Friday, April 8, 2016

Worshipping The Wrong Thing With The Right Motive Is Still Wrong

My Utmost For His Highest
 
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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