Partake of the Lord’s Willingness to Take up the Cross and Bear it for the Church

As believers in Christ who desire to cooperate with the Lord for the building up of His church so that He may return soon, we need to learn to exercise the key of taking up the cross; we need to partake of the Lord’s willingness to bear the cross so that we may be happy cross-bearers and not sad criminals put to death by the cross. Oh, Lord!

When many Christians read Matt. 16:18-19, they are encouraged to realize that it is Christ who builds His church, and they are amazed that Peter was given by Christ the keys of the kingdom of the heavens to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven and loose on earth what has been loosed in heavens.

However, it is not just Peter who was given these keys of the kingdom; we all as believers in Christ need to exercise the subjective keys of the kingdom to bind and loose, even to lock up the gates of Hades which are hindering the building up of the church.

When we want to build up the church, it is not just the outward environment, persecution, and evil ones that rise up to hinder us; even more, there are many subjective enemies in our being that hinder the building.

In particular, as seen in Matt. 16:19-24, there is our mind with its good ideals, our soul with its independence from God (the self), and the soul-life that are in our being as gates of Hades, hindering the building.

We need to read this portion of the word prayerfully, for herein lies the key to the building up of the church.

Unless we deal with the subjective gates of Hades in our being, that is, unless we exercise our spirit to use the subjective keys of the kingdom to shut and lock up the gates of Hades in our being, the church cannot be built up.

We may say that in the Western world, there’s no outward persecution toward Christians, and in general today Christianity can spread, the gospel can be preached, and the whole world seems to be open.

What hinders the building up of the church and therefore delays the Lord’s return?

It is these gates of Hades in our being.

The self is prevailing; our soul declares independence from God and does things according to its taste, preference, desire, and impulse, being independent from God.

Our soul-life is being nurtured and enjoyed by us, and the mind is unrenewed, being full of opinions and thoughts which do not match the Lord’s thoughts. Oh, Lord!

We need to learn to follow the Lord by denying the self, losing our soul-life, and taking up our cross today so that we may live a life for the building up of the church.

Exercise the Key of Taking up our Cross to be a Happy Cross-Bearer, not a Criminal being Executed on the Cross

The second subjective key of the kingdom is taking up the cross and following the Lord (Matt. 16:24).

What does it mean to take up our cross? In the times of the Roman Empire, the Roman government used crucifixion to execute criminals.

It was a painful death, for it involved suffering and public shaming; the criminals were not willing to be crucified but were forced to be crucified, thus suffering painful and prolonged suffering and then death.

But with the Lord Jesus, this was different; He was not forced to be crucified; He was willing to do it.

In Matt. 26:39 He prayed to the Father, if it is possible, to let this cup pass from Him, but He concluded by saying, Yet not as I will, but as You will.

The cross is the Father’s will, which in the Lord’s case it was the physical cross.

To take up the cross simply means to take up the will of God; the cross is God’s will (John 18:11).

The Lord Jesus, our pattern in taking up the cross, was not forced to go to the cross like a criminal; rather, He was willing to go because the cross was God’s will.

For the joy set before Him, for Him to gain the church, He had to go to the cross so that the shell of His humanity may be broken to release the divine life from within Him and impart it into many people to regenerate them and make them the church, the Body of Christ, the enlargement of Christ (John 12:24).

The Lord Jesus didn’t just choose to go to the cross at the end of His life on earth; He was a cross-bearer day by day.

He bore the cross, taking the Father’s will and not doing His own will but always depending on the Father, speaking the Father’s words, doing the Father’s work, and expressing the Father.

He lived a daily life under the cross, and then He went to the cross physically.

We believers in Christ have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20) and now we live a crucified life by taking up the cross and following the Lord (Luke 14:27).

The Lord Jesus was willing to be crucified so that through His death, His life might be released to produce and build up the church.

The cross was not easy for the Lord; it was a great suffering to Him, but He cared not for the suffering but for the fulfilment of God’s purpose (Heb. 12:2; Col. 1:24).

We want to avoid suffering and take the easiest way, but the Lord wants us to follow Him by taking up the cross daily.

To follow the Lord, we need to take up our cross; this means that we’re not forced to bear the cross but we willingly take it up.

Sometimes we think that our wife is our cross and she crucifies us; some husbands may say that their dear wife crucifies them.

Even though this kind of makes sense, this shows that they are not cross-bearers but rather, they are like criminals being executed by their wives. Oh, Lord!

If we think that our wife or husband crucifies us, or that our children or the saints crucify us, we are not cross-bearers who willingly take up their cross to follow the Lord but rather, we are criminals being executed.

To those in the world, yes, the cross is applied to criminals; to us as believers in Christ, we willingly take up the cross to follow the Lord and build up the church.

May the Lord change our concept regarding taking up the cross daily from being a criminal being executed, thus we suffer and complain about it, to us being willing to bear the cross one with the Lord.

May we open to the Lord concerning the cross, realizing that the cross is God’s will, and may we be willing to take up our cross daily and follow the Lord by bearing the cross.

He bore the cross daily and then died on the cross; we are identified with the crucified Christ, we died in Him and are crucified with Him, and now we bear the cross daily, following the Lord’s footpath.

Our husband, our wife, and our children are God’s will, and therefore are our cross.

However, we are not criminals being executed by the cross; we are those who choose to take up the will of God and bear the cross.

The one church is God’s will, and every brother and sister in the church is God’s will; thus, to bear the cross is to bear the church and to bear all the saints so that we would have the genuine oneness (John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3, 13; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2). Amen!

This is why Paul said that we need to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, for the church is the will of God for us.

One of the main virtues needed in the church life is forbearance, bearing one another in love; to bear one another in love is a kind of bearing the cross.

May we come to the Lord about all these matters in prayer, apply them in prayer, and open to the Lord concerning this so that He would work this in us in our daily living and in the church life.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being willing to go to the cross and die for us, taking God’s will as the cross. Thank You, Lord, for setting up a pattern of living a crucified life and then dying on the cross, choosing God’s will and being willing to be crucified for us. Praise You, Lord, for setting up such a pattern for us to follow. We want to follow in Your footsteps today. Amen, Lord, we want to take up our cross and follow You so that we may live a life for the building up of the church. May we realize that the cross is the will of God, and may we take God’s will and do it. May we realize that our husband, wife, and children are God’s will, and are therefore our cross. May we see that the church is God’s will and every brother and sister in the church is God’s will. Amen, Lord, make us happy cross-bearers and not unwilling criminals being executed by the cross. May we take You as our pattern in taking up our cross and bearing the cross, one with You, so that the church may be built up today!

Partake of the Lord’s Willingness to Take up the Cross and Bear the Cross for the Building of the Church

How can we, as human beings, choose suffering and death?

Taking up the cross means suffering to many of us; in God’s eyes, the cross is not just suffering but termination, but because we are not willing to bear the cross, we suffer quite a lot.

If we just open to the Lord, enjoy Him, and exercise our spirit, the cross is applied to our being in spirit and by the Spirit, and the old man is put to death, the self is denied, and the flesh is kept on the cross.

The Lord Jesus was willing to take up His cross daily and, as He approached the physical crucifixion, He still chose the Father’s will (Matt. 16:24).

Such a One lives in us. We are not willing to take up our cross and bear it, but He is willing.

We need to open to Him and ask Him to make us willing.

We need to simply turn to Him, enjoy Him, and partake of the Lord’s willingness to take up the cross and bear it for the building up of the church.

The Lord was willing and even glad to take up His cross, for He knew the joy set before Him; we can now partake of His willingness to take up the cross and bear it in our daily life.

We can come to Him in spirit, we can come to Him in the Word, and we can let Him infuse Himself into us, even to make us the same as He is in being willing to bear the cross.

No human being is a happy cross-bearer; rather, even we believers in Christ, when we have to take up our cross and bear it, many times we are like criminals being executed on the cross, and those around us can see how much we suffer. Oh, Lord!

The cross is not a suffering: the cross is termination; when we exercise our spirit and partake of the Lord’s willingness to bear the cross, we will not complain, we will not murmur, and we will not speak about it – we will simply bear the cross for the building of the church.

When we exercise our spirit and are one with the Lord to take up our cross and bear it, death operates in us and life is released in the church for the building up of the church.

When we partake of the Lord’s willingness to take up the cross, His life is released through us in the Body.

As Paul said, death operates in life, but life in you (2 Cor. 4:12). Amen!

We need to not only take up our cross but also carry our cross, that is, to remain on the cross (Luke 14:27; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10; 1 Cor. 15:31).

We need to keep our old man under the termination of the cross day by day.

The cross is for killing the natural man daily; this is to be conformed to the death of Christ.

We have received the divine life through the Lord’s crucifixion, and now, for us to be built up in this life, we need to willingly and happily take up the cross.

Amen, may we partake of the Lord’s willingness to bear the cross and may we be the happy cross-bearers today, those who allow the death of Christ to operate in them so that His life may be released and operate in others!

We shouldn’t care for our taste, our feeling, and our consciousness; rather, we should care only for God’s will, which is that we would have the genuine oneness (John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3, 13; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2).

When we are willing to bear the cross one with the Lord, even though our spouse may give us a hard time, we will be enjoying the Lord and happily bear the cross, for the Lord in us is willing to bear the cross.

When we’re willing to bear the cross by partaking of the Lord’s willingness to bear the cross, we will not fluctuate, being up when everything goes well and being down when others give us a hard time; rather, we will be steadfast and stable, and the divine life will be ministered to the Body.

Even more, we will be built up with our spouse and with the saints, for we take our spouse and the saints as God’s will, the cross for us to bear, for the building up of the church.

How much we need to pray over this so that the Lord may make this real for us in the church life today!

Lord Jesus, make us willing cross-bearers like You were. You learned to take God’s will as the cross, and You were willing not only to bear the cross daily but also be crucified physically. We are so glad that You took Your cross and died for us. Oh Lord, through Your willingness to bear the cross we are here today as the church. We thank You and we praise You. We open to You today. Lord, we want to partake of Your willingness to take up the cross today. We partake of what You are so that we may take up the cross so that Your life may be released! Amen, Lord, may we be willing to bear the cross daily, taking the will of God and denying our taste, feeling, or consciousness. May we care only for God’s will, which is that we would have the genuine oneness! May we be willing to bear the cross and be diligent to keep the oneness in the uniting bond of peace! Amen, Lord, make us those who are willingly and happily bearing the cross today for the church to be built up!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1978, vol. 1, “The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building of the Church,” chs. 7-8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 4, The Exercise of the Kingdom for the Building Up of the Church.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Bearing the cross of Christ as our cross in dealing with our soul-life – our self, a portion from, The Christian Life, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – The mystery of Christ and the church revealed in Matthew and Revelation, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Christ, the Cross, and the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Why Did Jesus Have to Die on the Cross? More via, Blog for America blog.
  – The practical way to bear the cross, a portion from, The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
  – Psalms (Program #33) – The Saints’ Deeper Experience of God in the Identification with Christ, via, Bible Study Radio.
  – Choosing to Exercise our Spirit, via, Living to Him.
  – The Narrow Way of Bearing the Cross and Denying the Self unto New Jerusalem, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Bearing the cross, a portion from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 1) Vol. 07: The Christian (5), Chapter 20, by Watchman Nee.
  – Through the Cross, Looking to Jesus, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – How Can Christ’s Crucified Life Become Our Pattern? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – If we take up the cross, will we but suffer pain? / Nay, if we bear the cross, be sure that we will die! / The meaning of the cross is that we may be slain; / The cross experienced the self will crucify. / Divine deliverance e’er slays man by the cross; / Though cruel it may seem, it is a grand release. / Christ ne’er will be our life if we escape the cross; / Christ ne’er will be expressed but by our sure decease. (Hymns #622 stanzas 1-2)
  – That cross of Thine is also mine, / Into my life its light doth shine; / When I believe I’m dead with Thee, / The world has lost its pow’r o’er me. / Since I am crucified with Thee, / From sin and self I am set free; / How can I still enjoy the world / Or seek its vanities unfurled? / I take my place, dear Lord, with Thee / Upon the cross of Calvary. / Thy life and power then are mine, / Since Thou and I in oneness twine. (Hymns #488 stanzas 2-4)
  – Do you falter then, or, true to death, / Just die on the cross in the way, / Till the fulness of life from the Living One / Is filling you day by day? / ’Tis the plan of life, for you die to live, / One with Jesus crucified; / With the life alone to be lived through you, / Of the Risen, the Glorified. (Hymns #630 stanzas 3-4)