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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, March 2, 2008
 

As we gather around this table we understand it to be a table of remembrance.  Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”  We remember His sacrificial death for us, the bread speaks of His broken body on the cross, the cup speaks of His spilt blood.  We remember that Jesus laid down His life for us as the perfect sacrifice so that through faith in Him we may know forgiveness of sin and life with God.  That, we understand is the primary meaning and celebration of this table. 

But when we participate in communion something else is happening here too – there’s more.  We don’t simply look at the bread and the cup and remember Jesus Christ.  We don’t simply pass the bread and the cup saying to each other – look at this – bread and cup!   No.  We participate.  We actually take the bread with our fingers and put it to our lips.  We pick up the cup and we swallow it down.  So, communion is not only an act of remembrance it is an act of dedication.  Where we are saying, Lord I recognize that You gave your life for me on the cross – now I give my life to You – I give up my life and recognize that You are the source of all life, come and live in me. 

We take the bread and the cup in.

We know that the bread is not the real body of Christ and the cup is not the real blood of Christ  - we know that it doesn’t magically become that as we say the right words. And we know what Jesus says in John 6:53,54 - “… Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life ..” 

We know that He is using shocking language – He didn’t want His disciples to physically eat Him as a cannibal would cook someone up for dinner.  We know that.  He’s using shocking language to get a point across. 

But there is a sense that this bread is the body of Christ and this cup is the blood of Christ – while not being the actual body and blood it is the body and blood of Christ.  It’s kind of like a photograph.  Who is that?  It’s not really Patrick,  is it?  It’s a representation of him.  It is such a strong representation of him, that we say that it’s the actual person - it is Patrick. 

And so with the bread and the cup – it’s such a strong representation of who Jesus is that we say that it is Jesus. 

So what we are doing during communion is very significant.  It is not just remembering Jesus and His sacrificial death – as important and wonderful and glorious as that is – we are moved to repentance and thanksgiving and joy because of it – but it is also an act of participation – where we say Jesus Christ means everything to me and I live in Him as He lives in me.

It’s an act of commitment where we say Jesus I want your life in me more than I want my own life in me. It’s an act where we say I will die to self and live for You. 

Jesus puts it another way for us in our text at verse 23– “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  And it is this I want us to think on today. 

If you look at the context of this passage you see that at the beginning of chapter 9 Jesus is sending out the twelve disciples, two by two, on a healing and preaching mission.

You will notice at verse 7 that their mission spreads the fame of Jesus so that Herod the governor of Galilee hears about Him, “and he was perplexed .”  People are telling Herod different things about who Jesus actually is.  Some are telling Herod that Jesus is John the Baptist, whom Herod had had killed - and he had been raised from the dead.  “Others said that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life.”  And Herod at verse 9 basically asks, “Who is this man?” 

Then in verse 10 on we see that Jesus is winning the popular support of the people – they flock to Him in the thousands to hear His teaching and then stay late for dinner.  His popularity has peaked and from here on it will be increasingly difficult for Jesus to carry out this mission of preaching and healing because of the jealousy of the religious authorities.  

So it is at this point that Jesus begins to reveal His identity to His disciples. And at verse 20 He asks them, “Who do you say that I am? Never mind what the crowds say, never mind what Herod thinks - Who do you say that I am?”

And Peter in a moment of God-given inspiration says, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of God.”

But we all know that it is one thing to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, as the Messiah, but quiet another to understand what that means.  It’s clear that the creed of the disciples is correct – You are the Christ – good stuff, that’s a good creed.  But what Jesus now has to teach them is the character that must follow that creed.

Are you like that?  Do you have all the right answers about the faith? Is your doctrine all lined up and correct and neat?  That’s good – but what we have to make sure is that our doctrine, our believes translate into our personal experience.  When our doctrine does not become a life style we are but a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.  All noise.  It is of utmost importance to have a correct creed AND a correct character. 

And when we have the creed right but not the character we do a lot of damage to the Christian cause.  This is why I believe Jesus says in verse 21 of our text, “Don’t tell anyone yet.  Don’t tell anyone that I’m the Christ.”  

And so Jesus says – “Hey you’ve got the creed right!  Way to go! Now let me tell you about the character that has got to match.”    

Jesus first educates them as to what it means to be the Messiah – Verse 22: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” 

And then He goes on to tell them what it means to be a follower of the Messiah.  We may have the creed – Jesus is the Messiah – but now what does the character of a Christian look like?  What does it mean for us to be followers of Christ.    

Verse 23: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself.”  What does that mean?  He calls us to deny our very selves.  He is calling us to give control of our lives to God and say not my will, Lord, but Your will be done.  If you want to be My disciple, Jesus said, then you must stop wanting to control everything and let God control everything.

Letting God control your life is like driving with a person to a certain destination.  You are driving and the other person has the map.  You’re both sure of where you want to go but can’t agree on how to get there, even though you know the other person has the map.  So that instead of turning left like your navigator tells you, you turn right because you are in control and you’re sure that it’s the right way to go.  But soon the scenery becomes unfamiliar and you end up getting lost and you have to admit to your passenger that she was right all long. 

There once was a man named Abraham – and he let God control his life.  He only had one son – and even though he had been promised by God to be the Father of a great nation and that all nations of the world would be blessed through him – he had only one son.  And then one day God called Abraham to build an altar and offer his son as a sacrifice.  And Abraham did what he was told. He gathered the wood, sharpened the knife and took his son to the mountain to offer him to God.  His son Isaac as they were walking along said, “Dad, I see we have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?” 

And Abraham gives an evasive, but prophetic answer – “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” 

And when they reached the place where God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.  He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 

And God stops him saying, “I know that you revere me because you have not held back from me the one means of blessing for you – you have not held back your son.”  

That’s self denial.  That’s giving up control.  It’s difficult to do, isn’t it?  But if we are to be followers of Christ that is what is required. 

We speak a lot today about our rights.  Everyone knows their rights – and everyone is quick to remind you of them.  When we deny ourselves we are giving up our rights to God.  We have no rights.  We give up our right to be loved by everyone – Jesus says if you follow Him the world will hate you. 

We give up our right to comfort – Jesus says that if we follow Him we need to realize that our Master had no place to lay His head – even though foxes have holes and birds have nests. 

If we follow Jesus we need to give up our right to prosperity – that’s not to say that His disciples won’t experience prosperity – but now instead of insisting on it we say, I deny myself and whatever you provide, O God, is what I’ll take. 

We give up our right to revenge – because Jesus said forgive your enemies.  We give up our right to be first place – because Jesus said the first will be last.  We give up our right to pride – For Jesus said the blessed are the meek.  Do you see?  To deny ourselves is to let God control our lives.  It is to give up our rights. 

This call is far more demanding than it first appears for it is never easy to say “no” to myself.  I mean, if I crave a bag of Doritos, I go down to the cold room and pull open a bag of Doritos.  There aren’t many times in my life when I have to say no to my cravings, my desires.  So when Jesus comes and says you have to deny yourself, it’s not easy, but it is what is required.

Then Jesus says, that His followers must take up their cross daily. Usually we think of a cross as any kind of suffering or pain which we have to endure or putting up with a husband who won’t pick up after himself.   We say, “O, that’s the cross that I have to bear.”

But this passage doesn’t hint at that interpretation at all.  Our cross must be compared to the cross that Jesus bore and that wasn’t a cross of suffering, although it was part of it – it was a cross of submission.  Jesus is calling us to submit daily to the will and guidance of God. 

Let me put this in practical terms – to carry our cross I believe requires two attitudes of us.

One is repentance.  To repent means to change our mind and our behaviour.  It is a recognition of sin as sin.  It is not longer allowing sin to go unnoticed in our lives – it is no longer excusing sin in our lives – it is recognizing our greed and lust and anger and bitterness and envy and selfishness for what it is – sin. 

It is coming before God, in brokenness and humility and confess to Him holding nothing back, our pride and our self-will and our stiff-necked opposition to His way of doing things.  To carry our cross means coming before God in repentance daily. 

The other attitude is wholeheartedness.  If there is one attitude that the church of North America suffers from it is half-heartedness.  But what God is looking for is wholeheartedness.  A person who is half committed to following Christ is like a watch that works only half of the time, it can’t be counted on.

If we want to be fully used by God we need to be fully surrendered to Him. 

John Michael Talbot – the Franciscan friar and popular Christian singer once related how every time he prayed for a couple of years he had a vision before him of the world’s hungry and poor.  It got to the point where he didn’t dare stop and pray because of the pain that it caused him whenever God put that impression before him.  And finally he cried out to God, “What are you doing to me, Lord?  As a Fransiscan I have given up everything to you.  I’ve given up my wealth, I’ve given up the possibility of a family, my freedom to do as I please. What more can I give You?”  And finally when he became really desperate, the answer came in a still small voice.  God said, “Michael are you willing to give to me your vocation as a Franciscan Friar?” 

God wants us to give ourselves entirely to Him.  Coming before God in repentance and whole heartedness that is carrying our cross daily. 

I wonder what the cross is for you?  It’s a cross of submission for sure, but in what area of life have you not submitted and Jesus calls you to that yet.  It may be a friendship to be dropped, it may be a friendship to reconcile. It may be a habit that needs to be abandoned. It may be a pride that has to be humbled. It may be a prejudice that has to be crucified.

God will tell you what it is, if you give him a chance.  Then Jesus says, follow me.  After we have denied ourselves, and picked up our cross of submission to his will – Jesus doesn’t leave us alone.  He calls us to follow after him. 

What does it mean to follow?  You can cheer, “Hurray for Jesus,”  but that’s not following. You can admire - “Jesus is such a good teacher.”  But that’s not following.  To follow is to trust and obey.  I cannot follow unless I trust.  I cannot follow unless I obey. 

How am I to trust and obey? By denying myself and picking up my cross, that is submitting to Him.  That is to say “NO” to every wish that comes out of my personal life.  Deny self, do away with choosing, wishing planning, arranging for self.  Choose no more, will no more, only will what God wills. 

This past week I was at a conference at which a speaker said that Jesus Christ has not come to improve your life – He has come to be your life.  Jesus is not the fixer, He is not the adjuster, He is not the improver, He is the life. 

This morning as you take in communion.  Be careful about what you are doing.  Do not take it lightly.  By all means come and know the grace of Jesus Christ.  Come and celebrate.  But realize that we are participating in an act of commitment.  We are saying, Lord, come and be my life.  I die to my own desires.  I pick up my cross of submission.  I will follow you.

And you own spirit may rise and say, “What’s in it for me?”  And you respond – quiet – quiet – for it is after all Jesus, high and exalted One, the Lord of lords and King of kings who is calling us deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him – and so we trust and so we obey. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - March  2008