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slaurence03
The
True Treasures of the Church
Text:
Mark 8:34, 38
Date: St. Laurence, Martyr Day, Pentecost IX
8/10/03 alkatel.az
When our Lord Jesus Christ said, “If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me,” he was not calling people to just adopt a philosophy of life,
or a program of self-improvement or even a form of religion. Jesus
calls people to himself that he might live in us and we might live
through him. St. Laurence, whose martyrdom we commemorate on this,
his day, did not die for a mere philosophy, self-gain or a religion.
He died bearing the persecution of Christ who lived in him and who
gave him eternal life.
When Jesus described what it means to be a Christian
in terms of self-denial, cross bearing and following, it is because
this is what it meant for him to be the Christ. Salvation can be
attained only through faith in the Christ who denied himself, took
up his cross and faithfully followed the will of his Father for
us and for our salvation.
Deny Self. He is the suffering servant “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” [Philippians 2:6-8 (ESV)]. To “have this mind
among yourselves,” as the Apostle Paul says, “which is yours in
Christ Jesus” [Philippians 2:5 (ESV)] is to consider the things
of God a higher priority than any earthly things.
Take Up Your Cross. It is only because
Jesus took away the condemnation of sin in his own bodily death
on a cross that we can know what it means to be justified. Again
the Apostle Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his
sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,
in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having
a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which
comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends
on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that
by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”
[Philippians 3:8-11 (ESV)]. To take up your cross means, as we say
in our rite of confirmation, “to continue steadfast” in the confession
of the Apostles’ Creed “and to suffer all, even death, rather than
fall away from it.”
Follow Me. It is only because Jesus is
the One who was completely faithful to the Father’s will that, by
faith in him, we can know the love and mercy of God. Time and again
Jesus told his disciples how everything written about him in the
Law and the Prophets and the Psalms of the Old Testament must be
fulfilled, and especially his atoning, sacrificial death, as, in
agony, he prayed the night before he died, "not as I will,
but as you will” [Matthew 26:39b (ESV)]. He taught us to pray to
our Father, saying, “thy will be done,” for he has revealed to us
the good and gracious will of God our Father. He said, “whoever
does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and
mother” [Matthew 12:50 (ESV)], not as a way to be accepted by him,
but, quite the opposite, whoever is related to him by faith does
the will of the Father which is, “that everyone who looks on the
Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise
him up on the last day” [John 6:40 (ESV)].
What does this mean for us would-be followers of his?
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:
“The
saying is trustworthy, for:
If
we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if
we endure, we will also reign with him;
if
we deny him, he also will deny us;
if
we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for
he cannot deny himself” [2 Timothy 2:11-13 (ESV)].
Jesus
puts his call to discipleship in the context of what is ultimately
important in view of the Last Day of judgment: “For whoever is ashamed
of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
In that inspired holy song of the church, the Te Deum,
we confess that in addition to the eternal song of the angels in
heaven, “the glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee; The goodly
fellowship of the prophets praise Thee; The noble army of martyrs
praise Thee.” St. John was given to see “the souls of those who
had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had
borne” crying out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and
true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?” Jesus told them to rest a little longer
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