Good
Friday Bible Study
April
18, 2014
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved? Regular: 2900 words
Communion: 2500 words
I found three distinct times in the
gospels where Jesus makes is clear that those who follow Him must learn what it
means to “take up their cross”.
These all were given by Jesus
before He died on a cross.
I wonder what the disciples were thinking
when Jesus told them these things.
Instructing the apostles
When Jesus first called the twelve
disciples, He gave them some basic instructions before sending them on their
first mission trips.
(Matthew 10:38 NKJV) And he
who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
At Caesarea Philippi
Three of the gospels record an event where Jesus was meeting with His
disciples near Caesarea Philippi and He asks them to tell Him who they thought
He was.
This was the time when Peter responded with the correct answer, “You are
the Christ, the Son of the Living God”.
The conversation didn’t end there…
(Matthew 16:21–26
NKJV) —21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go
to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. 22 Then Peter
took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this
shall not happen to You!” 23 But He
turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the
things of men.”
When Jesus talked about being killed, Peter didn’t like it.
Peter said he would make sure that Jesus was safe. He would keep Jesus from dying.
And yet the truth is, this is why Jesus came. He came to die for us.
Our sins had separated us from God.
In order for our sins to be removed and our relationship with God restored,
someone needed to pay for our sins.
Jesus came to this earth for the purpose of dying on the cross.
The cross was God’s great plan for restoring mankind’s relationship with
Him.
It was at the cross that a great exchange took place:
(2 Corinthians
5:21 NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God didn’t do this because He was angry at Jesus.
God did this to save us.
Jesus did this to save us.
If you will choose to believe in Jesus, God promises to forgive your sins
and enter into a relationship with you.
(John 3:16 NKJV) For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The cross is a core event for Christianity.
It’s where Jesus paid for our sins.
It’s where Jesus prevailed over the powers of hell.
But the cross is also supposed to be an example that we ought to follow.
24 Then Jesus
said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and
loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Before Jesus talks about His disciples learning to take up their “cross”, Jesus
made it clear that He was going to do it first.
He was going to suffer and die.
And yet following Jesus does mean that there will be times when we must
“take up our cross”.
Our cross isn’t going to look like Jesus’ cross.
Jesus’ cross was a literal cross.
His cross involved dying for the sins of the world.
That was only something that Jesus could do.
To the rich young ruler
(Mark 10:17–21
NKJV) —17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before
Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal
life?” 18 So Jesus
said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is
good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not
murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do
not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” 20 And he
answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my
youth.” 21 Then Jesus,
looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way,
sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
Mark recorded that the fellow went away very sad because he didn’t want to
give up his possessions.
Jesus doesn’t make this a requirement for everyone – to sell all their
possessions.
But for this rich young man, his possessions were the things that were
keeping him from truly following Jesus.
They stood in the way between he and God.
Perhaps the “cross” involves learning to “die” to the things that keep you
from God.
A cross is necessary
Jesus’ cross was necessary for us to find forgiveness from God.
God has things He wants to keep doing in this world, and sometimes that
means that God needs people to pick up a cross every once in a while.
A cross isn’t a pleasant thing
Nails through your hands and feet aren’t fun.
It isn’t like eating chocolate cake.
It’s not even like eating broccoli.
It’s more like eating nails.
Criminals condemned to execution by crucifixion were required by law to
carry their cross to their place of execution.
It’s one thing to say you want to “come after” Jesus, but the question is,
what does that really look like to follow Jesus?
It means self denial.
It means that you are willing to go against the things that you want to do
in favor of doing the things that God wants you to do.
It means taking up your “cross”.
Luke even adds the word “daily”
(“take up your cross daily”)
(Mark 8:31–38 NKJV) —31 And He
began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be
rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after
three days rise again. 32 He spoke
this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33
But when He had turned around and looked
at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get
behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things
of men.” 34 When He had called
the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them,
“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross,
and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires
to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the
gospel’s will save it. 36 For what
will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37
Or what will a man give in exchange for
his soul? 38 For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and
sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in
the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
(Luke 9:21–26 NKJV) —21 And He
strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22
saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many
things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and be raised the third day.” 23 Then He
said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24
For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25
For what profit is it to a man if he
gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when
He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy
angels.