May 26, 2019 Sermon

Matthew 16: 24-26 “Cross Power” 5/26/2019 Boardman United Methodist Church Rev. Jerry Krueger

Today’s text is similarly linked to Matthew 10:38 which reads: “and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

No if’s, and’s, or buts. Take up the cross, or you are NOT worthy. There is a charge to action here. There is a call to discipleship here. There is an understanding that says, “You are to have an authentic faith, a growing maturing faith. You are to take up your cross and follow Jesus.”

But you need to hear this. Your cross is not suffering. Your cross is your mission. It is not having to bear the cross of shame, or lousy marriage, or illness, or some misguided martyrdom for all to see. When someone says, “we all have a cross to bear, they have changed the meaning of what Jesus said. That is not what your cross is, and that is NOT what Jesus meant.

A young clergy friend of mine several years ago noted his declining attendance in worship, so his solution was to remove any offensive signs or symbols from the church. His suggestion of the first to go was the cross. “It might send a negative massage to prospective young and old worshippers alike,” he said. It didn’t happen after he sought some counsel.

The cross for us, as a Christian, is a reminder of God’s redemptive and sacrificial love for us. It is a signal to us of how God wants us to live as sacrificial servants. It is about serving others, not us demanding or expecting to be served. We are called to be servants of Christ.

A couple years ago, a friend got lost in the remote 800,000 acre Big Bend National Park. He prayed and prayed and was finally found by a local rancher.

Relating the story, he questioned if God heard his prayers. “I said, the rancher found you, do you see that was God at work?” He replied, “No, that was just a regular person, not God.”

Reality is that God works through regular people daily, and God chooses to do work through fisherman, Samaritans, shepherds, tentmakers, teachers, firefighters, factory workers, teachers, business persons, neighbors, etc.

Jesus taught his disciples, who taught our predecessors, that the way to be a servant of God is not to arrogantly grab for the crown, but to humbly choose the way of the cross. “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.”

Three parts. Deny yourself, pick up your cross/mission, and follow Jesus. No crown, only a cross. No throne, only a task. No mantle here, only a ministry. No scepter offered, only sacrificial self-service.

Jesus did not choose the way of the crown. He chooses the cross and calls us to follow him by choosing a life of sacrificial service, not always thinking about our wants, but instead choosing a cross, not a crown. So, three things to remember.

First, take up the cross of Christlike Values. We must choose what is most important in life? Customary standards of measuring success in the world is how much money you make, where you live, where have you traveled.

Yet, Jesus defines success with a world opposing approach, “those among you who would be great or successful, let them be servants.” WHAT? Successful people HAVE servants. Jesus spins worldly values on their ear.

Christ gives us a new measure for valuing what success looks like in Christ.

Discipleship is better than dollars, service better than securities, choosing the way of the cross is better than grasping for a crown.

As the Titanic sinks in 1912, a wealthy man raced to his stateroom to grab his valuables. He pushed the jewelry box aside, and chose a basket of 3 apples and 4 oranges. Thirty minutes before, he would have never made this choice. But his life situation suddenly changed and gave him a new way of seeing things, of measuring value.

Christ, when we choose him, gives us new vision, new wisdom, and new priorities.

Secondly, choosing the way of the cross means we take up Christlike love.

She bore her ex-husband great hatred. He had lied, cheated, and eventually caused the family to lose everything, as he went to jail for securities fraud. After the divorce, she burned for many years with a hatred that consumed her. Every thought was about hating her X. Over time, she began to realize that her X lived rent-free in her mind. Then, she forgave him. She was sorry for the pain that the family went through but moved forward with her life and even made space for her teenage kids to spend time with their paroled dad. She was able to do that because Christ had removed the hate from her heart.

Can we forgive? Can we love Christ enough to forgive another? That’s the way of the cross. And don’t tell me, “Well Pastor, you don’t know.” Yes friends, I DO know. Choosing Christ means we take up Christ’s values and his love.

Lastly, our Commitment to Christ is daily, staying close to the source, Jesus Christ.

You heard the joke about the man who was hired to paint the yellow center line on the rural road. The first day he painted three miles. The second day, two miles, the third day, only one mile. His supervisor fussed saying, “Your productivity is slacking off. You are painting less each day, are you lazy?” “No boss, I just keep getting further away from the paint can.”

Are we like that in our faith pilgrimage? Moving daily, further from God, where life becomes more difficult and burdensome?

Christ-like commitment is about daily prayer, daily study, and daily time with God. Christ stayed so close to God and said, “Your will be done in my life, father.”

That is the watchword of Christ’s life. Total commitment, total dedication, total consecration, that is what it means to choose the way of the cross.

The hymn writer Francis Havergal wrote this hymn, “Take my Life and Let It Be.” The first stanza says: “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.

Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice, take my lips, take my silver and gold, take my intellect and use every power as thou shall choose.

Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store.

Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee.

Choose to be worthy of Christ, choose the sacrificial way of servanthood, choosing the cross, not the crown.

In Jesus name, Amen.