CROSS-BEARING
There are no
crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross-bearers here below.
No matter how
terrible they may be, the hardships and tragedies of human living that often
befall Christians are not the crosses of which Jesus speaks. Such things as a
cruel spouse, a rebellious child, a debilitating or terminal illness, the loss
of a job, or destruction of a house by a tornado or flood, may strongly test a
believer’s faith; but those are not crosses. The cross of a believer is not a
mystical or spiritual identification with the cross of Christ or some
“crucified life” idea. Such concepts are foreign to the context, and the cross
of Christ was yet future when Jesus spoke here. The disciples would hear cross
and think only of physical death. A cross is the willing sacrifice of
everything one has, including life, for the sake of Christ. It is something
that, like the Lord Himself, a believer must take on himself when it is thrust
upon him by the unbelieving world because of his relationship to God.
John MacArthur
Taken
from Matthew 8-15, by John MacArthur, Moody Publishers, © 1985, p. 233.
Taking
up one’s cross is not some mystical level of selfless “deeper spiritual life”
that only the religious elite can hope to achieve. Nor is it the common trials
and hardships that all persons experience sometime in life. A cross is not
having an unsaved husband, nagging wife, or domineering mother-in-law. Nor is
it having a physical handicap or suffering from an incurable disease. To take
up one’s cross is simply to be willing to pay any price for Christ’s sake. It
is the willingness to endure shame, embarrassment, reproach, rejection, persecution,
and even martyrdom for His sake.
John
MacArthur
Matthew 16-23, Moody, 1988, p. 48-49.
When
the disciples and the crowd heard Jesus speak of taking up the cross, there was
nothing mystical to them about the idea. They immediately pictured a poor,
condemned soul walking along the road carrying (which is an accurate
translation of airo, meaning “to raise, beat,
or carry”) the instrument of his execution on his back. A man who took up his
cross began his death march, carrying the very beam on which he would hang
John
MacArthur
Matthew 16-23, Moody, 1988, p. 49.
It’s as if you
could see Jesus Christ going along the road to the cross, the Via Dolorosa
moving to His own execution, bearing on His back the cross upon which He will
bear the sins of all the world. And
in His train, millions of people, all with their cross, willing to take His
reproach. Glorious scene.
John MacArthur
Offending Christ. The article originally appeared (http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/2321)
at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
When Jesus said,
“take up your cross” to them, they thought of a cruel instrument of torture and
death. They thought of dying in the most agonizing method known to man. They
thought of poor, condemned criminals hanging on crosses by the roadside.
Doubtless they had seen men executed in that fashion. They understood He was
calling them to die for Him. They knew He was asking them to make the ultimate
sacrifice, to surrender to Him as Lord in every sense.
John MacArthur
The Gospel According to Jesus, © John MacArthur, 1988, p. 201.
Christ died
to save us from hell but not to save us from the cross. He died so that we
could be glorified, but not to keep us from being crucified. "If anyone
would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily."
For the Christian the cross of Christ is not merely a past place of
substitution. It is also a present place of daily execution.
John Piper
The Present Power of Christ Crucified, 1
Corinthians 2:1-5, Feb. 7, 1988. www.desiringGod.org.
Used by Permission.
The cross is
not a mere event in history; it's a way of life! Take up your cross DAILY,
Jesus said!
John Piper
The Present Power of Christ Crucified, 1
Corinthians 2:1-5, Feb. 7, 1988. www.desiringGod.org. Used by Permission
In every
Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the
throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains
on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness
among gospel believers today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do
all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king
within the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our
tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows
and weakness and spiritual sterility.
A.W. Tozer
Your Master’s
life was dominated by a cross. He has called you also to a life with a cross.
This clear gospel note is so easy to forget in flabby Western society. With a
great chorus of custom, advertisement and temptation this world is beckoning
you to a life of self-indulgence. Your flesh is drawn to that appeal, and will
fall in with the world’s suggestions. But the Lord of glory has called you to a
life of self-denial, to a cross.
Walter J. Chantry
The Shadow of the Cross – Studies in
Self-Denial, 1981, p. 20, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
Bearing a
cross is an elaboration of Christ’s demand for self-denial. Bearing a cross is
every Christian’s daily, conscious selection of those options which will please
Christ, pain self, and aim at putting self to death.
Walter J. Chantry
The Shadow of the Cross – Studies in
Self-Denial, 1981, p. 25, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
The only
lasting and fully satisfying joys for any man lie on the other side of a cross.
Walter J. Chantry
The Shadow of the Cross – Studies in
Self-Denial, 1981, p. 32, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
Not one man
has ever sacrificed for his Lord without being richly repaid. If the cross is
only contrasted with earthly pleasures lost, it may seem hard and threatening.
But when the cross is weighed in the balances with the glorious treasures to be
had through it, even the cross seems sweet.
Walter J. Chantry
The Shadow of the Cross – Studies in Self-Denial, 1981, p. 33, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
When a man or
woman allows his will to be crossed out, canceling the great “I” in their
decisions, then indeed the Cross has been applied to that life. This is the
meaning of taking up one’s cross daily – to go to one’s own death – no longer
my will in the matter but His will be done.
Phillip Keller
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by
Zondervan, www.zondervan.com. 1970, p. 71.
We are not bearing our crosses every time we have a headache; an
aspirin tablet will take care of that. What is meant is the trouble we would
not have if we were not Christians.
Vance Havner
What our Lord
said about cross-bearing and obedience is not in fine type. It is in bold print
on the face of the contract.
Vance Havner
Where
are the marks of the cross in your life? Are there any points of identification
with your Lord? Alas, too many Christians wear medals but carry no scars.
Vance Havner
We
must keep in mind that Jesus' path to glory was marked by pain before pleasure,
sorrow before joy, humiliation before glorification, persecution before
exaltation, death before resurrection, earthly hatred before heavenly worship. To
remember those truths about our Lord's earthly life will protect us from the
foolish and ungodly promises of the so-called health and wealth gospel, with
vitiates His command to take up our crosses as He took up His.
John MacArthur
2 Timothy,
Moody, 1995, p. 56.
We want gain
without pain; we want the resurrection without going through the grave; we want
life without experiencing death; we want a crown without going by way of the
Cross. But in God’s economy, the way up is down.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Brokenness, The Heart God Revives, Moody
Publishers, 2002, p. 49-50.
Jesus hath
many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His cross.
Thomas a Kempis
And whatever
cross I am required to bear, let me see Him carrying a heavier.
Author Unknown
The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur
Bennett, 1975, p. 39, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
We must not
conceal from ourselves that true Christianity brings with it a daily cross in
this life, while it offers us a crown of glory in the life to come. The flesh
must be daily crucified. The devil must be daily resisted. The world must be
daily overcome. There is a warfare to be waged, and a
battle to be fought. All this is the inseparable accompaniment of true
religion. Heaven is not to be won without it. Never was there a truer word than
the old saying, “No cross, no crown!” If we never found this out by experience,
our souls are in a poor condition.
J.C. Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 17.
We must never
forget – if we are to grow in grace, and therefore grow like Christ – that the
One we trust, love, and serve is a crucified Savior. To follow Him means
taking up the cross, as well as denying ourselves. It means a crucified life.
Sinclair B. Ferguson
Grow in Grace, by permission of Banner of
Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1989, p. 62.
Christ and
His cross are not separable in this life, howbeit
Christ and His cross part at heaven's door, for there is no house-room for
crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart,
one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there.
Samuel Rutherford
The
old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the
new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed fleshly confidence; the new cross
encourages it. The old cross was an emblem of shame; the new cross is jewelry.
Author
Unknown