The Cross of ILL Repute

I glory not, except in the cross of Jesus Christ:

As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified with me, and I with the world. ^{(Galatians 6 verse 12 thru 14)}

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
^{(Hebrews 12 verse 1 thru 2.)}

It is interesting to note that Jesus Christ, having been beaten and scourged in Jerusalem, was only able to carry our cross to the entrance of the city gate. The Lord was too weak from the beatings and flogging to bear the physical weight of that cross, as He stumbled and fell a number of times.  A man of Cyrene, Simon by name, was unwillingly pressed into service, and carried the cross, and followed the Lord to the place of the skull, where Jesus Christ was Crucified.  And after that they had mocked Him [Jesus], they took the [scarlet] robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.  And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear His cross.  And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull; ^{(Matthew 27 verse 31 thru 33.)} they crucified Him. ^{(Matthew 27 verse 35.)}

O man of sifting sand, are you unwilling to bear that cross of ill repute?   It was your cross and my cross, the very same that Jesus Christ was nailed to, instead of you and me.  God brought forth His holy wrath, and the full curse of His indignation against the sin of mankind, bringing it to bare fully upon the Life of Jesus, Whose battered body became that same curse of sin, hanging from the tree of the cross.

As you can see, the cross is not a proud ornamental fixture that is draped around our neck, but an instrument of death, where our naked shame and arrogance to God, hung in the person of Jesus Christ.  For the Holy Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who knew no sin, was “made” by God to be a substitute, a scapegoat for our sin, and the full fury of each one of our whirlwinds of death and destruction, bore down on Jesus, and slayed the innocent lamb, sacrificed by God, for the iniquity of Adam and all of his descendants of mankind.

We, in faith through our initial water baptism into Jesus Christ's death, were liberated from the curse of our past sin, so that in following our Savior Jesus Christ, we would always, even in peril and strife, be able to rejoice before our God and eternal Father of the living.  God, Who first loved us, while we were dead in sin, has delivered us from our death, through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The word, ‘IN'; is a troublesome little word, that is emphasized, for to be "IN" Christ Jesus, we logically would never desire to leave the presence of God Almighty for they are ONE Holy Spirit.  I think the scriptures speak clearly, that some may leave Jesus Christ, and perish on the broad path of destruction, but those that belong to Yeshua, are, in their humble daily walk with God, “Crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts”.  Even so, the flesh of our being will never be perfected, but will corrupt back into the dust of the earth from whence it came.  While we remain in these earthen tabernacles, we may stumble many times, but when we turn away from the stumbling block of our sin, then the grace of God through the New Covenant Blood of our fellowship with Jesus Christ, will prevail against the will of sin, that seeks to rule our selves.  The Sword of the Spirit that is one with the Life Blood of Jesus Christ, will sanctify the humble and contrite hearts that are seeking release from this body of death that can bring a stagnation with in the flesh of our minds.

From epistle to epistle, the framework of the Cross, in the teachings of all the Apostles, cannot be broken, as they each echo their Master's Words, for He said to them all: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”  And so, the Apostle Paul continues this echo of the Spirit in Galatians, as he writes: “And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” ^{(Galatians 5 verse 24.)} And again the Sword of the Spirit Speaks: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the Power of God.”

The Apostle Peter, who for the sake of the Gospel and his Lord, bore the cross to his own death, writes to those in affliction, encouraging them with this scripture rendering: “If you forbear with suffering for doing what is right, then this is acceptable to God.  It was for this that you were called, since Christ suffered for you in just this way and left you an example, to have you follow in His footsteps. He did no wrong: no deceit was found in His mouth.  When He was insulted, He returned no insult.  When He was made to suffer, He did not counter with threats.  Instead, He delivered Himself up to the One Who judges justly.  In His own body, He brought your sins to the cross, so that all of us dead to sin, could live in accord with God’s will.” ^{(1st Peter 2 verse 21 thru  24.)}

Chastened of God to be an Apostle, Paul likewise beckons us: “Pattern yourselves after me, that is, follow my example as I imitate and follow Christ.” ^{(1st Corinthians 11 verse 1 (Amplified.)} That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; ^{(Philippians 3 verse 10.)} My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; ^{(Proverbs 3 verse 11 thru  12.)} for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ^{(Hebrews 12 verse 5 thru  8. (NIV.)}

Again, if we are to follow the Lord, then the Words of the Master, and the Chief Physician of our souls, instructs each of us to exercise daily with the denial of our selfish will, and then we are to pick up and bear our cross that our Lord was physically nailed to and then hung upon, in naked shame at Calvary.  The two edged Sword of the Spirit Says: For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. We have to die to the selfish deeds of our sin enslaved flesh, so that we may live in the Spirit of the Eternal!  There is not one of us, who are comfortable in denying the innate sensual emotions of self, and the disciplines necessary to abate the abusive, and willful desires of the flesh.  But this is just what Jesus Christ has called all of His followers to do.  All of His disciples are called to walk a straight path with our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.  It is not that we walk without joy in this life.  It is that we, who were given new birth in Jesus Christ and having the hope of eternal life, would walk with singleness of purpose.  That purpose, being to glorify our Father of Lights and the Holy One, Who has called us out of darkness, to become the sons of life and light, rejoicing always in His presence.

Much of today's modern Church does not profess or teach the Lord's way of the cross, so you might ask, why daily the denial of self?  Why daily the cross?   Even when God's supreme Love and Truth comes into our beings, this body is still where we live, and spiritually, our mind needs to be kept tidy. The cross of Jesus Christ is part of that prescription instrument of the Sword of the Spirit, which we begin to practice in our minds, so as to mitigate sin's promulgation of itself.  We need to discipline our flesh, so and that we might be a righteous instrument in the hands of our Lord.  But also Ephesians 4 verse 12 thru 15, is a very reasonable scriptural answer, to the purpose of the cross and the calling of the disciples of the Lord Jesus: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, where by they lie in wait to deceive; But 'we' speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:  ^{(In context Ephesians 4 verse 12 thru 15.)}