The Christ Who Suffers: Take Up Your Cross Daily

Jesus walks with his people through every chapter of life, and Luke 9 shows how he does that. Luke places this moment after Jesus has preached, healed, raised the dead, cast out demons, crossed social boundaries, forgiven sins, calmed the storm, and fed the five thousand. His works have made the question unavoidable: “Who is this?” Jesus, after praying with his Father, takes that question head on.

The crowds have answers, and those answers all sound like some version of “a great dead prophet has come back.” Peter gives the deeper answer: “The Christ of God.” The word Christ is not Jesus’ last name. It means the anointed one, the king God has marked out to establish his kingdom on earth. The prophet tells about the construction. The Christ actually does the construction. The Christian faith is not merely God giving instructions and then passing the job off. God has anointed a king to do what human beings cannot do.

Jesus then redefines what that king will do. The popular expectation says the Christ will gather an army, march on Jerusalem, defeat Rome, and win. Jesus gives a four step plan that sounds backwards: suffer many things, be rejected, be killed, and rise on the third day. The cross looks like ugliness, violence, failure, and judgment. Yet the cross is the most beautiful thing on earth because there God shows unfathomable love in the clearest and most effective way possible.

The need for salvation runs deeper than fixed circumstances. God could fix the external contours of the world, but sinners still would not fit inside his kingdom. The Christ must go to the ugliest and darkest place in humanity, into sin, death, and the devil, and do a death and life level work. Jesus walks the way of the cross in order to be with his people there and give life there.

Jesus then says that his way becomes the way of anyone who follows him. The call to discipleship is not a cakewalk. The way to gain is through loss, and the way to live is through death. The paradox is sharp: the person who focuses on finding himself loses himself, but the person who loses his life for Jesus finds it. Loss, whether suffered or intentionally released, becomes a place where Jesus’ winning power shows up. Jesus invites his people to hold the whole world loosely, even success and certainty, so that life may be found in him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Jesus asks the personal question The crowds can give their survey answers, and even good religious answers can stay safely outside the heart. Jesus presses past secondhand faith and asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Discipleship begins where inherited answers become personal confession before the living Christ. [36:41]
• 2. The Christ does the building The prophet describes the kingdom, but the Christ brings it. Christianity is not finally a set of instructions handed to people who must somehow pull it off. The good news is that God has anointed a king to do what human beings cannot build, fix, or complete. [39:06]
• 3. The cross is unfathomably beautiful The cross looks ugly because it is full of violence, guilt, suffering, and death. Yet its beauty is that God goes all the way down into that ugliness with love. The darkest place becomes the clearest display of mercy because Jesus gives life right there. [43:39]
• 4. Loss can tell the true story Loss exposes what a person has been using to explain himself. Success, certainty, health, and vocation can all become false narrators of identity. Jesus uses loss to reveal that the real story is not achievement or control, but being lost and found by grace. [54:12]
• 5. Jesus is enough beneath certainty Uncertainty can feel like an attack on identity because it removes the quick answer to “What do you do?” Yet that unsettled place can become holy ground where deeper questions surface. The question becomes whether control must define a life, or whether Jesus is actually enough. [52:36]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [27:42] - A Spiritual Homecoming
• [29:36] - God Walks Through Every Chapter
• [30:05] - Luke 9’s Turning Point
• [31:20] - Who Do The Crowds Say?
• [36:21] - Who Do You Say?
• [37:10] - Peter Names The Christ
• [38:15] - Prophet Or Christ
• [40:16] - Jesus’ Backwards Messiah Plan
• [43:16] - The Beauty Of The Cross
• [45:00] - Deeper Than Fixed Circumstances
• [47:54] - Taking Up The Cross Daily
• [49:18] - Losing Life To Find It
• [52:36] - Is Jesus Enough?
• [55:05] - Finding Life In Christ

Bible Reading

Luke 9:18-27
“Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.’ Then he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.’ And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’ And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.’” [31:10]

1 Samuel 16:13
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”

Mark 8:34-38
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? 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.’”

Observation questions

1. In Luke 9:18-20, what different answers are given to Jesus’ question about who he is, and how is Peter’s answer different from the crowd’s answers? [38:18]
2. In Luke 9:22, what are the four things Jesus says must happen to the Son of Man?
3. According to Luke 9:23-25, what repeated words or ideas stand out in Jesus’ call to follow him, especially around denying, losing, saving, and following?
4. What contrast is drawn between a prophet and the Christ when thinking about who describes God’s kingdom and who actually brings it? [39:03]

Interpretation questions

1. Peter calls Jesus “the Christ of God.” Why does that title matter so much for understanding Christianity as more than advice or instruction? [39:40]
2. Jesus says the Son of Man “must” suffer, be rejected, be killed, and rise. What does that suggest about what kind of salvation people really need? [46:21]
3. The cross looks ugly on the surface, yet it is described as unfathomably beautiful. How can both of those things be true at the same time? [44:04]
4. Jesus says that whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for his sake will save it. What does that paradox mean in real life, not just in theory? [49:34]

Application questions

1. Jesus does not stop with “Who do the crowds say that I am?” He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” What answer are you actually living out right now with your choices, fears, and hopes? [36:21]
2. Many people want Jesus mainly to fix circumstances like work, health, relationships, or stress. Where are you most tempted to want external relief more than deeper change? What might it look like to bring that honestly to Christ? [45:19]
3. Jesus calls his people to take up their cross daily. What is one loss, burden, or act of surrender in this season that may be part of following him for you? [48:21]
4. Loss often reveals what has been carrying too much weight in a person’s identity. When something important has been taken away from you, what did that loss uncover about what you were leaning on? [54:12]
5. Success, certainty, and control can quietly become the things that tell a person’s story. What has most often told your story lately—achievement, stability, other people’s approval, or the grace of Jesus? [53:49]
6. Uncertainty can become a place where the deeper question comes out: “Is Jesus enough?” In what area of life are you being asked that question right now? [52:36]
7. Jesus invites his people to hold even good things loosely so that life may be found in him. What is one good thing you may need to open your hands around more gently this week? [55:28]