Radical Reformation

A friend and I have been discussing the problem of suffering in light of several comments, scripture references, and quotes I’ve made recently on Facebook. The discussion got heated when I quoted Kris Vallotton in “The Supernatural Ways of Royalty”:

We have made cross-carrying a career opportunity instead of a one-day event.

My friend made a point: “After all, Jesus Himself did say that we’re supposed to “take up our cross daily“, didn’t He? Besides, isn’t the Christian life supposed to be one of suffering and pain? That’s what God said! ” (note: that’s my paraphrase and reflects my perception of what she said… )

Well, yes, He did… and no, He didn’t. Let’s look at this concept of “taking up our cross” and see what it means:

• Matthew 10:38: And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
• Matthew 16:24: 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.
• Mark 8:34: 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.
• Mark 10:21: 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.”
• Luke 9:23: 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.

Five verses that all say essentially the same thing… one of which says, “take up the cross daily“.

Let’s look first at what “Follow Me” means. We’re to take up our cross and follow Him. Follow means, “Where You go I’ll go… what You do, I’ll do”… so where did He go, and what did He do? How often did He do it?

He is not eternally on the cross. He is not eternally suffering for our sins. He is not the eternally dying/raising to die and rise again “god” of the pagans. IT IS FINISHED!

Jesus said to follow Him…the Greek verb for “follow” (akoloutheō) is rendered in the imperative mood, making it a command. It means “to accompany or join with”. We are commanded to follow, to go along, to join with Him, to identify with Him… to go where He went… and to go where He goes.

Well… He isn’t hanging on the cross still, is He? How do we follow Him?

ONCE we are to take up the cross, ONCE get nailed to it, ONCE die, ONCE be taken down off it, ONCE be buried, ONCE be raised from the dead, and NOW be seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It’s all there in Romans 6 and Ephesians 2… this is how we’re to follow Him. WE MUST DIE!

But once the dying’s done, WE MUST LIVE!  And once we’re living, we are no longer citizens of this world, but citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Once we’re dead… and living… what is there to continually crucify?

Taking up the cross is a one-time event. Not our career. The Cross is finished work.

So why does Luke say that a man must, “take up his cross daily“? How can something that is finished happen again and again? That seems very incongruous and completely at odds with what what Scripture clearly says, as outlined above.

This word, “daily”, is hēmera in the Greek (ἡμέρα, G2250). It can indeed mean “daily” in the context of “do something on Monday. Do it again on Tuesday. Do it again and again; Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” However, it can also mean collectively, “all the days of your life” AND it can mean “one single day or point in time”. It comes from root words that mean to be disciplined or tamed, to wait in a season. The primary particle “kata” further modifies and intensifies this. I’m no Greek scholar (working on that), but it seems to make the whole phrase mean, “throughout one’s days”.

Romans 6 clearly teaches this death, our crucifixion, as a one-time event. We are to die and be reborn… and then (as my friend Lee O’Hare says)…quit practicing necromancy upon our old man… we must quit trespassing on that which is God’s. “Daily” in this context means something that begins at one point and then continues for the rest of our lives, unbroken… not something we must repeat again and again.

That which is dead is dead – for us to haul the old man up out of the ground and crucify him again and again is to say that Christ’s death on the cross and the salvation He offers was not good enough to be “once and for all”. In fact, this belief that we must crucify ourselves “daily” comes dangerously close to saying that we can be saved one day, unsaved the next (oops, didn’t crucify myself today), and then re-saved the following day. That’s works-based religion, not biblical salvation.

While I don’t believe that the Bible teaches the unconditional perseverance of the saints, I do see – quite clearly – that if we’re in Christ, our salvation is 100% secure.

We are supposed to die… and then we are supposed to LIVE forevermore.

That’s a far cry from the teaching that we must die again and again, and suffer endlessly, isn’t it? But doesn’t God say that’s precisely what we’re supposed to do? Not exactly.

To be continued in Part 2