Ought not the Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into His glory? —Luke 24:26
“Our Lord’s Cross is the
gateway into His life. His resurrection means that He has the power to convey
His life to me. When I was born again, I received the very life of the risen
Lord from Jesus Himself.[…] Paul’s determined purpose was to “know Him and the
power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). […] The Holy Spirit is the deity
of God who continues to apply the power of the atonement by the Cross of Christ
to our lives. Thank God for the glorious and majestic truth that His Spirit can
work the very nature of Jesus into us, if we will only obey Him.” CHAMBERS
While serving in Haiti, I was
asked by a Haitian “Why do Christians worship the Cross.” Wow, I thought. Is that the message we are sending to the
people here? But think about it. As evangelicals, one of our distinctions from
the Catholic faith is that we do not use the crucifix as a religious
symbol. On the one hand is the reminder
of Jesus crucified, the Crucifix, and on the other is the reminder of Jesus
risen, the empty cross. After reflecting on the question, I realized just how
much we talk and sing about the Cross.
How we hang crosses on our walls in our homes and churches. I told the man, “No we don’t worship the
Cross, we worship the One who was crucified on that cross, died for our sins
and rose again in victory over death and sin. The empty cross reminds us of our
salvation in Jesus.”
It is too easy to let things associated
with worship supplant the One who is being worshipped. The Cross does not
demand devotion, Jesus does. The Cross
does not demand obedience to the Word, Jesus does. The cross did nothing more than serve as a place for Jesus to fulfill prophecy (John 3:14) “as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” and His purpose
for coming to this earth (John 12:32) “And I, when I am lifted up
from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” In the same way we should be careful that the
building where we worship does not take on more spiritual significance than it
should. It is a building where the local
church gathers for worship. When I have
spoken at churches in the U.S., it is not uncommon for someone to tell me that
either they or a relative were a founding member of the church. I can see the pride in their faces and hear
it in their voices. A beautiful building
does not guarantee that it will be filled with hearts devoted to God. While serving on the Gulf Coast after Katrina,
we helped set up and run a Red Cross shelter in a church. The church was open 24x7. A medical clinic was set up in the entry
room. Classrooms were places of shelter
for people who had lost their homes. Nurses
slept on pews in the sanctuary. The
fellowship hall became the food distribution center. Some distance down the street, another church
was helping the community, but the survivors of the storm were not allowed in the
sanctuary … new carpet had been installed.
Matthew 25 … and those on His left said “Lord, when did we see you ?”
and He said “When you did not do it to the least of these you did not do it unto me.” Be careful that you keep Jesus in His
rightful place. Be careful that you are
not devoted to and worshipping the wrong thing. ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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