Today we come to the fifth in the series of messages which were preached in Hong Kong in substance, though not necessarily in this form. But the substance of these messages was delivered already in Hong Kong. And I felt that you should not be deprived of these messages because they are at the very core, at the very center, at the very heart of discipleship. And we cannot well live the life of discipleship when we don't properly understand the nature and the principles of discipleship.
Now let us recall that last Sunday we were studying what it means to take up the cross. What does it mean to lift up the cross of discipleship upon our shoulders? And we saw that what this means is that the Lord Jesus has called us to share His ministry in the salvation of mankind. That not merely are we to be saved, but that we are to share that ministry with Him, to be saviors.
Now, in the study of the relationship of these two crosses, that is His cross and ours—and by the way, in the Lord's teaching, the word "cross" is used six times in the various Synoptic Gospels, and in each case it refers to the cross of the disciples. In the Bible, Jesus never uses the word "cross" to refer to His own cross, to His own sacrifice. That is quite significant. Paul uses the word "cross" some ten times in his letters, but there he never refers to the cross of the disciples. When Paul uses the word "cross," he always refers to the cross of Christ.
How shall we understand this thing? There is no difficulty in this. It is simply the fact that Paul's preaching always presupposes the gospel. He always presupposes that you know what the Lord Jesus has taught. Unfortunately today, the average Christian doesn't know what the Lord Jesus has taught. But Paul always presupposes this, and this is very important when you read Paul's writings. You must always try to remember what the Lord Jesus said, because as I have often stressed again and again, Paul's writings are basically commentary on the Lord's teaching. And so he always assumes that you fully understand and are aware of what the Lord Jesus taught, that he does not have to repeat it in those words and in that form. He often repeats it in quite different ways, in different words, but saying the same thing.
The other question we need to ask before we come to what we are studying today is: What is the relationship between Christ's cross and ours? Well, we already saw that in a preliminary way last time, but let me make two or three quick remarks before we move on. The first is that Christ's cross always precedes our cross. That is, Jesus is bearing His cross in front of us, and we being disciples follow after Him. His cross is always first; ours always second. Our cross always presupposes His cross. This is why I say Paul already presupposes that you understand the Lord's teaching.
Now what does this mean? This means, secondly, that when you study how Paul uses the word "cross" in relation to the Lord's death, when he speaks of the cross of Christ, it is always in the perfect tense, or in the past tense. It has to do with the past. "I have been crucified with Christ," Paul says in Galatians 2:20. Here he uses the perfect tense: "I have been crucified." The cross of Christ is effective in my life in the past, because he is now a Christian. And from the point of view of a Christian, he is looking backwards to the cross of Christ. We enter into the newness of life through the cross of Christ, not through our own cross. Our salvation always depends on His cross, not on ours. We are not crucified for ourselves. Nor could we be. Nor would our death have any atoning value whatsoever. It is the cross of Christ that atones for sins. This we must get very clear.
So the death of Christ, the cross of Christ, is always referred to in the past, or in the perfect tense, when Paul uses the word. You will find that every time he uses it, it is referring to the past events—Christ's atoning work for our sins. But when the Lord Jesus speaks of the cross, He is speaking of the cross as something present and future. So the cross of Christ has to do with our past. It clears away our sins, opening a new road of life for us. But from there on comes our cross. The cross of Christ is in the past; our cross is in the present. "Take up your cross daily"—continuing present tense. All the time carry your cross now. Your past sins have been removed by the cross of Christ. Now it is your turn to take up the cross continually into the future, whenever that is, when our ministry of the saving work that Christ has entrusted to us will be completed.
So, we also saw last week in the third point here concerning the relationship of the two crosses, that Christ's cross is to cover our sins. Our cross is then in the process in which we pass on the life that we have received from Him to others. As we saw in this wonderful passage that Paul writes in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12: "So death is at work in us, but life in you." We are dying so that you may be living. We are communicating this life on to you.
Now all this is clear to us, I hope, because it is important to understand the relationship of these crosses. What is more, Paul's concept of the cross of Christ is quite different from ours today. He doesn't say that we are to believe in the cross—that's all. We are to believe in Christ. It is Christ who saves us through the cross. The object of faith is not a thing, nor even a work. The object of faith is always a person, namely Jesus Himself. But Paul does not see that we are saved simply by believing in the work of Christ. He, whenever he speaks about the cross of Christ, sees that cross as having a definite effect upon my life and upon your life. It is not simply an object of belief. It is something that happens to us in Christ.
That is why he can say in Galatians 6:14, as well as Galatians 2:20 that we just read. In 6:14 he says, "I glory in the cross of Christ by which I have been crucified to the world, and the world has been crucified to me." You see, he does not see the cross as simply something to believe in. He sees the cross as having done something to him. That cross has severed his relationship with the world. It has completely separated him from the world. And this separation is what the Bible means by holiness. The cross has made us holy through the power of God by separating us, cutting our links with the world. Paul's concept of salvation is no easy believism. He does not see the cross of Christ as something in the past so far away that you believe as a historical fact. No, no. He says we are so united with Christ that the cross of Christ has cut us off from the world. Which also means that if we have not been cut off from the world by the cross of Christ, then that past event has no effectiveness for our salvation. We have not yet been united with Christ in such a way that we have had our links to the world severed.
So the point is simply this: if I am alive to the world, then the cross has not exerted its saving effects upon me. Are you alive to the world? The society in which every man lives for himself that we saw the other day? Is this your way of thinking? Or are you a sheep instead of a wolf? The Lord Jesus pictures the society of this world as a society of wolves. They often use the expression, "They have passed their law with teeth in it." With teeth in it. Well, wolves have teeth, all right. They surely get their teeth into things. The lambs and sheep don't go around with teeth into anything. We are separated from this type of society because the Lord Jesus wants to build a new kind of society: a society of sheep. A society in which dominance is not gained by my oppressing the other person, by the long fangs that I have, by the sharpness of my teeth, that I can squash him into obedience. No, no. That is the society of the world. So the Lord says, "In the world they lord it over one another." That's the society of wolves. "But among you it shall not be so." Because in this society, the whole society is a cross-bearing society. A society of people given over to the salvation of mankind.
Now, we have seen then constantly this matter of cross-bearing. But today's message that the Lord would have me share with you is this: it is the most important thing that we get our attitude right in relation to cross-bearing. Many people do the right thing with the wrong attitude. And that is most unfortunate. It spoils the whole thing and renders your work of no value, because the attitude is wrong and God looks upon the heart. He doesn't just look upon what you are doing.
This is the reason why, when He was sitting in the temple watching the religious people putting money into the offering box of the church—and the Pharisees would come by and these religious people would come by and the rich man comes by, and he clangs his coins down so that everybody can hear the banging of the coins going down—"You see how religious I am? How much money I give to God?" Is it wrong to give money to the Lord's work? No. No. But the attitude is wrong. And therefore the right work has no more value because the attitude is wrong.
And what I am fearful of is that we may say, "Okay, if God wants me to bear the cross, do I have to bear the cross? I mean, who can argue with God? You know, I want to get saved and so He says take up the cross, so I take up the cross." And so I do this because I do not see any way out of this, and therefore the attitude is wrong. Supposing God says to Abraham, "You offer up Isaac." Do you think that God is concerned merely with the offering of Isaac? No indeed. He is looking into Abraham's heart to see what is Abraham's attitude. Suppose Abraham grabbed Isaac and went along to Mount Moriah mumbling and murmuring and grumbling: "What kind of God is this? I mean, He gives me all the promises and now He is telling me to kill my son. I mean, well, I have to do it. I mean, He is God. I can't argue with Him, right? I mean, He is the one I have to answer to. And I am scared out of my wits not to do what He wants me to do. Therefore, okay, come on here, Isaac. I mean, I am sorry about this. Don't blame me. It is all God's fault. He told me to kill you. I mean, He is not very reasonable, but He is God. Neither of us can argue with Him. So then, be so good as to lie down so I can cut your throat."
But would that kind of attitude be acceptable to God? Well, of course not. Because He is doing the thing, but the attitude is wrong. And God doesn't accept it. Because God looks upon the heart. And I am fearful that we will all say, "Okay, we have to be disciples. We have to take up the cross. I mean, who can argue with Him? So let's get this thing onto our shoulders and we will mumble and grumble the rest of the way. And when I get there, I am going to ask God, 'You know, why did You ask me to do this? I mean, surely life could be a lot easier if You didn't give me such a hard time.'" The attitude is wrong. And this attitude is crucial.
What makes us greater than John the Baptist lies not in the fact that we can preach as well as John the Baptist, that we can do more miracles than John the Baptist, that we have more commitment to God than John the Baptist in the sense of an outward expression. I mean, he wears these leather things. Oh, okay, I can go and get some leather stuff and put it on too. I mean, we can all afford some sheepskin and stitch it together and ask your mother to sew the thing on for you and get a leather girdle and say, "Look, I look like John the Baptist now." They say, I mean, if John the Baptist can do it, I can do it too. And I'll go out in the wilderness and show my commitment. I eat honey and locusts as well. I mean, who can't copy him there? But that is not the point. The point lies in our attitude. Ah, it's so important. I hope you can grasp this thing.
I put it in this phrase: all spiritual battles are won or lost in the heart. All spiritual battles are either won or lost in your heart. If it is lost here, it will be lost everywhere. Even if we seem to have won some victory externally, we have lost it all. No sacrifice is acceptable to God except it comes from a right attitude. That's why I often said, if you come to the church and you say, "Okay, God expects a tithe, so I have to give one-tenth of my possessions. Okay, God, I mean, this is my tax I have to pay. What can I do? If I don't pay this, You're going to drag me before the court. I can't handle this. So here, here, You have Your tenth, You know. I really needed that money. But I mean, since You give me the order, here, here, take what's Yours." You think God wants your money? He doesn't want that stuff. Take it away. When we give, we must give whatever we give with a joyful attitude. That's exactly what the Lord says: He loves a cheerful giver. He doesn't want your giving. He wants the cheerfulness of your giving.
All battles are fought, won or lost in the heart. This means that your attitude is going to determine whether you're going to be victorious or you're going to be defeated. Whether you're going to be a mighty man of God or you're going to be nothing is entirely in the attitude. Why does, in the parable of the sower, one grain bring forth a hundredfold, another only sixtyfold, another thirtyfold? It's the same seed. The seed is still from God. Why should then the same seed produce less in the case of one and more in the case of the other? Is there any other explanation but that there is an important difference in attitude? There's no other explanation. If the seed is the same, then the difference must be in the soil. The soil, the parable tells us, is the heart. So it is the attitude of the heart that makes the whole difference. And if the church is to realize the Lord's vision for her, of becoming in every one, even the least, mightier than John the Baptist, it lies not merely in the fact that we say, "Okay, we're going to take up the cross," but that we're going to come with the right attitude.
In the long experience I have had—relatively long, that is; I'm still not that old—in the work of serving the Lord, I have often been able to predict who will win and who will lose in the spiritual battle, simply by looking at their attitude. There are some who are virtually invincible because the attitude is invincible. Their attitude is steadfast. It carries a certain joy in it, a certain depth of joy even in the midst of burdens and problems. There is another—you look at their attitude, you know they will not last long. They haven't got what it takes to survive. The attitude is not there. You know, people who are very negative people—these can never survive. They can never succeed in anything. Their attitude has determined their defeat from the beginning. I wonder if you are one of them. It's the kind of people that when you ask them, "How about this?"—"Oh, so difficult. Ah, too many problems." "How about this?" "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, this won't do." Everything won't do. Nothing will do. Because their attitude is always negative. They're always negative to everything. So they have guaranteed their failure from the beginning. If these people are ever to succeed in the spiritual life, there has to be a fundamental change of attitude. We will never become the channels of God's saving mercy unless the attitude is totally changed.
We know the story of Joni. This girl who was a great swimming sports person, a person who so enjoyed all kinds of physical exercise and sports. And then one day she had an accident and broke her neck. Rather like one of our sisters here. Neck was broken, paralyzed from the neck downward. And certainly she saw her world—this attractive girl, this sporty girl, this cheerful girl—certainly found herself paralyzed from the neck downward. From there on the attitude could have been, "I am finished. I'm gone." And you wouldn't blame anybody in that condition to feel that she is finished. But not Joni. She determined that with whatever was left in her life, she would make a life to be lived for the glory of God, even though she was now crippled. Of course, the experience devastated her, destroyed her at the beginning. And so she pulled herself together and said, "I am going to. I am going to." To have an attitude of not to be negative in this thing, but "I am going to win this battle, even as I am crippled."
Slowly a little bit of sensation returned to her body, as you will recall. She learned to paint with her feet. And her pictures are exceedingly good and very, very popular these days. And her message went out to encourage thousands of people. Because her spirit could not be broken, even though her body was broken. You see, the battle is fought, won in the spirit, or is lost in the spirit. If she could succeed against these devastating odds, what about us? You are not crippled from the neck down. You have got all your faculties intact. And yet, most people here will, in their lifetime, never achieve as much as Joni in her crippled condition. Most people will not be able to give the message out with that clarity and that joy and that commitment and hope to a multitude of people burdened with physical problems and mental problems and spiritual problems, as she was able to do even in her crippled condition. You see, although everything was against her, because her attitude remained right, she was able to be victorious against hopeless odds. Her life then, even now, becomes a shining example of what God can do through the right attitude.
I would like each one of us to see what kind of potential each one of you have. It is your attitude right now which will already have determined whether in this life you will accomplish anything for God or not. Whether you will be something for God or absolutely nothing for God. It is up to you to decide. Somebody once asked a Negro preacher about election. Election, of course, has to do with this question of predestination. The Negro preacher was not highly educated in this business. So when he was asked about election, he says, "Well, you know what election is. Election means voting. You know, you vote for this president and then you get him elected. Or you vote for the other one and you get him elected. That's election, you see." And he said, "Well, in the spiritual life it is like this. You see, God always votes for you. And the devil always votes against you. And who wins the election depends on which way you put your vote." That's election. Well, this is no great theological statement, but there is truth in it. God's grace is certainly sufficient for you. But whether you will be able to make the fullest use of that grace and come through triumphant depends on you. Which way will you cast your vote? What is your own attitude?
I would that we could have each one here by the grace of God so transformed in the attitude that we will all have here a generation of spiritual giants. Because if God's grace is sufficient to accomplish it, what's hindering it? Must be you. Must be me. We are hindering Him. We are holding back the fullness of His grace. We get stuck in our little ruts, into our little bad habits, into our little annoyances. And all these petty things wipe us out, so that spiritually we are left with nothing. Nothing at all. A burden to everybody including ourselves.
So the attitude. Oh, I wish we could get this thing very clear. Even within the mighty man of God, the attitude can make him or can break him. I am constantly struck by what happened in the case of Elijah. You will recall Elijah, how he went up on Mount Carmel and challenged the whole nation and the king and the queen and everybody put together. He challenged them on Mount Carmel. And those in the first team who were recently in Israel will remember Mount Carmel very well.
He walked up on Mount Carmel, and there on Mount Carmel the prophet Elijah challenged the entire nation of Israel. Because the nation of Israel had departed from God. They had gone after idols. Gone after superstition. They had gone to worship Baal, the male god, and Asherah, the female goddess. The whole nation had been misled by their king and gone after idols. And no longer remembered who was the living God. They didn't know who the living God was anymore. Ah, the living God—what a wonderful phrase. Look at it sometimes in the concordance. How many times the Old Testament and New Testament speaks of God, the living God. He is living. He is mighty. He is merciful. And all the grace available from Him is the living God. Capture a vision of that sometimes.
And here's the only prophet of the living God that was left—Elijah. "Bring the whole nation. Bring all your prophets. I will challenge them all. Your God—if you say your God is real, come and bring Him along." Mount Carmel is a big place. And the nation of Israel gathered, were called in by messengers to come to Mount Carmel for this tremendous contest between the living God and these gods called Baal and Asherah. And there were 850 prophets—450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. 850 against one man, Elijah. One man against 850.
And so we can imagine the scene there on the top of this mountain, and there it was, visible for all far away on the plains to be able to see this great contest going on. And you know the story. Elijah said to the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Asherah: "Go on. Put the sacrifice there upon the altar. But don't put any fire on it. Just put it there and see if your god will consume the sacrifice. If your god is real, let him consume the sacrifice." You see, Baal was the god of fire. Hence the reason for the test. "If you say your god is real and he can answer you by fire, then put your sacrifice upon the altar, put the wood underneath it, and see if Baal can accept the sacrifice. Let him kindle the fire if he is the god of fire."
And you remember the story. Those 850 prophets were wailing, shouting, cutting themselves. "Baal, come on, come on. Set the fire, please accept the sacrifice." Nothing happened. Nothing happened. So Elijah was saying, "So, well, where's your god, huh? Maybe he's gone for a nap. Maybe he's taken a holiday, huh? How long are we going to wait for him to set this thing alight?" And then after this thing had been going on all day, he says, "Okay, okay, it's enough now. It's my turn. And now I'm going to show you that the God I serve is the living God. You watch and see." Elijah was the prophet of fire, as you know very well—the prophet of fire.
And then the wood was laid there and the sacrifice was laid on top of it. And then he said to the people, "In case you think I've got some tricks up my sleeve, you just pour as much water as you like upon the wood and the sacrifice. Just pour on the water. Pour it on." And so they poured buckets of water on it and he says, "Not enough. Come on, some more." They poured some more, some more, drenched the whole thing, more water on it. "I want you to see that God is the living God. And you will choose between the living God and all these false gods."
And then you remember also what happened. The water was running around the trenches around the altar. Everything was soaking wet.
# Our Attitude in Relation to Cross-Bearing (Part 2)
In a very short, very quiet prayer—it is a short prayer, no long-winded pleading with God and all this—he said, "Lord, now You do it." When the fire comes down, lightning flashes out, and God's power comes down, and the whole sacrifice goes up in flames and the people fell on their faces: "God, the living God, He is God!" Mighty prophet Elijah. You see his attitude. See him triumphant. See him there, one against the entire nation, against all the prophets. And yet, such is the honesty of the Bible that it hides no failures of the men of God. It doesn't say all the nice things and leave out the unpleasant things.
And you know what happens. Jezebel, the queen, is furious—absolutely furious—that her prophets got killed by the Israelites, because they now came to see who was the true prophet and who was false. She was furious that all her prophets got killed. So she sent a message to Elijah and said, "God do to me and more, if by this time tomorrow you will still be alive." I will kill you before tomorrow comes, in other words.
And what happened? The mighty man of God, with his tail between his legs, was seen to flee from the scene. What's the matter? Oh, Elijah, what is it? One moment you see the majesty and the glory of God, and the next moment, a woman's threat is enough to send you running to the wilderness. You see that? Nothing had changed in terms of the outward situation. Israel was there. What is happening? And you running from the scene?
You know what happened? Why I'm telling you this is because faith is inseparably related to our attitude. Our attitude is the expression of faith. That is why it's so important for our salvation. You can often tell whether a person is likely to be saved or not from the kind of attitude he has, because his attitude manifests whether he has faith or not. The key to this whole thing of understanding Elijah's attitude is in 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 3, in the little phrase: "Then he, Elijah, was afraid." Then he was afraid. 1 Kings 19 verse 3. The mighty man of God was afraid of a threat to his life. The significance of this: that fear is always the opposite of faith. Fear and faith are opposite. Bear this carefully in mind. When I find myself fearful, I will always find that at that moment my faith is very weak.
Just as the Lord Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 8 verse 26: "O you of little faith, why are you fearful?" Why are you fearful? You see, you are fearful because you are of little faith. At that moment, Elijah's faith seems to have vanished from his attitude. He became frightened. He ran. I am saying this too, that you realize that even a mighty man of God has lapses in terms of his attitude. Sometimes he cannot keep his attitude in focus. And for a moment he weakens. Of course, Elijah recovered quickly. But already he had, for a moment, lost his—you could say—his faith.
Now then, what should our attitude be towards this matter of cross-bearing? Since everything depends upon the attitude, and since Elijah failed in a moment of weakness because his attitude was wrong at that moment, what should our attitude be if we are to be triumphant? Look at the Lord Jesus, His own attitude to the cross. What was His attitude to the cross?
Let us read this passage in John chapter 12. Or rather, two passages. John chapter 12, verses 23 to 26. John 12:23-26: "And Jesus answered them, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.' Notice this word, 'glorified.' 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also.'" Where I am—where will He be? First, He will be going to the cross. "If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."
Now note these words in verse 23: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." What is He referring to? This matter of being glorified. What is His glorification? Let us read in verses 32 to 34. Verses 32 to 34: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show by what death He was to die. The crowd answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?" Lifted up. Who is this Son of Man?
Here the passage explains to us that He was referring to the manner of His death, how He was going to die. You see, on the cross, what happens is that a person is taken and he is nailed to the cross. The cross is put on the ground, of course—you can't nail him when the cross is standing upright. But the cross is laid on the ground and the victim is made to lie down upon the cross and then nails are driven through his wrists a little bit further up where it doesn't sever the arteries. And then the nails are put through his feet. And then the cross is lifted up and dropped into the hole in the ground. "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to me."
Now the significant thing about all this is the way the Lord Jesus uses this twofold expression, or this word has a double meaning, you could say. The word here in the Greek is *hupsoo*. *Hupsoo* is what? It means "to lift up" indeed, but it has another meaning. It also means "to glorify," "to exalt." "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." You see, the word means "lifted up" and "glorified"—both ways. It's the same word that occurs, for example, in Acts chapter 2 verse 33, where it means "exalted," "glorified." Chapter 5 verse 31 of Acts, or James chapter 4 verse 10: "He will exalt you." Glorify you. This word is used 18 times in the New Testament, and so we can see very clearly its meaning.
What does all this mean? It means that the Lord Jesus saw the cross not as some terrible thing that was going to happen to Him, but He saw His crucifixion as His exaltation, as His being lifted up to God, as His glorification. "The Son of Man is about to be glorified." He saw His death as glorification. Now that's very important to understand, because if we have the same attitude, we will see our cross not as our burden or as our humiliation, but indeed as our glorification. The Lord Jesus uses this expression five times in John of being lifted up—in John chapter 3 verse 14, for example, it occurs two times; John chapter 8 and verse 28; John chapter 12 verses 32 and 34, which is the passage we have just been reading.
Now this is truly the attitude of the Lord Jesus towards the cross. Do we understand this thing? Do we have this kind of attitude? Or do we see the cross as simply a tedious, hard burden that we have to bear?
Now let me say a few things immediately concerning the meaning of this phrase, because this is the text that we need to deal with before we close. This phrase, "When I am lifted up, I will draw all men"—when I am lifted up on the cross, there will come forth such a glory as will draw men to Christ. And only when we are lifted up will the glory of God work through us to draw men through us to Him. Does your life possess an attractiveness, a pulling power that pulls other people to the Lord? When you go out, do people—even they don't like you, even they may oppose your faith—still can't help feeling the pull is pulling them, and they have to resist so hard sometimes that they have to become violent because the pull is so strong that they can't remain indifferent? The remarkable thing about the preaching is that you cannot remain indifferent to it, as I mentioned in an earlier message. The pull is pulling them so hard that they have to react violently when they try to reject the pull. Does your life have this kind of pull on other people, that they are being drawn to the Lord? They can't explain why, but there is this pull because of this being lifted up, because of the cross that you bear.
Now let me mention a few points in connection with this important passage. The first is that we have no illusions about the fact that this being lifted up has to do with the cross, with sacrifice. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus says, came not to be served but to give His life as a ransom for many—to give His life as a sacrifice. And in saving us He could not save Himself, just exactly as it says in Matthew 27 verse 42: they said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save."
To illustrate this point, let me tell you the story about the coast guard captain. You know the coast guard has the job—whenever a ship strikes the rocks or for some other reason is damaged and begins to sink, or gets caught in a storm and begins to go under—the coast guard boats go out in any kind of weather. No matter how terrible the weather is, the coast guard men risk their lives to go out and save any survivors they can find. And I was reading about this coast guard captain, and one day in a terrible storm the coast guard received the SOS, the Mayday message, to say that the ship had struck the rocks in the storm and was going down. So the coast guard captain gave the order to launch the boat and go out to save any survivors that could be found. And as he gave the order to launch the boat, one young recruit, looking at the terrible storm outside, said to the captain, "You can't be serious! I mean, we can't go out in a storm like this. We can't do this. We won't come back alive."
And what struck me was the answer of the coast guard captain. He looked at the new recruit and said, "We have to go out, but we don't have to come back." I pondered these words very much. "We have to go out. We don't have to come back." Now that is sacrifice. That is commitment. And often as I pondered these words, I thought these people know more about commitment than Christians do. For the captain there was only one way: go out to save those people. "I may not come back, but that doesn't matter. My task is to go out into the storm and get these people." So the meaning is this: if we are going to save them, we may not be able to save ourselves. But that decision we have already made, and we don't have to weigh it now in the face of the storm. We don't reconsider our commitment. We go. We don't have to come back. Hopefully we can come back in order to bring the others back. But if we can't come back, that doesn't matter either. Powerful words: "We have to go out. We don't have to come back."
And that is exactly the meaning that illustrates the words of the Lord Jesus there in Matthew 27:42: "He saved others; Himself He could not save." That then is the nature of the cross. There is the supreme expression of what it means when the Lord Jesus says that we are to take up our cross and follow Him. That is the mentality expressed by this captain. We bear our cross means we go out—we go out into the storm to do God's work, to save others. And in that process we may lose our own lives. It doesn't matter. We don't have to come back. Now there is encapsulated for us the attitude of the disciple that the Lord Jesus expects to find.
The second thing we must understand concerning this taking up of the cross is that it is not some sort of unfortunate incident that happens to us. We often hear it said, "Well, you know, we all have a cross to bear," and by that it usually means we have certain misfortunes in our life that we have to cope with. Maybe my health is bad, and so that's my cross that I have to bear. And maybe my relatives are very inconsiderate, and that's the cross I have to bear. You know, "I have a mother-in-law and she really wears me out, that's the cross I have to bear." "I have a terrible roommate who never washes his socks, so I have dried fish to smell every night. Well, that's too bad. That's the cross I have to bear, you know. He's like that. What can I do?"
Now let me say immediately, when we talk about cross-bearing, we are not talking about any of these things. This has nothing to do with cross-bearing of the Lord's teaching. Because if that is cross-bearing, then even the non-Christians are cross-bearing too. They also have inconsiderate mothers-in-law. The non-Christian also has bad health. The non-Christian also may have roommates who don't wash their socks. This has nothing to do with cross-bearing at all.
The second point I'd like you to see is that cross-bearing has always to do with our own voluntary choice. It is not something imposed upon us like these unfortunate circumstances. Never misuse this term, as even preachers have been known to misuse it, to refer to the cross as the problems that come without our choice into our lives, that we can't help it and we are stuck with. This has nothing to do with the meaning of the Lord's saying at all. The cross is something that I choose voluntarily to accept, or I never have it at all. The cross has to do with my own choice to go out and not have to come back again in saving others. That is the choice. And nobody else makes the choice for you. It is a cross that you choose entirely of your own volition. And in the words of the Lord Jesus, "Nobody takes my life from me," He says in John. "I lay it down of my own choice." Now that is cross-bearing. This cross is not something you have to bear that God imposes upon you. You make your choice whether you are going to take it or not. When you take your stand with Christ, then you choose to take the cross.
The third thing is the joy of sacrifice. Not only is it voluntary, but it must be borne not in a grudging way—"Okay, voluntary in the sense that okay, I accept, but because I have no choice"—there must be a joy that comes into it, that I have the privilege to share Jesus' ministry of salvation. What a joy that He grants me a share in this kind of suffering! Why? Because we enjoy suffering? No, we don't enjoy suffering. Do you think Jesus enjoys suffering? Of course not. Do you think the coast guard enjoys dying when he goes out there to save others? Of course not. But the whole point is that this task has to be done, that in our losing whatever we have, others gain whatever is necessary for their eternal welfare. It is doing God's work, and doing it joyfully.
Now we speak of cross-bearing and we think of the biggest things, but maybe in a practical way we should think of cross-bearing to begin with in a very small way. Maybe, for example, just enduring some tiredness in serving other people. In the days when I was in London and there was revival in the church, day and night—and I mean literally day and night—people came to me for consultation, for counseling. And often by one o'clock in the morning I was utterly exhausted, so that my mind couldn't think anymore very clearly. But there were people still wanting counseling, to get right with God. And I felt that this was a very small, small sacrifice to make, that if through my weariness they might get to eternal life, so let me be weary. What a blessing to share a little bit—this tiny little bit—of suffering for the Lord. The joy of it. Not only we do it, but joyfully.
Sometime I must say I was not as joyful as my dear brother in London at the time. This dear brother whom recently I met again in Thailand—whom I shared with some of you about—this dear brother who was a doctor in Thailand. In those days he was a medical student, and yet his devotion to the Lord and to me was most touching. I was asked to preach in Northampton, which is somewhere north of London, at one time in an English church there. And this dear brother insisted to drive me up to Northampton. Yet he was on night duty. He had been on night duty for several nights, and yet he pleaded that he might have the chance to drive me to Northampton. For me, I could have taken a bus or train. He said, "No, please let me drive you there." And so he drove me there, having worked for several nights and days through night duty, in utter exhaustion. He drove me there all the same, stayed with me the whole day since I preached morning and evening at that church, and then he drove me back at night again.
And when we got back to London, after several hours driving, and we were standing in the living room talking with several people, brothers and sisters, sharing what the Lord had been doing—I looked across to this dear English brother who really loved the Lord and loved the Chinese people. I looked across to him and I noticed that he was literally falling asleep on his feet. He was so tired. It's the first time in my life that I could actually see a person sleep standing. I had never seen that before. He stood there and I saw his eyes close and he was still standing there, and I thought any moment he was going to fall on the floor. And then I said to him, "Jeffrey, are you alright?" And he slightly opened his eyes, looked at me, and the smile broke out on his face again. I thought it's amazing—an utter exhaustion, and yet the joy of sacrifice. He could still smile in that situation. It really spoke to my heart, you know, the joyfulness of doing—not just "I do it," but to do it with such joy. And that sweet smile that came upon his face as he struggled to lift up his eyelids one more time really touched my heart. The joy of sacrifice.
It is people like this who, in small things, can minister the word of life. Only then can we talk about laying down our lives for others. If we can't even lay down a bit of weariness for others, what are we talking about laying down our lives? The practical nature. What an attitude was shown in this brother. No wonder this brother has been able to serve the Lord in Thailand, in Laos, for so many years, in jungle-infested, malaria-infested jungles in Southeast Asia, with his whole family, with his children, exposing them all to the danger of malaria—but never a complaint. When I saw him again this time, there was his smile again. Always joyful. In fact, he had just received a message from his wife to say that his little boy had broken his arm. And when he was telling me this, he was smiling. I said, "That's Jeffrey. You cannot break his spirit." Deeply, of course, he is very concerned about his boy, but his confidence in God could not be shaken. He was not anxious. He did not fear, because he had faith. I said to him, "Jeffrey, you are the same as before, aren't you?" Here you are talking about your daughter being sick because the daughter was sick as well, the son with his arm broken, and there was the smile on his face, utterly confident in God.
And this is the fourth point I'd like to share with you. If the Lord Jesus has such an attitude in which, for Him, being crucified for us in this most terrible death was joy for Him, was glorification for Him—it shows an attitude of commitment to us that, if we had spiritual perception to see, we would be amazed. He loves us so much that to die for us was a joy. It's a joy, no burden. It is glorification. Can you see Jesus in His love for us?
Let me tell you what I do sometimes when the pressure on me is so heavy and I'm quite exhausted. I sit down and turn my heart to the Lord Jesus, and this thought comes to my heart again: He is totally committed to me. He is unconditionally committed to me. What have I to fear? What problem is there in this world that I cannot face with Him? Somebody is in trouble, some problem, someone hurt in the family—He is unconditionally committed to me. Think of it until the message soaks into you, that God eternal is committed to you when you are totally committed to Him. And no fear can survive when we focus our minds upon the Lord in this way. Do you realize how much His commitment is to you? We talk about our commitment to Him. Let me tell you, our commitment to Him is nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to His commitment to us who are committed to Him.
I think of those words in Hebrews, and in China many times I had occasion to remember these words in the midst of heavy pressure. When the security police would question me about why I went to church, and putting pressure on me to write down my name when I went into church, these words in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 would come to me. Hebrews 13:5: "I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you." "I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you." That is a literal translation of the original. His assurance to us is unconditional and permanent. "I promise I will never leave. I am totally committed to you."
But these words, of course, are not for any old sort of Christian. Let me remind you, these words are of course a quotation from Joshua chapter 1 verse 5, and these words are addressed to God's great servant Joshua. And Joshua was a totally committed servant of God. He, with Caleb, the only two people who were granted to enter the Promised Land, as you remember. This promise is not something that any wishy-washy Christian can quote. These words are for committed Christians. When you are totally committed to Him, you can—His total commitment to you will make your commitment look like nothing of value. Oh, so wonderful to ponder this very thing.
But we must close in a moment. Let me briefly deal with this question: why is the cross seen as exaltation? Can you see the cross as exaltation, or do you see the cross as a burden instead of glory?
Now firstly, you can only regard the cross as glory when you have a totally new way of looking at things. You see, the cross was the place for criminals in the Roman Empire, the enemies of the state—what the Romans would have said, these are the enemies of the Roman state. These were the people who were crucified, the counter-revolutionaries of the Roman state. These were the people who were crucified. It was absolutely the worst form of death, humiliation. You can't go lower than that in the Roman world. How can this humiliation be regarded as glorification? You see, you can only think in this way when your mind is totally changed in its sense of values.
Because what is glory in the world is shame in God's sight. Did you know that? So be very careful of being glorified in the world. Let me read to you Luke chapter 16 verse 15. Luke 16:15. And these words have often struck me as I pondered upon these words. Luke 16:15: "But He said to the Pharisees, 'You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.'" What is glory in the world is abomination. It is disgusting in the sight of God. His sense of values are the opposite of the sense of values of the world. So put in another way, what is humiliation among men, that is glory in the sight of God. That is why the Lord told His disciples, "When people slander you, when they revile you, when they persecute you, praise God for that, because that's what they did to the prophets. Rejoice, feel happy. Blessed are you when these things happen to you."
Can you get this attitude? I find that difficult. None of us like people to say bad things about us, especially when we know that we have aimed to be faithful, and then we are slandered. We don't—we have not God's sense of values. Otherwise, when you are persecuted by people you love, when they say bad things about you, you thank God for it. It is exaltation in the eyes of God. That is a revolutionary way of thinking. And also in John chapter 5 verse 44: "How can you believe, because you are people who seek glory coming from men and not the glory that comes from God?" We cannot believe because our sense of values are untransformed. Let God change our thinking. When we know the living God, the glory of the world means nothing to us. I find more and more wonderful that when people praise me it's like so much water off the duck's back. In fact, when people praise me, it frightens me. I'm scared of that, because I'm wondering then whether I'm on the right track as far as God is concerned. I'm afraid of being glorified. I'd rather that God gives me glory, and I am learning to accept joyfully humiliation and misunderstanding. Thank God for it. That's what happened to my Lord.
The second thing as to why the cross is exaltation is this: the cross is exaltation because it is the ultimate expression of God's love and power. Think of the cross. Think of the fact that at the cross you are stripped naked in front of all the people. You are stripped naked, and add to the humiliation of the suffering that people can look at you and laugh at you, giggle at you. "He saved others; He can't save Himself." They ridicule these people who are already in agony and suffering. It is the worst form of death that man could ever dream of.
And yet, think of this remarkable fact: that Christ transformed this horrible instrument of torture into a symbol of glory. He transformed this horrible thing into a thing of beauty, so that even women like to hang it as a symbol around their necks in jade and gold and whatnot. He has transformed this whole thing around. He takes what is ugly and makes it beautiful. That is the transforming power of God. Men are always doing the opposite. They take what is beautiful and make it ugly. We went in the summer camp there in Hong Kong, and the place outside the camp ground was littered with dirt and paper and filth. A beautiful place which man pollutes and makes ugly. You look through there and everything is dirty and filth and garbage is left everywhere. Man pollutes everything. He takes what is something beautiful spiritually and he makes it ugly. When God comes, He does exactly the opposite. He takes what is ugly and makes it beautiful.
So that I often pondered: how with some people, one life can bring forth so much death. Consider Hitler, for example. Here was a man with one life—he could exterminate six million Jews. One man could bring out so much death. But with Christ, one death brought forth so much life. Isn't it wonderful? What will happen in your case?
The last thing, and we must close, and it is this. Why is the cross exaltation? Because the cross is the place of communion with God. As Paul says in Philippians 3:10, "the fellowship of his sufferings." When you suffer, God is very close to you. Remember that. God is never so close to you in your life as when you suffer. When you are having a good time, you may often find God seems pretty far away. But you can be sure of one thing: when you are suffering, God is right near to you. When you look through the accounts in Acts, you will see that whenever the apostles were made to suffer, were persecuted, God's presence was there. You remember God's comforting vision to Paul when he was in jail. Remember what God did when both of them were thrown into the Philippian jail. All these things—when you suffer for His sake, you are going to know what is the fellowship, the sweetness of communion with Him.
In 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 14, it reads there that when you suffer, "the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." Glory rests upon you. "When I am lifted up," the Lord Jesus says, "I will draw all men." You see, the Spirit of glory rests upon you, and glory has a very attractive quality about it. It draws people to God. Can you draw people to God? Have you ever drawn anybody to God?
And this message, remember, speaks to our hearts. It may be because there is something wrong with your attitude. Your life has no pull. It has no glory. It has no beauty of God that people desire. There is nothing there. Do your colleagues where you work say, "Wow, I feel a pull about this person. Very attractive. I'd like to talk to this person"? They like to come to you. They like to draw near to you. There is a pull because you are seeing the cross as something that exalts you. It is glorification. We have no glory because we have not taken up the cross.
Let us be quiet before God in prayer.