Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Friday, January 30, 2015

Legend of the Fallen



And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. -- Luke 9:23


Jesus bore our burden of sin upon the cross.  The good news of His death, burial, and resurrection is the revelation of His love for us, our salvation, justification, reconciliation, and peace with the Father.  He offers to take the burdens that weigh us down and wear us out, and in exchange, He offers us a sack of slack to carry, a yoke that is easy and light.  How does this square with the daily cross Jesus says each of us must take up?

I have been talking around this, I think, all week.  I’ll probably talk around it today, too.  The Cross frees us from the captivity and delusions of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but I’ve still got this natural human life to live out.  We do not suddenly get translated to heaven when we rise from the waters of baptism.  It would be a lot easier to be a Christian if that were the case. 

Instead, we spend the rest of our lives dealing with, resisting, renouncing, and, ultimately, overcoming the sin nature.  As I may have noted in the post about 1 John 3, Matthew Henry argues that Jesus did not carry away “ our moral infirmities, our proneness to sin”.   I don’t know about anybody else, but I know for certain that my own “proneness to sin”, if it has been taken away, still calls home a lot. 

My problem in this world is me.  That’s the daily cross.  It’s my tendency to blame other people, my feelings of selfishness and self-righteousness, my inclination to believe that I am better, somehow, than the people who get in my way.  It’s easy for me to think that life should please me and go my way, that others exist for my benefit, that things should be fair and that, at the same time, I ought to be able to do pretty much as I please.  So, constantly, daily, I get up and I pick that cross up, and I do a hundred things that go against the grain.  I give in.  I give others the benefit of the doubt.  I help somebody else.  I sacrifice, and, if I’m not careful, at the end of the day, I get to thinking I’m a really good guy.  As Rick and Father Stephen point out, self-improvement is a loser’s game.  The reason I carry this cross isn’t to make me better but to put my old, fallen self on fully display for what it is. 

I watched I Am Legend, which might not have been the best choice under the current conditions, but I got through it.  I watched the alternate version which makes more sense.  One thing that really hit me is when Neville is offered the chance to leave and join other survivors, he resists, insisting that New York City is his site.  “I can still fix this,” he shouts. 
That’s one of my favorite phrases.  I can fix this – except, I can’t.  I can’t fix my self.  But I can take up my cross and bear it.

14 comments:

Rogelio Bueno said...

If the world, the flesh and the Devil did not exist we would still be sinners with a propensity to rebel and do things our way. On the other hand, if the sinful nature did not exist, we would still be tempted, and strongly so, by the world, the flesh and the Devil. I'm touching on a deep theology that I don't fully comprehend but I tend to thing that the "sin nature" as described above is either what Paul refers to as the "old man" or is very closely associated with him. You can draw your own conclusions. I continue to form mine.

Peter Andonian said...

Just want to let you know I am praying for you in your difficult time right now.

mushroom said...

Thank you, Peter.

Tomorrow is my wife's birthday. It's going to be tough.

mushroom said...

Roger, yes, I think old man, old nature, adamic nature, self, sin nature, the flesh, etc, -- it's all the same thing. And it has been crucified with Christ. Romans 6 says, "reckon yourselves dead to sin". Watchman Nee wrote The Normal Christian Life on that subject.

It is dead in the sense of being rendered inoperable and something we can reject, that should not have dominion over us. Yet, it remains. So, I die daily.

Rogelio Bueno said...

Ah, there's the sticky wicket. I agree with you in that the old man is all of those things, with the exception of the flesh. The flesh, I think, is something quite different. Certainly it has a mind of its own, so to speak, has its appetites and is trainable. Its will is earthly, sensual and impulsive like that of a dog or, as St Francis said, an ass. It has a powerful influence on our will and was the natural direction our will followed when the old man was still alive.

You remain in our prayers daily, Brother.

mushroom said...

Yes, there's the flesh in association with the body, as you say, Brother Ass.

But a lot of times Paul, in particular, uses flesh as a synonym for the old nature.

Jesus saying "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" is speaking primarily of the bodies of His disciples who could not stay awake.

On the other hand: In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11). I think here Paul is talking about the old man. It doesn't make sense to me otherwise.

Another example of the latter is Galatians 5:19 which lists the "works of the flesh", some of which are bodily while other are more "soulish", e.g., ...idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, ....

Paul is really hammering on "the flesh" in that middle section of Romans. Romans 8:9 "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."

Obviously, he is talking to people who are still alive and in the body, so he must mean something other than body here.

But definitely it depends on the context. No disagreement.

Rogelio Bueno said...

I'm with you. No disagreement, only discussion.
That's why I don't make a personal doctrine out of it. The Scriptures don't contradict but add a fullness that I don't think we'll be able to really appreciate until that day.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"Jesus bore our burden of sin upon the cross. The good news of His death, burial, and resurrection is the revelation of His love for us, our salvation, justification, reconciliation, and peace with the Father. He offers to take the burdens that weigh us down and wear us out, and in exchange, He offers us a sack of slack to carry, a yoke that is easy and light. How does this square with the daily cross Jesus says each of us must take up?"

I like the sack of slack phrase, that is spot on, as is the rest of your post, Dwaine.
it's easy to forget that bearing our own crosses doesn't mean we are in another form of chains but rather, we must bear our own cross in order to be free to have a meaningfull relationship with Christ.

Holding onto burdens just holds us back, and those yokes don't right themselves.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

When my Doc, backin late July of last year told me the first year would be the hardest to get through, He wasn't kidding.

The birthday, all the Holidays, and other times just out of the blues are especially hard.
During those times and every time, actually I have tried hard to think about the joy and peace Patti is experiencing right now and forever.

That has helped me and it brings a smile that isn't forced.
When I'm feeling happy for her I tend to not feel so sorry for myself.
That's not to say it still isn't painful, or lonely, but it takes the worst edges off of it.

I will continue to pray for you, brother.

robinstarfish said...

"I can fix it"... oh boy has that been my cross this week. Talk about timely, Mush. Thanks.

Peace be on you Saturday especially.

mushroom said...

Thanks to all.

Leslie Godwin said...

Sorry if this is duplicate. ..I feel for you going through her birthday and am praying for you.

Ben, you are such a blessing to be so supportive after all you have been through.
Leslie G

Leslie Godwin said...

Sorry if this is duplicate. ..I feel for you going through her birthday and am praying for you.

Ben, you are such a blessing to be so supportive after all you have been through.
Leslie G

mushroom said...

I agree, we really appreciate Ben. And, again, thank you, Mrs. Godwin.