today. These words that we're about to read are not just for first century Christians.

They are also for 21st century Christians. Let's go back to Mark chapter 8, verse 34. Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said, whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. And whoever loses their life for Me and the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul if anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation? The Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His Father's glory. Well stop there.

You can insert your name here. If Greg will take up the cross and follow Me. If Josh will take up the cross and follow Me. If Mary will take up the cross and follow Me. This isn't just for the 12 disciples of Jesus.

This is for you. Now you say but I don't even know what that means to take up the cross and follow Him. Well first He says deny yourself. The word deny means to say no to yourself. It means to put God's will above your will. What is this cross that we're all called to bear?

Well first let me tell you what it isn't. Because I think we have a lot of misconceptions about the cross today. You know we adorn our churches with massive crosses. We got into lawsuits about where crosses can be displayed. We tat a cross on our arm.

We make it a fashion accessory. But in the first century know this. The cross was a repulsive symbol. By the way the cross was not the symbol of the church in the beginning. Now later it came to be a symbol of the church. But back then if you had a cross that was a despicable symbol because a cross was an incredibly horrible way to die. It was not invented by the Romans.

But shall we say it was perfected by them. And the Romans crucified thousands of people and lined Roman streets with them as a warning to not rebel against Rome. Crucifixion was saved for the worst of criminals. So if you were in town getting food for dinner and you saw a man walking by you surrounded by Roman soldiers bearing a cross you knew this man was going to die a horrible painful torturous death. So to even use the picture of a cross was repugnant and repulsive.

Now we say ok it was a bad thing. So what does it mean. I think we use this phrase bearing a cross in ways that are not really biblical. For instance a mother might say well my cross to bear it's my children. And then the children of that mother say well our cross to bear is our mother. Or someone else might say well my affliction or this difficulty I have is my cross to bear. You identify whatever issue you have or difficulty you have as your cross to bear. That's not what it means to bear the cross.

Listen to this. To bear the cross means one thing. It means deny yourself and put God first.

Let me illustrate. I have been a Christian now for 50 years. And I have seen a lot of things. I have seen gifted preachers shoot up like rockets and then come crashing down. I have seen people that had their lives changed by Jesus walk away from their faith.

I have seen very talented people that I thought would do great things for the kingdom sort of flame out. So as time has passed I am not so much impressed by charisma as much as I am impressed by character and longevity. For instance I am more impressed with someone who just lives a faithful Christian life. I am impressed by a husband who keeps his vows to his wife to a lifetime. I am impressed by a wife who stands by her husband through thick and thin. I am impressed by a Christian who stays with it every day sunny days and stormy nights. I am impressed by a believer who weathers the storms of life and continues to give glory to God. Because that is what following Jesus is all about. As one person defined it, being a Christian is long obedience in the same direction.

Long obedience in the same direction. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here. You know my uncle Fred Jordan had one of the first Christian TV programs out there. It was called Church in the Home.

I remember watching it as a little boy when I was living with my grandparents. Well we have Church in the Home for you every weekend. It's called Harvest at Home and you can find it at Harvest.org. We have worship and a message from God's word.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well we're learning the importance of burying the cross of Christ as Pastor Greg presents today's message called Lost in Translation. And by the way you can get a copy of Pastor Greg's new book Billy Graham the Man I Knew by calling 1-800-821-3300.

Here's Pastor Greg once again. Burying a cross isn't as awful as you might think. Look at the statement of our Lord in verse 25. Whoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Here's what the Lord is effectively saying. If you'll get your priorities in order. If you'll deny yourself and take up the cross you will find fulfillment in life. Listen there's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. And God is really telling you how to be happy. But it's not by chasing happiness. As one person said the pursuit of happiness is one of the least happy things a person can do. So you don't find happiness by pursuing it.

You find it by putting God first in your life and following him. This is contrary to our narcissistic culture of today. Our selfie culture where people literally die trying to get the ultimate selfie hanging off the side of a cliff or doing something dangerous. We want to look good.

We want to put out this appearance that we have it all together. We're so obsessed with ourselves. The Bible even says by the way that one of the signs of the last days would be people would love only themselves.

2 Timothy 3. Is that not an accurate statement of today? People loving only themselves.

Here's what you need to know. Selfish people are unhappy people. Now studies have confirmed this.

Research has shown this is true. Now you can get a momentary burst of what we might call a temporary happiness by doing something selfish. In other words just catering to yourself. You know they talk about when people shop. That there's a certain euphoria that they can get of buying something. They call it retail therapy right. You get sort of a rush.

Oh I got this thing. But then you know you get it home and you wear it once and you're not as excited by that thing. And so experts say that basically selfish people are unhappy. One expert said selfish acts bring you happiness but only in the short term. But selfish happiness fades quickly and then drives you to more selfish behavior. On the other hand selfless acts bring happiness.

You know this from experience. When you've done something for someone else you put the needs of another person before your own. And after you did that thing you experienced this happiness. And that's really what Jesus is saying. Look instead of loving yourself and being obsessed with yourself deny yourself. And if you will lose your life you will find your life. What does it mean to deny yourself?

Let me give some examples. To deny yourself means you're not embarrassed to bow your head and pray over a meal even around non-believers. To deny yourself means you speak up for your faith even when it's unpopular. To deny yourself means you take up the cross and resist the allure and temptation of this world to live for self and instead you choose to serve others. To deny yourself in marriage is to put the needs of your mate above your own. To deny yourself is to control your impulses as a single person.

To deny yourself means you get up every day and you open up the word of God. I could just go on and on. You say well I don't know that sounds like a miserable life. Now listen to me. This is the happy life. This is the joyful life because you have your priorities in order. And this is why Paul wrote in Galatians 2 20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me. Look at the positive outcome that comes when you take up the cross and put Christ first.

Verse 35 Jesus says if you'll seek to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life for my sake in the gospels you will find it. Listen as I said earlier there's nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. God wants you to be happy.

He's even described in scripture as the happy God. But go about it in the right way and don't chase after your desires put his will above your own and as you lose your life you will find your life by following Jesus Christ. And one day you'll look back on your life and realize it was all worth it. Think of people who've wasted their lives and the pursuit of what?

The pursuit of success and the pursuit of so many experiences and the pursuit of whatever it is they think is important. But listen to this. One day your life will be summed up in a paragraph on a program that will be handed out at your funeral service. And no one will really care about how much money you made. No one will really care about your awesome car collection. No one will really care about how many sexual experiences you had.

No one will really care about how famous you were. What they'll want to talk about is oh you were a selfless person. You were a caring person. You were a loving person. Oh we've seen so many who've wasted their lives. I've been to funerals and as they're describing the person I'm thinking did they know the same person I knew?

That's not the person I knew. But how wonderful it is when a child of God passes into eternity and we can talk about how they followed Jesus and put him first and what they did for other people. And it brings glory to God and that is why I exist. In closing back to this question of Jesus to his disciples. Who do men say that I am?

Now let me ask you this. Who is Jesus to you? Is he the son of God? Is he the savior of the world?

If so then follow him. Pick up your cross and follow him and put God first in your life. You know it's interesting how many times Jesus uses the word must in the verses we've read. He said he must be killed. Then he said we must take up the cross and follow him. But none of this makes sense until we come into a relationship with him. So let me share with you one more must. Jesus said to Nicodemus the religious ruler one night you must be born again.

Let me ask you in closing. Are you born again? Some people say well you know I'm a Christian. I'm just on one of those born agains. News flash you can't be a Christian without being born again.

Again Jesus said you must be born again. What does it mean? It means to be born from above. It means you have a spiritual birth.

Listen to this. If you're born once you'll die twice. But if you're born twice you'll die once.

What does that mean? If you're born once you'll die twice. So you're born physically and then you'll ultimately die physically and spiritually. But if you're born twice that is born physically and born again spiritually you'll only die once. Yes your body will die but your soul your spirit will live on. You must be born again.

You need Jesus to come and live inside of you. Listen Jesus came to this earth as we pointed out to be born in the manger to die on the cross for your sins for my sins because we're all separated from him and we've all broken his commandments time and time again and then he rose from the dead and he will give you complete forgiveness. Can you imagine that? Sure I'm talking to somebody right now that is so ashamed of certain things that they've done and they wonder could God ever forgive a person like me?

And the answer is a resounding yes. Not only can he forgive you he will forgive you right here right now. You say well what do you mean by that? I mean by coming to the Lord in prayer you can ask for his forgiveness and he will wipe away every sin you've ever committed. He'll forgive it and he'll forget it. Jesus said in John 3 16 by the way in that same conversation with the kadimos after he said you must be born again he said for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son and whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Did you hear that? You can have everlasting life and you can know that you'll go to heaven one day. How do you do that? By asking Jesus to come in to your life. So in a moment we're going to pray and I'm going to extend an invitation to you to ask Jesus into your heart if you will into your life to be your Savior and your Lord and your friend. You must be born again. Who do you say Jesus is? You think he's the Lord?

Then call out to him right now. If you want your sin forgiven, if you want to know you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want Christ to come into your life, if you want all of your past forgiven it can happen right now as we pray. If you need Jesus in your life pray this prayer with me right now. Just pray these words.

Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering it. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer with those making a change today in their relationship with the Lord. If you've just joined Pastor Greg in prayer and have asked Jesus to be with you and your Savior, we'd like to offer some help free of charge. We'd like to send you our New Believer's Growth Packet. It'll help you get started in your walk with the Lord and help you build a solid foundation for your faith. So contact us and ask for the free New Believer's Growth Packet. You can write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside, California 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

We're here to take your call anytime 24-7. Again dial 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God. Well we're talking about the 10 things that might surprise you about Billy Graham. These 10 observations come from Pastor Greg's new book Billy Graham the Man I Knew. We've learned that Billy originally wanted to grow up and be a major league baseball player.

We learned that young Billy was a bit of a hyperactive mischievous young man but he matured and ended up becoming a door-to-door salesman with the Fuller Brush Company. So Pastor Greg what's number four on the list? Okay number four but I need my echo chamber to announce it properly. Are you ready?

I'm ready. Billy Graham 10 things that will surprise you about the world famous evangelist. Okay here's number four. His time on the golf course made a significant impact on his ministry. Okay so Billy was attending the Florida Bible Institute in the Tampa Bay community of Temple Terrace and he held a lot of odd jobs. He did housekeeping duties, dishwashing, lawn mowing, but then he became a caddy on the school's golf course and that gave him access to some very important Christian scholars and administrators and preachers and evangelists and he later became a golfer himself and and golfed with many U.S. presidents including Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. Billy once said of golf quote the only time my prayers are not answered are on the golf course end quote. That's pretty funny.

So Billy loved to golf you know and it was a way to relieve stress and it was a way to meet people and he had some amazing adventures out there on the golf course. So I talked about that a little bit in my book. Here's another one.

Number five. Billy Graham's wife was vital to the success of his career and witness. Oh that's so true. Ruth Bell Graham, Billy's wife of 64 years was an amazing woman. I would say she was in every way his equal. Billy said of Ruth she's the theologian of the family and he wasn't kidding. If you walk by Ruth's office all these books were opened up on her desk all these bibles and when you talk with her she just had quote after quote and so much wisdom as well and Billy really listened to what she had to say.

She really was the love of his life. I remember one moment with Billy and Ruth. Ruth was very sick at this point.

She wasn't long for this life on earth. Billy was sitting with her they were holding hands. Ruth was in a wheelchair and my friend Dennis Aghajanian was playing the Hallelujah chorus on his acoustic guitar. It sounded something like this and while Dennis was playing this song I looked over at Billy and Ruth and they had their eyes locked and there was a smile on both of their faces.

I could tell they were sharing some kind of a special moment but I wasn't really sure what it was all about. When the song was done Billy turned to Ruth and said that's a song they played on our first date. So as it turns out when Billy Graham invited Ruth Bell that was her name then out for a date he took her to a concert where they performed Handel's Messiah.

So I'll never really forget that. I love spending time in their home and I actually write a lot about Ruth in this book Billy Graham the Man I Knew because we would go and speak at a conference center that was really Ruth's vision. It was called the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove and she would attend and then afterwards she'd say you want to come over to our house for lunch and I'm like do fish swim?

Yes and so we would have sometimes food from downtown there was takeout Chinese food and some great ribs and other things. Sometimes Ruth might even make something for us and we would sit around we'd tell stories we'd laugh listen to Ruth's great wisdom and she was always such a delight to be around and so I wanted to tell her story as well as Billy Graham's story because honestly I don't think there would be a Billy Graham as we knew him if there had not been also a Ruth Bell Graham. So this is all in my book Billy Graham the Man I Knew and we'll send you a copy of this book for your gift of any size.

Whatever you can send will take those resources and use it to continue this ministry and inspired really by the example of Billy Graham we will continue to call people to Christ. You know Dave effectively everything I learned about evangelism I learned from Billy Graham. I learned it by listening to him by watching him by asking him questions about how he did it why he did it and so I took those same principles and I applied them whenever I invite people to Christ. We're called to do that here at A New Beginning. Yes we're here to teach you the Bible.

Yes we're here to encourage you in your faith but yes we are here to call people to Christ and we have many many people come to Christ every year through our radio broadcast alone. So if you believe in reaching people that don't know Jesus order your copy of Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Yeah that's right and we'll send it your way to thank you for your investment in this important work of reaching people with the gospel.

It's a unique look at the life of one of our generation's true heroes of the faith. The book is brand new and we'll send you a copy to say thank you for your investment in these daily studies. We can only bring them your way as listeners invest to help us continue to reach out as we do. So thanks for your partnership.

It couldn't come at a more strategic time. Again it's called Billy Graham the Man I Knew. Write us today at A New Beginning box 4000 Riverside, California 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300.

We can take your call anytime 24 7 again at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time Pastor Greg leads us into chapter 9 of Mark's gospel where we study the fascinating account of the transfiguration of Christ. Join us next time here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. Hey everybody thanks for listening to A New Beginning. This is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. So for more content that can help you know God and equip you to make him known to others or to learn more about how you can become a Harvest Partner just go to harvest.org.