Title The Cross (Galatians 6:14)
Contents
1. Have you met the cross?
There is a huge difference between today's popular beliefs of Christians and the beliefs offered by the Bible.
So now we have to use the modifier <true> for many Christian terms we are using. Christianity and true Christianity, saints and true saints, prayer and true prayer...
The most important reason our beliefs deviate from the Bible is our misunderstanding of the cross.
Many people, even preachers, know the cross intellectually, only as a doctrine, but without deep experience of it. It's like you can't actually walk through a beautiful forest, and it's just like seeing a picture, so it doesn't feel alive.
However, those who have true faith and biblical faith are those who have personally and deeply experienced the crucifixion of Christ. They are people who have tasted God's great love for themselves through the death of Jesus who was crucified.
Only those who have deeply experienced the love of the Lord through the cross will love the Lord. How can you love Jesus you have never experienced? How can you dedicate yourself to a cross you have never touched?
Let's ask a question quietly this time. “Have I met the cross? Does the cross I have experienced hold me back and make me dedicate myself to the cross?”
2. The Early Church and Other Churches
Most of the churches today are very different from the appearance of the early church that the Bible shows. The reason is that the gospel of the cross is being forgotten in the church.
Isn't the gospel of the cross remembered only during the feast days in today's churches? In fact, it is a sad thing in a certain sense that we have to set a special week of hardship and keep it separate.
The church must always remember the gospel of the cross. In our worship, the message of the cross must always be proclaimed. However, if this is not the case and the cross becomes a sermon topic reminiscent of Passion Sunday for preachers or saints, it would be very unfortunate.
The early church members commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus whenever they met. If you read the history of the early church, they remembered the crucifixion of Jesus while they held the Lord's Supper every Sunday.
Why? Did they remember the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord whenever they met?
→ Because the events of the cross and resurrection were the most shocking and most important events in their lives for the early church members. Through that event, the lives of the saints were caught there. Wherever the church was, there were members who were moved by the crucifixion at any time. A church with such members was able to move the world by telling the story of the crucifixion.
However, if it is a message that we can only remember during the Feast of the Cross, it means that the Crucifixion was a meaningless event to us.
The cross is the most emphasized message in the New Testament. The event that Jesus was arrested and nailed to the cross was an event that occurred within one day in time. However, the four Gospels record the events that took place at this time in 13 chapters vividly and in detail. Read the book of Acts. It is leading to the church's proclamation of the cross to the extent that it is impossible to turn the pages without the declaration of the cross. The same is true of the epistles.
In the text, the Apostle Paul does not say that he boasts of Christ, but rather that he boasts of the cross, which is the frame. More precisely, he confesses that he only boasts of the cross. Why? Because nothing can tell more about the love of God, about the human condition, or about the reason Jesus came, more precisely than the cross. That is why Paul says, “I have nothing to boast of except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is the cross proud of you too?
Many believers think of the crucifixion as a one-time event necessary to be saved. Now that you have been saved, you think that the cross means nothing to you.
How are you? What does the crucifixion have to do with you after you are saved?
3. The Cross That Makes You Live a Separated Life
How can a saint give up the things of this world and lead a separate life? Many people live their lives in expectation of a reward or reward. In order to do well in this world and be rewarded in heaven → You can't say it's wrong, but in a sense, isn't it selfish? Rather, it would be better to live that way because of the crucifixion already given to me.
We discover ourselves through the cross. I find myself stained with sin, and find myself completely unworthy of God's love. Also, nevertheless, I realize the amazing love of God who loves me. When we realize that grace, we live a life governed by the spirit of the cross. Therefore, the cross is not just a one-time thing necessary to be saved, but it becomes the power to perfect the life of a believer.
The famous Moravian leader, Count Zinzendorf, saw a <Portrait of Christ> and the words on the picture turned his life upside down. “Christ died on the cross. I died for you, but what are you doing for me?” He knew that there was only one answer to this question. So, he confesses, “The only passion I have is the Lord.” He devotes the rest of his life to God.
4. The Cross of Freedom
When it comes to the cross, the cross gives us freedom.
man who has lost his freedom
What is freedom? John Calvin - “It is the ability to do what we ought to do and not to do what we ought not to do.”
However, most humans live in the pain of doing what they should not do and not being able to do what they ought to do. can't be free Rather than being free, they are being dragged along. I can't do what I want to do, and do things I don't want to do, and I'm being drawn to something I can't help but do.
I work to make money, but if you look at it, it's not that I'm making money, it's that money drives me.
He struggles to avoid sinning, but he is drawn to sin. I want to be healthy, but I am attracted to diseases.
I want to raise my children the way I want, but they are attracted to me. When viewed from a high level, people live as part of a large organization.
Still, I think I'm free. He thinks he is living the way he wants. We must realize ourselves. I am bound by sin, and I have to see myself as a slave to sin.
Above all, we must receive Christ who sets us free.
We do not have the power to set ourselves free. We cannot break the chains of sin on our own. No matter how many moral decisions we make and our best efforts, we cannot break this chain. God sent Jesus to give us freedom. John 8:36 “If the Son sets you free, you will be truly free.”