Take Up the Cross

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Would you be willing to obey Jesus if it meant a literal cross or having to be removed from your family? Though the circumstances these Christians lived in were more extreme than ours, our commitment to Christ is not supposed to be any less extreme than theirs. The cross they were asked to take up is the one that we are asked to take up as well. Welcome to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer.

I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Have you considered this? Are you willing to lay aside what you value most for what Jesus offers you right now?

Think about that for a second. The thing that's most important to you, is it more important than obeying Christ? Today Pastor J.D. asks us to count the cost of truly following Jesus. When Jesus called his first disciples, he warned them that it was going to cost them everything.

And guess what? After all these years, the path of discipleship hasn't changed one bit. So buckle your seatbelt.

This is going to be quite the ride. Pastor J.D. titled today's message, Take Up the Cross. Luke chapter 14, if you got your Bible this weekend, and I hope that you do have a Bible, I want to talk with you this weekend about Jesus' staggering invitation to follow him and then ask you to consider whether or not you have actually responded to it. As I have been telling you now for several weeks, at the end of this message, I'm going to ask every single one of you who is willing to commit or to recommit to being a disciple. I'm not talking just a handful of you or those of you that are new to church. I'm going to ask everybody whether you've been a member here for four minutes or 40 years that you take a moment to recommit as we come begin to emerge out of lockdown to what it means to be a disciple.

But what I'm going to do now is I'm going to spend the next 30 minutes, 30, 35 minutes trying to talk you out of making that commitment. Seriously, because that's what I believe Jesus does here at the end of Luke 14 in the passage we're about to look at. Verse 25, Jesus looks around and he sees great crowds following him, which is encouraging for any preacher, right? At this point in his ministry, his message is catching on. His reputation for miracles gathers crowds everywhere that he goes. His approval rating is off the charts. He is trending on Twitter.

His stock is soaring, however you want to think about it. Verse 26, Jesus looks at this immense crowd and says, verse 26, if anybody comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, hate his wife, hate his children, hate his brothers and his sisters, yes, even hate his own life. Well, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Verse 33, jump down there, and any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. You underline stuff in your Bible, by the way, underline those words, renounce all that he has.

All that he has, then star the word all above it, everything. Nothing is excluded, absolutely nothing is excluded from Jesus' rule over our lives. Now, y'all, I have to imagine that Jesus' disciples were pretty bewildered at this. They had been enjoying the big crowds following Jesus, and they were like, Jesus, you can't gain momentum for a movement telling people they're required to hate their parents and their children and their brothers and sisters to follow you. That's not how you rally the troops, Jesus. That's not how you get people on the Jesus bus. Nobody's going to buy into team Jesus when you tell them they've got to renounce even loyalty to their families.

But y'all, here's the thing. Jesus wasn't trying to sell anything. He's not trying to build a megachurch. Quite simply, he has an offer of salvation more valuable than anything else on earth, and it's only given on his terms.

So here's my question for you this weekend. What do you think it means to be Jesus' follower? Do you really believe what he says here?

I ask what he says here. I ask that because we have, in America in general and in the South in particular, we have adopted a reduced version of Christianity. For us, becoming a Christian means embracing a certain creed, adopting a set of morals, praying a prayer, then commencing on a set of religious practices. For Jesus, however, becoming his follower was something so radical, so total, that by comparison, every other commitment, every other commitment in our lives compared to it, would look like hate. By the way, I know that statement, hate your father or mother, throws some of you. You're like, well, I thought it was God's will for us to love our families. Yes, lay down our lives like Christ loves the church, be devoted to our kids. Yes.

But Jesus is speaking comparatively. He is saying that he deserves a loyalty that is so strong, so strong that in comparison to it, every other relationship, every other loyalty, even our most intimate ones, are going to seem like hate. You can think of it like this. If you have a pet, I imagine that you love that pet, unless that pet is a cat and then you are just waiting out the time for it to die so you can get a real pet like a dog or a gerbil or a hermit crab, anything, right? But for any other pet, I'm just kidding. But for any other pet, you love that pet and you are committed to that pet on some level.

In fact, I know for a fact some of you spend a great deal of money. I know some of you that have flown across country to go get your pet. But I would imagine that as committed as you are to that pet, your love for your pet pales in comparison to your love for your children or your spouse or a best friend or a parent.

By the way, if you're having to sit there and think about that right now, that's not good. But for most of you, if you had some situation where you had to choose between the well-being of your pet or the life of your child, it's not really a choice at all, is it? Yes, you are committed to your pet, but compared to the intensity of your commitment to your child, your commitment to your pet would seem like hate. That is the loyalty that Jesus both deserves and demands. Our loyalty to him has to be so strong that in comparison to him, every other relationship in our lives, even our most intimate ones, are going to seem like hate, period.

Full stop. And if you are not willing to give him that, Jesus says, then you have no business following him. Verse 27, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cause? Whether he's got enough to complete it, you don't want to get into a project, get halfway done, and then not be able to finish it.

That's embarrassing. You've got some half-shell of a building out there that everybody walks by and says, well, look at that guy. He started, but he went bankrupt and couldn't finish it. Verse 29, otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to mock him, saying, this man, what a fool, began to build and was not even able to finish. Before you come to Jesus, Jesus is saying, before you come to me, you've got to think, am I ready to go all the way with him? Because, you see, coming to Jesus is not something you do just because it makes you feel good or because it adds some missing piece in your life or gets you out of a jam.

You've got to ask yourself if you're ready to go the full distance with him. You see, back then and today, a lot of people are initially attracted to Jesus because of what he can do for them. He can provide relief from your burdens. He can grant you forgiveness of sins. He can take you to heaven.

He can give you help in your marriage and your family. And you're like, well, that's worthy of some level of devotion, but here's the thing. At some point, if you are serious about following Jesus, obedience to him is going to cost you. At some point, obedience to him is going to take you 180 degrees opposite of the direction that you think you want to go. Following him is not going to make life easier. It is going to make life harder. It is not going to lead you to fields of ease and abundance.

It's going to lead you to paths of difficulty. The question is, are you ready to follow him then? Notice. Notice that Jesus said following him means taking up a cross. He didn't say take up my teachings and follow me. He didn't say take up my moral code and follow me or take up my liturgical calendar and follow me or take up this warm and fuzzy God blanket and follow me. He said take up my cross and follow me. Take up your cross and follow me. What did Jesus mean by take up your cross?

What did he mean? Well, we realize that for that first audience listening to Jesus, the cross was not like it is for many of us, some sentimental piece of jewelry or a pretty symbol of their faith. In fact, at the time, the cross was not a religious symbol at all. The cross was an instrument of torture and execution. They would have been very familiar with it because they had seen it thrust in their faces as a tool of oppression. It would be like today some politician saying, come join my campaign. Strap yourselves to your electric chair and let's go. By the way, for the first Christians who heard these words, saying take up your cross was not poetic or metaphorical language at all.

It was quite literal. Christianity was birthed into a context where Christians were often put onto crosses for choosing to follow Jesus. Nero, Nero who was likely Caesar when Luke was writing this stuff down. Nero we know falsely blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome and then used that as a pretext to hunt them down and then feed them to the lions and others he would tie to poles and set them on fire to illuminate his gardens at night.

Following Nero was a ruler named Vespasian who ruled between 69 and 70 A.D., right in the middle of this early church era. He was the one who sent Roman troops into Jerusalem to desecrate the temple. He then took thousands of Jews, many of whom would have been those first Christians that got saved in the first chapters of Acts, many of them the ones that would have been in Jesus' first audience here and he hung them up on crosses or along the road to Jerusalem for miles. Then there was Domitian, Domitian who took persecution to even new levels.

It was in a word demonic. For example, he knew that Christians would not bow the knee to the emperor so Domitian would show up in a town like Ephesus unannounced and he would demand that everyone be assembled at the amphitheater and commanded to worship him and whoever did not worship him would be hauled immediately into the Colosseum, them and their families, and be fed to the lions. He put Christians into cages with wild animals for sport. That's the context into which this call to take up your cross was first heard. For them following Jesus might mean that they lost every other relationship and they had to be more committed to Jesus than their own lives. By the way, that was not just unique to the early church either.

Throughout time and history and even places today around the world people often have to make that same choice. John Bunyan who lived in England in the 17th century who wrote the best-selling book of all time except for the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, was told in the 17th century that he could not preach the gospel, a gospel that differed from the official state religion which was not preaching the gospel. He refused so he went right on preaching so they put him in prison. They told him that they would let him go if he would swear on the Bible that he would not preach anymore. But he said, I can't do that.

And so he remained in prison voluntarily. And he said in his journal, he said, it tore my heart out because I had this family that was already poor. They were already so poor and he had a blind daughter. And he said just the thought of her and how much suffering my obedience to Christ was costing them. In fact, let me just quote you from his journal here, the partying with my wife and poor children has often been to me in this place like the pulling of flesh from my bones. I'm aware of the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family meets with because of my imprisonment, especially my poor blind child who lays nearer to my heart than anything else on earth.

The thought of what my precious blind one is going through shatters my heart into pieces. But yet I must venture all with God. Though I feel like a man pulling down his house upon the head of his wife and his children, yet I must do it.

I must do it. I must obey Christ. Now the circumstances of these believers might have been different. We live in a different era, thank God. But just because our time period is different doesn't mean our commitment to the lordship of Christ can be any less.

So the question is what about you? Would you be willing to obey Jesus if it meant a literal cross or having to be removed from your family? Though the circumstances these Christians lived in were more extreme than ours, our commitment to Christ is not supposed to be any less extreme than theirs. The cross they were asked to take up is the one that we are asked to take up as well. So let's just ask this weekend, this morning, what exactly does take up your cross mean for us?

Well, in context, I would say it means two things. Number one, I would say total self-surrender. And number two, I'm going to explain its personal embrace of the Great Commission. Total self-surrender, personal embrace of the Great Commission. Let me look at those one at a time. Number one, total self-surrender, total self-surrender.

A person on a cross has given up total control of their lives. They are literally under arrest. They are bound hand and foot, totally powerless to the will of their captor. You can think of them as good as already dead. They're not making plans for the future.

They've got no plans. All their plans died when they got tied to a cross. To pick up our cross means a total surrender of our will to Jesus, a forfeiting of anything that we thought we wanted, anything we desire, or anything we believe apart from what Jesus wants. Does that describe your relationship with Jesus?

Have you brought all your, let's start with your beliefs. Have you brought all your beliefs, captives, to his teaching? I ask that because I talk to a lot of people who would say that Jesus is Lord, but then for whatever reason seem to feel the freedom to decide for themselves what they want to believe about homosexuality or gender or sex in general. And if something in the Bible offends them or it makes them uncomfortable, they seem to have no problem saying, well, I just don't really believe that right now. And I just want to say back to them, I'm like, I don't think you understand what lordship means. If Jesus is Lord, I believe what he says because he says it, whether I disagree with it or not, or even if I'm angered by it, that's kind of irrelevant.

Y'all, listen, you understand this, right? I've been a Christian for 25 some years. I've, you know, done all the study in theology. I've preached it for a number of years. There's a lot of things in this book I still am confused by, and some of them I'm offended by and angered by.

And the question I have to ask myself is, is he Lord or not? Now, I remember hearing a story one time about Billy Graham, who was in, when he was in college, a professor of his, just, you're trying to explain that a certain parts of the Bible were outdated and some of the morals were regressive and all these things. And Billy Graham said, it just threw my faith into turmoil. He said, I took a long walk through the woods by myself. He said, I wasn't sure what my future was going to be like. And he said, there was this fateful moment where I came to, there's an old stump there. He says, I took my Bible. I got down on my knees and I put it down in front and said, God, I are so much in this.

I don't understand so much in it. I'm not sure how to explain, but I believe that this book was authored by you. I believe that Jesus is Lord, and I'm going to accept this and build my life on it being your word, even if, even if there's things I don't understand or that offend me. He said, that was a point of demarcation in my life. I've had lots of questions since he said, but I, my life has been built on the understanding that Jesus is Lord. And therefore I bring every thought captive under his direction. Has that happened to you? Have you brought your will, your decisions captive to his direction? A lot of times we ask that here by saying, have you given Jesus a blank check of your life? And I've explained to you that my dilemma is when I first started to use that analogy 20 years ago, everybody nodded their head.

Now there's a whole bunch of millennials in gen Z who were like, what are you talking about? I actually brought one just because this is like, I went to the museum and I pulled out, remember this thing? It's a check. And yes, I marked out my bank account.

So don't freeze frame and try to zoom in close there. This is a blank check. It's got my signature on it, which authorizes you to take whatever money out of my account that's there.

Then the place is blank, what it's for. And the amount is blank. Back in the old days, you know, you'd hand this to somebody if you weren't quite sure how much money you owed them. And if you trusted them, then you give this to them and say, just fill it out later.

I've already got my signature on it. But if you guys are as old as I am, remember this, there was always that moment, that gut check moment when you're like, do I really trust my brother-in-law? Is he who he says he is? Right?

Can I trust this guy? Because they literally had access. You had just said yes to whatever they were going to ask for. When you come to Jesus, that's essentially what it is.

Like, I don't even know the question yet. The answer is yes. Wherever you tell me to go, whatever you tell me to do, that's what I'm going to do. What I prefer, what most people prefer to give to Jesus is this. It's a gift card, right? This was to Hardee's for $5. And so you're beginning your walk with Jesus and you're like, oh, I'm ready, you know?

And this is your first initial act, right? And what you think it means to grow in Christ was that you upgrade your gift card. I'm not just giving him $5 at Hardee's. I brought another one.

This is Angus Barn. That's a nicer gift card. And you're like, I've gone, this is early stuff.

Now I'm going to this. But here's the dilemma. Both of these have a fixed amount. This one's worth $5 and this one's worth, I don't know, let's say $100. Somebody gave it to me.

I'll go test it out later. But, you know, this one's worth whatever amount of money it's worth. But the point is when I have exhausted this gift card, the person that gave it to me has no more obligation to me, right?

This was a very generous gift, but it was a limited gift. And a lot of people are like that with Jesus. They're like, I'm growing in Christ. I'm giving you more expensive gift cards.

And Jesus is like, both are equally worthless to me. Because what I demand, what I want, all that I will take is a blank check. So keep your Angus Bard gift cards and keep them home.

Your Hardee's, they have no more value. I'll throw that out there for somebody who's going to get it. I would get that if I were you. I have every bit of confidence that after this message is over, that will still be sitting there because people will be like, what is that worth? I do think the Frisco burger is amazingly underrated. I'll just say that.

So you can at least get one of those with that. All right, Bojangles, if it was Bojangles, you'd be in. Let me take you to another place really quickly where Jesus talks about this. Luke chapter nine, verse 57. Gia, Luke records this teaching of Jesus twice.

Then I'll ask you a few more questions along the way. Okay, I'm going to walk you through this passage. Luke 9, 57.

As they were going along the road, somebody said to him, I'll follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him, well, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Okay, like I said, in those days, a lot of people follow Jesus because of what he could do for them. He could do miracles. He could heal the sick. He'd calm storms, multiply food. His teachings brought them comfort. Oh, the one about the father and the prodigal son just brings me to tears. And then there's the thing about him knowing how many hairs I got in my head and not a sparrow.

Oh, that just makes me feel so awesome. And then there was a lot of religious students who followed Jesus because it was a way of beefing up their resume. You see, in those days, if you wanted to gain credibility as a teacher, you attach yourself to other famous teachers. So a lot of people were following Jesus for that reason. Today, today, many people come to Jesus because they know that he can help their marriages. He can bless their finances. He can relieve their burdens, sometimes even heal their body.

He can help them be successful. And yes, listen to me, he can do all of those things. But here's the question. What if obedience to Jesus leads you away from all of those things? What if it leads you to a place where you don't even have a place to lay your head down?

Write this down. Are you following Jesus for comfort or for a cross? Here's a question for you. Are there any limits to your obedience? Is there any place where you would say, I will not, I cannot walk away from that? More practically, is there anything that he's told you to stop doing that you're still doing?

Some relationship you're in, some habits. Is there anything that he has told you to start doing that you're not doing yet? Think tithing, think generosity, think getting baptized, think obedience to some call, maybe engaging in some ministry. It can be as simple as joining the church. A follower of Jesus has forsaken all that Jesus has forbidden and commenced all that Jesus commanded. Like I just said, you got to put your life down as a blank check and say, Lord Jesus, all that I have, all that I am, all that I ever hope to be, I give now entirely forever to you. The demands are heavy, laying down your life. But have you considered what Jesus is offering you? The gift of life eternal.

That seems pretty worth it, don't you think? You're listening to Summit Life and today's message is part of our new teaching series called In Step. As always, you can visit us at jdgrier.com. You'll find resources transcripts and all of our teaching available free of charge. And you can also send us a note to let us know how we can be praying for you. Now, J.D., we've spent quite a bit of time over the past few weeks talking about the importance of memorizing parts of the Bible. I know I want to be able to recall scripture easily, but I'm often a little rusty on some of the memory verses I learned as a kid. You know, there's a little different tricks that you can use, but really, it just comes down to reading them, saying them back. A friend of mine who's extremely good at this taught me to do it by simply reading a verse 10 times, then saying it 10 times, and then reviewing it once the next day. And he said, you'll have it memorized.

And that's certainly been true in my life. We produced this pack of 50 memory cards, which is designed for you to memorize one a week in the year of 2022. I would say at most, it would take you 10 minutes to memorize one. And then you put one verse a week in, you review it day by day. After you get done with a year, think about it, you got 50 promises of scripture, 50 living words that are in your heart that the Holy Spirit can bring to mind whenever he needs to counteract some deception coming from the depths of your heart or from our enemy. I think these will be a tool that can really transform how you see yourself, how you see your world, and how you think about God. So go to jdgrier.com today and reserve yours.

Thanks, JD. We're offering this resource to help you remember scripture this year because one of our priorities here at Summit Life is to bring you resources and teaching that will help you grow deeper in your walk with God every day. The Rejoice Always scripture memory cards come with our thanks for your generous financial gift of $35 or more. Call right now to make your donation and request the cards. The number is 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or go online and request them when you visit us at jdgrier.com. I'm Molly Venovich. Be sure to join us again tomorrow as we continue our teaching series called In Step on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.