Taking Up Your Cross Archives - Faith Lutheran Church, Wesley Chapel

Kurt Steinbrueck May 17, 2021

Blog Following Jesus, suffering, Taking Up Your Cross

Following Jesus

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” – Mark 8:34-35

When you were first told about following Jesus, how was it described?

In the Gospel reading, Mark 8:27-38, the passage has several great things that happen.

We hear a little of what people thought about Jesus.
We have Peter’s confession of who Jesus is (The Messiah / Christ).
Jesus tells the disciples of the suffering and death He would face.
Jesus describes what it means to follow Him.

That last one can be pretty challenging. Jesus doesn’t describe a life of ease, free from pain.

Often times when we talk about following Jesus to others, we focus on the positives. We talk about love, peace, and hope. We talk about forgiveness. We talk about finding meaning in life.

To be sure, all these things are true, but they aren’t the whole truth.

Jesus describes a life that will include suffering, maybe even losing our lives. He describes it as taking up a cross and He doesn’t mean to put on a pretty, gold necklace. I don’t know, maybe we shy away from this part because we don’t think the slogan will sell well:

“Know Jesus, Know Persecution. No Jesus, No Persecution.”

The truth is that following Jesus can be difficult and downright dangerous at times. Maybe if we were open about that people who start to suffer wouldn’t be so quick to feel like God abandoned them.

Not Just Words
One of the amazing things about Jesus, though, is that He isn’t asking anything of us that is more than He is willing to do Himself. Right before He talks about us taking up our cross, He tells the disciples that He will be taking up a cross, literally, and giving His life for us.

So great is His love for us! When we suffer, He hasn’t abandoned us, He walks with us. Also, we are reminded that death isn’t the end with Jesus. The suffering is temporary. Jesus would rise again in 3 days and we, too, will be raised with Him to eternal life.

Dear Lord,

You suffered and died for me. Give me the courage to suffer for You and, when suffering comes, remind me that You are there with me and never leave me. As I speak to others about Jesus, help me to be open about what that really means as well as to talk about the suffering You endured for us.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Deny What?

“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” – Luke 9:23-24

If you could have anything, what would it be?

The Christian life offers many blessings. We have new life, forgiveness of sins, the Spirit of God living in us and much more. However, some teachers would like us to believe that God wants to give us everything we want. If we just have enough faith and don’t sin too much, we’ll get anything we ask for.

Is that really what God says?

Yes, there are passages in the Bible where is says things like, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do,” (John 14:13) or “He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) However, notice the “in my name” of John 14. Similarly, Psalm 37 also prefaces the above quote with, “Delight yourself in the Lord,” and follows it with, “Commit your way to the Lord.”

Deny Yourself and Follow Jesus
When we read those passages in their immediate context, we see that God will give us what we ask and desire when we set our heart on Him or, in other words, when we want what He wants. When we understand that also in light of Luke 9, which tells us to deny ourselves, we get a clear picture. These passages are assuring us that God can do what He says, not telling us God is a genie here to grant our every wish.

Jesus wants us to want what He wants. That means we have to deny ourselves and our sinful, selfish desires.

We’re terrible at that!

Thankfully, He was obedient to the Father unto death so that we could be forgiven when we fail to deny ourselves.

Denying ourselves is hard. However, when we start to understand that God truly loves us and wants what is best for us (even if we don’t understand), it gets a little easier.

It reminds me of how I deal with my kids. They don’t always get what they want because sometimes what they want isn’t good for them.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for loving me enough to give me what I truly need and not what I want. Help me to trust that You are good and loving. Help me to deny myself and follow You. Forgive me when I don’t.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Taking Up Your Cross

Following Jesus

Following Jesus

Deny What?

Deny What?

Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL serving Lutz, Zephyrhills, Land O’ Lakes, and New Tampa, FL