Give Up!
I have a scandalous message for you today: give up!
You read it correctly: give up!
You cannot do it, so stop.
Apple Bites
We are born hard-wired to work, and it is the effective consequence of a reality authored by an apple bite.
For me, when I work and achieve, it feels like I am doing something I was born to do. It even feels right-ordered where the more I do the better I feel. It is a strategy that works until… it does not work anymore. The inevitable always shows up, and sometimes it is purposelessness, anger, exhaustion, rejection, confusion, hopelessness, or despair. Different days bring different apple bite flavors.
Why can I not work myself into freedom — even when doing “good” things? Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow Me,” so for many years, until this morning, I believed that this actually meant that I was made to suffer — it had to be good if it meant following Jesus. He walked the way of the cross, La Via Dolorosa, so I must, too, right?
The Deep Roots
Yet, I am convicted of this deep rooted false humility.
How can I think that I can also walk the same walk to the Place of the Skull to be also crucified?
Am I a savior?
Can I bear even an ounce of sin?
Can I really believe that I could ever be an unblemished, perfect sacrifice?
Why would Jesus have walked this path if I needed to walk it, too?
This lie makes a mockery of the sacrifice that Jesus made for the world — the sacrifice He made for me.
Yet… I still have questions.
Who was Simon of Cyrene? He was a man who carried the instrument used to crucify our Messiah.
Who is Jesus? He is fully man and fully God who carried the sin of the entire world.
Simon of Cyrene always carried an empty cross — even before Jesus was crucified.
And Jesus tells me, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
So after Jesus said, “It is finished,” what cross do I carry?
The Scandal of the Cross
He tells me to carry the evidence that He is the One who died and is risen! The cross is empty and never will be filled again because “this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time He waits for his enemies to be made His footstool. For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary” [Hebrews 10].
But how do I deny myself?
This is the scandal. I give up to the point of death and chose to be baptized. “We were therfore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raise from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His” [Romans 6]. I can die with my heart still beating because Jesus suffered death itself for me.
Give up and die or you surely will perish. There is a reality of death at work in the world, but rejoice because Jesus paid it all. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God — you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no way to achieve “good enough,” and this false Gospel is plaguing the people of God and robbing the world of the inheritance that Jesus died to give it.
He paid it all.
Jesus abandoned.
Jesus was disappointed and let down by his friends.
Jesus was arrested and seized.
Jesus was scourged and whipped 39 times.
Jesus was mocked.
Jesus was crowned with thorns on His head.
Jesus was struck repeatedly.
Jesus carried the cross and the weight of the sin of the world.
Jesus fell twice.
Jesus was crucified at the Place of the Skull.
Jesus had nails pierce His hands and feet.
Jesus was pierced in His side.
Jesus bled.
Jesus suffocated.
Jesus was forsaken.
Jesus was punished.
His heart stopped beating.
His brain stopped functioning.
His body stopped moving.
There is nothing left to pay, and the greatest lie is for you to think that you even can.
”Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [Hebrews 12].”
Our response:
Repent and turn from this lie of pride and false humility – you cannot do it. Jesus is the ONLY way.
Be baptized so that you may be buried with Christ and live in the Truth that “It is finished.”
Forgive everyone, for they really do not know what they are doing.
Give up your life and die with Him. Walk in the resurrection life that He died to give you.
The scandal is if you want it, it is yours. It does require you to die, but by the great mercy of Jesus Christ this death is the best thing that will ever happen to you.
And any circumstance that may come your way in this fallen world: betrayal, persecution, disappointment, sickness, disease, evil, injustice, shame, pain, and fear, you get the gift of saying those things do not have any power over you anymore because you walk in the authority and victory of Jesus Christ - the Savior of the world - the One who was and is and is to come. Those things belong on the cross, so stop carrying them and put them there.
You have been redeemed.
Your body has been redeemed.
Your soul has been redeemed.
Your emotions have been redeemed.
And You have received a new Spirit — the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of Adoption, Wisdom, Revelation, Truth. And by this Spirit, you may cry, “Daddy,” and over you our Father sings, “Jesus.”
So give up.
Surrender.
Lose your life.
I promise you that you will live.
This is the scandal of the cross of Jesus Christ, so pick it up.