Rabi Gunaratnam's Blog - Posts Tagged "cross"
Do Christians Really Follow Jesus?
Jesus’s statement “ If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” is recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels (Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23) and is not one that can be ignored. Jesus made this statement shortly after explaining to the disciples the need for Him to go to Jerusalem to suffer many terrible things at the hands of the enemies of truth, and to be killed. His enemies were the elders, leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He implied that if He was to take up His cross, as followers we too must be willing to do the same.
After He called the twelve and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness, amongst several other things He said, “And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:38 MKJV).
Jesus urged His disciples to do three things: (1) deny self, (2) take up his cross, and (3) follow Him.
The ascetic denies himself. This is not enough—we need to also take up the cross and follow Him. Taking up a cross means to be committed to the extent that one is willing to die for the cause. Jesus’s mission was to reconcile the world to God. Following includes telling people the good news that we can have a father-child relationship with God through Jesus, and demonstrating our belief through good works. From the experience of Jesus and that of His disciples it is clear that telling and doing comes at a cost—getting out of our comfort zone, being inconvenienced, taking risks, foregoing what we want for ourselves, denying the pull of materialism, facing persecution, and in some countries risking our lives.
According to the apostle Paul each of us has a unique race to run (Heb. 12:1–2). So we must stop imitating others and listen to the Holy Spirit to guide us to run our race and take up the cross that we are to bear.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? Some people think that it is going to church, attending Bible study, praying, and reading the Bible. This is far from the truth. We need to do all of these and in addition be active in doing things for the kingdom of God. We need to do this work by:
Adopting Jesus’ attitude and behaviours: Forgiving, accepting, welcoming, tolerant, serving instead of being served, hating religious hypocrisy, doing the Father’s will, loving instead of condemning, being full of mercy and compassion.
Using only Jesus’ methods: Paul who is an imitator of Christ put it this way in 2 Cor. 4:2, “We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don't try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this” (NLT).
Adopting Jesus’ ways: Calm under pressure, willing to drop everything to address a need, willing to be inconvenienced, standing for truth and justice.
Doing what Jesus did: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” (Matt. 10:8)
We are also to die to sin, the flesh, and the world, and to live a life that is productive for the kingdom of God.
How does the church of the twenty first century fare against this expectation? Are we following Jesus or our misguided interpretation of what God wants? Of course we cannot neglect ‘living’ altogether. Life has to be lived. We need to earn a living to feed the family and to educate our children. We need to find time for rest and recuperation. We need to put aside money for our retirement. Jesus did not want us to neglect life. But we also need to let God “make His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20) for “… God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him” (2 Cor. 5:18). This is where the rubber hits the road and we must take up the cross and follow Him.
Your calling maybe different: to forsake personal comforts, social enjoyments, earthly ties, grand ambitions, material riches, and even life itself.
Jesus's words make us wonder how we can really believe that it is all right for us to live in luxury and ease. How can we justify the materialism, selfishness, and coldness of our hearts? Jesus’s words call us to lives of self-denial, surrender, suffering, and sacrifice.
Time to Wake Up Church!
After He called the twelve and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness, amongst several other things He said, “And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:38 MKJV).
Jesus urged His disciples to do three things: (1) deny self, (2) take up his cross, and (3) follow Him.
The ascetic denies himself. This is not enough—we need to also take up the cross and follow Him. Taking up a cross means to be committed to the extent that one is willing to die for the cause. Jesus’s mission was to reconcile the world to God. Following includes telling people the good news that we can have a father-child relationship with God through Jesus, and demonstrating our belief through good works. From the experience of Jesus and that of His disciples it is clear that telling and doing comes at a cost—getting out of our comfort zone, being inconvenienced, taking risks, foregoing what we want for ourselves, denying the pull of materialism, facing persecution, and in some countries risking our lives.
According to the apostle Paul each of us has a unique race to run (Heb. 12:1–2). So we must stop imitating others and listen to the Holy Spirit to guide us to run our race and take up the cross that we are to bear.
What does it mean to follow Jesus? Some people think that it is going to church, attending Bible study, praying, and reading the Bible. This is far from the truth. We need to do all of these and in addition be active in doing things for the kingdom of God. We need to do this work by:
Adopting Jesus’ attitude and behaviours: Forgiving, accepting, welcoming, tolerant, serving instead of being served, hating religious hypocrisy, doing the Father’s will, loving instead of condemning, being full of mercy and compassion.
Using only Jesus’ methods: Paul who is an imitator of Christ put it this way in 2 Cor. 4:2, “We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don't try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this” (NLT).
Adopting Jesus’ ways: Calm under pressure, willing to drop everything to address a need, willing to be inconvenienced, standing for truth and justice.
Doing what Jesus did: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” (Matt. 10:8)
We are also to die to sin, the flesh, and the world, and to live a life that is productive for the kingdom of God.
How does the church of the twenty first century fare against this expectation? Are we following Jesus or our misguided interpretation of what God wants? Of course we cannot neglect ‘living’ altogether. Life has to be lived. We need to earn a living to feed the family and to educate our children. We need to find time for rest and recuperation. We need to put aside money for our retirement. Jesus did not want us to neglect life. But we also need to let God “make His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20) for “… God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him” (2 Cor. 5:18). This is where the rubber hits the road and we must take up the cross and follow Him.
Your calling maybe different: to forsake personal comforts, social enjoyments, earthly ties, grand ambitions, material riches, and even life itself.
Jesus's words make us wonder how we can really believe that it is all right for us to live in luxury and ease. How can we justify the materialism, selfishness, and coldness of our hearts? Jesus’s words call us to lives of self-denial, surrender, suffering, and sacrifice.
Time to Wake Up Church!
