Take Up Your Cross

You know, one of the, one of the notes I have received, and we've received many, but probably some of the most heart-wrenching and encouraging notes that we've received have come from our children and our students. So thank you parents, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders who have encouraged children and students to write to us, but one third grader wrote this to us, and I found this really summarized as a lot of truth. He said, God is with you.

We believe that, don't we? He says, God is with you, and then he says, and so is the rest of the church. And I thought, yeah, that is true, that we as brothers, brothers and sisters are together with us in our sorrow and our suffering, so God is with you. Well, our mission at Calvary is, as we've been singing and reflecting, and as we know if you come to Calvary for any time, our mission at Calvary is to be and make authentic followers of Jesus Christ. That is, those saved by the grace of God are called to follow Jesus. We're called to be his disciples. That is, we're not only to confess Jesus with our lips, we're not just to sing about it and speak about it, but we are to follow Christ with all of our hearts and with all of our lives. Following Jesus then involves not only learning what Jesus taught, we must learn what he taught, but it also means living what he taught. So it's not just head knowledge. It's not just being able to answer all of the questions in the Life Group and impress people with their knowledge of the Scripture.

That's not it. This teaching, this following of Christ impacts us in every part of our lives. And this challenge to follow Jesus is very radical, it's very distinctive.

It is, can I say, counter-cultural. I think we've lost that, that the church of Jesus Christ is becoming more and more like society rather than us as the followers of Christ going into the world and being salt and light. If you take, here's one challenge to you, if you take seriously the call of Jesus to follow him, your life, yes your life and your world will be turned upside down. Now today we're continuing in our study of Matthew's Gospel and I'm going to read the words of Jesus which are wonderful, but they're also very convicting. And to help us, we're going to deal with four C's which may help us to remember. There is the call, there is the challenge, the commitment and the consequence.

Very simple outline. The call, the challenge, the commitment and the consequence. Someone has said, alliteration is a device which lends a spurious air of logic to otherwise unconnected statements. And so with that reason I'm not big on alliteration because often it's very, very forced. We've all heard preachers with their alliteration and the first two points are OK and the second point you should say, how do you get that?

Hopefully that's not the case today. There's the call, the challenge, the commitment and the consequence. Let me read Matthew chapter 16 verse 24. If you've been with us over the weeks, you know the context, then Jesus told his disciples, here it is.

Are you listening? If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. First of all, the call. The call to follow Jesus is personal.

We need to get that. The call to follow Jesus is personal. We saw back in verse 15 as Jesus had first asked his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they give these various answers and then he says in verse 15, but who do you say that I am?

And that's the question we thought of three weeks ago and I ask it again to you. Who do you say that Jesus is? What answer do you give and how important is that and what difference does that make in your life when you answer that question, who do you say that I am? Notice then, the call is personal.

The question is personal. Jesus is personally asking his disciples and when Jesus calls his disciples, he calls them individually, he calls them personally. Andrew, Peter, James, John, Matthew, follow me. The call comes to you personally. The call to follow Jesus is personal.

Jesus in his teaching in John 10 of the Good Shepherd, he says the Good Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. How wonderful that our Lord Jesus calls us by name. He knows your name. If you were to ask me to go through the sanctuary and say the names of everyone here, I wouldn't be able to do it. Some of you I know even your middle names, but I don't know everyone's name here.

And some names that I should know, when you put me on the spot, I'd probably get it wrong. And there's just a few hundred here this morning. Think of this, that the Lord Jesus knows your name. And I'm asking, do you hear him calling? So often that there are so many distractions and the life is so busy and so selfish that we don't hear the call of Jesus Christ. Notice what Jesus says, if anyone would come after me.

Notice that. The call is to follow Jesus personally. That is true Christianity. Authentic Christianity is explained in a personal relationship to Jesus.

This is where so many people get it wrong. We get wrapped up in what we do in the church, attending church, the rituals, the sacraments, the ordinances of the church, the ministries of the church, and people can do all of that and miss the fact that the call is to follow Jesus personally. True Christianity opposed to churchianity, opposed to Christendom, true Christianity is you following Jesus. I, John Monroe, am to follow Jesus. The call is not to follow a creed or a cause, but to follow the person of Jesus Christ. Are you following him?

I mean, be honest. Can you say that you are following Jesus? Notice the call is to follow Jesus.

Cults follow their celebrity leaders. Some people define their Christianity on an individual or on a church. And yes, God raises up people to help us. And praise God for the church of Jesus Christ.

But this is where it begins, isn't it? The individual hearing the call of Jesus, responding to the call of Jesus and following him. A little boy, an older person, I had the joy yesterday of pointing a man to the Lord Jesus. Hearing the call and the man prays to receive Christ.

You see, true discipleship is never to be passive or stagnant or ritualistic. True Christianity is a relationship with Jesus. And Jesus is issuing an amazing invitation to you. We've been studying in Matthew's Gospel who Jesus is. Matthew tells us through the words of Peter, who are you? You're the Christ. You're the son of the living God.

This is God incarnate coming to us, coming to save us, coming to transform us. And he calls us by name, John, John, Frank, Margaret, follow me. Notice what he says, come after me. If anyone would come after me, I'm always to keep my eyes on Jesus.

Will you follow Jesus? The call to follow him then is personal. Second, the challenge to follow Jesus is costly.

This is where he gets very convicted, doesn't it? The call is personal. The challenge to follow Jesus is costly. The challenge is first, and you're not going to like this, and I don't like it, is to deny self.

If anyone would come after me, number one, let him deny self. Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God. And the disciples' view of the Messiah is that he's going to overthrow the Romans. And they're going to be put in these great positions of power and prestige and reign with the Messiah.

And he's going to set up this kingdom right there. What a shock it was for them, as Jesus told them in verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. Jesus comes then as a man of sorrows. He comes to suffer. He comes to die. He comes to give his life as a ransom for us.

And what does it mean then when I begin to follow Jesus? I hear his call. The call comes to me. John, I want you to follow me. I'm calling you. Come to me and I'll give you everlasting life.

And I come and I begin to follow Jesus and Jesus is now saying, this is what you must do. You must deny self. Know to self. Did you ever say know to self?

Essential, isn't it? Now this is not so much the denial of things to ourselves. It is that. It's more radical. It is a radical denial of self. It's the renunciation of yourself as the authority in your life.

It's a renunciation of you stop having the focus of attention in your life. That your life is not what you want. It's not your desires. It's not your goals. It's not your agenda. It is all Christ.

I am to deny. So, this is the very opposite of our selfishness, isn't it? Self-seeking, self-promotion, self-absorption, self-will. Who's the one who's calling us? The one who's calling us said, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. Jesus says in John 8 verse 50, yet I do not seek my own glory. The Lord of glory comes not to seek his own glory.

And so those who follow him, how can you be seeking your glory? That your life is all about you. What people think of you and how you're going to deal with life. No, it is deny yourself. This is the challenge and it's costly. Love of self, love of sin are the great stumbling blocks in following Jesus. I'm asking you to put aside your desires, your agenda, your ambitions.

Following Jesus is the very antithesis of a life of self-determination. And so, I remember as a young man thinking, this is what we're going to do. I'm going to sketch out, here's my goals. Wonderful to be ambitious, wonderful to have goals. Certainly the Christian is to be hard working, is not to be lazy or passive.

We are involved actively in following Jesus but all of my desires, all of my agendas must be put to Christ. I am to deny self. I'm going to renounce the right to do things my way. Do I like being told what to do?

I don't. I'd rather tell people what to do. I want to do my own thing. Isn't that true of all of us? I am to deny self.

Why is that? I belong to Christ. He's my creator. He's my redeemer.

He's my friend. He's the one with whom I'll spend all of eternity. I belong to him.

I am not my own. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ and as a slave of Christ, I am to deny self. Secondly, in this challenge, I'm to take up my cross. Verse 24, if anyone would come after me, let him deny self and take up his cross.

No to self and yes to Jesus. Now notice, this is very important, we are to take up our own cross. Not taking up the cross of Christ, we're to take up our cross. Turn to Luke chapter 14, where in a similar passage, Luke says that expressly.

Luke chapter 14 verse 27. I'm saying we're to take up our own cross, not Christ's. Luke 14, 27, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. I'm to take up my cross.

You can't follow Jesus if you're not taking up your cross. And in the first century, a cross wasn't a cute piece of jewelry. What was a cross? You're in Jerusalem and you see a man carrying his cross, his own cross. A criminal carrying his cross to the place of execution symbolized that he was under the power, under the authority of Rome, under the jurisdiction of Rome.

He was showing his submission to that authority against which he had previously rebelled. He was carrying his own cross. What does this mean for you? Taking up your cross. This is where we need the power of the Spirit. The nice self taking up my cross is voluntarily living a life of obedience to Jesus. It's doing God's will. Yes, wonderful to have plans, wonderful to be ambitious, wonderful to plan ahead, but I'm to take all of that and bring it to Christ.

I am to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of my life, all of my possessions, all of my dreams, all of my future, all of my family, it's all under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That's difficult, isn't it? Jean and I have been challenged with that. There are circumstances beyond our control, aren't they?

They come sometimes in a devastating way, in a way that you never ever predicted, that you never thought would happen. In the New Testament then, the cross of Christ is the symbol of all that Christ does for us. Praise God for the cross of Christ we have on the ceiling.

That is central to our faith. As we think of Christ's cross, I think of all that Jesus Christ did, all that He did for my salvation, that He did it all and it's offered to me freely as an act of grace. But now, I'm to take up my cross, the symbol of the Lord Jesus, of following the Lord Jesus in every area of life, dying to self, to ego, doing His will. And the cross then, as we take up His cross, as we take up rather our own cross, it's the symbol of identifying with Jesus in His suffering.

Remember, the one who calls you, the one that you're following is known not as the man of laughter, but the man of sorrows. You think of that when you follow Jesus? Jesus said to the disciples and they didn't like it, I'm going to suffer, in fact I'm going to be killed on a cross.

And those who follow Jesus and those who humbly follow Jesus will know about suffering. Isn't that right? That following Jesus Christ, while at one level it's the most exhilarating thing, at the other level it's the most difficult thing that you do.

Isn't that right? Are you more concerned about pleasing yourself? Are you more concerned with your psychological well-being or are you going to follow Christ? Because following Christ, taking up your cross is not easy in a world which is increasingly hostile to the Lord Jesus, increasingly hostile to those of us who believe this book. And that's why I say, if you take this challenge seriously to follow Jesus Christ, your world is going to be turned upside down. Will you accept the costly challenge?

The call is personal, the challenge is costly. Thirdly, the commitment to follow Jesus is continuous. The commitment to follow Jesus is continuous. Notice again verse 24, Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me, you want to come after Jesus? You say that sounds pretty good, okay, but deny self, take up your cross and follow me.

For all of my life I'm going to follow Jesus. That's some commitment, isn't it? You start a job and you say, well if it doesn't work out, I can change that. You go through some difficult circumstances and you say, well I can change that. You move to Charlotte and you don't like it, you think I'm going to move to Timbuktu.

You can do that, right? We make many changes in life. We adjust our life, we adjust our priorities, but not so with Jesus. For all of my life, I'm going to follow Jesus. Follow me, verse 24, is in the present tense.

Even you non-grammarians can understand the present tense. Emphasizing that this following of Jesus is continuous. Present tense is a lifetime of following Jesus.

Luke makes that clear in his parallel passage in Luke chapter 9 verse 23. Luke 9 verse 23, he said to them, his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. As implied in Matthew, I'm going to follow him every day, but Luke is making it very, very clear that this is a daily process. Today, I'm to follow Jesus. Tomorrow, if I'm alive, I'm to follow Jesus. If I live another ten or twenty years, whatever it is, I'm still to follow Jesus. I'm to take up my cross daily. Following Jesus, yes, it begins with a decisive commitment in life.

We call that conversion. We call that being saved. So it begins with this decisive commitment where we come as a sinner to the cross of Jesus Christ and we turn from our sin and we receive Christ as our Savior and we're gloriously saved and all of our sins are forgiven. A wonderful experience of salvation. I trust you've been saved. This is where it begins, with this decisive commitment.

Ah, but now's the point. It is a continuous relationship throughout all of life, always following Jesus, always learning. Every day, I'm to get my eyes on Jesus. Whether it's a good day or whether it's a bad day, everything in life, yes, everything in life flows from this commitment to Jesus. Is that what Jesus said in Matthew 6, 33? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.

Don't make the secondary the priority, your priority. Every day, whatever the circumstances, however difficult, however hard it is, however hostile it is, however tired you are, however disappointed and ill-treated you are, every single day, you're to follow Jesus. That's some commitment, isn't it? The commitment to follow Jesus is continuous. This is not an experiment or a passing fad or a hobby.

It's not like joining a club and you fall out with people or you don't like something about the club and you leave it. That's not it. This is a total commitment. We talk today about being all in. We've got a lot of dabblers in the Christian faith, don't we?

Dabblers. By following Jesus, this doesn't eliminate difficulties, problems and discouragement. Sometimes as we follow Jesus, life gets more difficult. Tempted to quit? I spoke to someone recently that said they had wandered away from the Lord for a couple of years. Easy done, isn't it? You fall into some sin, you get discouraged.

Somebody's offended you, right? And it's not just that you stop coming to church, it's you really have stopped looking to Christ. You see, we have an enemy, he doesn't, he attacks us fiercely. And if you're serious about following Jesus, the enemy doesn't like us and he distracts us and he harasses us. And when difficulties come, sometimes we think this is unfair. One student here, a girl wrote to us regarding the passing of her son and she said to us, Pastor, you and your wife don't deserve this.

Well, I don't know how you answer that. That's in the providence of God, isn't it? But what she's saying is, I think, you're following God, you're teaching the Word of God and this seems so unfair. You ever felt God had treated you unfairly? You ever think this shouldn't have happened and you think, why us? I mean, we've only one son, Lord, why would you take him?

Why wouldn't you take me and leave my son? And when you go through these struggles as many of you have, it's easy to get your eyes off Jesus, isn't it? It's easy for a bit of self-pity. And it's easy, I think, for people to retreat and to isolate ourselves and to think this is too tough to go away. We need to just get away from this.

This is too tiring, this is too awful. But we can't do that, can we? Ms. Gooden and I talked and prayed about these things.

We thought, no, no. I'm going to keep serving the Lord. We're going to keep glorifying God.

Why? Because our commitment is every day, yes, in the toughest day of our life, our commitment, our trust is your commitment is to keep your eyes on Jesus, is to follow Jesus. Do we understand His ways?

No, we don't. How can we understand God who's inscrutable? That God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. But we do know He's our Heavenly Father who loves us and who cares for us. And in a way that only He can, He's working everything for our good. Yes, He moves in the mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Yes, life is often very bitter and we bite into the bitterness of life and we go into the valley. That is true but He continues to lead us. Hasn't He promised? Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil.

Why? For you are with me. Do we believe that? Do you believe that? I believe that.

I've proved that. On the mountain tops of life when life has been absolutely brilliant and I experience it in the valley of life. I want us at Calvary Church to be committed Christians, committed Christians as following Christ, to be committed. You know there's cultural Christians, they can say the right things, they can answer the question, they sometimes come to church and if you speak to them about Jesus, oh we know Jesus, yea I know Jesus, He's my Savior but it's not authentic is it?

It doesn't really impact how they think, how they act. And then there's a kind of convenient Christianity isn't there? Where I'm going to follow Jesus some days and I'm not going to follow Him other times. And on Sunday morning if I'm kind of tired and just want to be at home and watch the live stream in my pajamas with a cup of coffee, I can do that.

Right? I mean why bother going to church? And Christianity then becomes like a fringe benefit in our life. It's there when we want it and if we don't want Christ we leave Him and of course when the emergency comes in life we turn to Him. Do you want that kind of faith? Easy to get into that isn't it?

We all know that to a greater or lesser extent isn't it? To have a convenient Christ, that's a very weak Christ isn't it? I want to follow a strong Christ. I want to follow a Christ who has promised me that He's the same yesterday, today and forever and that we will not go back. Jesus says no man putting his hand to the plough goes back.

No, we're not going to look back, we're going to continue with the grace of God and the strength of God. This commitment is continuous in all of life, in every day, in the worst day of my life, in the most brilliant day of my life I'm going to follow Jesus. That's what Jesus wants isn't it?

Isn't that what He's saying? And follow me. Here's the last one, the consequences.

This is wonderful isn't it? The consequences of following Jesus are eternal. Did you get that? The consequences of following Jesus are eternal. Notice as I read the verses again, notice the fours which begin verse 25, 26 and 27. So He gives the statement, the challenge in verse 24 to follow Him. Verse 25, for whoever would save his life will lose it. Verse 26, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Verse 27, for the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father.

Did you get this? There are the consequences and there are eternal. In fact, putting it in the negative, the consequence of not following Jesus is to lose your life. Don't lose your life. See, rather than following Jesus, you may choose to follow your own dreams, your own desires. You think you're wiser than God. You find it's too difficult to follow Jesus, you want to follow the crowd. You want to be this cool person that everyone likes and you just kind of go along with everything and follow your own ideas of success. But a life not following Jesus has consequences. Restlessness, despair, futility, pointlessness, meaninglessness, and ultimate death. Jesus is saying something very profound, isn't it?

Isn't He? If you try to save your life, you lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of the Gospel, you'll find it. One of the many paradoxes of the teaching of Jesus.

He turns things right upside down. I want to gain my life. All right, says Jesus, you want to gain your life? You need to lose it in following me.

Individual then, who says, no, I can make it on my own, I don't really need Jesus or to have a convenient Jesus rather than a commitment to Jesus. If you do that, you lose your life. For? What will it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? That stops you at your tracks, doesn't it?

Supposing you gain your dreams, whatever that is. Quarterback for the Steelers, making, how much do these guys make? Right. Millions, a lot.

Someone says a lot, yeah, a lot. I mean, that's great, wouldn't it? I mean, that sounds great to me, you know? If I was a high schooler playing football, throwing a ball, losing you get that dream.

When you lose your soul, what's the point? Your dream in business is to be a multimillionaire? Okay. You become a billionaire.

That's pretty impressive, isn't it? You get it. You formed this company, you're the hotshot. People look to you, you can buy anything you want. In fact, you have so much money you could buy me a Ferrari and give it to me, right?

Any multi-billionaires out there, just a thought, right? Deny self, does that include denying yourself a Ferrari if someone gives it to you? I don't know, I'll have to pray about that one. Right. But you get the point, don't you? You get your dream. All of us, I think, have had an experience, maybe apart from the very young, many of us have had the experience of really wanting something, and you get it. And somehow the luster is born off it, isn't it?

Have you found that sometimes? You want something, you dream about something. Perhaps promotion, perhaps it is a car, and you get it, and it kind of becomes a bit sour, doesn't it? Don't build your self-worth, don't build your identity in what you have and what you achieved. J. H. Howard said, the real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all of our money.

What would be your life if you had zero possessions? See, if you're following Jesus, He's going to take care of you. Your soul is saved. Jesus is saying, there is no profit in the world. What are you giving?

What are you prepared to give in return for your soul? No, Jesus is saying, to follow me is to save your life. Now, the world thinks it's crazy. The world thinks this doesn't make sense.

That's true. The preaching of the cross is foolishness to the unbeliever. They think we're crazy. I remember when I was called from my law practice, I had some people who said to me, including a well-known judge, Monroe, it's a crazy thing to do. He's getting towards the top of his profession.

Why would you stop it? I'm not suggesting everyone leave their work and become a pastor, that's not my point. My point is this, that when God calls you, and when you know God is directing you, you are to obey Him because nothing in the world compares with following Jesus. Isn't that right? Many people spend years at their work, some of you men know this, you work and work for the company, you do very, very well and you go in one day and it's restructured and you're out the door. That's life, isn't it?

Someone has a dream of being this wonderful athlete and then the first day with the new team, they're injured and their life seems over. Live life with the eternal perspective. This is a life of trust. Do you trust Jesus? Do you trust Jesus so much that you can follow Him, so much you're not going to worry about these things, that this commitment is continuous and the consequences of it are eternal. Jesus determines, not you, what's profit and loss. And Jesus says, verse 27, I'm coming back.

Oh, yes, He's coming back. There's going to be a time of accounting. Furthermore, you can be called into the presence of God at any moment. I'm to live my life with this eternal perspective, not in a gloomy lugubrious way, not at all. We're to be joyful as I follow Jesus Christ, but I follow Jesus Christ with the realization that Jesus Christ is coming back and that can happen at any moment and I want to be ready for that.

Secondly, I can die at any moment and be in the presence of God. Therefore, live life with an eternal perspective and a life to come. All that you've accomplished in this world means absolutely nothing.

All of your possessions, all of the things that you thought were so important mean absolutely nothing. For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Yes, the day of accountability is coming. Revelation 22, verse 12, behold, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me. He's coming and he's coming quickly and his reward is with him. And those who have tried to save their life will discover they've lost it. And those who have lost their life for the sake of the Gospel will find it.

C.S. Lewis writes, give up yourself and you'll find your real self. Lose your life and you'll save it. Submit to death the death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and the death of your body in the end. Submit with every fiber of your being and you will find eternal life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you've not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself and you'll find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin and decay. But look for Christ and you'll find him and with him everything else thrown in.

It's a promise, isn't it? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. God is faithful. God's going to provide for you. God's going to take care of you. God's going to give me all of the strength, all of the help that I need and will do the same for you as we follow him, as Christ is a consuming passion of our life. Today I'm asking you to follow Jesus.

The call is personal. Follow Jesus. The challenge is costly. Deny self, take up your cross. The commitment is continuous.

Yes, follow me every day. The consequences are eternal. Yes, your soul is lost or gained. What's your response? Jonathan Edwards says, resolved to follow God with all my heart. But also whether others do it or not, I will. That's why I'm saying today, I, John Monroe, are making a fresh commitment of personal consecration to follow Jesus. I ask you to do that. You know, it's a long time since we have invited people to come forward because of COVID. We're going to sing a beautiful, beautiful hymn, one of our favorites.

It's a fairly recent one. You know it. But it's a beautiful hymn. And if the Spirit of God has touched you, you're coming forward and saying, yes, I'm going to deny self. I'm going to take up my cross and follow him. I've wandered. I've strayed.

I've got spiritually flabby. On this day, I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going to pray, Lord, you're in charge of my life. I want your will to be my will. I renounce my own selfish plans and purposes and say, I will follow Jesus. Whatever he leads, whatever, whatever the cost, I will follow Jesus. Help us to do that in his name. Do you hear Jesus today? He's still calling you.

What's he saying? If anyone would come after me, let him deny self. Take up his cross and follow me. Let's stand as we make a response and sing this hymn. And if God has moved you, just come forward, an act of consecration and prayer, saying, I will follow Jesus.