About Luke 9 - “take up his cross” -

About Luke 9 - “take up his cross” - that many are misinterpreting, the true believer is already carrying his cross but not in the way that established religious traditions preach. See the verse in its context:

“18 Now it happened that as He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him. And He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

21 And He strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

23 And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

End of passage.

When Christ said “...let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me,” He was talking to Jews whose lives were built around temple worship, blood sacrifices, keeping the Law of Moses and living a life of moral excellence- similar to what is being taught in many churches today with the exception of animal sacrifices. These were not people who could not wait for Jesus to finish preaching so that they could go and murder somebody or fornicate after service. They were people who did their best to keep the law.

For many of the Jews, especially their religious leaders aka the Pharisees and teachers of religious law, following Jesus meant being rejected and ostracized from the temple. Even Nicodemus had to go and see Him at night. For a Jew to follow Jesus at the time and even in some places today was to deny his people and their traditions.

For a Jew to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ that they were eagerly awaiting was sacrilegious!!!! It was like a death sentence. This was the cross that His followers had to carry. They were rejected in the temple and by society and hunted like animals. Many of His followers even rejected Him later on because His teachings were too hard- the 70 disciples in John 6. Many were ashamed of His words. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 1–

“16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.””

We see how God makes us right in His sight in Romans 3 and it has got nothing to do with human effort at making sacrifices:

“26 for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

The religious Jews of Paul's day who held on to human effort at keeping the law to get right with God heard this message of Christ and got angry at believers, accusing them of preaching that it is okay to sin because of Grace; all who truly believe Jesus today also carry this cross: established church practices tell us that our right-standing with God, escaping His wrath, freedom from the clutches of sin and death and our eternal salvation rests in our ability to keep the law and make sacrifices when it is through Christ alone that we are made right with God and escape His wrath (Romans 5:9) as well as get to “live in triumph over sin and death.” (Romans 5:17). For this, they accuse us of all sorts, including preaching that it is okay to sin because of Grace when God's grace is the power of God to salvation, even salvation from sins (Titus 2:14)

Notice that this doctrine of “keeping laws and making sacrifices by human effort in order to be godly” aka (walking in the flesh) is no different from the doctrine of the Pharisees? Jude spoke of such false doctrine peddlers who try to redefine God’s Grace that saves from sins as license to sin in Jude 1.

Romans 5 tells us: "16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

God's word says we who believe get to live in triumph over sin and death AUTOMATICALLY - by the power of His Spirit in us - when we receive His abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ and not by human striving at making sacrifices. This is unbelievable for those who think that they have the will-power to keep the law and make sacrifices for Jesus by human effort. Such depend on the arm of flesh that will fail to transform them but reject the power of the Holy Spirit to transform even the vilest sinner who believes to right-living. Such see this message of Christ that is Grace as foolish and illogical:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18.

You and I will agree that based on human reasoning, there is nothing illogical about getting a reward from God for doing good and obeying the law; but there is everything illogical to common sense about Ephesians 2:8-9:

8 "For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in Him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! 9 So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving."

See the CEV: "8 You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. 9 It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about. 10 God planned for us to do good things and to live as He has always wanted us to live. That’s why He sent Christ to make us what we are."

Also Romans 5:16 seems illogical to human reasoning - "And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins."

The Pharisees of old and their counterparts in many churches today who depend on human effort at keeping the law get angry when they hear the Truth.

The people who hated Jesus were not people who could not wait for Jesus to finish preaching so that they could go and fornicate or commit murder after service. They were Pharisees and teachers of religious law. They and their followers were extremely passionate about keeping the law by human effort and were always fasting, praying and making sacrifices in order to get right with God and be godly, like many in the church today:

The highest form of satanic ministry does not tempt one to go and fornicate or steal. It has a form of godliness but denies the power that can make them godly. It is the same ministry that was used to deceive Eve: the one that tells you that there is something you can do or sacrifices you can makes by human effort in order to be godly aka “be like God.” See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG)

“Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me...”

The people that Jesus told to “enter through the narrow gate” in Matthew were Jews whose lives depended on their ability to keep the law. These people did not want to sin. They did their best to live right. But our best sacrifices of good deeds can never be enough. They are nothing but “a menstrual rag” in the sight of God according to Isaiah 64:6.

There is nothing like “I will do my best and Jesus will see that I have tried and do the rest” in the story of our salvation. This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the “neither cold nor hot” that Christ spoke of in Revelation 3. The one that is depending on his “arm of flesh” aka human effort-driven sacrifices has to rely solely on his sacrifices and ability to keep the law in order to be saved. Galatians 5:4 tells us-

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

This was written to believers who were deceived into believing that horrid “Now that we are born-again, we have to do our best to keep the Law so that we will not go to hell” false doctrine. Being under grace without living right is as impossible as being submerged in water naked without getting wet. Nothing to do with human effort at making sacrifices. All to do with the power of Christ in us transforming us to life.

Law-keeping ( trying to get right with God or make Him have a good opinion of you via human effort at making sacrifices) and Grace CANNOT mix.

Jesus said in Matthew 5: “29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

I am sure those who think they can “make sacrifices” or have the power to keep the law after receiving Christ are still walking about with two eyes and their limbs intact. Human effort and Grace cannot mix so start plucking and cutting if you want to be saved by your own effort at obedience.... or by Grace, forsake your works and depend totally on Christ; then you will do exploits. In the same Matthew, Christ says:

“20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

With all of the Pharisees’ (self) righteousnesses, Christ called them “brood of vipers.” Are we saying that you or I can exceed their righteousnesses, we who do not even know by heart the entire Ten Commandments and the more than 600 other laws that the Pharisees tried to follow and failed at keeping? Please let us stop placing a load (the Law) that even the Pharisees could not bear on the back of believers!

Bear in mind that one cannot be under Law (relying on human effort and “menstrual rag” sacrifices) and still expect to be saved by Grace. Such who do so are cut off from Christ and fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4) so no salvation.

Jesus did not say "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” in order to keep us scrambling to keep the law or make sacrifices in order to get right with God or enter heaven. He said it to show the hearers back then and us too the futility of trying to enter heaven by law-keeping aka human effort at making sacrifices as revealed and explained by Paul in Romans 3:20 AFTER the Holy Spirit was given:

“For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.”

Jesus could not pour out His heart to His people at the time Matthew 5 was happening because the Holy Spirit had not yet come. Remember He told the disciples in John 16-

12 “There is so much more I would like to say to you, but it’s more than you can grasp at this moment. 13 But when the truth-giving Spirit comes, he will unveil the reality of every truth within you. He won’t speak his own message, but only what he hears from the Father, and he will reveal prophetically to you what is to come.”

The mystery of the church was still hidden from the hearers at this time. Jesus spoke to them of this mystery in parables in other chapters- The Lost Sheep, The Prodigal Son…all saved by grace (Christ Himself) and not because they were good.

Salvation is not at all about behaviour modification, suppressing the urge to sin or making sacrifices to prove that we are saved. The arm of flesh (human effort at doing right) will fail and when it does, those suppressed sinful urges and the desire to sacrifice like Peter will explode in a volcanic eruption of sinful deeds that lead to death.

Salvation in Christ is all about hearts’ transformation. Even the vilest offender who believes gets to be transformed to the image of the glory of the Lord, from glory to glory, not by human effort but by His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18.) In Christ, we never remain the same, and not by human striving but by God’s Grace - undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. In Him, we GET TO do exploits, yet not us but Christ in us.

Right believing always produces right living