CHAPTER TWO
TAKE UP THE CROSS DAILY
WHY THE CROSS
We now go on to consider “take up the cross daily”. Self-denial
and cross-bearing are closely related. In fact, the instrument that God
uses to effect self-denial in our lives is daily cross-bearing. We have
noted earlier that cross-bearing has to do with pain, suffering and
certain death. Cross-bearing may be considered as a ‘higher’ form of
self-denial, for both involve pain, suffering and death to the self and
self-life. Cross-bearing is not the same as enduring some inconveniences
in daily living but it has to do with saying ‘no’ to self and dying to self
for the sake of others and for the glory of God and His kingdom, and
encountering, in the process, pain, suffering and rejection from man,
the world and the evil one.
We may be wondering why an instrument such as cross-bearing
is essential in dealing with self-life and sin in our lives. It is only when
we realize the depravity of our hearts that we understand the need for
the strongest of medicine to deal with it and to get rid of self-intoxication.
We must never underestimate the radical nature of the work that has to
be done for us to become like the Lord Jesus Christ.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?
Jeremiah 17: 9For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Matthew 15:19
Whatever is not like the Lord Jesus in our lives has to be
eradicated and rid off and the cross is the instrument required to do this
painful but necessary work.
Let us take a look at an interesting passage in John 15. These are
the words of the Lord Jesus Himself:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while
every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will
be even more fruitful.
John 15: 1-2
Those familiar with gardening will know that the purpose of
pruning is to help the plant to bear more fruits. Pruning involves
cutting off some parts of the branches so that what remain may be in a
position to bear more fruit. The cutting off or the pruning of what are
not helpful in our lives in order to make us more fruitful spiritually can
be rather painful but it is necessary for fruitfulness. Leaving behind
parts of branches which affect the whole plant negatively may not
require the cutting off of unhelpful parts but in the long run, the whole
plant would suffer. So it is for our spiritual lives. If we will not allow
what is negative in our lives to be eradicated, it may be comfortable for
the moment but in the long run, our spiritual lives would deteriorate.
Cross-bearing may be likened to the pruning process in our spiritual
lives.
What may be startling is to note that the one who does the
pruning is the gardener and according to Jesus, the gardener who prunes
is God the Father. Although cross-bearing may take place in our lives
because of the affliction from men through persecution, attacks from
the evil one and the negative spirit of the world, yet it is God who
allows it in His sovereignty. God can, and does, work through the evil
of man, to bring about good for His people. Just as the gardener’s
intention for the plant is positive and good, so God desires good for His
people and His intention is our ultimate well-being because of His love
for us.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of
these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a
thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from
me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will
boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12: 7-9
Here the Apostle Paul revealed that God allowed him to be given
a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble and to prevent pride from
welling up in his life because he had been given great revelations from
the Lord. But what is surprising is that the thorn is a messenger of
Satan, given to torment the Apostle and although he pleaded with the
Lord three times to take the thorn away, God’s answer is “no”.
Nevertheless, God would give Paul sufficient grace to bear it and not
leave him alone in his plight. For Paul’s ultimate good, God was
willing to work through a messenger of Satan to help His apostle to
remain humble and in his weakness, Paul learned to depend wholly on
God’s strength.
THE MEANING OF THE CROSS IN JESUS’ SACRIFICE
At this juncture, to understand more fully the meaning of
cross-bearing in our lives, it may be necessary for us to examine more
closely the meaning of the cross in the death of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.
Jesus, God incarnate, by His life and death at the cross, in
obedience to God the Father, cancelled Satan’s power of accusation
against Him and all those to whom He gave His life. The devil’s power
was broken through the death of Jesus on the cross (Hebrews 2: 14).
When Jesus gave His life as a ransom for the sins of men, He paid the
debt for them. His death obtained the remission of sins and removed
the ground of accusations for the enemy. Satan can no longer be the
accuser when Christ is the advocate and defender of those who are
His.
At the cross, the sin of men has been dealt with, atoned for,
washed away and forgiven; and hence the power of sin over the lives of
men has been broken. No longer are believers under condemnation.
Although final deliverance from the presence of sin and the attainment
of perfection, to be like the Lord Himself, lie in the future when Christ
comes again and ushers in the culmination of God’s kingdom, God’s
people can now, with the enabling of the third person of the trinity, the
Holy Spirit, overcome the power of sin and live victorious lives in Him.
They have access to enter the presence of God and in repentance,
continue to receive forgiveness and restoration into fellowship with
God whenever there is iniquity due to weaknesses.
One aspect of the message of the cross is that Jesus continues to
love in spite of rejection and responds to violence and injustice with
the almighty love of God. Hate, wickedness and evil are met by love
from one who is an innocent victim. But the cross is not simply
an example or model of great love. It is principally God’s way of
salvation and it is God’s self-giving in the interest of sinful men. Sin is
condemned by God in sending Christ in our nature and as a sacrifice
for men. It is in fact God who makes the sacrifice, who comes in the
person of the Son, who covers guilt for men. The cross is, in a real
sense, the self-substitution of God for men in taking the penalty of
sin due to men. It is God Himself who suffers. It is He who takes the burden Himself. It is He, the one who loves us despite everything, who
atones for our sin. The wonders and greatness of God’s love is seen in
the self-giving love of God revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Christ suffers the punishment of death according to the
requirement of God’s law. It is substitutionary in the sense that Christ,
who has no sin, dies in the place of sinners; He dies on behalf of sinners.
God’s love for us, demonstrated in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for
men, is the ultimate manifestation of self-denial and self-giving.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE CROSS FOR US
As we ponder over the meaning of the cross in the sacrifice
of Jesus for us, we can understand better the implications of
cross-bearing in our lives. We would notice certain principles and
values in operation: love, sacrifice, self-denial, self-giving and
suffering in the face of rejection, securing forgiveness, reconciliation,
redemption, according to the requirement of God’s laws and the
upholding of the justice of God.
OTHER-CENTERED
Cross-bearing is not just dealing with our self-life. It also
involves showing God’s love in our lives towards others who may not
be deserving, for the sake of God’s glory and for His kingdom. It is
others-centered and the quality of this love is characterized by
self-giving, self-denial and sacrifice in accordance with God’s will and
in line with His guidance and desires. It has no place for individualism
which characterizes the lives of many in the current context and the
emphasis on individual rights at the expense of the kingdom of God is
contrary to God’s calling for a people who collectively reflects the body
of Christ and represents the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible records that the Lord Jesus “…for the joy set before
Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame…” (Hebrews 12:2).
He looked forward to the salvation of many, to secure a people for
God eternally, and for this, He was willing to endure the cross and
to finish His mission on earth. For us as disciples of the Lord Jesus,
cross-bearing would involve our willingness to suffer pain, persecution,
misunderstanding and rejection and to respond with sacrificial love, in
dependence on God’s Spirit, to bring about salvation of many and
to uphold the glory of God. However, this does not mean ignoring
wrong-doing, sin, injustice and exploitations by evil and wicked men,
for the Lord Jesus Himself also pronounced “woes” on the hypocrites
and He was prepared to correct others in love for their ultimate good.
Cross-bearing is always in line with God’s will and is pleasing to Him
when we suffer according to His wisdom and righteousness.
BENEFITS OF CROSS-BEARING
Carrying the cross, although it may involve much pain, suffering
and at times perplexity, helps to bring us to a point of total dependence
on God alone. The cross renders us helpless, weak, but in the
helplessness and weakness, we find strength in God alone. The cross
causes us to die to self, to our own abilities, ingenuity, even in the
midst of Christian ministry, but it helps us to receive the life of God,
which brings joy, peace and refreshment in the midst of dying and
death.
Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission now known
as Overseas Mission Fellowship, recalled a period in his ministry in
China when he was rather ill and had to be virtually bedridden. He was
rather anxious about the ministry as he was indisposed. However, the
ministry seemed to be doing better when he was ill and Hudson Taylor
had to humbly and soberly acknowledge that it was God who was
doing the work and he was not indispensable. In his sickness, weakness and helplessness, he learnt the meaning of the cross in serving God.
The cross may lead us to untold suffering and agony, but in the
midst of suffering, it prepares us for and points us to the glory of God.
It promises us the true glory to be like Him and to share with Him in
His glory, reigning with Him and being with Him in the new heaven
and new earth. The suffering is not without meaning; there is a purpose
in the suffering and there is a glorious eternal future to look forward to.
So what appears as perplexing, painful and not understandable is God’s
way of preparing His servant to truly be like Him, to depend wholly on
Him and to rest deeply in Him now and forever.
The cross in the life of Jesus as the perfect man came before the
resurrection. In Hebrews 5: 8-9 we read: “Although he was a son, he
learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” The
Apostle Paul understood this principle in his own life.
I want to know Christ and the power of his
resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain
to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11
The experience of a victorious Christian life and the power of
the resurrection can come about only after learning to share in the
fellowship of the sufferings of the Lord. The paradoxes of the cross:
life coming forth from death; strength arising from weakness; glory
attained through sufferings – they ring true in the outworking of the
life of discipleship and indeed, resurrection power comes about only
after experiencing the cross.
CHECK AGAINST TRIUMPHALISM
In this light, the cross acts as a “check” against triumphalism, a
teaching and a belief that all the victories we will experience in the new
heaven and new earth are available to us now. It is true that we have
many blessings in Christ Jesus now as His children for which we ought
to be thankful, but we need to be mindful that we are still living in a
fallen world and we are still not free from persecution, suffering, the
presence of sin and spiritual demonic assaults. True, there is much that
is already ours as God’s people, but there is also much we do not yet
possess which will be ours in the age to come. For instance, it is only in
the new heaven and the new earth that there will be no more sorrow, no
more pain and no more death. Not appreciating this may cause us
to think that we have a right to live in financial prosperity and
complete wholesome physical health and we look down upon those
whose so-called ‘lack of faith’ causes them to be financially poor and
perpetually in poor physical health.
In the book of Acts in the Bible, the Apostle Peter was
miraculously freed from prison by God and yet, God did not save
Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Spirit, from being stoned to death.
If God were to save Stephen, it would appear to be a good testimony of
Christian victory but Stephen’s manner of death, like that of the Lord
Jesus, asking for forgiveness for those who stoned him, continues to
inspire Christians through the centuries and certainly glorifies God who
enabled a man to die so courageously and in such a godly way. His
manner of death also affected Saul who later became Paul the Apostle
and Stepen’s death actually triggered off persecution in the early
Church which caused the believers to fan off from Jerusalem and
thereby spread the gospel to the other cities. Our faith does not insulate
us from trials, illnesses and sufferings. It enables us to “triumph” in our
endurance and perseverance in the midst of our pain and suffering as
we faithfully uphold God’s glory and express our confidence in His goodness and faithfulness. In the famous chapter on faith in Hebrews 11, we read:
Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others
were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they
were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute,
persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of
them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in
caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended
for their faith…
Hebrews 11: 36-39(a)
The men and women of faith are not only those who
experienced healing from diseases, deliverances from demonic
oppression and financial duress; they are also those who suffered like
the brethren noted in Hebrews 11. And it is certainly true that those
who suffered such fate are not those lacking in faith; on the contrary,
they are those who exercise persevering and enduring faith in God and
His promises despite the trials, and they look to the heavenly city and
are prepared to carry their cross in this transition period. The Church is
indeed built upon the blood of martyrs; not by thoses who sit in ivory
towers and refuse to come out of the comfort zone.
But even in this transition period, we do enjoy countless
blessings in Christ and certainly His resurrection power is available to
all those who are one with Christ by faith. But it is a power for holiness,
a power to testify for the Lord, a power to endure in trials and
persecution, a power to overcome the flesh and to resist and reject the
temptations and wiles of the evil one. It is also a power that is marked
by humility, self-denial and sacrifice made possible by the love and
enabling of the triune God.
The cross is at the centre of the true gospel. If we dilute the
gospel or distort the gospel by removing the cross or rejecting its
centrality, to make it more appealing to the hearers or to gain a large
number of followers, we are committing a very serious error in the
eyes of God. We need to resist all expressions of triumphalism; they
only serve to dish out a gospel that is not consistent with the one true
gospel revealed by God.
ANTIDOTE TO PRIDE AND BITTERNESS
The cross is also the antidote to boasting and bitterness in the
believer’s life. Knowing that the sinless holy Son of God went before
us to the cross at Calvary for our sake because of His mercy, grace and
love should only evoke deep gratitude and thankfulness in our hearts.
Clearly, understanding the meaning of God’s mercy and grace would
leave no room for boasting, discouragement and bitterness. How can
we be proud and bitter when we ourselves were not deserving of
forgiveness, mercy and life from God in the first place? It is God’s
mercy and grace that has given us life instead of death, adoption as His
children instead of rejection, forgiveness instead of judgment, a hope
and an eternal future instead of despair and damnation. We would never
ever doubt the love of God in Christ for us whenever we look at the
cross.
Are we carrying our cross daily, with the appreciation of His
sovereign saving mercy and grace in our lives, knowing that Jesus loves
us to such an extent that He gave His life in our place on the cross?