THE WAY OF WORSHIP

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

I think the phrase, “for My sake” beautifully encapsulates the concept of “God-Centeredness” – a subject which I have previously begun to address, for I believe it to be both foundational and prophetic for the Church. (See "God-Centeredness" blog) The Fall of Humanity has been a fall into self-centeredness, and this self-centeredness is the greatest hindrance to God-Centeredness. I have also written that The Way of the Cross is God’s way of displacing our self-centeredness to move us back in the direction of God-Centeredness. (See "The Way of the Cross" Parts I-IV blogs) In this present article, I will focus on what the Holy Spirit has been dealing with me about regarding the phenomena of our seeking to “save” our lives while the Lord encourages us to “lose” our lives. It is obvious that it takes faith to “Let go, and let God.” – that is, to “lose our lives”. What may be a little less obvious is that we “seek to save our lives” because of unbelief. It is that “unbelief” that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about in my own personal life and what I hope to communicate to you here.

“FOR MY SAKE”
“It’s not about you; it’s all about God.” Unfortunately this statement has almost become clichéd, but in its reality, it portrays a truly God-Centered perspective for our Christian faith. It’s a sad fact that we can travel very far along on our spiritual journey and still be trapped in “It’s all about me.” Typically we’re not aware of this until the Spirit of Truth Who “desires truth in our innermost being” (Psalm 51:6) removes the veil from our hearts and minds. When we do embrace the reality that “It’s all about Him”, we come to the place where we see God for Who He is and see ourselves for who we are – Creator and createes. Then, and only then, do we begin to understand and find our place in HIS story and how our lives can “serve the purpose of God in our generation”. (Acts 13:36)


SEEING THE “UP-LIFTEDNESS” OF GOD
We lived and ministered in South Africa for 13 years, and during this time I became very good friends with a Brazilian who was pastoring a Portuguese-speaking church in Johannesburg. He would regularly have me come to minister in his church there, and over the years, we became very close around the Person of Christ. He eventually returned to his homeland and planted a church in the Rio de Janeiro area. Five times, he arranged month-long ministry itineraries for me in Brazil. It was in 1995, during one of these missions, after ministering to a church in Pau Grande, a town outside of Rio, the local pastor invited us to travel up the old road towards the city of Petrópolis on a mountain overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. The purpose was to meet and pray with a man who had been living alone in a hut on the mountain for a number of years praying for Rio de Janeiro. After meeting the man, it was suggested that we separate on the mountain, pray individually, and then re-group and pray together.

As I stood on a large boulder and looked out on the panorama of Rio de Janeiro below, the opening verse to Isaiah 6 emerged from my spirit into my mind:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (Isaiah 6:1) 

I immediately knew that this wasn’t necessarily pertaining to Rio de Janeiro. What the Holy Spirit was speaking was being spoken to me. The simple message was this: “Isaiah has seen Me ‘high and lifted up. You haven’t.” I did not feel “put down” by the Lord. It just seemed that He wanted me to see something I needed to see. Then these words came up from my heart: “You have seen very well the falleness of Humanity - and this is necessary and good. But you also need to see the ‘up-liftedness’ of God.” I knew what He meant: I had clear insight into the fallen human condition - sin and its pervasive and tragic consequences in the lives of people. It had repeatedly pierced my heart for 33 years on 4 continents. I knew well the theological and experiential “death (which is) the wages of sin”. But I hadn’t sufficiently seen the “up-liftedness” of God – His redemptive power over sin and death. I hadn’t received sufficient revelation or personal experience of this in my life and ministry. Indeed, this had a limiting effect on my life and ministry. The effect had been specifically on my faith – and “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)

FAITH

I need to explain what I mean by “faith”. I believe my understanding is based on what is conveyed throughout the scriptures of the Bible. The Greek word translated “faith” in the verb form (for faith is an “action” word) is pisteuo, which means to believe, to trust, to depend upon, to lean upon. Therefore to “grow in faith” is to grow in dependency. Biblically, the object of such reliance is God, not self. This is expressly why Worship, and also the Way of the Cross, displace our self-centeredness and move us in the direction of God-Centeredness. When we do not have sufficient faith (reliance) in God, we tend to become self-reliant, and also begin to place our reliance on people, places and things. Unconsciously, we begin to fall into the trap of “seeking to save our lives”.

I have to admit that 15 years after that experience on the mountain in Brazil, I cannot say that this deficit in my faith has improved. In fact, it seems that in the years I have been back in the States I have seen more of my own falleness and brokenness, more of the falleness and brokenness in the lives of those I love, as well as in the society around me. The Holy Spirit has begun to make me acutely aware that I still need to see the Lord’s “up-liftedness” by showing me even more clearly how my faith, life and ministry has been limited by this lack. The details are too deep and pervasive to try to communicate here. Suffice to say, I have come to a personal spiritual crisis point. As the father of the demonized son said: “I do believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) As the apostles asked the Lord: “Increase our faith.” (Luke 17:5)

Recently I saw the 2008 film adaptation of the John Patrick Shanley stage play Doubt: A Parable, which starred Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn and Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius. I highly recommend the film. I attended a Catholic church school in the ‘60s, and I would say that Shanley set the story in a 1964 Catholic church school in New York in a very authentic way. Hofffman and Steep portrayed their characters excellently. Without giving away the story line, both characters had a crisis of faith – doubt – based both upon their own shortcomings, but also upon their ministry experience of the human condition. We might say, their faith had become “jaded”. One of the descriptions the Thesaurus lists under the word “jaded” is the very apt phrase - “world-weary”. In the character portrayals, I think Shanley and the actors ingeniously brought out some deep truths regarding “doubt” or incomplete faith. In the case of the Catholic priest, the natural outlet for him was to give a sermon about “doubt”. As it turns out, his weakness of faith was the root of a serious sin. In the case of the Catholic nun, her “doubt” is finally admitted to in the powerful closing scene of the film. But near the end of the film, one begins to realize that it was because her faith was almost gasping for its final breath, that she was driven to single-handedly work and succeed at exposing the sin of the priest – seemingly quite without the help of God. And that’s the point! If you don’t believe God can or will do it, almost out of necessity, you are driven to do it! If you don’t have faith in God, you find yourself struggling alone against the sin and death in this world! That will make you “world-weary”!

I long to be able to say like Isaiah: “I saw the Lord, and He was high and lifted up.” And like Job who said: "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.” (Job 42:5) Think about all that Job went through – typifying the consequences of the brokenness of Man. But also think of the “the outcome of the Lord’s dealings” with Job. (James 5:11) The culmination of the Job story is that God had brought him to a spiritual place – Job came to the place of seeing the Lord – “high and lifted up”. It is there that we begin to have the “faith that overcomes the world” (I John 5:4) – namely, faith in God’s redemptive power over the sin and death that pervades human existence.

THE WAY OF WORSHIP

So, what will “help our unbelief”? What will help us see the “up-liftedness” of God? This is what the Holy Spirit has shown me – it’s really nothing new – it is something very foundational: Worship. By worship, I mean recognizing and responding to the worthiness of God. It can be said that “Seeing” is the first part of worship – that which precedes and precipitates the second part, which is Response. Certainly throughout the Scriptures of the Bible when someone “sees” the Lord, the immediate response is worship. (Genesis 35:7; Leviticus 9:24; II Chronicles 7:3; Matthew 14:33; Revelation 7:11, 11:16, 19:4)

An excellent form of worship is to reflect on the names and attributes of God through Bible teaching and /or small group discussion, with praise and thanksgiving to God for Who He is. There are good books on the names and attributes of God. Lists of God’s names and attributes are also available on the Internet. {The Names of God, Andrew Jukes (Kregel); The Attributes of God, Arthur W. Pink (Baker); Knowing God, J.I. Packer (IVP); The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer (Harper Row)} But the following excerpt from the Westminster Confession of Faith gives a wonderful introduction to the concept of seeing and worshiping God for Who He is:

“There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal, most just, and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.” (From Chapter 2 of the Westminster Confession)

Undoubtedly, when we see God for Who He truly is, our faith will be truly strengthened.

TRUTH: AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD

Recently, we attended a training conference equipping us to lead small groups in the The Truth Project. The Truth Project is a Christian worldview curriculum presented by Del Tackett of the Focus on the Family Institute. I found it to be more than a series on the Christian world view – it is truly a series on a God-Centered world view. The series is founded upon and begins with Truth as an attribute of God.

Jesus said: “I am … the truth .…” (John 14:6) “…truth was realized through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus said to Pilate: “…For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37) Jesus promised that His true disciples would “… know the truth and the truth (that is, the Son Himself) would set them free.” (John 8:31-32) His Spirit is named “the Spirit of Truth”. (John 14:17) And the Spirit of Christ still today “rides on victoriously for the cause of truth….” (Psalm 45:4)

It took us a few days by car to travel to this conference. I had plenty of uninterrupted time to “dump” on my wife about how terrible I was feeling spiritually under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But I also managed to share with her what the Holy Spirit had and was speaking to me from the passage in Isaiah 6. What I poured out to her were actually the seeds of this article.

In the opening moments of the first training session I was impacted like I haven’t been impacted by the Spirit of the Lord for many, many years. Del Tackett was using that passage in Isaiah 6 as the introduction and basis of The Truth Project! As I sat through the excellent teaching for two days, “I saw the Lord high and lifted up”, my spirit quivered in my belly, I worshiped the Lord in silence and tears. I’ve had a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit. “He has made known to me the path of life”, (Psalm 16:11) and I am committed to the pursuit of seeing and worshiping God.

THE WAY OF THE CROSS - Part IV

REVIEW

We can make this summary thus far:
The Way of the Cross is defined as “self-denial” for the glory of God. In that the Way of the Cross entails a type of suffering contrary to the natural self, like Jesus, we must “learn obedience from the things we suffer”.

The Scriptures reveal that those who have come into Christ are destined to rule and reign with Him in the age to come. And in order to rule and reign with Him, and not contrary to Him, we need to learn how He rules and reigns – and that is with self-denying love. And so, if we learn the Way of the Cross, that is, if we suffer with or like Christ, we will also learn the self-denying love by which He rules and reigns. Our motivation for walking the Way of the Cross is not only to be able to rule and reign with Christ in the age to come; but both in the here and now and throughout eternity, to be able to know Him through the “fellowship of His sufferings” and thereby be conformed to His image.

The Scriptures speak of both “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “our cross” ; and that “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” is a pattern for “our cross”. The Lord’s self-denying love is a pattern for our self-denying love. This is a supernatural, transformational work of the Holy Spirit in our lives which conforms us to the image of Christ, as we “follow in His steps” on the Way of the Cross.

Some of the ways in which Jesus left us “an example for us to follow in His steps” on this Way of the Cross are:

DENYING HIS WILL for the glory of God

DENY THE WILL OF HIS LOVED ONES for the glory of God

DENYING HIMSELF OF PEOPLE’S ACCEPTANCE for the glory of God

DENYING HIMSELF BY ALLOWING HIMSELF TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF SINNERS for the glory of God

DENYING HIMSELF BY NOT OPENING HIS MOUTH FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

ASPECTS OF THE TRUE CROSS

There are certain aspects “Your Cross” which will help us recognize the true Cross in our life situations. The first of these is:

“YOUR CROSS” IS PRIMARILY FOR “YOU”

“Your Cross” is of benefit primarily to you. It is not primarily for the benefit of someone else – like an unsaved loved one for example. Only “The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” has the God-given power to save someone. “Your Cross” does not have the power to save anyone. It is written in Psalm 49:7, “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him.” While our walking the Way of the Cross can help bear witness to Christ and reveal the love of God in Christ, it is wrong to think that our walking the Way of the Cross towards or on behalf of another can, in and of itself, bring that person to salvation. This mistaken idea is sometimes referred to as a “Messiah Complex”. If the Lord presents an opportunity to walk the Way of the Cross in the context of our relationship with someone, it is primarily for our benefit. Again, that “benefit” is “to conform us to the image of His Son”. “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” Much, actually everything, that happens in the life of a believer is intended by God to press you into deeper relationship with Him. So, the Way of the Cross is something that is taking place between you and the Lord. It’s possible that the other person involved may never even be aware of “Your Cross”. After all, even with regards to Jesus, Who “died for all”, not everyone has given recognition to “the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

“YOUR CROSS” IS SEASONAL

I share the following from my personal experience: Ecclesiastes 3:1 reads: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Shortly before being taken down from the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” There is a season for “Your Cross” – a particular time for God’s particular purpose through a particular application of the cross. In a particular area, “Your Cross” will not go on indefinitely. God’s particular work in you will be “finished” for a particular season. The Lord may “revisit” an issue again later, in order to do a deeper work in that area of your life; but you will find there will be seasons in His application of the cross of that area. So, while the Way of the Cross is definitely an ongoing lifestyle, God’s particular purpose in a particular application of the cross is seasonal in that sense. Our experience should not be: death upon death, upon death, upon death. Our experience should be: crucifixion to resurrection life, crucifixion to resurrection life, crucifixion to resurrection life. The reason I am attempting to communicate what I believe is the way God deals with His children is because Satan deals with us differently, and we need to be able to tell the difference. When we allow God to have the Way of the Cross in our lives, frequently Satan will follow in God’s footsteps” with a “counterfeit cross”: After God has brought an end to His work of the cross in a season, Satan will try to continue on with a counterfeit work bringing suffering and sorrow, which God has not sanctioned. This is how we can distinguish Satan’s counterfeit work from God true work of the cross: God always allows for our free will choice to deny self for the Holy Spirit’s work of transformation; whereas, Satan violates our free will through an imposition of the work of an evil spirit, always in an attempt to demolish, rather than transform self. This leads us to another aspect of the true cross:

“THE WAY OF THE CROSS” IS VOLUNTARY

The cross was not really imposed upon Jesus – He CHOSE to deny Himself for the glory of God. This is what Jesus had to say on this issue in John 10:17-18 (in the Amplified Translation): “For this [reason] the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life--to take it back again. No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily. [I put it from Myself.] I am authorized and have power to lay it down (to resign it) and I am authorized and have power to take it back again. These are the instructions (orders) which I have received [as My charge] from My Father.”

There was a time when the Jews attempted to kill Jesus before the Father’s appointed time for His crucifixion, and Jesus “passed through the midst” of the angry crowd – He CHOSE not to deny Himself when it was not for the glory of God. Yet, as He hung on the cross, the Jews mocked Him saying, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”; but He CHOSE not to. We always have the CHOICE TO CHOOSE TO OR CHOOSE NOT TO deny ourselves. We always have the CHOICE TO CHOOSE TO CONTINUE denying ourselves, or to CHOOSE TO STOP denying ourselves. Jesus said, “(YOU) TAKE UP your cross daily …” This is not something imposed on you. This is voluntarily embracing opportunities to deny yourself for the glory of God. And this takes us to the last aspect of the true cross I have to offer here:

THE WAY OF THE CROSS IS DAILY

“Take up your cross DAILY…” As we said, the Way of the Cross is a lifestyle. EACH DAY is literally filled with opportunities for us to voluntarily “take up our cross” – to voluntarily stay on the cross – to voluntarily deny ourselves for the glory of God. If we embrace these opportunities, DAILY the Holy Spirit will be able to transform us; so that more and more, we will have the same self-denying love nature as the Lord. EVERY DAY of this life is filled with opportunities to learn how to rule and reign with Christ in the age to come.

THE WAY OF THE CROSS - Part III

REVIEW

We can make this summary thus far:
The Way of the Cross is defined as “self-denial” for the glory of God. In that the Way of the Cross entails a type of suffering contrary to the natural self, like Jesus, we must “learn obedience from the things we suffer”.

The Scriptures reveal that those who have come into Christ are destined to rule and reign with Him in the age to come. And in order to rule and reign with Him, and not contrary to Him, we need to learn how He rules and reigns – and that is with self-denying love. And so, if we learn the Way of the Cross, that is, if we suffer with or like Christ, we will also learn the self-denying love by which He rules and reigns. Our motivation for walking the Way of the Cross is not only to be able to rule and reign with Christ in the age to come; but both in the here and now and throughout eternity, to be able to know Him through the “fellowship of His sufferings” and thereby be conformed to His image.

The Scriptures speak of both “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “our cross” ; and that “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” is a pattern for “our cross”. The Lord’s self-denying love is a pattern for our self-denying love. This is a supernatural, transformational work of the Holy Spirit in our lives which conforms us to the image of Christ, as we “follow in His steps” on the Way of the Cross.

“AN EXAMPLE FOR US TO FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS”

We will now look at some of the ways in which Jesus left us “an example for us to follow in His steps” on this Way of the Cross:

JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US BY DENYING HIS WILL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

Jesus prayed to the Father: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." Jesus set an example of denying our human will for the glory of God. We read in Matthews’s gospel:

“From that time Jesus began to show 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 up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’"

Peter wanted something contrary to God’s will: Peter wanted to see Jesus alive, over-throwing the Roman government, and being seated as King over Israel - with Peter seated right next to Him. Peter even said, “God forbid...”, like he was speaking God’s will. But Peter’s will was actually contrary to God’s will. Jesus called him “Satan”, which means “adversary”, because his will was going against God’s will. And the reason this was so was because Peter’s heart and mind were focused on himself and seeing things from a human point of view, rather than from a God-centered point of view.

Along with denying our own will when it was contrary to God’s, Jesus also instructed us to deny the will of our loved ones if it stood in the way of God’s glory. Again in Matthew’s gospel Jesus says:

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

So we see that walking the Way of the Cross can bring a sword – not peace – in family relationships. This happens when the will of our loved ones being exerted in our lives goes contrary to the glory of God in our lives. We are then forced into making a choice on who will be Lord in our lives – our loved ones or Christ. If we choose our loved ones, we deny Christ’s Lordship and are “not worthy of Him”. If we choose Christ and find ourselves at this departure with our loved ones, we are indeed following Jesus on the Way of the Cross. And He promised that if “for His sake”, we temporarily – or permanently – lose this familial part of our soul-life , we will find something in place of it, which God Himself has given as a blessing that comes with His will being done.


JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US BY DENYING HIMSELF OF PEOPLE’S ACCEPTANCE FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

Jesus said, “I do not receive honor from men.”

He also said: "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

The apostle John said: “…even His brothers did not believe in Him.”

And listen to what His own family had to say:

“But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind.’”

The Scripture speaks for itself: Jesus had to deny Himself of people’s acceptance for the glory of God; and if we walk the Way of the Cross, so will we. This is what Luke wrote about the acceptance of others in light of the cross:

“You are in for trouble when everyone says good things about you. That is what your own people said about those prophets who told lies.”

Or as a paraphrase version puts it:

"There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.”

JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US BY DENYING HIMSELF BY ALLOWING HIMSELF TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF SINNERS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

Probably nothing describes this better than Isaiah’s prophecy regarding the Christ as the Suffering Servant.

“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”


Later, the author of the Book of Hebrews wrote:

“… consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

And he desired to encourage the Hebrews to continue on the Way of the Cross when he wrote:

“… remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE FOR US BY DENYING HIMSELF BY NOT OPENING HIS MOUTH FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

Again, this was succinctly stated in Isaiah’s prophecy:

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.”

In his epistle, where Peter makes reference to Isaiah’s prophecy, he also brings forth something more for our instruction:

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously….”

Here, Peter brings out the fact that “while being reviled”, Jesus “did not revile in return”, “He uttered no threats”; but rather, kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously”. Through His example, we can see that keeping silent is intimately related to trust in God – that is trusting God to “do the talking” for us”, if He so desires. God also may decide to also keep silent. But, we can trust in that which Isaiah prophesied said:

"If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you. Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work; and I have created the destroyer to ruin. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me, declares the LORD.”

Yes, to keep silent, in the midst of criticism or accusation is yet another example that Jesus set for us in walking the Way of the Cross.

THE WAY OF THE CROSS - Part II

REVIEW

We have looked at WHAT the Way of the Cross is, as defined by Jesus Himself in Scripture. The first mention of “the cross” in the Bible is spoken by Jesus Himself:
“And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].”

According to Jesus, Way of “The Cross” is self-denial. In another Scripture , Jesus also instructs us that “The Cross” is “for the glory of the Father”. And yet another aspect of “The Cross” is that it is “daily”, as Jesus said that we were to “take up our cross daily and follow Him.” The Way of the Cross is a daily life style of self-denial.

In discussing WHY the Way of the Cross, we concluded that our essential spiritual need is a change from a self-centered to a God-centered point of view; and that this “change” is theologically referred to as repentance. The Greek word translated repentance is: metanoeo . It is a combination of two words: meta, which means to change; and noeo, which means to perceive. Fundamentally, we need a change of perception – we need to change our point of view – from a self-centered to a God-centered point of view. And the Way of the Cross has been provided by God to accomplish this work in fallen humanity.

By looking at Scripture, we have also considered that the Way of the Cross is the only way God does things. The “Work of the Cross” and the “Way of the Cross” are perfect expressions of the very essence of God’s nature, which is self-denying love.


SUFFERING, RULING AND REIGNING

Now, as we continue with the question of WHY the Way of the Cross, we see that the Scriptures reveal that those who have come into Christ are destined to rule and reign with Him in the age to come. In order to rule and reign WITH Him, and not contrary to Him, we need to learn HOW He rules and reigns. And we know from Scripture and experience that He rules and reigns with a self-denying love. If we are to rule and reign with Him, we are to learn this self-denying love, which is so contrary to our self-centeredness. This is something that we must learn to obey; and this “learning to obey” presents suffering to us. It is even said of Jesus that, “although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered”.

A man named Paul Billheimer wrote effectively concerning these concepts. In his book, Destined For The Throne, he discusses our calling to rule and reign with Christ; and in the sequel, Don’t Waste Your Sorrows, that through the Way of the Cross, we learn the self-denying love which will enable us to rule and reign with Christ. Billheimer refers to the Cross as “the throne of the universe”.

The apostle Paul expressed the desire to know Christ “and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” This “fellowship of His sufferings” is a participation in, a sharing in, the sufferings of Christ. And Paul mentions twice in his epistles that if, through these sufferings, we learn self-denying love (the Way of the Cross), we will be glorified with Christ and reign with Christ:

“And if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

and …

“It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure (suffering), we will also reign with Him….”

We can make this summary thus far: The Way of the Cross is defined as “self-denial”. In that it is contrary to self, the Way of the Cross entails a type of suffering. Since self-denial and suffering are contrary to our natural self, we must “learn obedience from the things we suffer”. And, if we learn the Way of the Cross, that is, if we suffer with or like Christ, we will learn how to rule and reign as He does – that is, with self-denying love.

In Galatians 6:14, the apostle Paul said:

“But may it never be that I would boast, except in THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, through which (the Cross) the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

This is quite a statement, but suffice for now to point out that he referred to “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” – that is, Jesus’ cross. But Jesus referred to OUR cross when He said: “…let him deny himself, and take up HIS CROSS daily, and follow Me.” Yet, in saying “follow Me”, He was also saying that THE LORD’S cross is a pattern for OUR cross. The writer to the Hebrews confirms this in three places in his epistle:

1) “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

As “Author and Perfecter of faith”, Jesus is our pattern in this process of “enduring (suffering) the cross” in order to rule and reign.

2) “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect (bring to maturity) the Author of their salvation through sufferings.”

As “Author of our salvation”, Jesus is our pattern in this process of suffering that brings us to God’s glory.

3) “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected (brought to maturity), He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

As “Author of eternal salvation”, Jesus is our pattern in this process of “learning obedience by the things we suffer and being “perfected” (brought to maturity).
Jesus is our pattern in this process – The “process” is the Way of the Cross. And this is the operating principle in the process:

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ ) are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

In other words, as we see Jesus as our pattern in the process of the Way of the Cross – seeing His self-denying love , the Holy Spirit will spiritually transform us into His image. The LORD’S cross will act as a pattern for OUR cross. The LORD’S self-denying love will act as a pattern for OUR self-denying love.

The apostle Peter wrote:

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.”

There are a number of ways Jesus left us “an example for us to follow in His steps” on this Way of the Cross. We will be looking at each one in some detail, but for now will just list them:

Jesus set an example for us by DENYING HIS WILL for the glory of God.

Jesus set an example for us by DENYING HIMSELF OF PEOPLE’S ACCEPTANCE for the glory of God.

Jesus set an example for us by DENYING HIMSELF BY ALLOWING HIMSELF TO SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF SINNERS for the glory of God.

Jesus set an example for us by DENYING HIMSELF BY NOT OPENING HIS MOUTH for the glory of God.