On loving the cross, non-discipleship and the true measure of a church

A family update

We welcomed our little baby girl this month and are now a family of four! We couldn’t be more grateful for this gift. Both Rebeca and Tabitha are healthy, and we’ve been soaking it all in.

“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” — Psalms 127:3-5

Here are your bullets: thoughts, concepts, and questions to guide your leadership in mission, discipleship, and renewal. If you’re new, click here to subscribe.

On loving the cross of Jesus

“Jesus has now many lovers of His heavenly Kingdom but few that are willing to bear His Cross.” — Thomas a' Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’.” — Luke 9:23

To love Jesus is to bear His cross.

Over a decade ago, I traveled to speak at a pastors gathering in a remote unreached region of the world.

I was a young bible school student and preached for hours each day, pouring out all I had.

After the second day, a pastor approached me. His face was weathered. He didn’t say much. Just looked me in the eye, smiled and then, slowly, he lifted his shirt and revealed a sight I’ll never forget.

Thick, raised scars slashed across his torso. Wounds carved by men who tried to silence him. For making disciples of Jesus.

Yet there he was. Still standing. Still preaching.

Another day, another pastor. Same story. Same unwavering faith. The kind that looks like allegiance.

One man told me how God delivered him. A miracle. He had been in real danger. They came for him, but somehow, he walked free.

Others didn’t speak of miracles. They spoke of endurance. Just years of quiet faithfulness. Still preaching. Still standing.

“To live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Their scars weren’t marks of defeat. They were proof. Of loyalty. Of love. Of a cross carried well. They were proof of friendship with Jesus.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” — Phillipians 3:8,10

There is a friendship with Jesus that is only experienced in suffering for the gospel’s sake. To be clear, this is not the suffering of sickness or circumstance.

It’s the suffering of kenosis. Of pouring yourself out. Of dying to self and costly obedience for the name of Jesus among the nations. 

True friends of Jesus don’t run from the cross. They carry it.

May we be counted among them.

To love Jesus is to love His cross.

Bullets

On the cost of non-discipleship:

“The cost of discipleship is great. The cost of non-discipleship is far greater.” — David Platt

Dallas Willard described non-discipleship as a “costly faithlessness”.

On Western believers and self-denial:

“We understand that God would ask people in the Two-Thirds World to give up things — to sacrifice — but our heresy hidden under the surface is our belief that God would not ask Western people to deny themselves.” — Mark Sayers

On the apostolic and suffering:

“The key mark of apostleship is not a big personality, but rather big suffering (cf. 1 Cor. 4:9-13). When Paul is forced to defend his apostleship, he first cites his suffering (2 Cor. 12:7-10) before his signs and wonders (vs. 11,12). He wears his suffering as the badge of his apostleship and only acknowledges his signs and wonders when forced to do so.” — Dick Scoggins

On the true measure of a church:

“Ultimately each church will be evaluated by only one thing. Its disciples. Your church is only as good as its disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs or property are: If your disciples are passive, needy, consumerist, and not moving in the direction of radical obedience, your church is not good” — Neil Cole

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Thank you for reading!

Timo Anzalone