Pastor Ralph Posted April 22, 2023 Report Share Posted April 22, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with “losing your life for me.” What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolaas A.P. Mostert Posted October 15, 2023 Report Share Posted October 15, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? You stand willing to die for JESUS every day. It is an image of Roman execution by crucifixion, where the condemned man carried his cross to the place of execution. What does this have to do with "losing your life for me." What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? Take up your cross vs losing your life for me; if you don't pick up your cross you will defiantly loose your life. JESUS demands that all of us must pick up our own cross and follow HIM. This is the only way for not losing your life. How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? You cannot save yourself, we are save by HIS Grace. The cross as sign that we are save by our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robomom3 Posted October 17, 2023 Report Share Posted October 17, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? I have always understood this as the death of our flesh... our earthly desires... our own will... our flesh died the day our spirit was made alive in Christ. The cross we carry reminds us that our flesh is dead... This is a very heavy cross to carry because denying flesh goes against everything that comes natural to us. The flesh is a persistent foe... we have to remind ourselves daily that we do not live for our own desires but we have chosen to put our flesh to death so our spirit can be alive to follow our Lord and King and His desires... What does this have to do with “losing your life for me.” What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? We choose to give up the life this world offers (worship self, take care of self, glorify self, increase your self-wealth, self-knowledge, self-reputation, self-elevation) in order to live for Christ and Christ alone. This may mean we lose the promotion; we move to a place we never would have chosen; we hang out with people we don't necessarily like or enjoy; we give up a favorite hobby or dream... it means we understand that at any time God can call us to give up anything we have in our possession including our home and family. How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? When we save our own life, we are focused on ourselves and what is best for us, disregarding anyone else's needs, wants, feelings or desires. We save our life when we put ourselves first... we lose our lives when we put ourselves last and Christ first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niyonka16 Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 Q37. Parable of Taking up One's Cross (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? ANSWER: A condition for discipleship is to “take up your cross” is something that has to take place in your thoughts. When thoughts that aren’t pleasing to God come to your mind during the day, you “put them to death” on an inner “cross.” Denying these sinful thoughts is how you take up your cross daily. What does this have to do with "losing your life for me." ANSWER: To take up our cross, Jesus was asking His followers whether they were willing to follow Him to their death. To die to self. The significance of taking up our cross means sacrifice, laying everything on the altar. It's not half-hearted commitment; it is full surrender to God's terms of discipleship. It's a choice to live out the truth that we are “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) even if it means shame, rejection, or persecution. What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? ANSWER: We aren’t occasionally called to pick up a certain cross; we are called to an entire way of life. The real issue is not the costliness of following Jesus, it’s our willingness to follow him regardless of the cost. Self-denial and cross-bearing are actually calls to surrender the self, then the self must not only be present, but well-known and well-examined. There are no halfway measures in following Christ. It’s all or nothing! How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? ANSWER: Whoever would save his or her life (death of self) will lose it. However, those who willingly lose their lives for His sake will find true life. Jesus requires a radical condition for His followers: to enjoy the crown of life, we must first endure the cross of death. By contrast, those who would remain faithful to Him(Jesus) through adversities would gain eternal life in His presence, which was (and is) of more value than any comfort, pleasure, or benefit that temporal life on this earth can provide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanele Tlhakanelo Posted October 19, 2023 Report Share Posted October 19, 2023 Taking your cross daily means you need to be prepared to die for the truth and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the only Master that you will serve. When tough times come, you do not relinquish your position as the disciple of Christ. You do not deny Him but serve Him to the point where you will follow Christ and renounce your allegiance to the One true God. Losing your life for Christ means denying yourself for His sake. You do not live for yourself but you serve the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When Paul says "It is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me." He actually meant that you become selfless and surrender fully to do the Will of God. You put Christ first above all your needs. If a disciple wants to take this step of commitment, all the wordly comforts must be sacrificed to truly serve Christ. The Word of God says you cannot serve two masters. Therefore the self dies and Christ becomes the centre of your life. Christ makes it clear that if you try to save your life, you will lose it but when you ask Christ to Lord over your life, you will be preserved. It may not be easy to be the follower of Christ but one thing that we need to appreciate is that the promises He makes, He also keeps. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Therefore, in our commitment we must remember that He is God of the mountains and He is God of the valleys and will forever be with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD35 Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with "losing your life for me." What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? Just as a condemned man would carry the cross-beam of his cross to the place of crucifixion according to Roman custom, so each of Jesus' disciples must daily be willing to die. Prepared to die, if necessary. The reason is this: when a disciple has accepted death, then no man can control him with fear; he belongs fully to Jesus, come what may. he commitment is so great that it even overrides the ties of family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanks Posted October 20, 2023 Report Share Posted October 20, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with "losing your life for Me." What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? A basic condition of taking up our cross daily is to deny self. This involves a completely new way of life; no more living for our own selfish interests but living a life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. We daily recognise His Lordship in every area of our life – we live to serve His purposes. We identify with Christ in His rejection, shame, suffering, and death. By following Jesus, we may find ourselves in unsafe, unhealthy, and uncomfortable places. We may even risk death, but we should not fear losing our life for Christ, because this will result in Him granting us eternal life. The consequences involved in being His disciple are denial of self; taking up our cross daily; complete surrender to His control; living a life of total obedience to Him; and following our Lord. To follow Him means to live a life of humility, poverty, compassion, love, and grace. We die to sin, self, and the world, and there will be a willingness to endure shame, suffering, maybe persecution, and even death itself. All to the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whereas by contrast, by living a selfish life merely to please ourselves; by indulging in our pleasures and appetites; by basking in comfort, luxury, and ease; by living only for the present; and by using our finest talents for worldly acclaim; paradoxically we would run the risk of losing eternal life - the very life we want to preserve. Nothing temporal can compensate for the loss of eternal life. As Jesus' disciples we are not to use our lives on earth merely to please ourselves; rather we should spend our lives serving God and others. When we invest our life for Christ and His Kingdom, we will receive eternal life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krissi Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 To take up your cross daily means to live with the EXPECTATION of torture and a brutal death at the hands of the government. God expects us to not only be willing to die, but to die now. He knows that a person of committed faith is on his or her way to the gibbet. He knows that the more committed you are to Him, that is, the more sanctified and mature you are in the Christian life, the more likely it will be that you will die for Him. Our expectation of our own brutal deaths is not merely a form of "denying self" but a sort of suicide, not a desired suicide but an expected one. To know that you could die for your faith -- or WILL die for your faith -- and yet to keep that faith intact, strengthening it every day, feeding that faith, prostrating yourself before God ... is both physical suicide and spiritual eternal life. This isn't a willingness to suffer, like giving up one meal and patting yourself on the back for fasting, but a willingness/eagerness/expectation to die. And death is final, isn't it? It's not like you fast for 40 days, lose 25 pounds and start again. It's over on this earth for you yet forever in the heavenlies. To die for Christ, to not deny Him in that moment of panic and pain, isn't something any Christian wants or seeks. Yet such a death is not the final, or penultimate step on the rungs of Christian maturity, but one that comes at the very beginning, when we accept Him as savior. At the moment of salvation, we accept His death. And, at that very moment, we accept our own deaths. We shouldn't see ourselves as merely risking death as if it were an outside chance, like reading a life insurance actuarial chart, but rather we expect it as if it were 100% certain. Today. Now. To be put on this earth to die for Him makes life seem more translucent and transitory. Surreal, almost. Why have a mortgage payment? Why marry? Why pursue joy? Those are the dreams of a person who expects to live a long, healthy and Son-kissed life. But we are not called to live such a happy life. We're called to die. --- This has been bothering me a long, long time. There are two sides to God, here (probably an infinite number, but whatever). First, He's the loving Abba father who counts the hairs on our heads, lays down at the entrance of the pen to guard his sheep, promises to meet our desires and needs, heals us from our diseases so we can continue to serve Him and, in some places, promises a long life with many children. This is the God Westerners stress. The good God. The loving God. The protective under-my-pinions God. The God who hides us in safe caves and destroys our enemies. And then, second, there's the God who lets Polycarp die. He did NOT destroy Polycarp's enemy or bring down that government. Polycarp burned, slowly and painfully, in front of God's eyes, and God did nothing to mitigate the pain or free Him from those circumstances. He was murdered by God's own command! A God who is all-powerful must be responsible for the events in our lives in which He did not intervene. To die at the hands of government bureaucrats, to be a spectacle for others to watch, is ... unfathomably horrible. We must conclude, then, that Polycarp's TORTURE AND EXECUTION WAS GOD'S WILL. --- I cannot resolve this. It's hampering my Christian walk. I feel hopeless in prayer, as if I'm praying for something that God doesn't care about ... my own life and the lives of those I love. Why should I expect God help me if He didn't help Polycarp? WHY? Give me one good reason to expect God to rescue me when millions of Christians have prayed to be rescued ... and then died. The closer I get to Him and walk in synch with His steps, the more I expect to die brutally, not because I want this or becuase I think it's consistent with a loving Abba Father, but because of these Biblical statements and parables as well as the historical testimonies of those who loved Him and then were crucified. The dead witnesses. My eyes are open to his. My eyes are also open to the swirling currents around me. War has never seemed more likely in my lifetime. Almost inevitable. Like carrying our crosses to our deaths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeraldG Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 To take up your cross daily means that you need to be ready and willing to die for Christ every day. For if you carry a cross, you are going to your death. This has everything to do with losing your life for Christ, for we must be willing to lose our lives to follow Jesus Christ that we may have everlasting life. If you want to make the commitment to walk the Christian walk of Christ, then you must understand the consequences, which is that you will be hated by the world, you will be persecuted, and you must be willing to die for Christ. If you are to worried about saving your own life, then you cannot be a disciple of Christ. For if we save our life in this world we will lose it eternally, but if we lose our lives for Christ sake in this world, then shall save our lives in eternity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haar Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 A37 To take up your cross every day is to be ready to suffer for Christ up to the point of death. So help me Lord God because I realise that this is not easy and can only be possible by your empowerment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Wolf Posted October 21, 2023 Report Share Posted October 21, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with “losing your life for me.” What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? Truly, when we are all-in for Christ, we have no fear of death because our life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3) Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Taking up our cross is following Jesus completely. All of our selfishness needs to be crucified. All of it. Consequences for living this commitment, well sometimes He calls us to pour out our life for another--our time, our worldly goods; our comfort --our life is not our own--we were bought at a price. This living is definitely a contrast to trying to save one's life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Grant Posted October 26, 2023 Report Share Posted October 26, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with “losing your life for me.” What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? 1. As a disciple, we must be willing to die. When a disciple accepts Jesus, he is no longer controlled by a human with fear because he belongs fully to Jesus. 2. When a disciple loses his life for Jesus, he will gain it by living eternally. Denying oneself is necessary. 3. A disciple must put away all worldly things that are considered sin and serve Jesus wholehearted. 4. We must be true, faithful, and willing to serve when things are hard and good in order to gain eternal life. Leaving sin, selflessness, pride, and disrespect to others is some of the things we use to save our life and obedience to Jesus. If we are putting ourselves first before Jesus and other things that are not Godly, we set ourselves to hell damnation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmela Posted October 28, 2023 Report Share Posted October 28, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with "losing your life for Me." What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? To take up one's cross daily means to be willing to die for Jesus at any time and any place. In any way. To lose our life or to die on this earth, then means living with Jesus in eternity. (For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.) This commitment is total. It is fully putting down self and taking on Christ. If you mean by that to disown Christ and thus save one's life, that is definitely not what one should do. Christ comes first. Come what may, we are to live for Him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George L Posted November 7, 2023 Report Share Posted November 7, 2023 Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? Having made the choice to die to self. Since we are already dead if we have not Christ and His salvation. Is it not the only true choice to chose to live each day you awake for the Lord upon heavens business than any other thing. If it should cost you your earthly life so be it. You win, heaven instantly not some day. And the enemy would have you believe that is loss. What does this have to do with "losing your life for me." Give up your preference of selecting your priorities and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your day. He knows you must work, care for family etc. Do you think God would have you neglect to care for those you are responsible before Him? Give up your thoughts that you are the comander of life and the universe and responsible. Give over command of your life. What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? My first was 4 miles from home after being head of Electronic Measurement for the national track and field masters championship. “will you be more satisfied doing more of that or working for me.” Laser measurement instruments sold off, retired from track and field officiating. And on to the next steps of being free of the self life. At the apostle level HE wants ALL of you not part of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sister Evelyn Posted November 8, 2023 Report Share Posted November 8, 2023 Q>37 (Luke 9:23-24) In Luke 9:23 states it all. We are to die to this flesh continually and sacrificing laying everything at the alter. We are to carry out our own cross like Jesus did on his way to Calvary. We are to show love to others, setting time aside to spend time with God, but most of all we must do this on a daily basis. Losing our life for Christ is surrendering our life on a daily basis to follow the King of Kings putting His ways ahead. The consequences will be as followers of Jesus that we will face persecution and will suffered. Some more than others. The contrast with trying to save one's life. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janzie Posted November 15, 2023 Report Share Posted November 15, 2023 On 4/21/2023 at 11:42 PM, Pastor Ralph said: Q37. (Luke 9:23-24, etc.) What does it mean to take up your cross daily? What does this have to do with “losing your life for me.” What are the consequences in one's Christian walk if a disciple wants to take this step of commitment? How does this contrast with trying to save one's life? If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24 If a disciple wants to take this step of commitment he must count the cost. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24)when a disciple has accepted death, then no man can control him with fear; he belongs fully to Jesus, come what may. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zibuyile Posted November 18, 2023 Report Share Posted November 18, 2023 Q.37 It's about loosing my self , what I want or don't but take the decision to follow Christ and let go of who I'm It's dying to oneself everything about me and yield to what Christ want to do with my life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Jerry Posted December 21, 2023 Report Share Posted December 21, 2023 The meaning of taking up our cross daily is to be studying the bible daily and doing the commands that will remind you of who the real King really is. We should be willing to lay down our lives for the King. The consequences in one’s Christian walk in committing to Christ is that the world will be looking down on him. He may not get a job because of his commitment to Jesus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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