The Road to the Cross

“If you do not plan to live the Christian life totally committed to knowing your God and to walking in obedience to Him, then don’t begin, for this is what Christianity is all about. It is a change of citizenship, a change of governments, a change of allegiance. If you have no intention of letting Christ rule your life, then forget Christianity; it is not for you.”

Kay Arthur(American Christian speaker, teacher and author)

The other day I was walking around the house looking for my phone. I checked my pockets several times and everywhere else at least twice. I asked my daughter if she had seen my phone and she looked at me and said, “you mean the one in your hand?” It seems the older I become, the more forgetful I am.

Not that it’s the same thing, but sometimes I forget why God has me on this planet. I get caught up in life and making ends meet. I allow the trappings of “stuff” to distract me from my purpose.

As we approach Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, I feel that it’s important we understand that we are in this race called life for a purpose. If we did not have a purpose, the goodness of God would demand that He take us to our eternal destination as soon as we discover Him and commit to being His follower. Yet, He keeps us here to help Him build His kingdom.

That being said, what does it mean to follow Jesus? Well, the word itself implies certain things about our purpose.

According to Dictionary.com, a follower is “a person who imitates, copies, or takes as a model or ideal.” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/follower)

If we are followers of Jesus, we are imitators. It means we go where He goes and we do what He does. Jesus had a purpose, He had a race to run. It was a difficult race that culminated in His torture and violent death, but His purpose was fulfilled and our eternity secured. Fortunately for us, His journey didn’t end there. We can celebrate on Sunday because he defeated death.

But, as His followers, we are to imitate, copy, model His life – and consequently, His sacrifice.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Author and speaker, Wendy Backlund made this statement, “We don’t get our identity from what we’ve done or not done, we get our identity from fulfilling our destiny.” Wendy Backlund (BLN Gathering 11/2/2021 – paraphrased)

We are called, destined to follow and imitate Jesus Christ. Our identity is found in Jesus and His purposes for us. It’s not about what we do, it’s about who we become. Our purpose is to be like Jesus. The path is treacherous and painful, but He has led the way and it’s by His sword and His sacrifice that the path has been laid for us, but be assured, His destination and ours are the same.

John R.W. Stott was a principle author of the Lausanne Covenant, an Anglican cleric, and a theologian. He put it this way:

“Insistence on security is incompatible with the way of the cross. What daring adventures the incarnation and the atonement were! What a breach of convention and decorum that Almighty God should renounce his privileges in order to take human flesh and bear human sin! Jesus had no security except in his Father. So to follow Jesus is always to accept at least a measure of uncertainty, danger and rejection for his sake.”

If your purpose in following Christ assumes anything different, if you have no intention of letting Him direct your path, then, as Kay Arthur said, “forget Christianity; it is not for you.”

I remember when Michelle and I were preparing for our move to Turkey to begin our ministry there. It had been a pursuit of ours since we were dating. On our second date, I told Michelle that the Lord had called me to the nation of Turkey. She was on board so I knew she was the one. We spent the next 10 years moving toward that goal. We walked through disillusionment, discouragement, doubt, fear and the dreaded pull of western comforts.

In spite of the many attempts to keep us from pursuing God’s call on our lives, we did not quit. We stayed the course and moved to Turkey in the Summer of 2004. The months leading up to our move, however, were difficult. By this point we had two children, a house, two cars, and ten years worth of “stuff.” We sold, or gave away most of everything, and we left for Turkey with 20 bags – everything we owned.

We thought that would be the most difficult part of the transition – giving up everything that we knew for the unknown. We didn’t have a clue how difficult changing cultures would be. We were like children again – we knew nothing. We couldn’t speak the language, the daily routine seemed totally backward to us. The people, while kind, generous and gracious, didn’t do things the way we did them.

All of this to say, our world was literally turned upside down. It took us several years before we began to get our footing and feel like we were beginning to “fit in.” It was a sacrifice to move there, it was a sacrifice to stay there and now it is a sacrifice to be away. It seems like sacrifice is a theme in our lives and we get tired of it sometimes and we ask the Lord, “when is this going to end?” Then, I’m reminded of who I have chosen to follow and the life of sacrifice that He lived. Our sacrifice is our worship to a King that gave everything so that we could live in His presence and experience His love, mercy and power.

So, I will not allow Satan to steal my sacrifice by asking my Father to take it from me. Instead, I will find the joy, peace and hope that has been given for the journey through it. There will come a day when it will no longer be required of me, as I physically stand in His presence and worship Him face to face. In this lifetime, however, I have chosen the path less traveled, the path my King took and cut for me. It’s a path of sacrifice, disappointment, and pain, and yet a path of joy immeasurable, peace unfathomable, and a hope that NEVER fails.

That is the tension of the Gospel: joy, peace, hope and victory exist in the midst of the storm because our sacrifice brings us closer to His. Obedience and sacrifice is the foundation that the church has been built on. In light of who He is, it’s all we have to offer Him – everything else He has given, including our gifts, talents and anointing. We are not living for this earthly kingdom, so why should we be so focused on our comfort in it? We are living for an eternal Kingdom – a place where there are no more tears and no more suffering. This earthly habitation is but a bus stop on an eternal journey that will meet every need and fulfill every desire. So, with that understanding, our sacrifice on this side of eternity is small in light of its rewards.

Don’t let the enemy steal your sacrifice by forgetting your purpose. You are a follower of Christ, so you have bargained for a cross – with it you get the peace, hope, and joy that goes with the journey.

Peace.