When I didn’t take up the cross

Watch the complete sermon here: https://www.bridges.church/messages/the-way-of-the-cross-mark-8-27-38/
Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. This last week, we looked at a passage where Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him. And we talked about the importance of really serving others instead of fighting others as Jesus went to the cross to die for his enemies. So that is our responsibility as well, if we are really following him, that our instinct should be to lay down our lives for others instead of trying to pummel them into agreement with us or submission to us. And so I made the comment toward the sermon that I confess it’s rampant in my life that I don’t naturally just lay down my life to serve others all the time.

And so the question is, what’s an example of that? And it’s funny because. Very recent example, actually, while I was working on this sermon, I was not doing what I needed to be doing. My family and I weren’t on a flight. We took Southwest.

And so Southwest, you don’t have a specific seat. And it’s kind of like first come, first serve on the airplane. And so we had to line up and family boarding, which boards, if you haven’t flown southwest, sorry that you’re not going to get all the specifics of it, but family boarding boards after the A group. And so that’s nice. Unless there’s a whole bunch of families that want to board right then.

And so we’ve done this before. So we got in the front of the line of the family boarding, which has 150 people in it behind us. And right about when we’re about to board, this other mom comes up with little kids, and she’s like, is this the family boarding? Like, she’s going to board in front of us who have been waiting there for so long, looks like she’s going to cut in line. And all this anger surfaces in me.

I got to make sure that she is going to go to the back of the line and not cut in front of me and not cut in front of the people that are directly behind me. And I did that. I made sure we boarded the plane first and we got the seats that we wanted so our family could sit together. All the instincts of let me Rise up and fight for my own rights because you don’t deserve them. All of those just instantly up at the surface, instead of, how do I serve this person?

How do I love this person? And the problem with getting our mindsets more in line with Christ is it’s not immediately obvious how to do that. Right? When Christ is like, turn the other cheek, it’s not just be a doormat. That’s not it.

It would not be. Say nothing in that situation. It’s like, how do you proactively serve that person? And if you’re really taking up your cross, that is, how do you proactively serve that person in a way that you bear the cost of their offense? And so I didn’t think about it until later, after we’re on the plane and I’m working on this sermon, but I thought really what it would be, would be I go to the back of the line and she takes my place in the front of the line.

Because you can’t just let her go in front, because that disadvantages the person who’s second in line. That’s making them bear the cost, too. But if we switch, right, if it’s substitution like Christ does with us, if I take what she deserves and she gets what I deserve, even though she definitely does not deserve it, then that’s what the gospel is, right? And I believe that kind of thing is how we’re called to serve people. It is not primary.

In my heart, I constantly fight against flesh and selfishness and me first, and I will pummel you to get my way. I constantly have to fight against it if you do, too. We can pray for each other. Every situation I believe is different. So you can’t say, oh, you just always switch your place in line with people, because that’s not going to be the situation next time.

When you’re going to turn the other cheek, when you’re going to take up your cross to follow Christ, you’ll need to be creative in a different way. And it may not come to you right away, but I think that’s the kind of thinking that we need to be thinking through. So there you have it. Little picture of what my heart is like and how far away from Jesus that it is. So I would appreciate your prayers, and I will pray for you.

Bye.