Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? – Thomas Shepherd (1693)

Must Je­sus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for ev­ery­one,
And there’s a cross for me.

How hap­py are the saints above,
Who once went sor­row­ing here!
But now they taste un­min­gled love,
And joy with­out a tear.

The con­se­crat­ed cross I’ll bear
Till death shall set me free;
And then go home my crown to wear,
For there’s a crown for me.

Upon the crys­tal pave­ment down
At Je­sus’ pierc­ed feet,
Joyful I’ll cast my gold­en crown
And His dear name re­peat.

O pre­cious cross! O glo­ri­ous crown!
O re­sur­rect­ion day!
When Christ the Lord
From Heav’n comes down
And bears my soul away.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27).

Cheap Crosses

I read the story of a missionary shopping in a village market. One shop sported a sign that read “Cheap Crosses.”

As he continued his task he thought to himself, “That’s what many Christians are looking for these days – cheap crosses. My Lord’s cross was not cheap. Why should mine be?”

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it (Matthew 16:24-25).

CT Studd (1860-1931)

Within British Commonwealth nations, cricket is like the NBA in America, and Charles Thomas Studd was Michael Jordan. CT Studd had money, fame, influence, and security most could only dream about. 

On his way out to a cricket match, 17-year old CT was asked by a preacher staying in the family home if he believed in Jesus. To get rid of the preacher, Studd answered yes, but the preacher wasn’t convinced. He pressed CT with hard spiritual questions he couldn’t answer. When the preacher presented the gospel, Studd believed upon Jesus. 

Studd continued his rise in the world of sport until in 1884, when he read a pamphlet by an atheist. If Christianity was true, wrote the atheist, Christians would do anything to reach the world for Jesus. The words convicted CT. He’d made it big in life but hadn’t done anything big in life. He ended his career and made plans to go with Hudson Taylor to China as a missionary.

Worries weighed heavy on his mother, but in 1885, Studd and 6 other young men arrived in China where the men dressed, ate, and lived like the Chinese as they preached the Gospel.   

Within a year, CT’s father died. Studd received a huge inheritance, but donated nearly the whole sum to missions work. He did set aside nearly the equivalent of half a million dollars for when he married. Two years later he married Priscilla, a missionary from Ireland, and presented her with his gift. She insisted he donate it all to missions work. In China, the couple lived in extreme poverty until dire health demanded both return to England in 1895. 

Recovered, Studd took his family to India and pastored a congregation six years before again sailing to England for health problems.   

On a street in Liverpool, Studd saw a sign about Africa which read, “Cannibals Want Missionaries.” Ill in health, penniless, and without any financial backing, Charles left his 4 young daughters and ill wife and sailed to the Congo where he established four congregations in 1913. Studd suffered several major heart attacks, lost all his teeth, and then Priscilla died after being in Africa with him only a year.    

Before his death, Charles answered a critic, How could I spend the best years of my life in living for the honors of this world, when thousands of souls are perishing every day?  Studd continued to preach in central Africa until his death in 1931. 

Click here to read Studd’s poem, Only One Life, ’twill Soon Be Past.

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23). 

The Cross is Not Greater – Ballington Booth (1892)

The cross that He gave may be heavy,
But it ne’er outweighs His grace;
The storm that I feared may surround me,
But it ne’er excludes His face.

Refrain:
The cross is not greater than His grace,
The storm cannot hide His blessed face;
I am satisfied to know
That with Jesus here below,
I can conquer ev’ry foe.

The thorns in my path are not sharper
Than composed His crown for me;
The cup which I drink not more bitter
Than He drank in Gethsemane.

The light of His love shineth brighter,
As it falls on paths of woe;
The toil of my work groweth lighter,
As I stoop to raise the low.

His will I have joy in fulfilling,
As I’m walking in His sight;
My all to the blood I am bringing,
It alone can keep me right.

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 (Luke 9:23)

The Path to Eternal Glory

My son Daniel climbing at Smith Rock, Oregon (RLR 2017)

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elder and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And when he had called the people to Him, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Mark 8:31, 34).

Peter’s awe of Jesus being the long-promised Messiah was short-lived. Peter’s proverbial bubble burst when Jesus said He was going to be crucified in a few days. Peter rebuked Jesus; Jesus rebuked Peter. In a minutes’ time, Peter went from wonder to anger, from disbelief to despair.

Jesus’ own suffering, rejection and death, were bad enough, but then Jesus took the misery a step farther.

I’ve often heard the promise from evangelicals that following Jesus gives a happy marriage, well-rounded children, financial prosperity, and divine health … “your best life now.” But Jesus said exactly the opposite from the tv preachers and slick spiritual salesmen.

Following Jesus – being His disciple – results in pain and privation, sacrifice and suffering, and even death! Confessing Christ is more costly than going to church an hour a week and not cussing. It’s taking up your own cross, losing your own life but gaining your soul, and honoring God. The path to eternal glory isn’t paved with prosperity but pain! As RC Sproul put it, You might as well take up a cross-beam and carry it with you every day.

Denying self, taking up your own cross, and following Jesus in obedience are not prerequisites to eternal life, they are the results of receiving eternal life. Following Jesus will cost you every kingdom this world offers you the rest of your natural life. Salvation doesn’t mean you won’t have things of this world, but that you should expect the opposite.

But this light affliction … self-denial, carrying your own cross, and obeying Jesus instead of self and the popular lifestyle around you … this light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).