CLC Sermon question for the week - (sorry, no Michael Jackson performances this week)
If you hear the words "We are one" within a religious context, do you hear them spoken as a statement, question, or something else entirely?) I wonder if your response is directly correlated with your comfort level in church on Sunday morning or with the idea of church/organized religion to begin with?
Responses to this BLOG can and will be repeated during the sermon tomorrow! :)
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Take up your cross...with Me.
This past weekend I delivered a message based on the last portion of chapter 8 in the gospel of Mark. This is an excerpt from the larger passage which was used... (34b-38)
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
This time of year, pastors often provide sermons/messages on Christ's journey to the cross. One of the ways we can follow Christ's example is indeed to do what he asks in the scripture above...take up our cross. This week, there were people in the congregation who both stopped me after service and also mentioned to me in emails that they WANT to give up their life as Christ asks...they want to give up their personal/selfish desires...they want to take up their cross, but they feel like it will be so hard. Or they feel like when they do try, it is too heavy to carry alone.
Some also mentioned to me that they feel like they've made small changes in their lives, but feel Christ calling them to MORE sacrifice...MORE service. All of these things can cause us to fear what we know to be true. As disciples of Christ, we are called to the cross.
I tried to tell each of them that I often feel the same way. Whenever I decide to "take up my cross", I find myself not only wondering how I am going to carry the cross more than a few feet, BUT ALSO how I will be able to carry it tomorrow.
What I didn't talk enough about in my sermon was this...taking up your cross is not something you have to do alone. Check out Matthew 11:29-30...
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Admittedly these scripture passages were not recorded together, but in the larger context of Christ's teaching I think they help provide to us a more complete promise and message. Jesus has already carried the cross for you. He asks us now, as His disciples, to be willing to do the same. THAT BEING SAID, he also promises us that we can learn from Him, lean on Him, and walk WITH HIM as we carry our cross.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light...those words DON'T tell me that a choice to live sacrificially and carry a burden/cross will necessarily be EASY, but they do remind me that I am making a mistake when assuming I ever have to carry the cross alone.
This lenten season, as I pray that God reveals to me ways that I can be a better disciple by taking up my own cross, I will also pray that God reminds all of us that HE has already carried the heaviest burden, the sin of all creation, with Him to the cross. That is a much heavier cross than I will ever have to bear. So, what burden should I fear? If Christ has already conquered the cross, let us all have the faith to acknowledge there is no cross we cannot bear WITH Christ when we choose to be yoked to Him.
I'm praying for you...would you pray for me.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
This time of year, pastors often provide sermons/messages on Christ's journey to the cross. One of the ways we can follow Christ's example is indeed to do what he asks in the scripture above...take up our cross. This week, there were people in the congregation who both stopped me after service and also mentioned to me in emails that they WANT to give up their life as Christ asks...they want to give up their personal/selfish desires...they want to take up their cross, but they feel like it will be so hard. Or they feel like when they do try, it is too heavy to carry alone.
Some also mentioned to me that they feel like they've made small changes in their lives, but feel Christ calling them to MORE sacrifice...MORE service. All of these things can cause us to fear what we know to be true. As disciples of Christ, we are called to the cross.
I tried to tell each of them that I often feel the same way. Whenever I decide to "take up my cross", I find myself not only wondering how I am going to carry the cross more than a few feet, BUT ALSO how I will be able to carry it tomorrow.
What I didn't talk enough about in my sermon was this...taking up your cross is not something you have to do alone. Check out Matthew 11:29-30...
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Admittedly these scripture passages were not recorded together, but in the larger context of Christ's teaching I think they help provide to us a more complete promise and message. Jesus has already carried the cross for you. He asks us now, as His disciples, to be willing to do the same. THAT BEING SAID, he also promises us that we can learn from Him, lean on Him, and walk WITH HIM as we carry our cross.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light...those words DON'T tell me that a choice to live sacrificially and carry a burden/cross will necessarily be EASY, but they do remind me that I am making a mistake when assuming I ever have to carry the cross alone.
This lenten season, as I pray that God reveals to me ways that I can be a better disciple by taking up my own cross, I will also pray that God reminds all of us that HE has already carried the heaviest burden, the sin of all creation, with Him to the cross. That is a much heavier cross than I will ever have to bear. So, what burden should I fear? If Christ has already conquered the cross, let us all have the faith to acknowledge there is no cross we cannot bear WITH Christ when we choose to be yoked to Him.
I'm praying for you...would you pray for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)