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This sermon begins with three quotes. To some of you they might be familiar. To some of you they might not be familiar. Either way, just listen for now. I'll give you some context later on.
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18) These are the words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, recorded in the Old Testament book of Daniel.
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:19-20) These are the words of the Apostle Paul, from his New Testament Letter to the Galatians.
"The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time-death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life." (Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship) These are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from a book published in 1937.
These are the words of people who learned in their own lives the meaning of Jesus' words here in Mark 8. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it."
Jesus has already made clear to the disciples, if only they had ears to hear, that his own path to the cross is not optional or accidental or incidental. His path to the cross is a 'must.' It is essential. It fulfills Scripture. Jesus' path to the cross is central to his calling and purpose as the Son of God. Jesus' path to the cross is the path to life.
Then Jesus makes clear to all who are within hearing that neither is the path of the cross optional or accidental or incidental to those who would come after him. To follow Jesus is to walk the path that he walked. To follow Jesus is to deny yourself and take up your cross. To follow Jesus is to stop seeking to save your life and instead to lose your life for his sake and for the sake of the gospel.
I've often heard self-denial discussed in terms of asceticism; that is, choosing simplicity in life and foregoing comfort and pleasure. This is true to a point. But there is more.
I've often heard taking up the cross discussed in terms of the suffering that life entails, or even suffering specifically for the sake of Christ. This is also true to a point. But there is more.
To follow Jesus is to stop seeking to save your life and instead to lose your life for his sake and for the sake of the gospel.
Those who would follow Jesus are called to deny themselves in the same way that Jesus denied himself. He was fully God and fully human. Disciples are merely fully human. The self-denial of those who follow Jesus cannot be of the same magnitude as his, but it is of the same shape. Those who would follow Jesus are called to deny themselves in the same way that Jesus denied himself.
Those who would follow Jesus are called to take up their cross in the same way that Jesus took up his cross. It's not the same cross. Jesus says, take up your cross, not his. Only the cross of Christ is for the redemption of creation. The cross of a disciple is not of the same magnitude. But the disciple is called to take it up in the same way. Those who would follow Jesus are called to walk the path of the cross God calls them to in the same way that Jesus walked the path of the cross his Father called him to.
Listen to the words of Philippians chapter 2: Christ Jesus-though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness; and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus denied himself by giving up his right to his own life. Jesus was the Son of God, exalted above all of creation. By right, he deserved glory and honor and power and adoration. He willingly gave up that right, and was born to a young woman in a stable. He didn't stop there. He willingly gave up his right to his own life even as a human being. He suffered more than just death, he suffered betrayal and rejection and physical suffering. He followed the path his Father called him to without regard to his right to his own life.
Jesus entirely surrendered his will to the will of his Father.
For Jesus, the cross was not just about suffering, though certainly the cross was about that. On the cross, Jesus laid down his life for his friends. It was not taken from him, but he willingly laid his life down. Jesus relinquished his hold on his own life, so that he could walk the path his Father called him to walk without fear of death. Without desiring his own death, he relinquished his hold on his own life so that he could also be free of the need to avoid death or discomfort. Jesus relinquished his hold on his life, so that he did not fear betrayal and rejection and physical suffering and he did not strive to avoid them.
Jesus laid down his life and trusted himself, in life and in death, to the love of his Father.
Taking up your cross is about laying down your right to your own life. Taking up your cross is about surrendering your will to the Father's will. Taking up your cross is about relinquishing your hold on your own life, so that you can walk the path the Father is calling you to walk without fear. Taking up your cross is about trusting yourself, in life and in death, to the love of the Father.
To deny myself is to let go of my right to my life. What must be given up is not one or two things, it is not certain activities or certain thoughts. What must be given up is everything. To deny myself is to push my individuality and my independence and my self-will to the breaking point, and to come to the realization that I am not my own, I am Christ's. To deny myself is to decide for certain and without hesitation that I am not the owner of my own life, but he is my life. To deny myself is to surrender my will entirely to God's will.
Taking up my cross means laying down my life for the sake of Jesus and his gospel. It doesn't mean taking my own life; suicide is still an act of self-will. It doesn't mean seeking death at the hands of others; physical death is not itself the goal. It means laying down my life, relinquishing my hold on my life. It means dying to the fear of death and the need to avoid death or discomfort, so that I can walk whatever path the Father calls me to without fear. To take up my cross is to relinquish my hold on my life and trust myself, in life and in death, to the love of the Father.
When I do this, I will no doubt deny myself certain activities and thoughts that are contrary to God's will, but that denial by itself is not all that is required. I will no doubt experience suffering for sake of the gospel, but that suffering in and of itself is not the goal.
The goal is to follow Christ. We cannot follow Christ and go the same way we have always gone. We have to die to all our old ways. We have to strip off the old self and clothe ourselves with Christ.
In Christ, we are given the gift of freedom. But we cannot fully rejoice in that freedom as long as we cling to the chains that have held us captive. We have to die to sin. We have to die to the desire to control our own destinies. We have to die to making our own comfort the highest goal. We have to die to the unwillingness to follow Christ along a path we have not traveled before. We have to die to fear.
In Christ, we are given the gift of life. But we cannot know the full joy of that life as long as we cling to the chains that have held us captive. We have to die to making survival the highest goal, so we can be free to live the abundant life to which we are called. As the writer of Colossians admonishes us: set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Christ calls us to something a whole lot more hopeful than survival. Christ calls us to something a whole lot more meaningful than survival. Christ calls us to something a whole lot more alive than survival. In Christ we are given the gift of life, and we are given the freedom to follow him wherever he leads without fear.
For those who would follow Jesus, the path of the cross is not optional or accidental or incidental. To follow Jesus is to walk the path that he walked. To follow Jesus is to deny yourself and take up your cross. To follow Jesus is to stop seeking to save your life and find your life instead.
It is natural to seek to save our own life. That's the instinct for survival at work. It's an important instinct and not one to be discarded lightly even if we could. Without the survival instinct, I might jump off a cliff just to feel what it is like to free-fall. With the survival instinct, I will at least attach myself to a bungee cord before I jump. This is a good thing.
The survival instinct is also what helps each one of us learn how to get along in the world, how to cope with the risk of rejection and suffering. We learn to avoid situations that might hurt us. We learn to take pre-emptive strikes against those who might hurt us. We learn to fear all these little deaths, and we learn to strive to avoid them, just as we fear and strive to avoid death itself.
Our survival instinct drives us to seek to save our lives.
The call of Christ to follow him requires us to stop seeking to save our lives, and instead to lose our lives for the sake of Christ and his gospel. The call of Christ to follow him requires walking the path to the cross that the Father calls us to. We cannot walk that path in fear. We cannot walk that path clinging to survival.
Again, we are not to impose death, or any of its emotional counterparts, on ourselves. Nor are we to seek these from others intentionally. Suffering and death are not in themselves goals.
The goal is to follow Christ. Those who would follow Christ must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow...wherever the path leads.
When on the path we encounter one who threatens us, we are not to strike out preemptively, but offer forgiveness. This is what Jesus did.
When suffering comes our way for the sake of Christ, we can bear it with patience and without resentment or bitterness. This is what Jesus did.
When the Father calls us to a path that goes some direction we have not gone before, we are not to avoid it, but step out in faith. This is what Jesus did.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany when the Nazis came to power. In their efforts to consolidate their power, the Nazis worked through the German church, spreading the message that German nationalism and militarism were consistent with Christianity and that Hitler's rule was the will of God.
Bonhoeffer's circumstances brought him to a decision point in his life. When the Nazis came to power, he could have chosen to focus on survival; he could have kept his head down and his mouth shut. He could have pretended nothing had changed and just kept on doing what he used to do.
Bonhoeffer did not choose to focus on survival; instead he chose to trust himself, in life and in death, to the God to whom he belonged and he stepped out in faith. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of a minority of pastors, from all over Germany, who resisted the message of the "German Church" and opposed Hitler.
Bonhoeffer died in a German prison camp days before it was liberated by the Allies, but he lives forever with Christ. His writings and his actions live on as a witness to the freedom and joy of living as a follower of Christ.
"The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time-death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life."
Back when his name was still Saul, Paul was a zealous persecuter of the infant church of Jesus Christ. He fought aggressively to maintain the way of understanding God and worshipping God that he had known all his life.
The risen Christ himself brought Paul to a decision point, when he spoke to Paul on the road to Damascus and called him to a new path. Paul could have chosen to focus on survival; he could have denied Christ and clung to the way of being faithful that was familiar to him. He could have pretended nothing had changed and just kept on doing what he used to do.
Paul did not choose to focus on survival; instead he chose to trust himself, in life and in death, to the God to whom he belonged and he stepped out in faith. He left behind the ways of the Pharisees and became a zealous bearer of the good news of Jesus Christ.
"I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." (Galatians 2:19-20)
Together with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were young Jewish men living in exile in Babylon, trained for high level positions in the Babylonian civil service. They did their jobs professionally, and they quietly went about maintaining their identity as Jews.
When the king of Babylon decided to build an idol and demand that everyone bow down before it, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought them to a decision point. They could have chosen to focus on survival; they could crossed their fingers behind their backs and bowed to the idol. They could have pretended nothing had changed and just kept on doing what they used to do.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not choose to focus on survival; instead they chose to trust themselves, in life and in death, to the God to whom they belonged and they stepped out in faith.
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)
The king threw them into fiery furnace, but they were not burned. A fourth man, with an appearance like a god, appeared in the fire with them, and they came out alive and unharmed. That day, the king of Babylon was introduced to the God of all creation.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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