…But No One Said It Was Going to Be Easy!

During our last visit, I think we pretty well established the fact that life is really very simple, because it is all about Jesus.  However, just because we have been able to reduce it to its simplest form, that does not mean that life is ever going to be easy.  If you will recall my Basic Principle #1—that all of the events in our lives are designed for one of two purposes, either to bring us to Christ or to make us like Him—then just think of the many difficult things that each of us have had and will have to walk through or endure in order to arrive at either of those destinations. And if we take into consideration the other billions of people who have made appearances on planet earth during its lengthy history, with each one having his or her own story of hardships to tell, the only conclusion that we can come to is—life is just plain hard.

Although it would be impossible for us to catalog the countless kinds of hardships that people have endured in this life, especially those who made their way to the cross, or afterward, in the struggles they encountered on their road to becoming more Christ-like, I am convinced that if we take a few minutes to look at the hardships that Jesus encountered on His pathway to the Cross, we will begin to see why life for us, both before and after the Cross, could never be easy.

Although, I can’t think of anyone who would willingly sign up for a life like this, the one that Jesus freely committed Himself to was one that was repeatedly characterized by humiliation, rejection, opposition, and affliction, which, when you add them all up, equal a whole lot of suffering:

Just think of the humiliation involved when…

…Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Phil. 2: 5-8 ESV)

Or the rejection He must have experienced when…

1. “His family…went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”  (Mark 3:21 ESV)
2. The people in His hometown said, “’Where did this man get these things?  What is the wisdom given to him?  How are such mighty works done by his hands?  Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?  And are not his sisters here with us?”  And they took offense at him.”  (Mark 6: 2-3 ESV)
3. John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus, asking, “Are you [sure] you are the one [the Messiah] who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3 ESV)
4. Upon hearing some of Jesus’ hard sayings, “…many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”  (John 6:66 ESV)

As for opposition, Jesus had that in abundance for even as a child, when He was perceived to be a contender for his throne, King Herod tried to have Him killed.  And later, during His earthly ministry, He found Himself constantly at odds with all factions of Jewish society…

1. With the Sadducees, because He threatened their economic and political power;
2. With the Pharisees, because they considered Jesus a lawbreaker because His teachings overturned their religious traditions;
3. With the Essenes, the ascetics of the day, who considered Jesus too worldly because He socialized with “sinners;”
4. With the Zealots, or the anarchists of the day, because Jesus preached a message of love instead of rebellion; and,
5. With the people who, in their apathy, did not want to be confronted with change.

When it came to affliction, no one has ever endured more.  Of Him, it was said that…

…he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
(Is. 53: 2-8 ESV)

So, what conclusions can we draw for our own lives from these observations of Jesus’ journey to the Cross?  Well, whether we are just coming to the Cross, or journeying from it, we must learn to expect that life is going to be hard.  That’s because, as followers of Christ, we, too…

1. Are going to have to experience humiliation; first, when we finally acknowledge that we are not God, but sinners whose very best efforts at righteousness are no better than filthy rags in God’s sight; and then, throughout the remainder of our lives, as we continue to learn that God is in charge, and that our lives are no longer our own;
2. Are going to experience rejection, because, most likely, our families will think we are crazy, our neighbors and co-workers will be offended by us, and many of our friends will no longer want to have anything to do with us;
3. Are definitely going to encounter opposition.   Since we will no longer be heading down the wide road but will have turned and be heading in the opposite direction, we will be running headlong into the multitudes that are rushing toward their own destruction.
4. Are surely going to experience affliction.  When you consider the fact that the sinless son of God, “…learned obedience through what he had suffered,” (Heb. 5:8 ESV), do we really think that we can learn to be obedient in any other way?

However, just because life is hard, that doesn’t mean it is a bad thing.  When we think again of Jesus and all that He accomplished on our behalf as a result of the hardships that He endured, we can begin to see just how much good can come out of our own hard experiences.  And when we start to see things in that light, hopefully, we will learn to…

…rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  (Rom. 5:3-5 ESV)

And, with the Spirit living within us, we can also rejoice because it is He who will be bearing “… witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in him (Rom. 8:16-17 ESV).

Therefore, even in the face of all the difficulties that life puts in our paths…

…we do not lose hope…for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” (2 Cor. 4:16-17 ESV)

For…

…no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9 ESV)—Praise be to God!

Join with Selah in giving thanks for “The Beautiful Terrible Cross”…