If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
Self-denial. Oh, this is going to be a tough one to sell. We don't naturally want to go down that road. Old Adam and Eve resist it. They refused that road in the beginning, denying themselves nothing, seizing what wasn't given them, biting into that forbidden notion that they knew better than God knew. We resist it all the time too. Self-denial? You must be joking. Should we even bother to talk about it? Will it be heard? Will you hear it against the background noise of self-indulgence, self-absorption, self-gratification, self-satisfaction, self-glorification?
A text like this cuts against the grain; we look for a religious way out. Let's make it figurative, spiritual. Deny yourself spiritually; take up your spiritual cross. That would be convenient, wouldn't it? We could carry on business as usual on Monday through Saturday, even Sunday afternoon. Deny ourselves nothing but for a sweet hour of prayer. A little spiritual self-denial, a little spiritual cross-bearing, maybe a tear or two in a lace handkerchief, a closing hymn and off we go.
Where would we be if Jesus had taken up a "spiritual cross" instead of a wooden one with nails? I can tell you one thing: We wouldn't be here this morning!
You've surely heard the saying, "No guts, no glory." Today's Gospel says it differently: No cross, no glory. No death, no resurrection. If you try to save your life on your own terms, you are going to lose your life forever. If you lose your life for Jesus' sake, you will find it. That's the chewy paradox at the heart of the Gospel. No cross, no glory, no forgiveness, no life, no salvation.
This passage in Matthew is a beginning of His decisive turn toward Jerusalem. Until now it's been kind of fun to follow Jesus. Watching Him kick demons around. Heal sick people. Run rings around the Pharisees and all the religious types. Parables. Feeding thousands with a handful of loaves and a few fish. Walking on water. Stilling storms. Who wouldn't want to follow Jesus? Crowds flocked to Him. You would have too.
So would I.
We love this kind of stuff. Power points, miracles, ecstasies, crowds. This is precisely what draws a crowd on a Sunday morning. And we'd all be there too, soaking it in, wanting more of it. "It's good Lord, to be here." Last week we heard that Jesus was going to put the keys of heaven right into the hands of Peter the fisherman Wow! Imagine that! The power to loose and bind in the hands of mere man. You'd almost want to make him pope or something like that. Power and glory and majesty. Religion thrives on it; we crave it like a drug.
Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel, and the Son of the living God. That was the turning point, the start of Jesus' long, slow turn toward Jerusalem. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to His disciples what it meant for Him to be the Christ, the Son of God in the flesh. In a word: the cross. He doesn't actually mention the cross here, but He will shortly. He will suffer at the hands of the religious, be killed, and on the third day raised to life.
Peter objected forcefully, violently, predictably. "God forbid, Lord. What are you saying? This is no way to conduct a revolution! This must never happen to you!"
Those aren't God's words but Satan's words. A hindrance. A stumbling stone in Jesus' path. Not the way God thinks, but the way man thinks. The way you and I think, at least naturally.
Have you ever found yourself somewhat embarrassed by all this bloody talk of crosses and crucifixions and sacrifice? Maybe you wish we didn't parade that thing down the center aisle of the church every week. It's bad for business, some say. Do you wish maybe we could keep cross-talk confined to one good Friday out of the year, and then you could just skip it in favor of Easter Sunday? Or maybe sometimes you get a little squeamish around the Lord's Supper, all this talk of eating the sacrificial Body of Christ, drinking His sacrificial Blood? Don't think too hard about that! What must outsiders think! What about our guests who have never heard of such things, or perhaps don't believe it?
The cross is the only thing the devil really fears. That's the one thing he didn't want Jesus to have. Anything but the cross. He tried to subvert the cross, tempting Jesus to turn stones to bread to feed His hunger, to prove Himself by jumping from the temple, to bow down and worship in exchange for power and majesty. Anything but the cross. The one who once overcame by a tree, the tempting tree of knowing good and evil, knew that he would be overcome by the tree of the cross. He knew it. And he even tried using Peter the confessor to get in the way.
He knew that the sacrifice of the perfect humanity of Jesus would satisfy the demands of the Law. He knew that the death of the Son of God would cover the world's sin. He knew that his dirty little lie would be shoved into the pit of hell by Jesus' "It is finished." He knew that the blood of Jesus the Christ, God's Son, would cleanse the world of sin. He knew that death and the grave could not contain the Body of Jesus. He knew that the Law would be silenced, sin atoned for, death undone, hell vanquished. He knew all this, and he shuddered with fear, that damned angel of the darkness.
The devil doesn't want you anywhere near the cross either. He couldn't stop Jesus, but maybe he can mess with you a little bit. Get you to think that you have to atone for your own sins. Get you to doubt that maybe you aren't as forgiven as that preacher says you are. Get you to doubt that that baptismal water can do much of anything in your messed up life. Or that the Lord's Supper is nothing more than a sentimental symbolic reminder of what Jesus did for you on a hill far away. He'd love to get your eyes off of crucified Jesus and start looking at your walk and listening to your talk. And maybe, just maybe, get you to think that somehow you can avoid the cross, and your own death, and hang on to your life on your own terms.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith of Jesus. "Get thee behind me, Satan." Jesus still says that on your behalf too. He baptized you. That's why we always renounce the devil at a Baptism. "Get thee behind me, Satan!" We used to even do a little exorcism. "Depart thou unclean spirit and make way for the Holy Spirit." We don't do that one much anymore. I guess mothers don't like to think of their little ones as demon possessed. But we still kick the devil at Baptism, as well we should. Jesus forgives you. He gives you His Body and Blood. His cross is your cross. The devil hates it when you trust Jesus and cling to His cross.
"Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me." Sounds like marching orders, doesn't it? Stuff to do to be saved. Or is it? What sort of things to do are we talking about? Deny yourself - become nothing. Take up your cross - drop dead. That's what crosses do, they kill. Follow me. Where? Where Jesus leads - through death and resurrection to eternal life. I's not about your self-improvement, it's not about rehabbing the sinner. It's about dying and rising.
Hey, maybe those WWJD bumper stickers I've been poking fun at all this time turn out to be right after all! What would Jesus do? Suffer, die, and rise from the dead. That's what Jesus said He would do and that's what He did. And that's what those who follow Jesus do - they die and rise with Jesus in His death and resurrection. They are joined with Him in His death through Baptism. They are raised with Him in His resurrection. They are seated with Him in His heavenly glory. They are justified in Him, sanctified in Him, glorified in Him. They've literally lost their lives in Him.
What good is it to gain the whole world and lose your own life? That's dumb, though people try it all the time. Maybe you're trying it now. Give it up. What can you give in exchange for your life? The answer is nothing. You have nothing to give. But here's the glory of the cross: Jesus gave His life in exchange for your life. In fact, He gave His life in exchange for the life of the world. One perfect, holy, sinless, spotless life. For you. In your place. You are died for.
So take up the cross that Jesus gives you. Embrace your death in Jesus. You have nothing to lose and a whole life to gain. You're dead anyway, so why not just embrace it for what it is. Follow Jesus. Where you are going, He's already gone. And He's already taken you along for the ride in Him. That may sound a bit strange, I know, but that's the paradox of losing in order to find. The life you lose isn't worth saving - a life of sin and death and hell. It's no life at all, really. The life you find in Jesus is life in abundance, life overflowing, an eternity of life.
Losing to find. Dying to live. Denying to gain. That's the way of the cross. The way of Jesus. The way of life. His way with you.
Posted On: August 30th, 2005 at 5:48pm by Nat Rhein [ + ]
Just recently I happened to be at a roadblock on that very verse - partly an argument with someone else, but mostly just being confused - but I understand a lot better now. Thanks!
Posted On: August 31st, 2005 at 9:52am by Rod Bock [ + ]
Dear Pastor Cwirla,
I was directed to your sermon via Paul Mc Cain's Cyberbrethren.
Thank you for the inspiring message.
I am a layman in Omaha Nebraska, and shortly will be leading/teaching an adult class concerning the Lutheran Confessions.
I chose the Confessions, because we Lutherans as well as others are constantly being bombarded with "man-centered" theology. Unfortunately some of it (too much) comes from within and throughout the LCMS . It has indeed muddied the waters for many "Lutherans" , and inspired the errosion of sound "life saving (losing)" doctrine.
With your permission I would like to open the class with your sermon. I think it would be a good platform on which to launch the Confessions.
Posted On: September 14th, 2005 at 7:59am by Adeniiy Adekunle [ + ]
I cry out to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord I make my suplication. I pour out my complaint before him i declare my trouble; my clothin was sackcloth; I humble myself with fasting; But my prayers return to my own heart. This makes me thinks that why am still living , but hiw word always console me that I shall not die but live to proclaim his word.
Why is it that anytime I want to achieve something great in life there is always a fall-down. Just look as if am wandering about in life...... ask God why should he stand far from me? Why should God hides in time of trouble?? How long will God forget me? Is it forever?? At times when it get tough I ask my self is there God? I believe there is God but my Faith is getting weak. When will God answer my prayers?? Tears fell off my face anytime I remeber this questions, don't know how to express this any longer but you can just imagine it and feel how it hurts me everyday.
Am happy to share this testimony I can't share in the church because people will be waiting for the result. I had always been praying to God to help me to secure an admission to University Oversea because I believe its God vision and dreams for my future to become a Medical doctor, i believe the success in my vision will help other visions. God answer my prayer and I was given Unconditional Offer in the Uiversity of Liverpool. All I need is to go the Uk embassy and get my visa and other things I need to do with money. This when problem rises from no where with my parent and my family entirely. We could hardly take a meal a day, this make my parent not to be able to finance it till now. This problem as been occuring since. This makes me to realize that money was the main problem am having but why is it anytime I want to achieve something greater in life. It's devils's work but God can put devil to shame through your Prayers, your piece of Advice and with anything God has place in your heart to finance me with.
My prayer request it that God should provide for my parent and also send one who can help us because my parent are getting old.
.jpg)
