THE CROSS: REFLECTION ON ITS REALITY

0Over the years, I have experienced how difficult it is to make a stand for Christ, witnessing and talking about the cross of Christ particularly in the age in which we live; especially in an environment others attempt to keep their faith private which affects the way we interact with people around us. But if we desire to be useful Christians in the service of our Lord, then keeping faith private is not an option. Jesus was at the center of the cross when He was crucified, so the cross has become the center of Christianity. The cross should be central in our discussion in private and public life.  The symbol is seen not only in churches and cathedrals, but on necklaces, key chains, rings, and pendants, so should this issue stand at the center in our faith journey. The topic of Jesus and the cross is unpopular in this age and not the sort of thing that will help resolve your marriage problems or raise your kids or pay your bills or overcome personal problems. Yet the cross of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith because the cross reveals to us the character of God: His love for lost sinners and His perfect justice meets at the cross. If we want to grow in our love for God, which is the first and greatest commandment, then we must be growing to understand and appreciate of the cross, which shows us His great love. If we want to grow in godliness, we must grow in understanding the significance of the cross, which confronts the most prevalent and insidious of all sins, namely, pride.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Good   Shepherd, who willingly laid down His life for the sake of His sheep (John 10:11). All of history revolves around this event, so we must strive to understand its significance. Many in the Church have heard the message of the cross and the story of Christ sacrifice retold every time, though it never get old, have little understanding of the importance of what Jesus did for us on the Roman cross. Even when we all recite it in our Apostle creed some still have imaginary knowledge of it.  Apostle Paul writing to the Saints of Corinthians says, “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles”(1 Corinthians1:23). This Gospel of Christ and Him crucified is still foolishness to millions who are perishing all over the world today. How few people recognize that the answer to all the world’s problems can be found at the foot of the cross? “Salvation comes through a cross and a crucified Christ” – Andrew Murray

According to Reverend R. C. Sproul on What does it mean to know Nothing except Christ and Him crucified, “One of the most important subdivisions of theology is Christology, which is the study of the person and work of Christ. Within that field of study, when we want to get at the aspect that is most crucial, the aspect that we may call the “crux” of the matter of Jesus’ person and work, we go immediately to the cross.” He illuminates, “The words crucial and crux both have their root in the Latin word for “cross,” crux, and they have come into the English language with their current meanings because the concept of the cross is at the very center and core of biblical Christianity. In a very real sense, the cross crystallizes the essence of the ministry of Jesus.” For this reason Apostle Paul re-emphasis, “You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Some preachers in course of their messages would ask that the audience close their eyes, visualize and imagine they were there when Jesus was beaten and tortured while bleeding and placed on the cross. He was mocked and the crown of thorns placed upon Him and chiseled into His skull as blood bleeding down. You can see the anguish and the agony of an innocent man.  You could see Him feel the pains as the nails were pierced into His ankles and through His wrists. You will also imagine the suffering that the Man called Christ had to undertake because of the sins of the world. It might have been 2000 years ago that Christ suffered and died just for us because of the over whelming love that He has for you and for me. Even though I was not physically present but as I reflect on it and it comes fresh to my mind, and consider a man to die for his wife and children, his action would demonstrate great love. It is in the purpose of his death that the greatness of his love is discovered.  Little wonders the popular verse of John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.”– Billy Graham

According to Canon G E Jelf, “Outwardly we make much of the cross; we place it, and we rightly place it (for we are not ashamed of the symbol of our salvation), over the sacred table of our Lord, remembering the sacrifice of His death. We carve it, in polished marble or beautiful stone, for the gables of our churches or the graves which contain the blessed dead. We emboss it in wood or ivory on our prayer-books. We wear it, in gold, or silver, or jet, or bronze, on our breast.” He added, “All sorts of notices have the cross for their border. Very many, following the early Christians, use the sign of the cross, in the midst of the congregation. Lovely flowers and ripened corn are put together into this shape for the harvest ornamentation of the sanctuary; and   pictures of our dying Lord, as He hung for us upon the tree of shame, are common figures in our homes. Yet, after all, do we, as a nation, or as a Church, and even as individual Christians, really glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?” The fact that Christ died for us — for you, for me — is just as true and certain for us as it was for St. Paul. But do we, as he did, make Christ the great reality of the spiritual world, and determine thankfully to live and die for  Him? “Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ’s wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose, His conflicts thy conquests, His groans thy songs, His pains thine ease, His shame thy glory, His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation”.– Matthew Henry

Little surprised that Apostle Paul made an astonishing statement about the importance of the cross to the entirety of the Christian faith: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians. 2:1-2). In His letter to the Galatians Paul emphasis, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me (Galatians 6:14). In Hebrews 2:9 we read, “But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” No wonder Joe R. Price says, “Let there be no mistake: Preaching “Christ crucified” is gospel preaching. The “word of the cross” is the power of God to save the lost (I Corinthians 1:18, 21; Romans 1:16). It reveals how God forgives sinners and what sinners must do to receive God’s forgiveness (Romans 1:17; 3:21-26; Acts 2:37). It must be preached.”

He added, “The New Testament of Christ is the apostles’ doctrine that was preached in the first century (Romans 16:25). It is what lost souls heard, believed and obeyed in order to be saved from their sins (Acts 2:40-41). The gospel they preached was not their own; it was revealed to them by the Spirit of God (John 16:12-15; Galatians 1:11-12; I Thessalonians 2:13). It was the “word of the cross” then, and it continues to be the “word of the cross” today (I Corinthians 1:18; I Peter1:22-25.)” We will not make distinctions in God’s word where there are none. To “preach Christ crucified” includes preaching that Jesus fulfilled God’s prophetic plan to save sinners. It includes His life, death, resurrection and exaltation; it includes man’s faith and obedience; it includes the church of Christ and the authority of Christ over our lives. We must preach the “whole counsel of God,” the inspired Scriptures (II Timothy 3:16-4:2; Acts 20:27). To do less is not preaching Christ crucified to the world. “The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought into being by the cross, and the focus of its worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified. So the community of the cross is a community of celebration, a eucharistic community, ceaselessly offering to God through Christ the sacrifice of our praise and thanksgiving. The Christian life is an unending festival. And the festival we keep, now that our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us, is a joyful celebration of his sacrifice, together with a spiritual feasting upon it.” – John Stott