“Bear His Cross on His Back”

Thursday, September 6, 2018

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Matthew 16:24–26

Jonathan Goforth, who spent many years as a missionary in China, recounted the story of two young Chinese men who lived in a neighboring province. They purchased copies of the New Testament from a bookseller and began to read the Word of God in their own language. When they came to the instruction of Jesus to take up the cross, they were not clear on what it meant. So following the instruction literally, they made crosses out of bamboo. The Chinese translation said to “bear his cross on his back,” and so they tied the crosses to their shoulders and carried them everywhere they went. Soon they were directed to the mission outpost in Liuchow where they were presented the gospel. When they understood that Christ had already taken the punishment for their sins on His back as He died on the cross, they trusted Him as their Saviour. Then they returned to their village to tell others the good news.

The cross bearing that God commands for us is not usually a literal demand, but a symbol of sacrifice. Those who are not willing to give up what they hold most dear cannot follow Jesus, because that is what He did, even before His death on the cross. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Anything we cling to more than Jesus will prevent us from walking in His footsteps.

Today's Growth Principle
It is impossible to follow Jesus and live as He did without first taking up the cross and dying to self.

Old Testament Reading

Proverbs 1-2

CHAPTER 1

¹ The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; ² To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; ³ To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; ⁴ To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. ⁵ A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: ⁶ To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: ⁹ For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. ¹¹ If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: ¹² Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: ¹³ We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: ¹⁴ Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: ¹⁵ My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: ¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. ¹⁷ Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. ¹⁸ And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. ¹⁹ So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

²⁰ Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: ²¹ She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, ²² How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? ²³ Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. ²⁴ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; ²⁵ But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: ²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; ²⁷ When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. ²⁸ Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: ²⁹ For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: ³⁰ They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. ³¹ Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. ³² For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. ³³ But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

CHAPTER 2

¹ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; ² So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; ³ Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; ⁴ If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; ⁵ Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. ⁸ He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. ⁹ Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

¹⁰ When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; ¹¹ Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: ¹² To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; ¹³ Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; ¹⁴ Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; ¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: ¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; ¹⁷ Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. ¹⁸ For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. ¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. ²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. ²¹ For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. ²² But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

New Testament Reading

1 Corinthians 16

CHAPTER 16

¹ Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. ² Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. ³ And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. ⁴ And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.

⁵ Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. ⁶ And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. ⁷ For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. ⁸ But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. ⁹ For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰ Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. ¹¹ Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren. ¹² As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.

¹³ Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. ¹⁴ Let all your things be done with charity. ¹⁵ I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,) ¹⁶ That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth. ¹⁷ I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied. ¹⁸ For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such.

¹⁹ The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. ²⁰ All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss. ²¹ The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. ²² If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. ²³ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ²⁴ My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi by Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus and Timotheus.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 7

¹ My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. ² Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. ³ Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. ⁴ Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: ⁵ That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. ⁶ For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, ⁷ And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, ⁸ Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, ⁹ In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: ¹⁰ And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. ¹¹ (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: ¹² Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) ¹³ So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, ¹⁴ I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. ¹⁵ Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. ¹⁶ I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. ¹⁷ I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸ Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. ¹⁹ For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: ²⁰ He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. ²¹ With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. ²² He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; ²³ Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. ²⁴ Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵ Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. ²⁶ For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ²⁷ Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.