I listened to sermon recently about a theology of the cross. The speaker was going through Martin Luther's Heidelberg Disputation and what Luther presented there about what we can know about God. In this message the author made the point that many times we tend to talk about the invisible things of God by looking at the world around us. He made the example we think about the word power and so we imagine the most powerful man we can think like the President and can think that God is bigger more powerful form of the president. Martin Luther and the speaker were suggesting that this is perhaps incorrect. One of the key purposes of the cross of the substitution for our sins. Jesus took on the full wrath of God that we deserved. Again this is one of the key purposes of the cross, but it is not the only thing that is going on when Jesus is on the cross. Could it be that the cross shows us what God is like? It is a common practice among evangelicals to say that the cross is the best expression of God's love for us, but could it also be a great expression of who God is? When we think about what it means to be powerful do we think about the cross? How the power of God can look like weakness to men. When we think about what love is, do we look to the cross. As central as the cross in Christianity, I wonder if we have forgotten all that was done on that cross and what it really means that Jesus Christ who is God, the sinless spotless lamb of God went to the cross. What does that say about love? What does it tell us about how God views sin? If you are like me then you are guilty on diminishing the cross by downplaying your own sin, and the seriousness of sin. We see the justice of God in cross. The fact that God is a just God and will punish the wicked for their sins. Again I am brought to my knees when I think Jesus who knew no sin took on my sin, and the punishment I should have been given. We learn by looking at the cross that many times what looks like weakness in man's eye, is in fact God's strength. Perhaps we can look at this with faith and belief as well. I encourage all believers out there to constantly think about the cross, and remember what has been done for by the mercies of God. It is easy for me to start think that I somehow need Jesus less today than I did yesterday, but that could not be further from the truth. The truth is I need Jesus to save me just as much today as I did the day I first trusted in him. When you wake up in morning, you can wake up knowing that whatever happens today you are trusting in the completed work of Christ and are justified before God. When you go to sleep tonight you can rest knowing that it is not by your own effort that you are saved, but by what Jesus has done. When do good works, you do not do them for your sake so you can be justified, but for the sake of neighbor and knowing that it pleases God. You can be honest about your sin and see the world the way that it really is and see yourself for who you really are because you know that it is through Jesus Christ on the cross that you are forgiven. The cross is not the end to Christianity but it is central to it, and so we should not forget the cross, and we should not neglect a theology of the Cross as well. God showed us what kind of God He was when the Son went to cross for God's glory and our salvation. That is our God, and that is our Lord.
|
OverviewHere you can read various thoughts and discussions that come from the mind of our Pastor Archives
February 2023
Categories |