Commentary: Service for Christ

By RALPH FUDGE

Sunday, September 7, 2025

After Pilate relented and sentenced Jesus to death, the Bible tells us, “Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus” (Luke 23:26). Speaking of this, Matthew tells us in his gospel, “Him they compelled to bear His cross” (Matthew 27:32).

Apparently, Simon was reluctant to help the Lord in this way. The cross would have been heavy, and Simon probably had business to attend to in town. He had no idea what a tremendous privilege he had been given to bear the cross of Christ! What a wonderful opportunity to directly serve the Lord God!

In general, people have not changed. They are still reluctant to serve Christ, Who is God. They are still too busy making money and pursuing pleasure to serve the One who loved them enough to die a tortured execution that they might have the opportunity to be made right with God Almighty.

Dale Carnegie, author of How To Win Friends and Influence People, proclaimed the truth about people when he said, “People are not interested in you. They are not interested in me. They are interested in themselves—morning, noon, and after dinner.” Unfortunately, many people are also not interested in church or even God today. Certainly, they are not interested in serving Christ.

Satan, the Great Deceiver, has managed to persuade most people that either God does not exist and the Bible is a book of myths, or that “religion” is, as Karl Marx claimed, “the opium of the people.”

But the Apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Matthew 1:16). Simon of Cyrene may have found it embarrassing to bear Christ’s cross. Certainly, it was an inconvenience and interruption of his plans for the day.

People today are often embarrassed to use the word “Jesus” or even “God” in public. They do not want to be thought of as “too religious” or even as “religious.” Whenever you hear anyone say that he is not religious, you have found someone that God wants you to witness to for the Lord. Most people do not know the truth, and it is the responsibility of every Christian to freely proclaim the gospel truth. It is not only our duty, but also a great and wonderful privilege.

Simon of Cyrene is only mentioned this once in the gospels, but his name is thus made famous and is remembered by Bible scholars. All he did was reluctantly bear the cross of our Lord. He had no idea that he was serving the very Creator of the entire universe. He probably had never even heard the gospel or the fact that Jesus could and would provide Simon’s opportunity to spend eternity in heaven.

People today are in the same condition. They are generally ignorant of not only the gospel of Christ, but also the fundamentals of how to be saved from hell. And far too many Christians are too busy pursuing earthly things to really care and love others as themselves. They are just too busy for church or God.

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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Quote: Far too many Christians are too busy pursuing earthly things to really care and love others as themselves.