Taking Up the Cross: Speaking Truth to Power

Devotional

Day 1: The Cross as Resistance to Empire’s False Peace

When Jesus told disciples to take up their cross, Roman crosses weren’t religious symbols but tools of imperial terror. To carry a cross meant defying systems that crushed dissent. True discipleship rejects the world’s “peace” built on oppression. Jesus redefines power through self-giving love that confronts injustice. The cross becomes both protest against tyranny and the path of liberation. [38:20]

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you accepted false “peace” that silences the marginalized? How might your faith actively resist systems that dehumanize others?

Day 2: Unworthy Yet Chosen by Grace

No one meets Jesus’ standard of loving him above all else. Our failures to prioritize Christ reveal our unworthiness. Yet grace interrupts this equation: God chooses the unworthy anyway. The cross isn’t a test to pass but a gift that redefines us. Worthiness becomes God’s declaration, not our achievement. This frees us to follow without pretense. [34:36]

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: What masks do you wear to feel “worthy” before God? How might embracing your chosenness change how you engage others?

Day 3: Holy Listening from Positions of Privilege

Speaking truth to power is only half the cross-shaped work. Those with influence must also receive truth from the margins. Holy listening dismantles our defenses, exposing how we’ve benefited from unjust systems. The cross calls us to surrender our need to be right, creating space for God’s disruptive wisdom. This reciprocity heals both speaker and listener. [43:54]

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” (James 1:19, ESV)

Reflection: When has your privilege made you defensive? What marginalized voice might God be asking you to hear without interruption?

Day 4: Truth that Disrupts Our Illusions of Power

We cling to counterfeit power—control, revenge, self-sufficiency—while Christ offers cruciform strength. The cross exposes our addiction to dominance, reframing power as sacrificial love. Jesus confronts our petty kingdoms: fairness for me over justice for all, retribution over reconciliation. True power emerges when we stop grasping and start surrendering. [45:54]

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

Reflection: What “weakness” do you resent that might become a channel for Christ’s power? Where do you confuse control with true strength?

Day 5: Sent to Mend a Dismembered World

The cross sends us into fragmentation as healers. Baptismal identity compels us to “put together what’s been torn apart”—relationships, communities, dignity. This isn’t idealism but resurrection work: loving the unlovable with the same grace that claimed us. Every act of reconnection proclaims Christ’s victory over division. [47:14]

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, ESV)

Reflection: What broken relationship or system weighs on your heart? What small step toward reconciliation can you take this week?

Sermon Summary

Jesus speaks a hard word for a lovely Father’s Day text: whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter, more than him is not worthy of him. The text belongs with the sending of the disciples, where Jesus tells those followers what the life of discipleship looks like. The cost of discipleship begins with an honest confession that, by this measure, nobody stands worthy on personal merit. The good news is that God still chooses, still gives grace, still loves, still sustains, and still claims people who cannot make themselves worthy.

Jesus does not stop there. The church must keep listening when Jesus says, “Let everyone who has ears to hear, listen.” The question becomes what it means to take up the cross and follow Jesus. The cross cannot be separated from the life, suffering, and death of Christ, but the disciples first heard that word before gardens, Pilate, and crucifixion scenes had religious meaning for them. The cross meant Rome. The cross meant empire. The cross meant Pax Romana, that so-called peace that comes when power kills everyone who disagrees with it.

The cross, then, names what happens when the powerless threaten the power of the powerful. The cross names the risk of speaking truth to power. A cross on a necklace, a car, or a tattoo can be “fine and dandy,” because it may involve no risk whatsoever. But Jesus calls the church to preach the reign of God, God’s shalom, God’s justice, at all costs and with no compromise.

God’s shalom brings true peace to the suffering, healing to the wounded, gladness to the oppressed, and blessedness to those pushed aside. The church must decide whether fear of rocking the boat, fear of dying, and the love of its own privilege will keep it silent. The empty tomb is not an ornament to be admired from a safe distance. The resurrection means the kingdom of heaven can happen here and now.

Jesus, the way and the truth and the life, speaks God’s truth to power, and that is what got him killed. Christ also speaks truth to the church’s own power, privilege, revenge, self-insistence, and illusion of doing it all alone. The cross recreates people into life, healing, and forgiveness. The Spirit gathers, feeds, sends, and makes the church a people marked by the cross, called to speak truth and to hear truth when truth is spoken back.

Key Takeaways

1. Grace begins where worthiness fails Jesus’ words strip away every claim that discipleship can rest on merit, family devotion, money, power, or self-importance. The good news is not that people pass the worthiness test, but that God chooses those who do not. Grace is not a reward for the qualified, but the sustaining power of God for the unworthy who are still claimed. [34:36]
2. The cross names imperial risk The first hearers did not think of the cross as church jewelry or a sacred decoration. The cross meant Rome, empire, and the punishment reserved for those who threatened power from a place of powerlessness. To take up the cross is to accept that truth spoken in love may still be treated as a threat by systems built on control. [38:20]
3. Shalom refuses safe mediocrity God’s peace is not the quiet that comes when no one rocks the boat. God’s shalom is gladness, healing, justice, and blessedness for those who suffer, those demonized, and those pushed to the margins. The church that chooses safety over truth may reveal that it does not really believe the empty tomb can change the world here and now. [41:14]
4. Truth requires holy listening Speaking truth to power is only part of the calling, because the church also holds power and privilege in particular places. Holy listening becomes necessary when truth is spoken back to those who would rather stay comfortable. The cross forms disciples not only to confront empire out there, but to receive correction where Christ exposes illusion, revenge, and self-protection within. [43:37]
5. Christ remakes human power Jesus speaks truth to the human instinct to demand fairness for oneself while neglecting justice and liberty for all. The cross breaks the illusion of self-sufficiency and recreates people through life, healing, and forgiveness. Baptism, bread, wine, and sending become the means by which Christ makes the church into a people for the sake of the world. [46:19]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:25] - A Hard Word for Father’s Day
[33:16] - The Cost of Discipleship
[34:04] - Not Worthy, Yet Chosen
[35:39] - What Taking Up the Cross Means
[37:13] - The Cross Before Calvary
[38:20] - Rome, Empire, and Pax Romana
[39:20] - Risk Beyond Religious Symbols
[40:13] - The Church and Belovedness
[41:14] - God’s Shalom and the Empty Tomb
[43:00] - Truth Spoken to Power
[43:37] - Holy Listening from Privilege
[45:54] - Christ Confronts Human Power
[46:45] - Gathered, Fed, and Sent
[47:30] - By Grace, This Is the Church

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 10:37-38
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” [32:25]

Matthew 10:19-20
“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” [44:26]

John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” [43:00]

Observation questions

In Matthew 10:37-38, what are the specific relationships and loyalties Jesus names before he speaks about taking up the cross? [34:04]
What are some of the things that can be loved more than Jesus, beyond family alone? [34:16]
In this passage, what did the cross mean to the first disciples before Jesus’ crucifixion had happened? [38:20]
What two sides of discipleship are placed next to each other here: speaking truth to power, and listening when truth is spoken back to those who hold power? [43:37]

Interpretation questions

If no one is worthy by the standard of Matthew 10:37-38, what does that reveal about the place of grace in the life of a disciple? [34:36]
If the cross first brought Rome and empire to mind, how does that change the way a group might understand Jesus’ call to “take up the cross” today? [38:44]
Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” How might that shape the difference between merely having opinions and actually speaking truth in a Christ-shaped way? [45:47]
God’s shalom is described as peace, healing, gladness, and blessedness for those who suffer and are pushed aside. How is that different from the kind of peace that simply keeps things quiet and comfortable? [41:14]

Application questions

Jesus names family, and the same warning can reach money, power, status, and self-protection. What loyalty is most likely to compete with Jesus in your own life right now? [34:16]
A cross can become a safe symbol that asks nothing of us. Where might following Jesus require actual risk for you rather than just religious appearance? [39:27]
God’s shalom is good news for the suffering, the wounded, and the marginalized. Who in your neighborhood, workplace, school, or church might need that kind of peace from you this week? [41:14]
Fear of rocking the boat can keep people silent. When have you felt the pull to stay quiet in order to protect comfort, approval, or privilege? [41:38]
Speaking truth to power is only part of the calling; holy listening is part of it too. In what part of life do you find it hardest to hear truth from others, especially when it challenges your position or assumptions? [43:42]
Jesus speaks truth not only to power “out there,” but also to revenge, self-insistence, and the desire to be right. Where is Christ inviting you toward reconciliation instead of self-justification? [46:00]
The Spirit gives words in the moment and Christ gathers, feeds, and sends his people. What would it look like for you to trust the Spirit more in one concrete conversation or action this week? [44:26]

Sermon Clips

40s

“``To talk about the cross, to have it on a pendant or on your car or on a tattoo as some kind of abstract thing is fine and dandy to do because it involves no risk whatsoever, does it? Speaking truth to power involves risking everything. And that, in a nutshell, is the mission to which Jesus calls you and me to the church to preach the reign of God, to preach God's shalom, God's justice at all costs with no compromise.”

54s

“The cross as a symbol to those early disciples before the crucifixion would symbolize what happens when you stand up against power when you from a position of powerlessness, you speak truth to this power. The cross is what happens when the powerless threaten the power of the powerful. That's how empire works and or doesn't work. So now here's the question to consider. If we are encountering Jesus' words as the disciples first encountered them, as the church today, what does that mean, and what does that look like?”

54s

“Speaking truth to power involves risking everything. And that, in a nutshell, is the mission to which Jesus calls you and me to the church to preach the reign of God, to preach God's shalom, God's justice at all costs with no compromise. And it's risky to proclaim love for that everyone is beloved in the eyes of God because the powerful get their power from knocking down the belovedness of others.”

50s

“Jesus speaks truth not only to power but to ours or at least our perception of it. Our power of insisting insisting upon our own way above others, of demanding fairness for me instead of justice and liberty for all. Our power of seeking revenge instead of cultivating reconciliation. Reconciliation. Our power, frankly, of being human. The old, you know, I could do it all by myself. Jesus speaks speaks truth, truth, god's god's truth to our illusion of our own power and recreates us in the power of the cross of Christ, which is life and healing and forgiveness for all.”

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