# Cross Bearing The Discipleship Series CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP Language: en Author: by Donald Brechbill Chambersburg, PA Original issue: The Heartbeat of The Remnant, Autumn 2023, Number 3 Source pages: 4–6 Read article: Original PDF: Autumn\-2023\-Remnant\_for\-the\-web\.pdf [The Heartbeat of The Remnant, Autumn 2023]() > *Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me\. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it\. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? –Matthew 16:24\-26\.* There is, deep in the heart of every person, a longing to identify with a cause greater than ourselves\. Men and women have made great personal sacrifice in the advancement of science, medical research, politics, and warfare\. Every advancement is the product of someone’s personal sacrifice\. Jesus became the ultimate example of personal sacrifice for a greater cause\. In Philippians, Paul writes: > *Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross –Philippians 2:5\-8\.* Notice the three ways that Jesus embraced personal sacrifice for the greater good\. 1. Although He could claim equality with God, He willingly took on the form of man\. 2. As a man He chose to serve His fellow man—He became a servant\. 3. As a servant to humanity, He made the ultimate sacrifice by dying for us so that we can have eternal life\. In this way Jesus demonstrated humility and great personal sacrifice for the good of others\. This passage begins with: *Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus –Philippians 2:5\.* As a follower of Jesus, we are called to follow His example of humility, service, and self\-sacrifice\. It is incumbent on us as Christians to allow ourselves to be “broken bread and poured\-out wine” for the cause of Christ\. It is our “reasonable service”\. Paul wrote: *I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service –Romans 12:1\.* It is only reasonable that we would be willing to present ourselves as a sacrificial offering to God since we have been redeemed through the sacrifice of another—Jesus Christ\. *And \[Jesus\] when he had called the people unto him\[self\] with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, **let him** deny himself, and **take up his cross, and follow me** –Mark 8:34\.* What does it mean to take up our cross in our modern, technologically\-advanced society? This cross is a highly personalized self\-sacrifice\. It means different things to different people because we have differing strengths and weaknesses, and differing desires and longings\. A sacrifice that for one person is a huge loss, for another may be a blessed relief\. To help us understand what Jesus meant by cross\-bearing let’s first examine what Biblical cross\-bearing is not\. Not all suffering is Biblical cross\-bearing\. There is suffering that is common to all—physical illness, natural disasters, accidents, and the death of loved ones\. These sorrows come upon us because of the fall of man\. They afflict all mankind everywhere\. While they may be a cross to bear this is not what Jesus was referring to when He said that we should “take up our cross and follow Him”\. There are sorrows that are the reaping of our sinful choices—guilt, condemnation, broken homes, and strained relationships, etc\. These are difficult conditions\. They can overwhelm us emotionally and physically, but this is not the cross that Jesus calls us to bear\. As a matter of fact, Jesus came to redeem us from these conditions\. There are sorrows and losses that are common to all\. We live in a fallen world, and we can see and feel the effects of that brokenness all around us\. Things do not always turn out the way we had planned\. Sometimes we experience losses that were not our responsibility\. These are not the cross that Jesus was calling us to\. We sometimes hear people say, “This is just my cross to bear” and rightly so\. Maybe you have been called to bear a difficult burden\. However, if you look closely at the text in Mark 16 you will see a promise associated with the call to discipleship\. Jesus said, *…and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it –Matthew 16:25\.* The cross that Jesus calls us to bear does not diminish us in any way; it actually is the gateway to life\. The cross that Jesus asks us to bear is not punishment for our sin\. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross\. God does not require us to suffer as a recompense for our sin\. If that were so, Jesus’ death would have been in vain\. God does at times chastise us\. That is for our sanctification \(to set us free from our sin\), not for our atonement\. Only the blood of the sinless Son of God could atone for our sin\. The cross that Jesus asks us to bear is not ascetism\. Ascetism is self\-flagellation with an intention to merit favor with God\. Church history is rife with examples of sincere people who attempted to prove their piety by denying themselves of ordinary comforts and pleasures of life\. The measure that determines if our self\-denial is ascetic is 1\) whether or not the Bible approves or condemns the action or 2\) if we are doing the action to earn favor with God through the exercise of the action\. What then can Jesus have meant by taking up our cross? The cross that Jesus is asking us to bear is the denial of the sinful and selfish desires of our carnal nature\. Jesus only asks of us that which will prove to be a blessing to us\. Cross\-bearing is the denial of that which will hinder us from entering into the fullness of the new life which we have in Christ\. Paul wrote: *I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me –Galatians 2:20\.* The function of a cross is to annihilate\. The cross destroys and brings to naught\. When Paul said “I am crucified with Christ” he was saying that his old life has been brought to naught, destroyed, annihilated\. The old life was his life of serving himself and his interests\. Another word that the Bible uses to describe this death process is *mortify\.* > *Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them\. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth\. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him –Colossians 3:5\-10\.* Notice in this passage what we are to put off and what we are to put on\. The things that we are to put off are things which have the potential to destroy us\. The things that we are to put off are things that will bring the wrath of God upon us\. The things that we are to put on are the new man, renewed knowledge, and the restoration of the image of God with which we were created\. ## The sins of the flesh The things that Paul asks us to mortify are sins of the flesh\. These are sins which we commit with our body\. Cross bearing is the process whereby we bring our flesh into subjection to the spirit of God\. It involves placing constraints on our physical appetites and submitting our will to the will of God\. Death by crucifixion was a slow and agonizing death\. The mortification of our carnal nature is not an instant event but is part of the sanctifying process of becoming transformed into the image of Christ\. The sanctification of our carnal nature is not pleasing to our flesh\. Our flesh resists it with passion\. Our fleshly nature does not want to die\. It wants to dominate us\. Paul wrote: *This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh\. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would –Galatians 5:16\-17\.* ## The discipline of the mind > *For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: \(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;\) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ –2 Corinthians 10:3\-5\.* Here, Paul admonishes us bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ\. Cross\-bearing involves the inner discipline of our minds\. Many sins begin in the mind, and we can counter fleshly inclinations by filling our minds with good thoughts \(see Philippians 4:8\)\. This exercise of replacing carnal thoughts with thoughts that reflect the mind of Christ requires discipline and is part of the cross that Jesus asks us to bear\. ## The cross of kingdom service Kingdom service is the labor of men and women who put the kingdom of heaven ahead of temporal pursuits\. Jesus taught us to *…seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you –Matthew 6:33\.* There are many ways to do this\. The labor spent investing in raising a godly family is kingdom service\. If you make meeting the needs of your family a priority over satisfying your personal desires, that is kingdom service\. Some are called to more vocational types of Christian service\. Some are called to church leadership, some to mission work, some to teaching, plus many other types of service that call for great sacrifices of time and money that will never be compensated in this life\. These kinds of sacrifice are a cross to bear\. Those who bear it gladly will be rewarded in eternity\. ![A vine\-wrapped wooden cross at sunset]() ## The cross of kingdom living Kingdom living is the practical application of the kingdom principles as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount\. If we take these principles seriously and adapt our lives to them, we will find that they call for a level of self\-sacrifice that others need not make\. Principles such as: turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, loving your enemy, and blessing those who curse you\. Principles of forgiveness and reconciliation, mutual accountability, and church discipline\. These are all principles that can only be utilized by those who have come to a place of brokenness and humility—surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ\. This is a cross to bear\. This is why Jesus said—If you want to be My disciple, if you want to follow Me, and walk in My footsteps then you must be willing to take up your cross\. If you are not willing to bear your cross and come after Me, you cannot be My disciple\. ## The yielding of the will Prior to His Calvary experience, Jesus had a Gethsemane experience\. Here His humanity struggled with the will of His Heavenly Father\. *Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered –Hebrews 5:8\.* This was not just a casual differing of opinion as we humans many times experience\. This was a confrontation of the will of God the Father with the will of His Son, Jesus Christ\. The Father’s will was established, and the Son was struggling to bring His will into complete compliance with the will of His Father\. After an intense struggle where His “sweat was as great drops of blood”, He relinquished His will and prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done”\. This great spiritual struggle is not altogether unlike the struggle that we experience when our will comes into conflict with the will of God\. Each of us will sometime struggle to resign ourselves to the will of God\. As was the case with Jesus, the will of the Father in your life has already been established\. The conflict lies with you\. Will you like Jesus bow your head and pray, “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done”? This principle is also true of cross\-bearing\. We can willingly embrace the cross of Jesus, or we can struggle against it\. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He was in excruciating agony and anguish—He cried out *…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? –Matthew 27:46,* yet, the moment that he *…bowed his head, and gave up the ghost –John 19:30,* the agony was over, and he was in paradise\. Most of our struggles, our pain, the fomenting of our minds, is the result of struggling against the nails that bind us to our cross\. If like Jesus, we bow our head and allow the cross to do its deadly work of mortifying our carnal nature and freeing us from the clutches of the self\-life, we can experience the freedom and joy that belongs to those who know the secret of dying with Jesus\. Beyond the cross is the empty tomb\. Jesus does not ask us to surrender our lives without due compensation\. Those who surrender their will, and their self\-interests will be richly compensated with the new life that is ours in Christ Jesus\. *For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it –Mark 8:35\.* May you find it\. ## Magazine citation - [A vine\-wrapped wooden cross at sunset](): Belle Vie Images