The Cross of Jesus Christ and the Cross of the Christian Believer

Part One

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ neither circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything but a new creation. Galatians 6:14

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6

In essence, these two scriptures are saying that one’s salvation from sin is not based on works of law but on grace through faith resulting in “a new creation” and “faith working through love” for those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Another way of saying this is, "That I might be be found "in Him," not having a righteousness of my own which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Philippians 3:9

For the professing Christian believer it is through receiving the knowledge of the truth, resulting in faith in the accomplished sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, that the “the world,” “the flesh” (sin nature), and the “old man” have been executed with Christ, resulting in his justification (innocence) from sin.

The power of heart belief and mouth confession:

‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’-- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, because if you shall confess (profess) with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession (profession) is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10 (Also see Hebrews 10:23)

Respectively, the professing, practicing Christian believer (which obviously we are all called to be) has been crucified and is dead and buried to the behavior of the world, the dictates of flesh, and the practices of the old man, and is thereby, a new creation "in Christ," if he chooses to remain "in Christ." This will result in his sanctification by the righteousness that comes from God through faith. In other words, sanctification requires the Christian believer’s continuous and consistent infilling and yielding to the promptings of the indwelling Holy Spirit and obedience to the doctrine of Christ. This is how the Christian believer chooses to remain "in Christ" and become a disciple of Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more friut. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless in remains in the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in Me. I am the true vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:1-8

The power of consecrated Christian disciplines motivated by Christ’s love for us and our faithful appreciation of, and heartfelt love for Him:

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if any man be "in Christ," he is a new creature: old things are passed away; "behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:14-17

Again, whosoever believes in and professes their faith in Christ has had “the world,” “the flesh,” and “the old man” that resided within them executed and condemned by God with Christ on His cross, i.e. --- “I have been crucified to the world.” This has resulted in their justification. Whosoever believes in, professes, and practices their faith in Christ has had “the behavior of world,” “the dictates of flesh,” and “the practices of the old man” condemned and executed by God with Christ on His cross, and respectively has chosen to take up his own cross and follow Christ. i.e. --- “the world has been crucified to me.” (Paraphrased Galatians 6:14) This choice will result in the believers sanctification. We must understand that when we become a believer and professor of Christ we are justified by faith, but if we choose to be a disciple of Christ by remaining in Him and allowing his words to remain in us, as professing, practicing Christian believers, we will bear much fruit and our God and Father will be glorified! By the way, we are all called to be disciples of Christ, but the choice is ours. If we will choose to remain in Him and not in sin, He will choose us to be a part of the first out resurrection,(Revelation 20:6) but remember, "many are called but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:14)

Now, with this in mind, the word “believes” that the Apostle John used in his gospel is used in the present continuious tense, and it means, “Whosoever believes and keeps on believing.” (John 3:16) The word “disciple” comes from the word discipline, and it means “a disciplined follower of Christ.” The word “saint” comes from the word “sanctification.” The word sanctified means “separated unto God,” and the word saint means “one, who by the mercies of God, presents his body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is his reasonable service. And is not conformed to the world, but transformed through the renewing of his mind, that he may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” (Paraphrased Romans 12:1-2)

Let’s take a look at a believer, a disciple, and a saint whose life was dramatically changed by an encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19) This fellow’s experience of meeting the glorified Jesus so affected his character that it didn’t just change the course of his life, but his name was changed also, from Saul to Paul! (Acts 13:9) In Hebrew the name Paul means “small.” All who have an encounter with the Lord and continue in Him as Paul did (Galatians 1:17-26 & 2:1) remain small in their own eyes; as a matter of fact, Christ becomes so large in them that there is little, or no room for their “old man,” which is the carnal element within human nature given to self-centeredness, self-seeking, self-pity, selfish ambition, angry resentment, and prideful boasting etc. Such a person’s ego becomes so small through this divine displacement and replacement that he becomes an ever increasingly difficult target for Satan to see, much less hit with his “fiery darts.” This was the case with John the Baptist (the forerunner and friend of the Bridegroom) in relation to Jesus Christ when speaking about himself and the soon summation of his ministry and life on this earth. “He must increase; I must decrease.” John 3:30 --- This concept of Christ increasing in the believer’s life as he decreases is the normal pattern of all sincere Christian believers who are “growing in the grace of God” (2 Peter 3:18) and not “receiving God’s grace in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Also, it is important to understand that a saint of God is a stealth weapon in the arsenal of the Lord, pulling down satanic strongholds and destroying the works of the devil. Jesus said to His disciples when preparing for the cross, which would prove to be the spiritual, mental, and physical sacrifice of His life, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30 --- The Apostle John declared, “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was begotten of God keeps him safe and the evil one cannot touch him.” 1 John 5:18 --- Jesus spoke of His cross as His sanctification, resulting in the Christian believer’s sanctification. This is accomplished through Christ’s blood, God’s word, and the blessed Holy Spirit. So we see that the sanctifying cross of Christ, and the cross that the Christian believer chooses to take up through yielding to the Holy Spirit in obedience to Christ’s words results in his “putting off the old man,” and leads him to “putting on the new man who is created in righteousness and true holiness.” This is how the Christian believer experiences the sanctification that Christ died on the cross to provide for him. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) This sanctification is also the means to his protection from “the evil one.”

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. John 17:1,15-20

Now it is important to realize that the Apostle Paul was not just a professing Christian believer, but he was both a professing and practicing Christian believer (meaning that he was both justified and sanctified or, if you will, a professing believer in and a practicing disciple of Christ), and he spent a great deal of his life and ministry exhorting others to believe and behave as he did. The reason that Paul could say of himself, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” is because “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ” was in operation in his life. In other words, Paul had been granted “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God” which meant he had come to know that he was dead to “the world,” and “the world” was dead to him. Because of Christ’s cross Paul’s sin nature had been crucified with Jesus and now, because of Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and the shedding of His Holy Spirit abroad into his heart, he had a revelation that Christ was now alive in him and increasing to the degree that he could say, “If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new!” This was both a profession of Paul's faith based on Christ’s accomplished work on the cross, and a practical reality based on his new life "in Christ" that was being continuously filled with, and led by the Holy Spirit as a practicing believer!

Can you, dear reader, realistically say this about yourself, not only as a profession of faith, but also in your practical experience? If not, there is still some “working out” to do, but take courage, you are not alone in your efforts, because “God is working in you both to will and do of His own good pleasure!” (Philippians 2:12) Nevertheless, this was Paul’s reality. It meant that he had come to “live in the Spirit,” by faith in Christ’s atoning cross, resulting in his justification as a professing Christian believer. It also meant that he had learned to “walk in the Spirit,” by yielding to, and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, resulting in an experience of consecrated sanctification as a practicing Christian believer. Was he perfected (glorified)? No, but he was pressing towards the perfection associated with, and anticipated by those awaiting the first out resurrection from the dead, through both living and walking in the Spirit.

It is through living and walking in the Spirit and by remaining continuously filled with the Spirit, through praying and singing in the Spirit, as we mortify the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit and worship God in Spirit and in truth, that we sow to the Spirit, and “from the Spirit reap life everlasting!” This is also how we bear and cultivate “the fruit of the Spirit, which is 'love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.” It is also how “the gifts of the Spirit” are in operation in our lives, which are “words of wisdom, words of knowledge, discerning of spirits, the gift of faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.” And last but not least, it is how we avoid sowing to the flesh, thereby producing “the works of the flesh which are, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”

Now, this same spiritual revelation and these same transforming, or if you will, sanctifying experiences that were in Paul’s life and ministry are available to every born again, Spirit-baptized Christian believer. It is through both this “life in the Spirit” and this “walk in the Spirit” that “faith works through love” in our lives, and “the righteous requirement of God’s law, which is to love God with our entire beings (spirit, soul, and body) and to love our neighbors as ourselves, is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit!” This happens when Christ is revealed to us, in us, and through us by the power and influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. When this takes place, we are enabled to love and serve God and humankind as Paul and his fellow apostles loved and served. Why? Because we know that God loves us with the same love that he loved them. “God is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34) The problem is that most of us don’t know what Paul and the other apostles knew, but we can! How? By the exact same, “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him!” This very thing will lead us to a life of justification, sanctification, and glorification in Christ. In other words, it will lead an unbeliever to become a Christian believer, a Christian believer to become a disciple of Christ, and a disciple of Christ to become a saint of God! Now, it is also important to know that this path, if we choose to take it, will lead to both agony and ecstasy, to suffering for righteousness sake and to glory. In other words, this road will lead to a cross, a grave, a powerful resurrection, and a glorious ascension. I would like to add my prayer of faith with the Apostle Paul’s prayer on your behalf, dear reader, that God will give you “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Amen!

Part Two

Experiencing the ecstasy, the glory, and the resurrection.

I would like to start part two of my teaching by quoting two ecstatic prayers offered to God by Paul on behalf of the church at Ephesus. In essence, Paul was praying that the believers in Ephesus would come to know God the way he knew God, and that they would have the same results in their lives and ministries that he was having in his.

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and every power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-22

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family of heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height --- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-20.

Experiencing the agony, the suffering for righteousness sake, and the grave.

Jesus testified, “No greater love does any man have than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) We know that Jesus Christ our Chief Apostle was the first to love God the Father and His fellow man like this through enduring the cross, and that the Apostle Paul, and all other "sent ones" are simply making feeble attempts to follow in Christ’s foot steps. After all, in Christ's suffering for our sins on the cross, He actually experienced Hell, bearing the consequences of our sin's so that we wouldn't have to! But let's see where faithfully following Christ lead the apostles?

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off scouring of all things until now.
1 Corinthians 4:9-13

Let’s take a look at an itemized list of what the Apostle Paul suffered personally as a minister of Christ.

Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, fasting often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11: 23-38

Both the agony and ecstasy of “sent ones” is well expressed in the following two scriptures:

Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. 2 Corinthians 12:12

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Philippians 3:8-15

So we see that Paul, and the other apostles were special messengers sent by God, with signs and wonders following. And that suffering and glory walk hand in hand with the apostolic calling.

Now, not everyone is called into the office of apostle, and the twelve original New Covenant Apostles of Christ (minus Judas Iscariot) have a special status in God’s kingdom. Having said that, there are presently many apostles on the earth today, and there have been many anointed apostles other than the original twelve apostles of Christ throughout the history of the church. Whereas not everyone is called in the office of an apostle, as professing and practicing Christian believers who desire to come after Christ, we are all called by Him to do as He did, to walk as He walked, and follow in His footsteps as Paul and all other faithful apostles did and do. Remember the words of Paul to the Philippians, regarding “pressing for the goal of the prize,” resulting in their attaining to the first out resurrection of the dead, and as Peter put it, attaining to “an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God,” (2 Peter 1:9) “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind.” (Philippians 3:15)

And consider the words of Jesus:

Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. Luke 9:23-27

So we see that all Christian believers are called by Christ to follow His lead, and if we are faithful to do so, it will take us to an agonizing cross, a humbling grave, a powerful resurrection, and a glorious ascension.

Now, as individual Christian believers we each have our own cross to bear. It will not be the same cross for each of us, but it will be a cross that requires denying of self. This is played out in the daily activities of our lives as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in obedience to the words of Christ. For one the cross may mean sacrificing himself/herself by working diligently in the market place to provide the basic necessities for his/her loved ones and family. To another it may mean pastoring a church, and feeding Christ's flock with the word of God. For another it may require visiting and caring for a person in a nursing home. For another it may mean visiting those in prisons and hospitals. For another it may mean loving unconditionally a child, a parent, or a spouse who has hurt them. For another it may mean caring for a special needs child or adult. To another it may mean forgiving a co-worker who has offended them. For another it may mean sacrificing certain personal needs to provide financially for widows and orphans. To another it may mean starting and operating an orphanage. To another it may mean leaving homes and family and lands to minister in a developing country and live in another culture to which one is unaccustomed. To another it my mean leaving their job and family to evangelize in their own nation. To another it may mean embracing martyrdom in their service to Christ. One thing is certain for all of us, it will mean "keeping ourselves unspotted by the world," because "without holiness, no one will see the Lord!"

The list of acts of self-denial goes on and on, and plays out in a myriad of personal situations and circumstances throughout one’s life. The essence of bearing one’s cross means following the leading of the Holy Spirit at all times, especially during times of temptations, tests and trials --- and doing so through the grace that Christ provides.

Why would anyone want to go through an agonizing cross and a humbling grave? Because, without the cross and the grave, there is no resurrection or ascension! Are you ready to take up your cross and follow Christ? I hope so!

Again, you might ask, why would you hope this for me! I will try to answer you with one simple sentence that sums up my meaning and message quite well.

Because, “To be a follower of Christ will cost you everything; not to be a follower of Christ will cost you a whole lot more!” Selah.