embracingthecross.com

How many times have you heard someone quote Jesus’ saying, “take up your cross” and follow Him? Have you ever thought about what Jesus actually meant? What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Jesus?

Read on as I provide an in-depth answer in this post.

The Biblical Reference for Taking up Your Cross

Jesus tells his disciples in Mark 8:34-35, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the Gospel will save it.”

Now, at first glance these two verses can be confusing. But, with careful consideration Jesus’ instructions become clear.

Therefore, it’s probably best to break the verses down into bite-sized chunks.

Follow Jesus

Jesus’ command to “follow Me” revolves at the center of what it means to be a Christian. In simplest terms, a Christian is a follower of Jesus. Furthermore, to be a follower of Jesus means to be obedient to His teachings and allowing your character to be molded to His.

Therefore, following Jesus takes obedience and sacrifice. Ultimately, Jesus Himself was the best example of obedience and sacrifice. He obeyed the will of God the Father by offering His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

In doing so, He gave us an example to follow.

Taking Up Your Cross

When Jesus said that anyone that wanted to follow Him would have to “take up his cross”, he was saying that they would have to choose the path of obedience just as He did.

Jesus did not come to follow His own will. No, Jesus came to earth to follow the will of God the Father. Jesus admits this in John 4:34 when He says, “My food is to do the work of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.” Jesus did so by dying on the cross.

Bearing the Cross

Likewise, to be a follower of Jesus, you have to take up your own cross. No, God isn’t asking you to literally die on a cross. Instead, He asks you to die to your own wants or desires. These have to die on the cross.

You see, the cross was an instrument of death. Jesus’ listeners would’ve understood the reference. They may have even seen people being crucified.

Jesus’ listeners knew that the condemned had to carry their cross to their own execution. It was part of the punishment.

Therefore, when Jesus says to “take up your own cross” it means willingly choosing to die.

Death to Self Through Denial

So, how what type of death is Jesus talking about?

No, it’s not a literal death. Instead, Jesus is asking you to die to self. He states this when He says, “deny yourself and take up your cross”.

Denying self goes far beyond ignoring your wants and desires. It means dying to your old self.

By “self” here, Jesus was referring to the flesh, or your old sinful nature. It’s your old selfish way of doing things before becoming a Christian. It’s a self ruled by sin and selfishness.

Crucifying the Flesh

You have to kill the impulse to follow the old self in order to serve Jesus. You have to reject your way of doing things and choose God’s way. That’s why it takes obedience and sacrifice.

Ultimately, you have to want to serve Jesus more than you want to serve sinful desires because you love Him more.

Unfortunately, sinful desire keeps raising its ugly head and tempting you, so you have to crucify the flesh symbolically by denying those urges.

Paul states that, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

What does it mean to take up your cross? It means to crucify the flesh by denying self.

What Does It Mean to Take Up Your Cross in Context

What does it mean to take up your cross? Now, that we’ve started to answer the question, we need to look at it in context. This will help us fully answer the question.

In Mark 8, Jesus gives His disciples these instructions after having rebuked Peter. After Peter identifies Jesus as the Christ, God’s Chosen One, Jesus explains how He must suffer as the Messiah.

Peter’s Own Way

Peter refuses to accept that Jesus must suffer. In his mind, in his way of doing things, the Christ is a victorious political conqueror, not a suffering servant. Based on his perspective, Peter acts out on his sinful desires and opens himself up to the works of the Devil.

As a result, Jesus rebukes Peter for acting according to his own flesh. Jesus tells Peter, “you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” ( Mark 8: 33). Then, Jesus gives the instructions to deny self and take up your cross.

Jesus’ instructions are in response to Peter’s self-fueled actions. Therefore, this gives further explanation to what Jesus meant by “taking up your cross”

Even More Explanation

If this context wasn’t enough, Jesus gives even more explanation in the verses following. In verse 35, Jesus goes on to say, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it.” In light of the command to “deny self” this verse becomes clear.

To lose one’s life means to give up control of one’s life. As a result, if you give up control of your life to God, you will save your life. On the flip side, if you want to keep control of your life, then you will lose your life through damnation to hell.

Ultimately, salvation comes down to the choice you make regarding Jesus Christ. Will you submit yourself to His will? Will you obey His commands?

Jesus confirms this in verse 38 when He says, “If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Closing Thoughts

What does it mean to take up your cross?

As you can see, taking up your cross means more than suffering in this life. Taking up your cross means denying self and choosing to obey the teachings of Jesus Christ.

To be a follower of Jesus, you must do as He did. You must take up your cross.

You must die to the old sinful nature and live a new life in Jesus. This requires obedience and sacrifice.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with others. Pleases feel free to leave a comment. Let’s start a discussion about taking up the cross.

Also, if you need prayer or someone to listen, please send me an email. You can find it on my About Me page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see crosses everywhere. Some hang them around their neck as jewelry. Others decorate their walls with them. Why? The answer to that question comes down to the meaning of the cross.

The cross has become the symbol of Christianity. Yet, the meaning of the cross is more than a symbol. It’s the meaning of the symbol that resonates so deeply within the chests of Jesus’ followers.

In this post, I want to take a deeper look at the meaning of the cross.

Historical Use of Crosses

The cross in antiquity represented shame and humiliation. Several ancient people groups used crucifixion, or the acting of being hung on a cross, as a means of execution. Therefore, the cross was an instrument of death.

In the Roman Empire, they reserved the cross for the worst of criminals, usually enemies of the state. They would leave those crucified hanging for days for all to see as a warning. This was especially effective since the crime committed was listed on a plaque above the criminal’s head.

A Shameful Way to Die

As a means of torture and execution, the cross remained effective. The nailing of the wrists and feet extenuated the pain. The position of the arms and feet made breathing difficult. Ultimately, the cross led to a slow death by asphyxiation.

So, originally, people associated the cross with shame, humiliation, and pain.

Jesus and the Cross

Consequently, Rome meant the same for Jesus when He was hung on a cross. In the eyes of Rome and the Jewish leaders, they were executing a criminal when they crucified Jesus. Therefore, they heaped upon him as much pain, shame, and humiliation as they could.

In fact, they took his execution farther than they did with other criminals. They added extra torture and punishment to his crucifixion with the crown of thorns and whipping. Plus, they stripped him bare in front of everyone.

It Was God’s Plan

Interestingly, while the Romans were responsible, they did not come up with this idea. No, everything that happened to Jesus happened according to God’s plan. God chose the cross as the instrument by which Jesus would be sacrificed for humanity.

Peter, addressing the crowd in Acts 2:32 declared this when he said, “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (NIV)

Why Jesus Had to Die

Sin separates us from God as Romans 3:23 states, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (ESV) The Bible defines sin as breaking God’s law, and we have all done that at some point in our life.

Therefore, we fall short of what God created us for. God created us for a personal relationship with Him. Sin disrupts that relationship. As a result, we deserve punishment, which is death.

Jesus’ Death Demonstrates God’s Love

But, God knew this was going to happen, so before we even sinned, He set a plan in motion.

The Bible states that, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NIV)

Jesus’ death on the cross satisfies the punishment debt that sin creates. Colossians 2:14 says that Jesus canceled, “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (ESV)

 In others words, Jesus took your punishment for you by dying on the cross. And, He did it out of God’s love for you.

Jesus’ Death Restores Your Relationship With God

As a result, the relationship has been restored. In fact, you can think of the cross as a bridge back to God.  Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God grants us eternal life.

John 3:16 and 17 tells us that, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus Was Obedient To Death

For this sacrifice to take place, Jesus had to obey God the Father and sacrifice Himself. The Bible says Jesus not only obeyed “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV), he “for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV).

As you can see, Jesus not only obeyed, He considered it a joy to do so. He knew what He was doing. Also, He knew why He was doing it.

He did it to bring you back to God. He did it because He loves you. He obediently embraced the shame of death on the cross for you.

The Meaning of the Cross for You

Your response to Jesus’ act of obedience on the cross should be the same. In fact, Jesus Himself said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me can not be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27 ESV).

But, what does it mean to bear your own cross?

To further explain, Jesus says in Matthew 16:24, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (NIV)

Following Jesus Takes Sacrifice

As you can see, to follow Jesus you must take up your own cross. That means you have to die to your own wants or desires. It means you have to “deny yourself”. Therefore, the meaning of the cross for you includes sacrifice.

The old way of doing things has to die. You can’t live for sin anymore. You can’t want to be in control anymore.

Thus, the meaning of the cross for you involves surrendering your life to God’s control out of love for God and obedience to His commands.

In Conclusion

In the end, God asks you to die to self. In doing so, you find new life in Him. To do so, you must embrace the cross.

That’s why people wear crosses around their necks. Also, it’s why they decorate their walls with them.

The symbol of the cross reminds us of the meaning of the cross. The cross represents sacrifice and obedience, both in Jesus’ life and in our own.

I hope that this post ministered to you. If so, please share it with others.

Please leave a comment below. Start a conversation. I love talking about Jesus.

If you’re needing prayer or someone to listen, please contact me.