Are you ready to drink the cup of the Lord? The cup I am talking about is not a pleasant cup. It is a cup of suffering. To drink the cup of Christ is to carry your cross in humiliation, pain, and death. It is to suffer the loss of your honor.
To drink the cup of Christ is to be a slave. It would be much easier to be a paid servant rather than a slave. Then there would be some dignity and some recognition of your skills and service.
But a slave is lower than low. A slave might be whipped at the least provocation. Beat him, take away his food, lock him up in isolation, remove friends and family, remove the pleasures of life.
Christ Jesus tells you, "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave."
Most people are willing to put in their time of service, even sometimes work hard for others. But Jesus is not talking about occasional volunteer work. He has called you to be a slave of all men.
He may also call upon you to be ridiculed and mocked. He may send all manner of hardship into your life. He may call upon you to give up your life.
Suffering separates the slave from the willing volunteer. The slave must be emptied of all pride and self-worth, so that he is only the property of someone else. There is no labor union for the slave to protest low wages or unsatisfactory work conditions. The slave only suffers.
This is what you are for whomever God places in your life to serve. You must be ready to give, ready to be hurt, ready for death itself if necessary, for the sake of Christ.
Those others are not only the nice people in your life. You are to be a slave also to enemies, the wicked, those whom you do not like, those who annoy you, anyone at all whom Christ calls you to serve.
Who can truly live up to this? This is a tall order, and a harsh burden. Your sinful nature shrinks away from that bitter cup. Your Old Adam might take a sip, but not too much! Your flesh would rather have some other cup, perhaps the cup of mild irritation or the cup of slight unpleasantness, rather than the cup of suffering.
In fact, Christ only gives you a little of His cup. Mortal flesh cannot drink too deeply. Only He could drain it to the last drop upon Calvary, and no one can imagine His agony there. You do not drink to atone from sin or drain the wrath of God. You cannot do that. Yet you must suffer in the image of Christ, if only in a lesser way.
So you need not be too upset if you suffer the loss of your honor and reputation. No matter how much it is trampled in the dust, you will not descend as far as your Lord descended.
Do not fear the loss of your honor. Be ready to be humbled, since in this way your honor is actually exalted even more in the Kingdom of God. But if you desire to appear great in a visible, earthly way, then you shall not be great.
Everywhere Jesus turned things upside down for the disciples. James and John tried to seek the first and highest place. But they did not understand what that actually meant. Jesus gave them what they desired, but in ways they did not expect. James and John had to learn that the path to glory passes through cross and shame.
We also must learn this lesson.
Your flesh asks, "Where is the joy and comfort and peace of the Christian life if we can expect suffering and shame?" Many fall away from the faith because they cannot endure the pain and dishonor of drinking this bitter cup. They did not sign on for this religion to carry a cross. They wanted to escape suffering inside these doors and instead found it waiting for them. Again, everything is turned upside down.
The true peace and joy are found even in the midst of strife. It is not a fleshly joy, all giddy and happy, with never a tear. Christians rejoice in Christ even as they weep. They are at peace even when torn apart. Your heart may be broken, yet Christ is your joy.
So be comforted in this, that you participate in Christ's sufferings. He chooses you, even you, a sinner, to drink from His own cup. What sounds like a curse is actually the greatest blessing, for what is higher than to be like Christ?
You cannot earn this likeness to your Lord. Can you be righteous as He is? Certainly not! Can your love equal His? Can your works outshine the angels themselves for glory? Hardly!
So when Christ makes you like Him in that you also taste His sufferings, it is not earned. You do not choose your afflictions, but they are set for you in advance by your Father's hand. In this way He treats you like Christ, since He also sent Christ into the flesh to suffer.
Nothing is more central to the life of Christ than His passion and death. These things He knew even before their unfolding. He saw the betrayal, the mocking, the flogging, the crucifixion. He knew the awfulness of His cup, and even prayed that He might not drink it. Yet He submitted Himself to His Father's will and drank it to the last drop as He went up to the Cross.
There is the true Slave, making His life expendable, to be struck and whipped and pierced and killed at the whim of sinful men. In His suffering, He rendered the greatest service ever. In His Blood, He showed Himself the faithful Slave who serves all mankind.
So the King of the powers above submitted Himself to be despised and spitefully treated. Not even with this lowliness was He satisfied, but He submitted to death itself, the shameful death of a slave.
He chose the last place and became the first of all - the Firstborn from the dead, the First and the Last, and the Lord of all. By paying the ransom for you, He became your Lord and King, just as He also paid the ransom for the vast number of all sinners. Christ paid the price for the rebellion of mankind, who had violated and abused God's holiness and righteousness.
In other words, it was not for an innocent damsel in distress that Christ died. It was for His enemies, for you and me. His life, the life of the Son of God, was exchanged for your life.
The deep descent of one Man has become the lifting up of us all. When He submitted to pain and torture and crucifixion, His glory shone forth upon you. Indeed, His majesty did not become less when cruel nails pinned Him to shame and horror and death. His majesty was seen more clearly than ever there, since by His death He bought for Himself a kingdom, even His beloved Bride.
All glory be to this God of your salvation alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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