Sermons

Take up your cross – Matthew 16:21-28 pt. 2

[Intro] Legend says, one day Socrates and Plato were walking down the beach in a conversation. At one point, Socrates said to Plato, “Walk with me into the ocean.” They turned and walked into the sea together. Now, picture student and teacher, two of the greatest philosophical minds, striding in the surf side-by-side.

The water started out around their ankles, then rose to their knees. As the water got higher Plato wondered to himself: “What is the lesson my master is trying to teach me?” When the water was about waste high, then should height, Socrates abruptly grabbed Plato’s head and pushed him down under the water.

As Plato was held down, he undoubtedly wondered again what this lesson was all about. After a time, when Plato ran out of air, he began to struggle to get his head above water. He punched and kicked and grabbed to get free, but Socrates as strong and held him down. Finally, Plato blacked out due to lack of oxygen. Socrates pulled him ashore and resuscitated him.

When Plato regained consciousness, he angrily accused Socrates of trying to drown him. Socrates matter-of factly explained, “If that had been my intention, I would not have pulled you ashore.” “Then why did you do that?” demanded Plato. Socrates calmly replied, “When you desire my knowledge like you desired that breath of air, then you shall have it.”  

 

[Review] What does it mean to “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus?”  

• Considering the cost of discipleship, we boiled it down to, “Your mindset.”
  • A two-to-three-part series in two paragraphs.
  • What Jesus’ asks, he is willing to do, to model.

 

[Principle] The mindset Jesus models this is the mindset Jesus requires.

 

1. Jesus’ mindset as our model (vv. 21-23)

 

1. Accepting God’s will
2. Rejecting God’s will

[TRANS] What happens when you reject God’s will.

1. Insubordinate
2. Impediment

• Satanic

1. Idolater

[TRANS] Christ’s integrity means he is first willing to take up his Cross.

• Nevertheless, hard to get this mindset and to keep this mindset.
  • Most not physically die (martyr) for Christ.
  • Yet, Christ requires this commitment.

 

• For Peter, Christ’ death as submission to God was ludicrous. Out of the question.
  • Peter assumed role as Jesus’ life-coach.
    • On surface seemed noble.
    • It was a massive display of insubordination.
      • Stumbling block (temptation for Christ).
      • Satanic, bound in selfishness.
      • Peter being an idolater.

 

• Decided willingness to take of your cross poses a real spiritual battle.
  • Wrestling match of submission to your Father’s will!
    • Christ modeled willingness coming up to the cross.
    • In the throes of desperation in Garden of Gethsemane.

 

[Principle] What Jesus models, Jesus requires.

Dying for the faith likely will not happen, but Jesus’ prescribes a mindset that his non-negotiable.

Verses 24-28 tells us how to get there.

 

2. Our mindset as Jesus’ disciple (vv. 24-28)

 

[Prop] “How do you know you have a disciple’s mindset?”

Examine your expectations

1. Self-denial is costly (vv. 24-26)

 

1. Your identity

[KEY] Jesus offers an open invitation for all to follow him.

• General invitation given to the whole world.

[Illus] Growing up in the Bible belt I was regularly summoned by preachers to come forward for the “The Invitation.” Jesus’ invitation was significantly different. A church invitation calls the church to “come forward” to get something (for prayer, for relief, counsel, confession, to escape, “To Get Saved”) and less to give something!

• Jesus’ followers focused on healing, health, miracles, deliverance, and teaching.
  • Jesus narrows focus to this requirement.
    • Directly to his 12 (on final walking tour).
    • Told generically to the crowds.

 

• Offer is open wide, not only to these, but in the hearing of his voice, to the Jews, to the Gentiles.
  • Not only his time, while on earth.
  • To all, for all the ages, while there is time.

 

• God’s sovereign work of saving grace never undermines the wide call to follow Jesus.
  • Still, this wide-open call is not for comfort, an easy path, health, wealth, or even wholeness.
    • The Lord may choose to bless your obedience.
    • But not the aim of his call.

[Appl] Not a call to self-help. Self-denial, on the surface is a trendy life-application. Eating less (fasting), spending less (saving money), entertaining less (minimalism) all of which put the focus on “Self” and on not real “Denial.” This is self-improvement.

[Appl] Not a form of eastern philosophy where you “lose yourself to lose yourself” [Keller]. A philosophy of Buddhism, self-emptying, as if your goal is to come to a place of spiritual existentialism, through breathing exercises, or love of nature.

[Appl] Not an intellectual or logical exercise. French philosopher, Blaise Pascal’s divine wager: “Faith is not to be proved, so what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth, and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, says that He exists.” I understand the heart of this call, but when left on the level of logic or deep philosophy, you fall short of Jesus’ command.

• All versions of self-denial become mere agnosticism.

 

[Point] Jesus’ call to self-denial is saving. Redemptive.

• Opposite of our self-oriented culture.
  • “I post therefore, I am!”
    • Spirit of the age.

 

• Opposite of being a narcissist, self-absorption.
  • Invisibility, obscurity.
  • John the Baptist, “I must decrease, he must increase.”

 

• Bible’s use, “denial” always serious.
  • Peter’s three denials, servant girl confronted, for association with Christ.
    • Denials falling in his mindset.
    • Under Satan’s sifting temptations.

^ESV  Mark 14:30 And ^aJesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before ^bthe rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” (Mar 14:30 ESV)

• Denial brought up in graver sense standing before God in judgment.

^ESV  Luke 12:9 but ^athe one who denies me before men ^bwill be denied ^zbefore the angels of God. (Luk 12:9 ESV)

[KEY] Seriousness of denial same level though Jesus’ makes self-denial positive.

• Step one, denying self, followed by “taking up your cross” (cf. v. 24).
  • Mindset where, willing to die.
  • Obvious, not a suicide mission.
    • Not outside the pale of radical false religion.
    • Not reckless bravado.
      • Mindset is willing to die.
      • Freed to live for Christ.

 

• All the way for Christ. To follow Jesus!
  • Step one – deny self.
  • Step two – be willing to give you life for Christ.
  • Step three – follow Christ with everything you have.

[Question] “What does this look like?”

• Paul’s testimony.

^ESV  1 Corinthians 15:30-32 Why are we ^ain danger every hour?

³¹ I protest, brothers, by ^amy pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, ^bI die every day!

³² What do I gain if, humanly speaking, ^aI fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, ^b“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1Co 15:30-32 ESV)

 

• Paul lived in a decided willingness to be in danger for his faith.
  • Obviously, persecution was hot in Ephesus!
  • Christians being executed in the arenas, “daily.”
    • Though times not difficult here, consider: “I die every day!”

 

[Illus]Culture of fear established by Rome, promoted by thousands of condemned criminals lined up, crucified along pedestrian road system.

 

• What incited fear became the symbol of freedom for Paul.
  • Paul modeled death-to-self mindset, following Christ.
  • Mindset modeling freedom!

 

^ESV  Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^adeny himself and ^btake up his cross ^cdaily and follow me. (Luk 9:23 ESV)

 

C.S Lewis builds a practical bridge to this kind of thinking in the last few pages of Mere Christianity:

 

The more we get what we now call “ourselves” out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become…our real selves are waiting for us in him…The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surrounding and natural desires. In fact, what I so proudly call “Myself” becomes merely the meeting-place for trains of events which I never started and I cannot stop. What I call “My wishes” become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men’s thoughts…It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His personality, that I finally begin to have a real personality all my own…[Nevertheless], you must not go to Christ for the sake of [a new self], As long as you own personality is what you are bothering about you are not going to Him at all.”

 

• Same metamorphosis the LORD put Isaiah

 

^ESV  Isaiah 6:5-8 And I said: “Woe is me! ^aFor I am lost; ^bfor I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the ^cKing, the LORD of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

⁷ And he ^atouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for ^aus?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isa 6:5-8 ESV)

 

• Paul’s mindset, saying: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

 

 

1. Your life (v. 25)

[KEY] Personal ambition creates something of a paradox for life.

• “Is ambition automatically sinful for the Christian or not?”
  • Personal ambition can easily slide into sinful drive for the self.
  • No ambition to achieve, provide, be skilled, or use talents, equally sinful.
    • Digressing to passivity.
    • On one hand ambition is self-feeding sin.
      • Idolatry.
      • Peter, “setting your mind on the things of man” (v. 23).

 

• Likewise, grace as desire to feed your family.

 

• Here we find the genius of Christ’s words forming a paradox.
  • Ambition redemptive when trained on Christ.
  • Eternity is in mind.

 

• Jesus’ invitation is for all.
  • “For whoever would…” makes challenge broad for all.
  • Again, only the few see Jesus’ equation as worthy.

 

• This comes as a riddle-warning.
  • A mission of self-preservation, means trying to save your life, means you will lose it.
    • “Building your life on the sand” (cf. Matt. 7:24-26).
    • Fills barns when “this night your soul is accounted for.”

 

• ^ESV Luke 12:20 But God said to him, ^a‘Fool! ^yThis night ^dyour soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, ^bwhose will they be?’ (Luk 12:20 ESV)

[Principle] “Do not save your life” meaning “Do not live your life solely for pleasure achieved here on earth.”  

[Appl] So many people today are concerned for planning their retirement and think at root this compulsion is less about the setting up for a comfortable future and more about trying to feel secure right now.

Storing up security to somehow save yourself from the dread of an unpredictable future, with an unpredictable end. Think of people who had it all, who’s life was suddenly snuffed out or lost. One thing I have noticed of people who have wealth and that is that it is not enough to just gain it, it is also the discipline to keep it. And this form of wealth preservation, then becomes the very same job or a new job that is equally consuming as the job you just retired from.

I do believe there are those uniquely gifted to acquire physical wealth, just as there are those who are uniquely gifted in so many equally important ways. There are those who are gifted at sacrificing for others. Those who are called to be protectors, who are uniquely gifted to do so. Teachers who give their time and brain-bites to students at will. There are artists, physicians, military, coaches, inventors, engineers, farmers, construction builders, salesmen, fishermen, firemen, writers, actors, politicians, mothers, and the list goes on.

Some occupations earn more than others, and some steward and invest their money in ways that preserve and multiply it while others live more paycheck to paycheck.

• I understand the difference in method, temperament, opportunity, and gifting people have in terms of money and resources.
  • “Not what Jesus is addressing?”
    • Addressing deeper level, down to the soul’s motivation.
      • Not only about someone’s life on earth.
      • Also, of his afterlife.

 

• “life” [psuche] translated “soul” (v. 25).
  • Translated:
  • “If you try to save your soul through human means then you are going to lose your soul.”

 

• Application in reverse is equally true.
  • Taking up your cross as a mindset says:
  • “I am willing to lose my life [soul] for the sake of gaining Christ” (v. 25).

 

• Jesus’ prescribes giving all self-saving, self-preservation away.
  • Doing so finds life.

[Illus] If you have every lost something of value, and I mean really lost something that was important to you. And then later found it you experience something of a euphoric relief. And usually, the impetus for finding what you lost comes from thinking outside the box of where you typically would be looking. You go off the path and let find it in a way where it in an unexpected or surprising way. It might even feel like it found you.  

• Jesus calls to let go of the world’s version and self-preservation and this to open intimacy with Christ.
  • What you never expected to find.

 

[Illus] Remember Peter’s three denials, for him in that moment meant incalculable loss. Loss of dignity, loss of leadership, loss in despair and guilt. Most of all, loss of fellowship with Christ.

Christ’s restoration (post resurrection) came later, where Peter was faced with the renewed choice of self-denial, where in his denial of self, he regained his dignity, leadership, confidence, and most of all fellowship with Christ.   

    

1. Your soul (v. 26)

[TRANS] Jesus moves from riddle to a rhetorical question.

• Question of valuations by comparison.
  • Contemplate having one thing verses another.
    • Not itemizing the world.
    • Asking, biggest question of all.

 

• “If you could have the whole world, would you have it to forfeit your soul?”

 

• The question is simply this: “What is the value of your soul?”
  • To forfeit your soul means missing heaven.
  • No eternal heaven.

 

• If your life’s ambition is to gain things here, you have no future in eternity.

[Illus] Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, inventor, and entrepreneur, with estimated total net-worth of over 10 billion dollars, died (October 5, 2011, A Buddhist) of incurable pancreatic cancer at 56 years of age.

Steve Jobs in a real sense, changed the world and in terms of touch technology and this change lives on today. In terms of money, he gained the whole world and in terms of eternity, he lost his soul.

Steve Job’s influence for our modern era is unmistakable (even commendable) but no matter how much you could value a life like his, it is utterly cursed and bankrupt if it is a life that forfeits its soul.

[TRANS] Jesus ends this verse asking, “Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (v. 26).

• Picture of negotiating with the LORD, after it is too late.

[Illus] Someone saying, “But, I have billions to offer you, to save my soul!” “Please let me buy it out of jeopardy!” This person is stripped bare before the Lord. God owns your soul already, so the question is whether on not he has redeemed it for heaven or condemned it to hell.

 

[Question] “How do you value the state of your soul today?”

• Nothing you can do in your lifetime, adds value to your soul.

 

• Cannot buy your soul into heaven but Someone else can.
• When you lay down your life for Christ and He promises to buy your soul.

^ESV  1 Corinthians 6:19-20-21 Or ^ado you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? ^bYou are not your own,

^{20 a}for you were bought with a price. ^bSo glorify God in your body. (1Co 6:19-20 ESV)

 

[Illus] The great C.T. Studd, Cambridge graduate, famous cricketer of England. One of the Cambridge 7 who followed Hudson Taylor to join the China Inland Mission. Later responsible for setting up “Heart of Africa Mission” becoming a Worldwide Evangelism Crusade. Summarizing his life C.T. Studd wrote: Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”