First Presbyterian Church
Marianna, Florida
March 4, 2007
Sermon by Huw Christopher, Pastor

Scripture Readings: Galatians 2: 15-21
                                 Matthew 16:24-26
Sermon Title: “The Cross of Jesus:  It Is Not Just About Jesus!”
Sermon Text: Matthew 16:24:  Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any 
want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their 
cross and follow me.

	We all have our cross to bear.  How often have heard someone say these 
words?  Or maybe they are ones you have spoken yourself.
	We all have our cross to bear.  When you have heard, or when you have 
spoken these words, what comes to your mind?  What does it mean to you when 
someone says, “We all have our cross to bear?”
	I do not know about you but when I think about the circumstances in which I 
hear those words spoken most often it is in a time of crisis, or distress or sadness.  
People are perplexed by the sudden death of a loved one, or by a tragic accident, or 
a natural disaster that has left their lives devastated.  I am sure that such comments 
or similar ones have been spoken in the last few days in Enterprise, Alabama and 
in Americus, Georgia. Sometimes, of course, we hear the words, “we all have our 
cross to bear” as people try to cope with their own serious illness or that of a loved 
one.  We hear them often said to people who are frustrated by the drug or alcohol 
addiction of a child, or the increasing limitations of an aging parent or spouse who 
needs more and more attention.  As we hear these circumstances of our own or 
other people’s lives being referred to as the cross we all have to bear, what picture 
does this present to us?  Is it of a cross which we have chosen to bear, or is it of 
something imposed upon us mostly against our will and certainly something we 
would want to get out from under if there was any way possible?
	Paul as he writes to the Christians in Corinth refers to what he calls “a thorn 
in the flesh.” (II Corinthians 12:7)  He says he had prayed on many occasions that 
he might be relieved from whatever this condition might have been.  Clearly it was 
not something he had chosen nor desired in his life. Yet never do we find him 
saying, “This is the cross I must bear.”  Indeed when we listen to his words that we 
have heard this morning as he writes to the Christians in the churches of Galatia it 
would appear that being crucified with Christ, or bearing a cross, is something that 
he has chosen rather than something from which he wants to find relief. For him 
indeed being crucified with Christ rather than limiting his life appears to be that 
which has given meaning and purpose to his life. He says “It is no longer I who 
live but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith 
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  He speaks of being 
crucified with Christ or bearing a cross of Jesus did not as something from which 
he wants to be free, but as something that has brought newness to his life that he 
could not have found in any other way. 
	Paul sees that bearing his cross is something that he has freely chosen to do 
in response to God’s love for him in Jesus Christ, and not as something forced 
upon him against his will.  As we hear his words we see how he had come to 
appreciate the words of Jesus when he had said, “If any want to be my followers, 
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who 
want to save their live will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will 
find it.”  The words of Paul as he speaks of his own life in the light of these words 
of Jesus prompts us to look at that common phrase, “we all must bear our cross,” in 
a new way. Clearly for Paul and also for Jesus the cross we are invited to bear is 
not something that is imposed upon us against our will, nor is something we have 
to bear despite our opposition to it, and our desire to get rid of it.  For Paul and for 
Jesus the cross is a choice we make.  We decide if we will deny ourselves and 
choose not to live according to our own self-centered desires, wants and needs, but 
rather according to God’s will. It is this choice that Paul would say is the only 
appropriate response we can make when we stand beneath the cross of Jesus and 
we see there the One who loved us and gave himself for us.  As Isaac Watts puts it, 
“love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”  
	As we come to this Table we hear the familiar words by which Jesus 
prepared his disciples for his giving of himself in death on the cross.  He said, 
“This is my body broken for you.  This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood 
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  His words remind us 
that Jesus chose to go the way of the cross for us. Through his own death on the 
cross he has shown to us and to the whole world how much God loves us. These 
familiar words also remind us of the example that Jesus has given us that as we 
chose to deny ourselves and to take up our cross we are saying that showing our 
love and our concern and our compassion for other people is the most important 
thing that we can do with our lives.  Indeed, Jesus would say that it is the only way 
to find the life that God really desires for us to know.  Today as we come to this 
Table we are invited to remember what it means for each one of us to bear a cross 
as the choice we make following the example of the One who first chose to bear a 
cross for us.  As we share this meal we are invited to remember and to give thanks 
for all that Jesus has done for us, even in bearing his own cross to show us how 
much God loves us. Let us prepare to come to share in this meal to which Jesus 
invites us as we affirm our faith using the words of affirmation printed in the 
bulletin.  Let us stand and affirm our faith together…

Affirmation of Faith              Adapted from The Lord=s Supper by William Barclay. 
                                                                                               SCM Press, Ltd., 1967)

I come to the Lord=s Table in obedience to the invitation and command of 
Jesus Christ who suffered and died for me.  To Jesus I owe the assurance that 
my sins are forgiven.  Through Jesus I have the confidence to call the great 
Creator God, AAbba, Father.@  On Jesus alone I depend for grace to overcome 
all evil and to do the right.  On Jesus alone I rely for strength to take up my 
cross and to follow him. Within this fellowship and with all of his followers of 
every time and place I will offer to Jesus thanks and praise, and I will strive to 
maintain the honor of his name upon earth.

 
 
 
 


1