"The Old Cross and the New"
"The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam’s proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.
"The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.
"The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, Come and assert yourself for Christ. To the egotist it says, Come and do your boasting in the Lord. To the thrill-seeker it says, Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship. The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
"The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected; he was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromises, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more." -- by A. W. Tozer
"And [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23)."
The Cross is the means by which we enter, as well as live, the Christian life. Most Christians understand how we enter by way of the Cross. That is, we know that the death of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood, redeemed us from being dead in our sins. It satisfied the judgment of God against us and opened the door to fellowship with our heavenly Father.
This knowledge is sufficient for us to be saved, but if we only know the work of the Cross in terms of what Jesus did we will be unable to live out the Christian life in a meaningful way. Though forgiven, we will find ourselves unable to forsake the sins we may have just repented of. Please note that Christ called upon people to take up THEIR Cross as individuals and follow Him. Before He ever took up the physical cross and died for our sins, He bid us to bear a Cross of our own as a prerequisite for following Him. Moreover, He tells us the Cross we are called to bear is not a once-and-for-all transaction. Jesus died for our sins once, and there is no further sacrifice to be made. God does not require Him to take up the cross and die daily for our sins, yet He tells us to take up our Cross daily and follow Him. What is this?
Our passage in Luke gives us a clue that the passage in Matthew does not give. The physical cross is nothing in and of itself. The Roman procurator who sentenced Jesus to death, Pontious Pilate, was alone responsible for the death of thousands of criminals on wooden crosses. If someone understands us to say that there is intrinsic power in a wooden upright post and crossbeam then they miss the point. The Cross is a principle, a philosophy, a standard, a symbol of self-denial. When we speak of Christ's death on the physical cross we do not capitalize the word "cross". It is merely an instrument of death and it was a once-and-for-all event, thank God. But when we speak of the Cross as a call to self-denial and discipleship, we capitalize the word "Cross" because it is something more than a method of execution, it is an attitude of daily denying the Self, submitting one's life into the Hand of Another, and giving ourselves up to die to our own will that we may follow His will.
But there is more. Please understand that the Cross is more than death; it is resurrection as well. This is unique to the Cross we are called to bear. The physical cross always ended in death for its victims, Jesus Christ being the only exception. Similarly, the Cross as a principle working within us comprises death and life, burial and resurrection. God does not kill us in order to eradicate us or to render us non-existent. No, no, no, a thousand times no! All that is nailed to the Cross is one day brought to Resurrection! Did not Jesus say if we lose our life we will save it? Did not Jesus say if a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it brings forth much fruit? Hallelujah! This is the glory of the Cross! It is no glory to just die like a dog and cease to exist. No, we have something more glorious in mind than this. The Cross is not the end of me, but the beginning of me - a new man, a reborn me, a newly created me! Yet it is not I, but Christ! I cannot truly live for God until I truly die to myself. Then, the life I receive is resurrected life. Friends, when we overcome death and are resurrected, we cannot die again! Death has no more power over us!
It behooves us, then, to deny ourselves, take up the Cross DAILY, and follow Jesus. Suppose a doctor asks, "Are you alive?" How would you respond? The question of life and death is applicable to your current state, not your previous experience. In other words, you would not say you are alive because you were born thirty years before, or because you had a birthday last week. These are but historical facts; it does not necessarily mean you are alive and well TODAY. Upon hearing of the death of someone, you might comment that they appeared to be quite well the day before. Nevertheless, they are dead today. Life is a daily condition, not a historical one.
In like manner, the question of spiritual life is a matter of my condition today, not five, ten, twenty, or fifty years ago. Since this is the case, it is not enough to take up the Cross in the beginning. In order to live today, we must have His Life today; and in order to experience His Life daily, we must have His Death daily. After many years we can perhaps smile, sing, appear loving, and be very engaged in spiritual work, yet have little Life, vitality, or freshness of spirit. All we have to do is open our mouth and people with discernment will quickly perceive if we are bringing forth Life or Death. We can repeat word for word what we said last week, but if we have not touched Life today we are only babbling spiritual phraseology. Or, we can hear a message and touch the Life of the Lord in the brother or sister who shares it. Then we bring it home and relate it to our brothers and sisters, employing the same words and illustrations, yet it fails to bring Life to the hearers. Why? It was a borrowed Life, not an actual entering into Christ and receiving from Him. The words may be correct, but without Life even correct words are of little value.
Christ compared His flesh to the bread from heaven, called manna, which fell daily and sustained the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt and subsequent wandering in the desert . Each day a new journey was made to collect fresh manna. All that was not eaten by sunset would become worms by sunrise. We are grateful for the multitude which have tasted of the Lord's goodness, but the issue is not in tasting the Lord, but in feeding upon Him daily. Is this your experience? Our Lord was born in a little town called Beth-Lehem, which means, "House of Bread". Christ taught us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread." Day by day we eat His flesh and drink His blood. This speaks of Life and daily communion. No matter what our previous history and walk with God, everything hinges upon today and now. Union must be maintained; fellowship must be unbroken; communion must be continuous; abiding is always a present action.
How do we maintain the Life of the Lord in us? Was is the testimony of the apostle Paul? "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you (II Corinthians 4:7-12)." In another place, he says, "I die daily (I Corinthians 15:31)." This is what it means to take up the Cross daily. We desire the Lord's Life daily, so we must have His Death working in us daily. There is no resurrection without crucifixion.
The answer to why there is so little power and genuine spiritual fruit in the lives of those who follow Jesus is a simple one: they desire the Life of the Lord, but not His Death. They want a daily pouring out of the Lord's Life, but they shun the prospect of daily sharing in His Death. Why do we commit to teaching this in depth? Why do we belabor the point incessantly? Because the saints of the Lord are well instructed in living victoriously, being blessed, walking in power, overcoming the enemy, and living up to their potential. By comparison, the majority of them know next to nothing about self-denial, bearing their Cross, boasting in their weaknesses, being joyful in trials, winning by losing, gaining by giving up, working by resting, accepting both the bitter and the sweet as gifts from God, enduring hardness and accepting suffering. God desires to increase us and enlarge us; He therefore call us to go back to the Cross and start over again.
Christ says we must die in order to live; we must first take up the Cross before we are fit to follow Jesus. This is the call of the Cross. Who will accept it?
"The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam’s proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.
"The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.
"The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, Come and assert yourself for Christ. To the egotist it says, Come and do your boasting in the Lord. To the thrill-seeker it says, Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship. The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
"The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected; he was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromises, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more." -- by A. W. Tozer
"And [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23)."
The Cross is the means by which we enter, as well as live, the Christian life. Most Christians understand how we enter by way of the Cross. That is, we know that the death of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood, redeemed us from being dead in our sins. It satisfied the judgment of God against us and opened the door to fellowship with our heavenly Father.
This knowledge is sufficient for us to be saved, but if we only know the work of the Cross in terms of what Jesus did we will be unable to live out the Christian life in a meaningful way. Though forgiven, we will find ourselves unable to forsake the sins we may have just repented of. Please note that Christ called upon people to take up THEIR Cross as individuals and follow Him. Before He ever took up the physical cross and died for our sins, He bid us to bear a Cross of our own as a prerequisite for following Him. Moreover, He tells us the Cross we are called to bear is not a once-and-for-all transaction. Jesus died for our sins once, and there is no further sacrifice to be made. God does not require Him to take up the cross and die daily for our sins, yet He tells us to take up our Cross daily and follow Him. What is this?
Our passage in Luke gives us a clue that the passage in Matthew does not give. The physical cross is nothing in and of itself. The Roman procurator who sentenced Jesus to death, Pontious Pilate, was alone responsible for the death of thousands of criminals on wooden crosses. If someone understands us to say that there is intrinsic power in a wooden upright post and crossbeam then they miss the point. The Cross is a principle, a philosophy, a standard, a symbol of self-denial. When we speak of Christ's death on the physical cross we do not capitalize the word "cross". It is merely an instrument of death and it was a once-and-for-all event, thank God. But when we speak of the Cross as a call to self-denial and discipleship, we capitalize the word "Cross" because it is something more than a method of execution, it is an attitude of daily denying the Self, submitting one's life into the Hand of Another, and giving ourselves up to die to our own will that we may follow His will.
But there is more. Please understand that the Cross is more than death; it is resurrection as well. This is unique to the Cross we are called to bear. The physical cross always ended in death for its victims, Jesus Christ being the only exception. Similarly, the Cross as a principle working within us comprises death and life, burial and resurrection. God does not kill us in order to eradicate us or to render us non-existent. No, no, no, a thousand times no! All that is nailed to the Cross is one day brought to Resurrection! Did not Jesus say if we lose our life we will save it? Did not Jesus say if a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it brings forth much fruit? Hallelujah! This is the glory of the Cross! It is no glory to just die like a dog and cease to exist. No, we have something more glorious in mind than this. The Cross is not the end of me, but the beginning of me - a new man, a reborn me, a newly created me! Yet it is not I, but Christ! I cannot truly live for God until I truly die to myself. Then, the life I receive is resurrected life. Friends, when we overcome death and are resurrected, we cannot die again! Death has no more power over us!
It behooves us, then, to deny ourselves, take up the Cross DAILY, and follow Jesus. Suppose a doctor asks, "Are you alive?" How would you respond? The question of life and death is applicable to your current state, not your previous experience. In other words, you would not say you are alive because you were born thirty years before, or because you had a birthday last week. These are but historical facts; it does not necessarily mean you are alive and well TODAY. Upon hearing of the death of someone, you might comment that they appeared to be quite well the day before. Nevertheless, they are dead today. Life is a daily condition, not a historical one.
In like manner, the question of spiritual life is a matter of my condition today, not five, ten, twenty, or fifty years ago. Since this is the case, it is not enough to take up the Cross in the beginning. In order to live today, we must have His Life today; and in order to experience His Life daily, we must have His Death daily. After many years we can perhaps smile, sing, appear loving, and be very engaged in spiritual work, yet have little Life, vitality, or freshness of spirit. All we have to do is open our mouth and people with discernment will quickly perceive if we are bringing forth Life or Death. We can repeat word for word what we said last week, but if we have not touched Life today we are only babbling spiritual phraseology. Or, we can hear a message and touch the Life of the Lord in the brother or sister who shares it. Then we bring it home and relate it to our brothers and sisters, employing the same words and illustrations, yet it fails to bring Life to the hearers. Why? It was a borrowed Life, not an actual entering into Christ and receiving from Him. The words may be correct, but without Life even correct words are of little value.
Christ compared His flesh to the bread from heaven, called manna, which fell daily and sustained the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt and subsequent wandering in the desert . Each day a new journey was made to collect fresh manna. All that was not eaten by sunset would become worms by sunrise. We are grateful for the multitude which have tasted of the Lord's goodness, but the issue is not in tasting the Lord, but in feeding upon Him daily. Is this your experience? Our Lord was born in a little town called Beth-Lehem, which means, "House of Bread". Christ taught us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread." Day by day we eat His flesh and drink His blood. This speaks of Life and daily communion. No matter what our previous history and walk with God, everything hinges upon today and now. Union must be maintained; fellowship must be unbroken; communion must be continuous; abiding is always a present action.
How do we maintain the Life of the Lord in us? Was is the testimony of the apostle Paul? "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you (II Corinthians 4:7-12)." In another place, he says, "I die daily (I Corinthians 15:31)." This is what it means to take up the Cross daily. We desire the Lord's Life daily, so we must have His Death working in us daily. There is no resurrection without crucifixion.
The answer to why there is so little power and genuine spiritual fruit in the lives of those who follow Jesus is a simple one: they desire the Life of the Lord, but not His Death. They want a daily pouring out of the Lord's Life, but they shun the prospect of daily sharing in His Death. Why do we commit to teaching this in depth? Why do we belabor the point incessantly? Because the saints of the Lord are well instructed in living victoriously, being blessed, walking in power, overcoming the enemy, and living up to their potential. By comparison, the majority of them know next to nothing about self-denial, bearing their Cross, boasting in their weaknesses, being joyful in trials, winning by losing, gaining by giving up, working by resting, accepting both the bitter and the sweet as gifts from God, enduring hardness and accepting suffering. God desires to increase us and enlarge us; He therefore call us to go back to the Cross and start over again.
Christ says we must die in order to live; we must first take up the Cross before we are fit to follow Jesus. This is the call of the Cross. Who will accept it?
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