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Take Up Your Cross, Not Your Pillow
A sermon based on Luke 9:18-24
Sunday, June 27, 2010 -- Pentecost 5C
When certain college students (and let's let them remain nameless) would begin to complain about their work load -- that they already had to translate 40 lines of Greek, study 10 lessons of Hebrew grammar and vocabulary for a test on Friday, and write an essay in their lit class by the next day, and now, their German professor just gave them another 4 pages of German to translate by the next day too -- well, that particular German professor would inevitably say, "Boys, don't forget: Our Savior didn't say, "Take up your pillow and follow me," ja? What did he say? "Take up your cross." Go. Translate." And with that, he sent us on our way to lunch..
Jesus didn't say "Take up your pillow," but "Take up your cross." That was our professor's way of reminding us that if we were to follow Jesus and live to serve him and his people then we shouldn't expect it would be all fun and games. We shouldn't expect a life of leisure and comfort. No. It would be hard at times. It would be difficult. But we should expect nothing less. For Jesus himself suffered nothing less for us. Indeed, he suffered much more.
And now, because Jesus didn't take up a pillow but a cross for us, we, in turn, can take up our crosses and follow him. Listen as Jesus gives that reminder to his disciples in Luke 9:18-24...
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?" 19 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." 20 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God." 21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." 23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."
I. Jesus Took Up His Cross
The most important question that anyone can answer in life is this: Who is Jesus? You'll notice that everyone had a high regard for Jesus and thought him a man sent from God. "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life." But those answers weren't good enough. For if Jesus is only a good man, one of the prophets come back to life, then we're all doomed in our sin.
Even the disciples needed some clarification to the answer to that question: Who is Jesus? Jesus pointed the question even more, moving from the crowd to the disciples. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter, as the spokesman of the group answered for them, "The Christ of God."
"The Christ." That's Greek for "The Messiah." "The Anointed One." A good answer. But still, there were all sorts of misunderstandings about what the Messiah would come to do. Most thought the Christ would be a hero who, with the aid of God, would ride out in glory conquer the Romans and all who dared to opposed the Jews. And then, he would bring about an era of peace and comfort and luxury and ease for all who followed him. In other, words they thought he might bring heaven to earth.
And that's exactly why Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. Their idea of what the Christ had come to do was way off. Jesus needed to set them straight.
He said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
No, Jesus would not ride out in glory. He would not fight the Romans. He came to suffer. He came to die. He would not take up a sword or a shield. He would not take up a magazine and a pillow. He would not take up an easy chair and a remote control. No. He would take up a cross.
Why? To save us from our sinful selfishness.
Who do you say Jesus is? Sure, we all know he's the Son of God described in the Gospel accounts. We know he's the one who did all sorts of miracles and wonders, helping the poor, healing the sick, raising the dead! And we know that he's our Savior.
But do we sometimes have the same misunderstandings of who Jesus really is? Do we always understand what he came to save us from? Or have you ever thought, "If Jesus really loved me, then I'd have a better job. Then I wouldn't be so sick. Then my loved ones wouldn't die. If Jesus really loved me, then he'd make things easier, make life less painful, make me more comfortable! If only he came to take up a pillow and hand it to me!"
But that's not whay he came. And thank God that he didn't take up a pillow and hand it to you, but that instead he took up the cross. For there on that cross, he endured hell itself to pay for our sinful selfishness. There, he took every whining complaint against God on himself. There he took every time I was so self-absorbed, I gave no concern to the hurt or pain of another. There he took every one of my sins and yours on himself to take them away and make us sinless and holy in God's sight. That's why he came!
And you know the answer to the most important question anyone can ever ask: Who is Jesus? He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, who took up his cross, not to save me from poverty, from sickness, or from boredom, but to save me from my sin and my selfishness, to save me from the clutches of Satan and death, to save me from the hopeless despair of hell.
II. We Take Up Our Crosses
And now, understanding who he is and what he's done for us, we're not so concerned about our comfort or convenience. We don't need to always ask, "What's in it for me?" We don't reach for the remote or for the pillow, but we too, reach for the cross. In thanks to him, we gladly serve him. We gladly suffer for him. We'd even gladly die for him. After all, that's what a cross is: a device used to torture and kill.
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
You see, many people interpret "cross" as some burden they must carry in their lives like a strained relationship, a thankless job, a physical illness. With self-pitying pride, they say, "That's my cross I have to carry."
But when Jesus hung on the cross on Golgotha, no one thought of it as something symbolic. "The cross" in Jesus' day meant nothing but a device of torture and death. Imagine if Jesus were to say, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and [sit in his electric chair] daily and follow me."
To take up a cross doesn't mean to suffer a setback or face a few problems. It means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. It means to deny oneself. Give up what you want most in order to serve him. Deny your desire to sit on the couch and veg out when the dishes need to be done. Deny your desire to be popular and cool when people need to hear about who Jesus really is. Deny your desire to avoid physical pain should you be called to testify to the truth with the same consequences as those first disciples. Take up your cross with daily self-denial as you follow Jesus even to the point of death.
Why do it? Not in order to earn our salvation. But to thank our God for the salvation he's already given us. Because we know that "whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."
Radio talk show host, Dave Ramsey, encourages his listeners and readers to, "Live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow." Don't be like everyone else, buying whatever you want regardless of what you can afford. Deny the impulses, live below your means and save. Then tomorrow (or a few dozen years from tomorrow) you can live like no one else. No one else will be debt free like you, financially secure like you and able to give like you.
In the same way, Jesus says, "Live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow." Take up your cross, not your pillow. Deny yourself and your sinful nature. Lose your life for Jesus and you'll save it. And tomorrow (or a few dozen years from tomorrow) you can live like no one else in the glories of heaven. For you know how your Jesus took up, not a pillow, but his cross to rescue you. Now take up your cross and live for him. In Jesus' name, amen.
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