Carry Your Cross

Dear Brethren,

It came to my attention this week that there is a man in one of the larger groups who has never heard about our incredible human potential as Children of God to be literally born into the Family of God.  He has been baptized for ten years and he has not heard about the Plan of God to recreate Himself, or that when Jesus Christ returns, we will be changed and we will be like He is:

“Beloved, now are we the Children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him.”  (1 John 3:2)

That man should have been taught at baptism that when having hands laid upon him, he was receiving God’s Spirit, and was a child of God – destined to grow spiritually and be born into the very Family of God.

It is inexcusable that this man in the Church of God has not been taught, and has not learned this basic truth.  We do not need to point fingers at the ministry whose job it is to teach, or at the brethren whose duty it is to be their brother’s keeper, or at the man himself who must be wholly lacking in good study habits.

However, we must call attention to the fact that Jesus warns us not to become complacent.  This lackadaisical tendency we see within the overall Church of God today is a perilous trend away from the high standards we once held.  This one example is indicative of the dangerous overall letdown in the Church that Jesus refers to as a Laodicean attitude of, “We’ve got it all.”

I tend to take it for granted that those who are hearing the Word of God being preached are at least somewhat well versed in the Scriptures.  I think to myself, “Everyone knows that Jesus was crucified on a stake – and not on a two-piece cross which is a pagan symbol of life.”  But when the brethren have not learned simple basics, do they know what Jesus meant when He said, “carry your cross.”

“Jesus said unto His disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  (Matthew 16:24)

“Take up your cross” means more than putting up with the problems that come our way: a difficult relationship, a complex job, a physical infirmity.  To “take up the cross” means to willingly give one’s life without reservation and follow in the steps of Jesus Christ – even to death for His sake, if necessary.  Carrying your cross means you are on your way to your death.  That is what Jesus meant.  In today’s sermon we will explore the many ways we are told to carry our cross.

I would like to compare and contrast what is happening in our nation of America to what is happening in our Church. Our hearts are aching for our people who have lost their way.  In the same way that our country is being “dumbed down,” and forgetting the basic proper regard for our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Freedom, Law, Patriotism and Liberty, our Church is also slipping away from our basic understanding that sets us apart from Protestantism. 

In the same way that our country is in trouble, our Church is in a state of letdown.  Are we losing the vision entirely?  As our nation once looked to God, so did the Church; and as our nation has ceased to depend on God, we must ask ourselves in the Church, “To what extent do we look to God as we once did?”

America surged forward when President George Washington called upon the nation to look to God.  In 1789, George Washington and both Houses of Congress believed:  “… it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour… that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”

In our infancy as a nation they prayed and asked, …“our great Lord and Ruler of Nations…, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions… and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.”

Seventy-four years later, our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln expressed a similar faith in calling our country to repent of their even greater national sins, ... “the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God...with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.”

Immediately following the Civil War a great resurgence of population and prosperity occurred.  Can you imagine the acknowledgment of our great Creator God, and those same fervent sentiments being expressed by our President and Congress today?  How far has our nation fallen?  It has become inconceivable for our national leaders to bless God’s name with one consent.  If our nation would return to God with the same fervor possessed by our forefathers our nation would be spared the devastation that will soon befall us:

“If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

We in the Church of God must return unto the Lord.

“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne.”  (Revelation 3:21)