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Take a look at your hands. How well do you know them? I can recall how I earned every scar. I know every freckle. I can tell you how I obtained a spot of pencil lead in my left palm in the second grade. Barely visible now, it is still there.

I know how hard my hands have worked and I know how they have betrayed my staunchest values in spite of my protests. My hands have did things in their younger days of which they should be dreadfully ashamed. I know, too, that my hands do not have a mind of their own. They are but a metaphor of the sin that flowed from my heart (before Christ delivered me from sin).

In Matthew 15, some Pharisees confront Jesus because His disciples did not ceremoniously wash their hands before eating. You see, the Pharisees were not merely pious observers of the Law of Moses. They had, for generation after generation, implemented laws of tradition – hundreds of oral laws – that governed every aspect of life both public and private. It is said that the Pharisees built fences around the Law of Moses that must be jumped to even dare break the written law.

Those oral traditions were considered as binding as the written law. One such law was that Jews must ritually wash their hands before eating.

Makes sense, after all. Jesus, the Creator of all life surely knew about the microscopic life that can live on our hands and make us ill if ingested. Of course, He did.

The Pharisees, though, were not concerned with the health of of Jesus and the disciples. They were concerned with power. They were attempting to slap Jesus down by catching Him in a sin.

Jesus, however, reminded the self-righteous Pharisees that it is not that which we pick up with our hands that condemns us. It is not that which rests in our stomachs that makes us “unclean,” but what rests in our hearts. Our hands do not condemn us, our hearts do.

I sometimes which I could wash away sin in a basin of water, like Pontius Pilate tried to do. During the trial of Jesus, Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, found no reason to condemn the accused to death. He offered the mob an alternative, a rebel name Barabbas that he hoped would satisfy the agitated mob that cried for the death of Jesus. The mob, instead, asked for Barabbas to be freed and demanded Jesus be crucified. Pilate ordered Jesus flogged, hoping – perhaps – that beating Him within an inch of His life would quench the mob’s thirst for blood. It didn’t. Pilate conceded. He ceremoniously washed his hands of the conviction of Jesus, placed the blame on the mob, and turned over Jesus to be crucified.

The strongest soap and an over-abundance of water is unable to wash away the sins of our hands.

Only the pierced hands of Jesus can wash the stain of sins from our hands.

The Roman soldiers made Jesus lift and carry the patibulum, the thick horizontal part of the cross. The patibulum weighed over 75 pounds. It had a hole bored through it that allowed it to fit down over and secure it to the stipes (pronounced sty-peez). The beaten and exhausted Jesus would carry it as far as he could.

Moments later, they tied and then nailed the hands of Jesus to the patibulum. Two Roman soldiers lifted the cross bar with Jesus affixed to it, and sat the hollowed out part over the upright stipes. His feet were nailed to a small foot rest called the suppedaneum. There he would hang with His beaten back against a rough-hewn cross, His feet and hands pierced spikes. I weep when i think that His hands, bloodied and broken, are the same ones that freed me from the bondage to our sin.

Only the nail-pierced hands of our risen Savior can wash away the sins of our filthy hands and guilty hearts.

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In a world where the person who has the most outrageous content on social media is considered the most successful, and where our political leaders have no filters, and where the grossest of all violence equates with the highest video ratings, it is easy to assume that loud means strong, and quiet means weak. The Bible, though, tells us just the opposite.

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quietly endured six trials. He faced three religious trials: He stood before Annas, the High Priest Emeritus; He faced Caiaphas, the High Priest; and, He was taken before the entire Sanhedrin.

Jesus also endured three civil trials: He was presented to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Once Pilate realized that Jesus was from Galilee, he sent Him to be tried before Herod Antipas, the Governor of Galilee, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time. Herod could find no guilt in Jesus and returned Him to Pilate. Pilate had Jesus scourged, hoping to satisfy the Jews, but the people demanded His death.

During this entire time, Jesus – the Son of God – remained quiet. He did not raise His voice. He did not threaten. He did not smirk. He did not swear. He did not call 10,000 angels to rescue Him. He submitted to the will of His Father. To all who looked on, Jesus seemed weak.

They confused meekness with weakness. In His meekness rests redemption for the entire world. Because of His submission to the will of His Father, the nails that secured His hands and feet to the cross also secured our salvation. Our sins – all of them – died on the cross with Jesus. Our lives were resurrected with Him the following Sunday.

Jesus said few words at His trials, but it is what He said at His crucifixion that I most cherish. These 10 words:

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

When the world looks at you, do they see Jesus? Do they see meekness, love, and forgiveness?

Father, I pray that when the world looks at me, they instead see the character of your Son.

Zechariah chapter 13:7 (NIV)

“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the LORD Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered”

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Yet salvation does have a price. Of course we know that Jesus Himself paid the price, because nothing short of the death, burial, and resurrection of God could pay the price for the sins of the entire world …Because nothing we could do could ever earn our way into heaven.

Yet, Christ speaks of a cost. Think of the story of the Rich Young Ruler as it is found in the synoptic gospels (MT 19:16-30; MK10:17-31; LK18:18-30). The young man asks Jesus what must he do to attain eternal life. Jesus answers that he must keep all of the commandments.

The young man answers that he has done exactly that. Jesus then tells him, “Sell everything you own and give the money to the poor and the come and follow me.” The young man considers the cost and declines, going away sad. Why did he decline? The Bible tells us that he declined because he was very wealthy.

Why did Jesus answer this way? Well many Bible commentaries tell us that Jesus was talking about two different things: eternal life on the one hand and the Kingdom of God in the other. I don’t buy that because Christ does not trifle with one’s soul. If the man had not understood, Christ would have clarified.

Other commentators tell us that the passage is hyperbole. That Jesus didn’t really expect the man to sell everything and give it to the poor to be worthy to follow after Him. He only needed, some claim, to stop loving his material goods more than he loves Jesus. He could’ve, in reality, they say, continue to possess his goods and followed Jesus anyway.

Others tell us that we miss the entire point when Christ tells us that it is impossible with man, but all things are possible with God. And here we get closer to the truth.

Now we know that neither selling everything we own and giving it to the poor nor keeping the commandments is enough to get you into heaven. Nor does Christ tell us that everyone must give all they own to the poor.

Let’s take a look at other passages that speak of the price of salvation. At one point a scribe – a scholar dedicated to accurately copying Scripture – tells Jesus that he will follow Him as His disciple. Christ replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

The Bible doesn’t directly state this but implies that the scribe, like the Rich Young Ruler, left disappointed.

Another follower asked to leave Jesus to go to his father’s funeral. Jesus answered, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

That seems harsh, but Jesus never once said it would be easy to follow Him.

And with that last sentence I just lost half my audience. Many of those who remain are saying “What about John 3:16?”

Well let’s take a look at John 3:16 in the larger context of the entire chapter. We have lived so long with the term “born again” that we fail to recognize it’s significance. Sure, Christ says that everyone who believes will be saved, but how many of those who follow the prescriptive ABC of salvation really believe? I fear not many, for few can live up to the expectations of the full context of the discourse in John 3. Take a look at verses 19-21.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

How many who consider themselves Christians actually change their direction? How many of them repent?

Christ tells us that we must be born again but he also tells us that we must die to self. In Luke 9:23, he says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”

The cross is not a symbol of hardship, like I heard growing up in church (a man I knew speaking of his life as a single father after his wife abandoned him years ago always ended the discussion with the words, “that’s just my cross to bear”). Not at all. The cross is not a symbol of hardship it is a symbol of death. When Jesus said to take up our cross and follow Him, he added a clause to the beginning: “deny yourselves, take up your cross daily and follow me!”

If we are to be born again we must also die to our own self. Christ does not tolerate a double-minded person; you should be either hot or cold but not lukewarm.

I have had preachers warn me about this message, the message of repentance. They tell me that, were they me, they would be scared of turning away seekers from the altar. I preached at a church three Sundays ago and preached on repentance. Another preacher was in the congregation that morning. He was scheduled to preach the following Sunday. When he did preach, he looked me in the eye from the pulpit and said that it is enough that people accept Jesus, believe in their hearts, and confess their sins. It is up to God to convict them enough to repent. I worry that preachers like him are convincing many sinners they are saved because they said a solitary prayer but never really repent and trust in Christ. Their lives show no fruit of the Spirit.

What does it cost to follow Christ? Just our very self.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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While missteps and straying from the path may happen. Christ warns that the entire journey will be hazardous.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of following Christ is that He tells us to deny ourselves, and take up our crosses and follow Him.

We cannot imagine the gut-wrenching terror of this statement. Even if we put it into a modern context, we cannot fully fathom it.

To even attempt to follow and appreciate this statement, we must stop thinking about the cross as a gold emblem to be worn around our necks or wrists. We cannot think of it as two 4×4 posts fit together to easily hoist on the shoulder. We must think of the cross as first-century readers thought of it.

So here is just a little context. Public executions were common in the Roman empire, nearly a daily event. Many crimes warranted execution by crucifixion, including theft, rape, and murder. Crosses were little higher than eye-level, so the one dying could easily hear and see those who mocked him, which often included close relatives and associates who betrayed the convicted for fear of being the next condemned.

A sign attached to the top of the cross announced the name of the condemned and his crime. The cross was low enough that the sign could be easily read.

The Roman’s were expert executioners who knew exactly how to beat the condemned to within an inch of his life (to beat the condemned to death when he had been sentenced to die by crucifixion was itself a crime). The executioner could tell you at exactly what time they expected the condemned to die and they knew how to prolong or hasten the death accordingly.

It was uncommon but not unheard of to find a road lined with crosses of the condemned. Jesus was, Himself, crucified near a road, “outside the gate.”

The Greeks used crucifixion before Rome was an empire. When Alexander seized Tyre, to the north of Israel, in 332 BC, he crucified 2000 people.

Crucifixion, to people conquered by Caesar, was the means by which Rome instilled fear and maintained control.

For Jesus to tell those who would follow Him to “take up their cross,” was to strike fear in their heart.

I can think of two modern parallels, and both fall short in striking fear. To compare the cross to the electric chair fails because the electric chair is not used to intimidate (it is carried out behind closed doors) so much as the cross was. To compare beheading to crucifixion fails because it too is uncommon, although that may be changing.

Why did Jesus tell us this? It makes for a lousy recruitment poster. What was He thinking? It speaks to easy-believism. Is it enough for us to simply say a prayer like reading a magic spell and then consider ourselves “saved?” Even if we exhibit no remorse for our sinful life? Even if we do not repent? Is it enough to simply say a prayer?

Taking up or cross is not a burden we must bear. It is not living with human frailty. It is following Jesus no matter where the path leads, even if it leads to job loss because we read our Bible on lunch break. Even if we are sued for refusing to bake a cake. Even if we are jailed for what we peach. Even if we lose friends because we don’t hang like they do. Even if we are targeted by terrorists for being Christian. We must follow in His footprints.

It means denying our human impulse for fun, thrill, and pleasure, and praying for God to replace it with His love. It is denying yourself – dying to self – daily.

We must follow Him.

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I admit it. I’m not very wise. Yet, I do take sweet comfort in the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. To think that He died and then defeated death and hell so that you and I could also conquer death and hell… I am dumbstruck. 

Try telling it to a hundred people, though, and you risk all one hundred finding you a fool. The Apostle Paul warned us, though. He told us that would happen. 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where are the wise? I submit to you that the wise are not in political parties, not in Congress, not on college campuses. The wise are teaching Sunday school, preaching the Gospel, and filling the altars. 

Wisdom is found in His Spirit, knowledge in His Word, and power in the cross. 

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That last challenge, to take up our crosses, is difficult for many  21st century Christians to understand. At least, it is difficult for us to understand it in the same way that first century Christians understood it. 

The cross was more than a symbol of shame; it was the ultimate shame and disgrace. Criminals were put to death on the cross. Traitors were hung on a cross, and enemies of the state. Unlike contemporary capital punishment, like the electric chair or lethal injection, the cross was not a quick death and certainly not merciful. It created a tortuous and lingering death, one that was excruciatingly (the word excruciating, in fact, means “of the cross”) painful, and designed to make a public spectacle, an example. 

To take up our crosses means to deny ourselves of our carnal desires. It means to rid our hearts of its perverted, sinful nature and fill it with the nature of Christ. To take up our crosses means to be willing to lay down our lives for Christ, and in a more practical sense, it means to give our lives to Christ. 

What’s more, we are to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily. This willingness to give our lives to Christ and for Christ is the key to following in Christ’s footsteps. The journey is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, and breath-by-breath surrender to God. 

When we walk daily in absolute surrender to Christ, our hearts reflect His heart, and our desires are to grow ever closer to God. 

To paraphrase Dr Charles Stanley, before we can live, we must be prepared to die. 

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