Special Mid-Summer Bible Conversation on Hard Sayings in the Bible (Reserve Question B - bear our cross)

 

Reserve B, Jesus said that we each would need to bear our cross daily (Luke 9:23; also 14:27). What it means and what it does not mean:

• In the days that Jesus walked the earth, what did the people understand a cross to be? Jewelry, a logo? No–it is an instrument of torture and execution. 
• In Jesus’ particular circumstance, what did the cross mean?  --For Jesus to be on the torture stake or cross signified the sacrificial death for which He came to earth to live as a human. It was only through such great sacrifice that Jesus could effect the restoration of relationship with our Creator. 
• What does that mean to us in reference to the cross? Look at 1 Corinthians 6. Paul under the guidance of the Holy Spirit was writing to the Corinthian church a strong letter of admonition because of the practices in which they were engaged – practices that were immoral and unloving. He had to re-tell them, and explain to them what it actually meant to be a Christian. That it could only happen because Jesus died for them. But it wasn’t a death like the deaths they were accustomed to. Jesus’ death was one of sacrifice to redeem mankind from God’s wrath because of our sin estate. 
• Also, because it was a redemption and not a ritual, i.e., something of value was exchanged for releasing or libertating someone, look at what Paul is led to write in verses 19-20.  We do not own ourselves, we have no absolute rights to ourselves. As those who are saved and are being sanctified, that life of submission to Christ is what we are to be living daily according to Luke 9:23 (also see Romans 12:1-2). 
• What it does not mean, but what we have been taught to think it means: When Jesus instructed us to bear our cross, He wasn’t talking about people getting on your nerves or having problems, or even having chronic problems with this or that, chronic health issues.  No. Jesus expects those who are saved to be living their lives for Him – sacrificing ourselves, destroying our pride and so-called “rights” to independence. Eve coveted independence, to be her own "captain"; look where that got us. We are instead to live a righteous and holy life – which is opposite of what persons in the world do, which is the essence of the answer in Question E.

Therefore, let us not cheapen Jesus' instructions to us about bearing our cross; do not diminish the seriousness of Jesus' statement with a somewhere-along-the-line made up definition that our cross is some nagging problem or person. Is that why Jesus came to earth?