Reverend Philip Stringer
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Mark 8:27-38
LET US PRAY: We ask, O Lord, that the words which we hear this morning, and the worship which we offer, may bear fruit in our hearts, and be acceptable in your sight, our strength and our redeemer. AMEN
One section of the test for obtaining a driver’s license in North Carolina has to do with the shapes of signs. There is a series of shape silhouettes and you have to identify what they mean. Octagon, circle, rectangle, triangle, house. If you don’t recognize the signs, you can’t follow their directions -- and that can lead to disaster!
When I point to this (processional cross), I'm pretty confident that everyone here would recognize it as a cross and the primary symbol of our faith. What I am less confident of, however, is how often we recognize a cross when it doesn't take this form.
Jesus said to the crowd that was with him, ”If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." What do crosses look like? More specifically, what does YOUR cross look like?
I sometimes hear people make the comment, "this must be my cross to bear,” about a physical disability — trouble with a family member or some other burden in their life — "well, I guess it's my cross to bear."
I disagree. These are unfortunate, unwelcome things, but they are not crosses. Such matters are more akin to what St. Paul called a "thorn in the flesh." A burden, an inconvenience; a tragedy; something to struggle against. But a cross is something different.
In his commentary on the gospel of John, William Barclay considers the cross of Jesus. "Jesus was not helplessly caught up in a mesh of circumstances from which he could not break free," he writes. "Apart from any divine power he might have called in, it is quite clear that to the end he could have turned back and saved his life. He did not lose his life; he gave it. The Cross was not thrust upon him; he willingly accepted it -- for us."
What does a cross look like? When Jesus told his listeners to take up their crosses and follow him, he did not mean to suggest that they all literally march to Calvary together for a mass execution. Rather, he intends to impress upon all of us that to follow him means to dedicate our whole lives to following God’s good and gracious will for the world -- trusting the goodness of God even to death. On another occasion, he put it this way: "Seek first the kingdom of God."
Jesus' singular desire was to faithfully follow where God called him to go -- to serve God the Father with every breath of his life.
•When faced with choosing between God's call and his family's embarrassment, he chose the call.
•When faced with choosing between the call and the respect of authorities, he chose the call.
•When confronted with choosing the call over comfort or fame or even life, he always chose the call of God.
It was his singular objective; his focus; the defining mark of his life -- service rooted in his love and devotion to the Father. "Come," said Jesus to the crowd, "come and do the same with your life. You will not be disappointed." “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.”
What continues to be so amazing about this promise is that Jesus is not necessarily calling you to go somewhere else to serve God. Very often the work of God is right where you are. You have a cross before you that leads to life -- but I can't tell you what it looks like. Only you can recognize the cross God is calling you to take up.
I can't tell you what your cross looks like. But I can give you some examples of what some other people's crosses have been like. Three examples.
The first is of a man named Nee Shu-Tsu -- better known as Watchman Nee. He was raised in a Christian home, but he did not become a Christian until his college years when his mother came to him after a worship service and apologized to him for an earlier offense against him and he forgave her. His mother, believing that God would use her son for His work, changed his name to Nee To-Sheng, which means "the sound of a gong." It symbolized that he would be a man committed to call attention to God. In English, he was referred to as Watchman.
Watchman traveled throughout China in the 40's, preaching the Gospel and starting churches wherever he went. It is believed that over two hundred churches were established as a direct result of his ministry, and soon his fellow believers began to call themselves his Little Flock.
When Mao Tse-tung came to power in 1949, the communists began a brutal campaign to stamp out religion all through China. But Watchman Nee continued to be a noisy gong pointing to Christ. In 1952, Watchman Nee was thrown into prison, where he spent the next twenty years until his death in 1972. His books are still read today as classics of faith and devotion.
His time of suffering in jail serves for us as a witness to his repeated assertion that people must die to self and be born again into a new life with Christ. In his case, this is what it meant to take up his cross and follow Jesus. As he wrote in his book, THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE: "You believe in the death of the Lord Jesus and you believe in the death of the thieves with Him. Now what about your own death? Your crucifixion is more intimate than (those thieves). They were crucified at the same time as the Lord but on different crosses, whereas you were crucified on the same cross as He, for you were in (his heart) when He died."
The second example is of a Jamaican woman who told me her church's story. They did not have a building -- but that was actually pretty nice. You see, although they were not a wealthy congregation, and had only 120 members, they met for worship in a luxury hotel with air conditioning in a peaceful part of their city. They would meet for worship and sing joyful songs about Jesus. But then their pastor began to get restless and uneasy. Soon, others in the congregation were also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with their surroundings and what was happening in their hearts. As this woman explained it to me, "we needed to do less singing ABOUT Jesus and more acting LIKE Jesus.
They relocated to an abandoned warehouse in the ghettos of Kingston. It was just an empty shell under a quonset roof. More than half of the church's members quit. But those who remained began to reach out to the impoverished and violent neighborhood. They have been there for more than 20 years now -- they are still very poor, but they have more than 300 members. They have started a kindergarten in the warehouse that serves over 120 children. They have a monumental task ahead of them -- but you cannot begin to imagine the joy and the energy and the resolve that came out of this woman as she shared the story with me. This church had found its life by giving it away.
And here’s a 3rd example. I read an article this morning about an organization that was formed in August by residents of Springfield, OH. A couple of months before politicians began amplifying lies about Haitian immigrants a couple of neo-Nazi groups started stirring up trouble. This group formed as a response to those hate groups, reaching out in support to the immigrants and seeking to encourage other residents to not spread gossip. The leader of the advocacy group has gotten death threats and bomb threats. She said, “people are messaging me, telling me that I’ve destroyed Springfield. We’re just trying to help people.”
So here are three examples of crosses. Do you know a cross when you see one? Don't feel bad if you are not sure. Discovering crosses is a process of discipleship that leads in many directions-- but picking up a cross always begins by bending down-- as a servant.
Each of the examples I have given you is different, and the cost of discipleship varies in each. But what they have in common is that each of these-- and EVERY act of taking up a cross -- means to stop living for yourself and start living for your neighbor in response to God’s grace. And the only reason for doing that is love. The work of God always involves serving one another in love. And EVERY cross gets taken up on purpose -- deliberately as an act of love and service. "Whoever loses their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
Winston Churchill summed it up in these words: "One makes a living by what one gets. One makes a life by what one gives."
What do crosses look like? For Jesus it looked like **this**. But for you and me, crosses take as many forms as there are people. For you to seek your cross means that you will look with eyes seeking out the ways in which you can offer yourself in response to God’s love. Perhaps it involves serving the hungry and the homeless in our community. Perhaps it involves disciplining your prayer life and Bible study and worship life. Perhaps it involves stepping out of your comfort zone to be honest with someone you love. Perhaps it means deciding to alter your spending choices so that you are able to give an offering that is a meaningful expression of devotion and thanksgiving.
Perhaps it involves reordering your life around people instead of things; family instead of work. Perhaps it involves making a difference rather than being polite and respectable.
Do you know a cross when you see one? What does your cross look like? Only you can answer that. And only if you're looking.
AMEN
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