February 24, 2010 — Second Midweek Lenten Service
“Every Christian Bears the Cross” — Vicar Mankin
Audio is not available for the service.
A few years ago I was out for a night on the town with some of my buddies and I meet a lovely young lady. She had one thing about her that really caught my eye. She was wearing a little gold Cross around her neck. I real thought I had found a good one. So I started “chatting” her up. I found out where she worked, where she was from, we had talked about 15 minutes, then I asked her where she went to church. She looked at me kind of puzzled, so I asked her, “Aren’t you a Christian?” She answered indignantly, “No, what gave you that idea?” I pointed out the Cross around her neck. Then she told me how someone had given it to her or something like that, honestly I can’t really remember. She just thought it was pretty. So I told her that I had just started going back to church and that the faith was becoming increassingly important to me. This was like throwing a bucket of ice water on our conversation. She smiled, then told me that it was nice to have met me but she needed to get back to her girlfriends and walked away. When she met up with her friends, I heard considerable giggling and laughter. And my buddies ripped me a little about striking out.
I sat there kicking myself. At first I thought, “Why did I say anything about it at all? I should have just kept my mouth shut and we would still be talking. If I would just drop this whole ‘church thing’ who knows where this could have gone.” Then I thought, “Isn’t she really the one to blame, after all she was the one false advertising. How can you wear a Cross and not be a Christian?” Then I realized she really wasn’t rejecting me, she was rejecting the Faith and really Jesus. Jesus tells us, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” (Luke 6:22) Now in the grand scheme of things this incident really wasn’t a big deal, it’s not like they took me out to stone me. But it serves as a reminder that,
EVERY CHRISTIAN BEARS THE CROSS
Just as the Cross and Christ are bound together. So is bearing the cross and being a Christian. At some point every Christian will have some form of the cross to bear. Jesus tells us “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”(Matthew 10:38) Bearing the cross is so inseparably bound up with Christianity that anyone who refuses to bear the cross can no longer claim to be Christian nor can they share in Christ glory. If I had hidden my faith in Jesus from that woman could I have then later claimed to be a Christian? Saint Paul tells us, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24) Could I have claimed to be a Christian if I had just gone ahead and lived the way the world tells us too? If I had messed up, of course I could still be a Christian, through Jesus there is always forgiveness when we fail. But could I have honestly told that woman about Christ later? In her mind I would have been a hypocrite. Saying one thing and doing another.
There are many ways as Christians that we bear the cross. To summarize what it means to bear the cross, it means that we must renounce everything that interferes with our following Christ. Often this renouncing of everything that interferes results in our suffering. We suffer when our teachers and class mates look down on us for trusting in the Bible, God’s Word, over science. We suffer when our friends reject us for being “too good”. We suffer when we are passed over for a promotion at work for being “to honest” to get the job done. We suffer when the peace in our home is disrupted when a member of the family rejects Christ and the Church. And sometimes we even suffer at the cost of our own lives, like the poor Christians in China.
With all of this suffering in this life for being a Christian why would anyone want to become or be one? First the reward is out of this world. Jesus tells us, And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:13) We pray that the Holy Spirit keeps our eye on the prize: Reconciliation with God through faith in Christ Jesus. The reward is worth way more than the sufferings of this life, we share not only in Christ’s suffering, but also in His glory. Through Jesus suffering, which was way more than an of us will ever endure in this life, we receive that ultimate peace. Peace with God and the restoration of creation.
The second reason we can endure suffering the cross is that it is from God. Christians shouldn’t impose the cross upon ourselves or upon other. Only God knows which cross will benefit you and only God gives you the strength needed to bear the cross. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Cor. 10:13) Or as it says in the King James version, that ye may be able to bear it. GOD should be the one who decided what kind and how much you can bear. God is our loving Father, and like a loving earthly father He corrects each of us as individuals as we need it, He knows what we need to form us, but He also loves us all equally. It is no more our job to decide how we are to bear the cross, than a child has the right to decide how they are going to be raised. Dr. Luther tells us about those who unnecessarily impose the cross upon themselves and other he says, “you are the devil’s martyr and not Christ’s…” As Christians it is our job to build one another up not to test each other’s faith. God gives us what we can endure never more than we can bear. And we can endure all things through Christ Jesus.
Jesus endured all things for us so that we might be forgiven and freed from death and sin. The only way that we can bear our cross is because Christ bore His for us. Bearing the cross as a Christian isn’t necessarily wearing a gold cross necklace around your neck it’s wearing Christ’s name given to you in baptism even when it means we suffer for that name. And remember in this life we don’t all bear the same form of the cross. God decides what we should endure for our instruction and benefit. And since it is God who decides what our cross will be who can boast? We should neither boast nor despair, God love all His Children the same. We can only rejoice in our suffering as we look forward to the Resurrection. Amen
