There was a man from Cyrene named Simon walking into the city from the fields. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Mark 15:21, ERV)

Today’s message is simply called: It’s Not on The Agenda.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6, NKJV)
I am so thankful for the assurance in Deuteronomy 31, where God says he’ll never leave us nor forsake us. it’s good news to just be reminded that God is our refuge and our strength. God is a very present help in the time of trouble, and sometimes you we just need to be reminded how that during our hard times, that God is there. God is already at work in your situation, and he causes all things to work together for good to them who love God and are called according to our purpose, to his purpose.
There was a man from Cyrene named Simon walking into the city from the fields. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Mark 15:21, ERV)
The Bible says they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. Let’s think about that for a minute. At that time, they compelled he didn’t volunteer for this he didn’t sign up for this they compelled a certain man Simon a Cyrenian the father of Alexander and Rufus and as he was coming out of the country, and he was what just passing by to bear his cross for just a little while today I want to talk to you about the subject Not on The Agenda. That wasn’t on the agenda! It just wasn’t on the agenda so what is going on here now? May we all see the glory of the cross in a whole new way. May we shift to a place where the cross is not just theology, but where the cross is our lived reality.
The story of Simon of Cyrene is fascinating to me, one, because there is so little detail that is given. All that I know is that he is a brother from the eastern part of Libya, which is in the northern continent of Africa. We know that he has two sons, Alexander and Rufus, and we know that he was compelled to carry the cross of Jesus.
But one of the things that really stands out here is that this was not on his schedule for the day. The Bible says that Simon just happened to be passing by. In other words, Simon had a circumstance that required him to come around and to be a part of God’s divine plan. And it’s amazing because he becomes a historical figure because it seems that he happened to be in the right place at the right time. How many of us know that when some see coincidence, believers ought to always see providence. In other words, this was not on Simon’s agenda. He perhaps comes to Jerusalem to spend time with his sons who live there. And remember that Simon is an outsider to the Jewish tradition. Simon is an outsider to their feasts. Simon has no dog in this fight that he encounters along the way.
In other words, the night before, as Simon prepares for the day, he decides I’m going to do some work before I leave. I’m going to travel at a certain time. I’m going to stop by the wall of Jerusalem. I’m going to stop by the market to get some supplies. My goal is to get to the house by sunset. But Simon does not know that the invisible hand of God has been guiding him every step of the way that he might be a blessing to the son of the living God. And as I look at this text, the first thing I learned is that whenever there is a need, God is already guiding help in that direction. when God sees your need, he is always sending help in the direction of your need.
Think about Simon. Jesus needs Simon to help him, not because he is weak. Jesus needs Simon because he is depleted. Remember that Jesus took his last supper with the disciples the night before. So, it’s been about a day since he has eaten. in the last 24 hours, he’s gone from Aenus to Caiaphas to Pilate and back to Caiaphas and back and forth. It’s been a day since he has eaten.
It’s about a day and a half since he has slept. And now we have a bloodied and wearied and depleted Jesus who is now loaded up with the weight of a horrible cross. without complaint, our Jesus carries the cross through the streets of Jerusalem as far as he can take it. It’s no coincidence that Simon gets stuck in traffic and appointed to help Jesus carry the cross as soon as his body craters under the weight of that cross.
Simon, who was Jesus’ helper, was not there waiting for Jesus the entire time. Simon did not make an appointment to say let me stand at right here and wait for Jesus to show up. In other words, God ordains it, that his help passes by as soon as our strength runs out. Jesus could not see where his help was going to come from. Jesus could not see if there was going to be any help because just like us Jesus had to carry his burden by faith and it’s amazing that God allows his strength to completely run out, but the good news is that in the moment when he could not carry it any further his help just happened to be passing by.
God had been orchestrating every step that Simon had taken. God ordained what time he would leave Cyrene. God ordained when he would run into traffic along the way. God ordained when he would have to stop and tie his sandals. God ordained how long the line would be in the market. God ordained how long it would take him to get his hair cut. Because if Simon got there five minutes early, he would have already passed by the Savior. if he got by five minutes late, then Jesus would have already passed by. So that when the son needed help, he would be right there in the rightful place. Even when Jesus is being falsely arrested, guess what? Gods help is moving in his direction. When Jesus is being beaten, help is moving in his direction. When Jesus is being flogged, help is moving in his direction. So that in the moment where Jesus falls to the ground, help is already in place.
We must get to a place where you don’t assess God’s faithfulness based upon what you can see with our five senses. In other words, your help may not always be obvious, but your helper is always faithful. Your provision may not always be obvious, but your provider is always faithful. In other words, friends, Abraham’s ram was already in the thicket and God just pointed it out with the help that had already moved in his direction. Does this mean that Jesus was already in the fiery furnace before the three Hebrew boys ever showed up? Help was moving in their direction from the moment the death decree went forth.
Do you realize that the raven didn’t stockpile food for Elijah to eat. The raven simply showed up with food to eat each day and so we see that God is already moving help in anticipation of your need. Even if you need help financially, know that somewhere somebody’s writing a check with your name on it and putting it up just in the nick of time. Somewhere somebody’s about to move to another job has. In about a month somebody’s going to put a house on the market that God is going to preserve just for you to close on. somewhere your future spouse is breaking up with their boyfriend or girlfriend and he is setting them apart so a year from now they will be ready for you that God is not sitting and watching the world in unfold in real time but God is sitting in the future waiting for the present to catch up and he knows where your needs are going to show up and guess what he is already sending supply God sends what you need in anticipation of your burden.
Jesus even told us that we will have things happen to us that are not in our agenda:
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)
Peter was now humble enough to understand the words of Christ, and without further questioning, the once restless, boastful, self-confident disciple became subdued and contrite. He followed his Lord indeed–the Lord he had denied. The thought that Christ had not denied and rejected him was to Peter a light and comfort and blessing. He felt that he could be crucified from choice, but it must be with his head downward. And he who was so close a partaker of Christ’s sufferings will also be a partaker of His glory when He shall “sit upon the throne of his glory”
The second thing that this story teaches us is that sometimes we must carry burdens we didn’t ask for. This second detail we are given is that Simon does not ask for the cross. The Bible says that they compel him to carry the cross. He does not volunteer to carry the cross. The cross is essentially assigned to him. When you read Desire of Ages page 781, the author says that Simon when he sees the mob shouting ugly statements at Jesus and he notices the visage of the Savior he begins to show compassion and sympathy toward him outwardly and when those see his compassion to Jesus then they thrust the cross upon his shoulders Simon has to carry this cross not because of any wrong action of his own this cross was initially framed for the notorious Barabbas it was eventually assigned to Jesus our Savior but it is Simon that carries the cross to the finish line.
BUT this is not why Simon came to Jerusalem. He is there perhaps to see his kids and his grand kids. He’s just there to kick it and get some kosher meat and lamb. He just wants to spend a little time. He just wants to get a little R and R, Simon personifies that on the journey of providence, how sometimes you’ve got to carry some burdens that you didn’t ask for. Carrying that cross was NOT on Simons agenda!
How many of us understand that in the army of God, sometimes it’s not a sign up. Sometimes it’s a draft. sometimes we operate under the faulty notion that God is only going to assign to us the things that we normally feel comfortable doing, but the devil is a liar, sometimes the things that we want are about our comfort, but the things that God assigns are about his glory.
I wonder…. have you ever been drafted by God? where you’ve just been given some tasks and assignments that were nowhere on your agenda, they were not a part of your preference, hey were not what you prayed for, but somehow providence led circumstance to lay some burden at your feet. For example, there are some of us who have raised our kids, and it wasn’t in your plans to raise grandchildren or nobody else’s kids.
There are some of us that did not sign up to be the leader of a ministry, but somehow, we got drafted and that burden was laid upon our shoulders just the same. There are some where when you got married, you did not sign up to be a caretaker/caregiver of a sick husband or wife. You didn’t sign up to be a caretaker of a sick parent. You didn’t sign up to be an ambassador for cancer.
You didn’t sign up to be an ambassador for this hurt. For the pain. For the loss. For the tragedy.
People of God, sometimes the greatest ministries are not the ones that you volunteer for, sometimes it is when God drafts us into a particular service and puts an assignment on our shoulders. The one thing I know about God is that when God puts a burden upon you, he’ll never put a burden on you that’s greater than what you can bear. The only temptations that you have are the same kinds of temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13, ERV)
Church, if God brought you to it, if God brought you to it, God is going to bring you through it.
God is a tailor who doesn’t give you clothes too big for you. He has measured your specifics. He has measured the height of your faith, the depth of your resilience. He knows the width of your character and he’ll never place something on you that he has not first measured.
There were times when I was raising my two boys, when we came home from getting groceries, and me and the kids would go to unload the groceries from the back of the car. I would go and I’ll get the things out of the trunk, but I didn’t just start taking stuff and just dispersing it to the first person in line. What happened was when I grabbed something, I would first weigh it by holding it myself. weigh it in my arms…then decide which child is going to carry it.
If it was heavy, I would give it to my oldest son. If it’s a little less heavy, I’d give it to my youngest son. If it’s snack food, I can’t give it to the youngest cause he’s going to get distracted. I got to reassign it to somebody that can handle it.
As a diligent parent I don’t just start blindly or randomly dispensing burdens. I measure burdens and I give them to the one that can handle them.
If a fallen, sinful Dad like me knows how to measure burdens for his children, what about our Father in Heaven? Before he dispenses it, he measures it. He weighs it and decides that you’re able to carry it. sometimes it’s the heavy burden that you didn’t ask for, that you don’t want, that brings you close to Jesus. if you were not given something heavy to carry, Jesus would have just kept on passing by. If we were sometimes not given a heavy burden, we would have just been living our version of the best life. If some of us were not given something heavy to carry, we probably would have lived a prosperous earthly life, but if we were not given something heavy to carry, we might even miss out on eternal life. some of us would have never made it to the foot of the cross if God didn’t give us, like he did Simon, something heavy to carry.
One of the things I’ve learned through both study and my personal experience and observation is that a life without burden is going to be a life without God. there is something about humanity’s fallen nature that needs something to disrupt our crazy sinful nature and draw us into relationship with Jesus. The one common thread between deeply spiritual people, the one thing that all spiritual folk have in common, is that somewhere along the line they had to carry something heavy. Our fallen nature is so powerful. It is so strong. So, desensitize that it cannot be trained just by choice and good intention.
Sometimes it is the burden that trains the person. It is the burden that disrupts the plans. It is the burden that God lays upon us that moves us into a posture of prayer that we would not seek outside of that burden. every now and then God has to kind of draw you outside of yourself so that you can become intensely interested in the salvation of others because in a life where you don’t have to lift something for somebody else and you don’t have to carry something for somebody else and you don’t have to bear something for somebody else what happens is we live a self-centered life that leaves us estranged from the most high.
Simon a Cyrenian and a stranger coming from the country meets Jesus at the cross. There he hears the taunts of rivalry and to the crowd and he hears the words contentiously repeated make way for the king of the Jews he stops in astonishment at the scene, and he expresses his compassion as they seize him and place a cross upon his shoulders. Simon had heard of Jesus his sons were believers in the Savior but he himself was not a what? Bearing the cross to Calvary. It was a blessing to Simon. He was ever after grateful for this providence. It led him to take upon himself the cross of Christ from choice and ever cheerfully stand beneath its shadow. In other words, it was carrying the cross that made Simon choose the cross
How does Simon decide?
By carrying the cross Simon becomes a lifelong disciple
Simon meets Jesus at the cross not in a crisis. Simon lived in a time where most people did not travel more than 20 miles outside of where they lived. It is a crisis for Jesus, but it is not a crisis for Simon.
Simon meets Jesus at the cross not in a crisis
We meet Jesus in a crisis but all too often, as soon as the crisis is averted, then guess what? Your need for the Savior wanes. Friends, a crisis can lead you to Jesus, but it’s the cross that fastens you to Jesus! The difference for Simon is that he, like Nicodemus, like Mary, who was there at the resurrection. What compelled them to become lifelong followers of Jesus is that they had an experience that was beyond an uncomfortable circumstance. A bigger picture than the current trial they were in. They had an experience that had its genesis or its roots in the foundation of the cross. In other words, friends, it didn’t begin with a need. Or a creed.
It began with the cross. Miracle saints will shout for a season, but crucified saints shout for a lifetime.
But why does our spiritual life fluctuate so much? why is there so many ups and downs in our walk with God? Why aren’t we steady with God? Why is it one step forward on Sabbath and six steps backwards on the other days of the week? why is there so much back and forth and hot and cold? why is there no consistent incline in the walk of our pilgrimage with Jesus? 2 Pet 3:18 does tell us to “grow in grace.” So why don’t we? Why does the church keep shrinking?
I think from my own experience that some of us, have met Jesus in a crisis. Some have met Jesus just through a religious cultural upbringing. but the reason sometimes it never sticks is because we’ve never met Jesus at the foot of the cross. for most of us religion is only about what Jesus can do but real religion is about what he already did.
For most of us our praise is put on hold, if you will, because we’re waiting with great trepidation and fear to see what Jesus is going to do next, but I got a reason to praise him every day of my life because of what he’s already done.
Within all the miasma of religion and churchianity and doctrinism I don’t want to let the cross get lost in all that stuff that I keep hanging onto. There’s no room for the cross where I store all my religion…some of us that read that book of Revelation, well we do know the signs and we know the plagues and we know the hundred and forty-four thousand and we know the beast, but we don’t know the Lamb which takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29, John 17:3)
We have some folk that profess to understand the sanctuary, it’s intricacies we know, the veil, we know how tall it was and how wide it was, but we have not ever been to the altar in some cases! The cross is not on my agenda! It’s amazing to me that that for most Christians the cross is kind of like an accessory not just in our style and sacraments, but also in our theology. Maybe the cross is just something I put around my neck, or a tattoo on my arm. Maybe I just let my cross shine instead of letting my light shine? But until the cross becomes the object of your constant meditation, it will have no transforming effect upon your life.
When I look at a lot of contemporary gospel music, it says a lot of stuff about everything but the cross. Most contemporary music AND worship are about my blessing and my harvest and my breakthrough and me reaching out and getting mine. Where are the songs that sing about the old rugged cross? They are fast disappearing. So, the question then becomes, how then do I know, if I’m experiencing genuine conversion? People, if you’re being converted, guess what? It doesn’t begin with a need or a deficit. It doesn’t begin with an unpaid bill or a disease or even if it starts that way, it’s only completed when you experience crucifixion! (Gal 6:14) Let put it this way Church…are our intentions and our practices more so that we can be crucified or so that we can all feel exalted and peaceful and undisturbed?
What should our ambition and our desire be in Christ?
The Bible says
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ that lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
This is such a shocking verse. It is telling us that we haven’t been converted if after we met Christ, then all we did was amend our life. We usually prefer to just modify ourselves a bit. Some ever so slight adjustments. As little as possible but enough so that we can say “I am saved.” The truly good news is that our former life must be crucified and then we can get a new start and the life that I live in this body, it is the Spirit of God residing in me and I’m a new person in him. (2 Cor 5:17)
IS my goal to glorify myself or to crucify the flesh? IS Crucifixion on my agenda? Do I want to be like the people in Isa 4:1 who mournfully whine “We will do what we want but please let us be called by your name that our reproach might be taken from us.” Imagine! People know they are doing wrong. And not wanting to change. Rejecting the cross. Denying Jesus before the world!
For the believer, it’s not about my empire, it’s not about my name, it’s not about my reputation. It’s not about my blessings. It’s not being in the right church or even in believing correct doctrine. It’s not about any of my problems being solved!
But God forbid that I should boast. God forbid if I boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for boasting. Through Jesus’ death on the cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world. (Gal 6:14)
Remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:12-13)
Your boasting ought not be about what you drive. Your boasting ought not be about what you wear. Your boasting ought not be about how many letters are behind your name. We have got just one boast, and it is in the work that Jesus did. The thing that Jesus accomplished when He said, “It is finished!” At the cross is where it all happened. At the cross is where it is all happening now. At the cross is where it will all happen in the future!
One of the ways you know you’re being converted is that you use the right principles to establish whether you’re saved. Most of us, when I ask you, are you saved, first start thinking about how good you’ve been. When I ask people, are you saved? They immediately begin to start weighing their good versus their bad. Do you realize that it is a faulty system of measurement to measure how saved you are? It is not by our deeds that we are saved. When I’m trying to figure out how saved I am, I don’t look at how good I’ve been, I look at how good Jesus is.
The reason we don’t have the joy of salvation is because we don’t have any assurance in salvation. When you have no assurance of salvation what happens is you go from being saved to lost seven times in the same day based upon how good or bad you have been. But how many of us know that if you have the Son then guess what you have life. (1 John 5:11-12)
The Bible says for God so loved the world in this good news. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus is in front of Simon in chains and Simon is carrying the cross behind him so every time Jesus turns Simon turns so that because the weight of the cross is so heavy, he can’t even really hold his head up. All he can do is look and step in the footprints of Jesus Christ. in this story, you see both justifications, he’s crucified, then you see sanctification as he follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. So, when Jesus turns, Simon turns. When Jesus moves, Simon moves. Simon cannot just look up and figure out his own way. All he can do is follow in the bloody footsteps of Jesus Christ and one of his first spiritual lessons here is not to follow the crowd but to follow Jesus. you got to follow Jesus more than you follow the people. Because if you don’t follow Jesus, you’ll get offended by people and leave. Simon didn’t start out following Peter because when he found out Peter was a bigoted racist good-for-nothing. He would have walked out of the church, but he didn’t come to the church after Peter. He came in following Jesus! Simon first went to the cross! You must follow Jesus. Jesus walks this path in front of Simon. And Simon following.
Remember Jesus has been beaten, flogged all night with the cat of nine tails so Jesus has wounds and scars Jesus is fatigued most people would actually live on the cross for days but one of the reasons that Jesus only lasts on the cross is a few hours is because he’s been bleeding all night long when your heart is pumping because of movement the more blood begins to gush from your body. So, we just talk about a bloody cross.
But Jesus has also created a bloody path leading up to the cross. leading up to the finish line. Simon is not just walking in Jesus’ bloody footsteps but his own feet or his sandals are getting covered from toe to heel in the blood of Jesus Christ. Why is that important? So, his whole foot, his entire sandal has blood all over it, it’s crazy because when he goes home later that day and he gets to his son’s house, guess what? The servant is going to meet him at the door and get ready to wash his feet.
And I learned that ancient servants then and even now where they still do it, they are so skilled at their job that they can tell where you’ve been by looking at what kind of dirt is on your feet. So that if he had come through Egypt, he would have dark soil all over his feet. If he had come by the Dead Sea, he would have orange soil over his feet because of where he came from. If he had come through Damascus, he would have bright red soil all over his feet. If he had come by Jericho, he would have powdery white soil all over his feet. But when he sits down to get the dirt washed off his feet, guess what? The servant is getting ready to guess where he’s coming from by seeing what kind of dirt he has. But the servant can’t see any dirt. Can’t see where it’s come from, because it’s all covered in the blood of Jesus.
As sinners, we are essentially committed for trial. We must answer to the charge of transgressing God’s law. Their only hope is to accept Christ, their Substitute. He has redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law, having been made sin–a curse–for mankind. Nothing but his grace is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage. And by the grace of Christ all who are obedient to God’s commandments are made free.
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
May this Christmas be about your personal redemption. May the cross be on your Christmas agenda! May your walk with Christ be by the blood-stained way of the cross both at Christmas and the entire rest of the year is our prayer In Jesus’ name.