The High Commitment of the Cross
The High Calling of the cross • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Having considered the high calling and the high command of the cross we turn now to the high commitment of the cross. We think of commitment in terms of something that we can get out of or pull the plug on when it becomes too much to bear. The commitment that we are called to is as serious as Christ’s Commitment of dying on the cross.The cross calls us to a commitment in Christ that through him we may truly find and experience true life. Mark 8:35 is a paradoxical statement designed to help us understand better the words of our Lord. If your goal in life is self preservation you will ultimately lose. The cross demands a high commitment to Christ and that commitment means giving up your life in order that you may gain His life.
I. A Fatal Flaw
I. A Fatal Flaw
A. Flaw of trusting yourself
i) We place too much faith in ourselves.
a. We trust our bodies
b. We trust our bank accounts
c. We trust our government system
B. Flaw of Trying to hold on to your life
i) The rich young ruler who came to Jesus.
ii) The inference here in the Greek Life means your soul.
iii) Those who try to save their own soul will lose it.
C. Flaw of partial commitment
i) Nowhere do we find place for partial commitment
II. A Final Faith
II. A Final Faith
A. The way to find life
i) The loss of life here is not in the physical sense of dying but in the spiritual sense.
a. Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”
b. Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
ii) We lose our lives in Christ
a. Colossians 3:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
b. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
B. The way to free life
i) John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
C. The way to fulfilled life
i) John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
III. A Fruitful Fact
III. A Fruitful Fact
A. The Joy of a saved life
i) If trying to save your own life results in eternal destruction in Hell, then it is understood that losing your life to Jesus results in eternal life.
B. The Joy of a surrendered life
i) Losing your life in Christ results in total commitment to Him.
ii) Matthew 16:25 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
C. The Joy of a secured life
i) In Christ you are secured forever
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion