Sent with the Cross

All this month on the blog we’re exploring what missional living looks like for us individually. As Cheli reminded us in the series introduction, “missional living” means “following Jesus and doing what he calls us to do”.  Which leads us to the question, what does it look like to follow Jesus?  

The Cross is Our Example 

Typically when I think about being sent or living on mission, and what God uses to equip us, my first thought is the armor laid out in Ephesians 6:11-18. These tools – a sword of truth, a shield of faith, shoes made up of the gospel of peace -make sense and certainly have their use in how we carry out our calling.

Yet, when Jesus calls the people, he says,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)  

The cross? Really? The cross was an instrument of death and those being executed were forced to carry it to the place they were to die. It was an excruciating experience as those condemned faced a long, difficult walk through ridicule and shame.  Now it is a symbol of God’s love, representing our atonement. In it, we see a symbol of the forgiveness of sin so we can stand before Him, justified. 

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God,” – 1 Corinthians 1:18  

It is exactly this upside-down idea that characterizes the Kingdom of God A kingdom where the poor are blessed (Matthew 5:3), greatness is achieved through servitude (Mark 10:43-45), and life is found through death (Luke 9:24).

Jesus’ death on the cross gave us more than freedom from sin. In His obedience, He set an example for us to follow. In taking up our cross, we can make missional living a reality.

What Missional Living Looks Like

Jesus shows us that missional living is humble, valuing others over yourself. It recognizes that if Christ, the king of the universe, can lower himself to be human and to be executed by humans, we too can get on our knees to reach those who are less fortunate than ourselves. 

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by 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: 5-8

It is sacrificial, not only considering others as worthy but giving up your interests in favor of others. Putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own. 

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

It is marked by grace and peace, the fruit of our redemption. A missional life seeks reconciliation. 

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” – Ephesians 2:13 – 16

The cross is the ultimate expression of love and therefore the chief characteristic of a missional life.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

When we take up our cross we are dying to ourself, leaving room for Jesus to reign.