We've Moved Too Far From The Cross

After nearly 30 years at the same church, we are church hunting. To make things more difficult, we pastored the church that we left, of course, so finding a church has proven be a little more tricky, so we have been traveling around quite a bit to different churches, even trying different denominations. I've been surprised by what I'm hearing. 

I hear a lot of songs about Jesus, sermons where His name is mentioned, but hardly any preaching on Jesus and I have to wonder, who is Jesus to these folks? He seems to get no more than lip service. I've heard that sin is just a general term, a condition we all have so that's okay-even to be expected. We're told that we're a mess and that's okay with no mention of the victory afforded us by the cross of Christ. We "manage" everything the Devil throws at us, but is life meant to be managed or conquered? Did not Christ conquer sin and evil? Did He not win the victory so that we could live in peace and as overcomers? Isn't that what His Word promises us? And repentance is almost romanticized as some change of heart that we make where we just decide one day to quit running from God and start running to Him. There's no mention of Godly sorrow, which is, most notably, a precursor to repentance. 

​2 Cor 7:10 God designed us to feel remorse over sin in order to produce repentance that leads to victory. This leaves us with no regrets. But the sorrow of the world works death. If we do not understand the true nature, cause and effect of sin, repentance can be shallow, which is not true repentance at all and so we continue on in mediocrity and defeat.

For years, I have tried to settle something in my heart. I've known Christians who were in their 80's who have all their lives moved deeply and powerfully in the Spirit whose only testimony at testimony time is sharing about the day that Jesus saved them. With tears streaming down their faces, they retell of their salvation experience of decades ago as if it happened yesterday. I had to ask myself, does salvation mean that much to me? To be honest, there were many years that I didn't feel so moved about the cross and what Jesus did there because I, like many others had moved on past the cross and into the deeper things of the Spirit. And I've realized that my faith had wandered from Jesus, His Cross and all that He accomplished there to trusting in MY faith, MY confession, MY works. It's a subtle transition, but oh, so dangerous. I realized that by leaving the cross, I had grown malnourished and weak. I was not walking in victory and my prayers seemed to be weak and pathetic, unlike what they used to be. In some ways, I became the Devil's punching bag and instead of punching back ( power provided by the Cross), I just covered up and prayed that it would stop.

With all the extra time I have had the last year, (thank you Covid-19),  I've spent a lot of time reading scripture and I'm seeing that the whole book points to Christ and what He accomplished on the cross.  I'm fearing that the church has moved too far from the cross and we're missing out.  And if we're not getting it, there's no hope for the world.

 hear a lot of sermons on peripheral issues (mostly that talk of my part in the Christian life, but not Christ's part in me living for Christ) and few that just teach and exalt Christ's sacrifice, or His healing power. Calvary just seems to be "the given" in every sermon. I've heard little on the baptism of the Holy Spirit which scripture says is necessary power for witnessing and available to ALL believers. Not once has there been prayer for believers to receive this necessary tool. Last days preaching isn't even last, it's non-existent except to mention our need for revival. As far as sanctification, I've heard what it looks like, but not how it happens. And I've never been reminded that the cross of Jesus Christ and what it accomplished is just as important for my sanctification as it was for my salvation I come away from services pondering the scriptures used and wondering how they used them without mentioning the main point of the passage. This is dangerous ground. It's changing "the gospel."

Christ and the cross should never be seen as only a starting point. Isn't it so human to be thrilled with something, until it grows old or outdated and then we "move on" to deeper, more practical subjects. I see this as a danger especially in Pentecostal circles. The cross of Christ is not a stepping stone. He's the Cornerstone. He is the foundation and culmination of all history, past, present, and future and is the central point of all that has been and will be. He is our destination. It is His blood that gives us access to God. All and every blessing we receive through the Holy Spirit comes ONLY because of what Christ did at Calvary. And in the end, all things will be summed up in HIM!

Eph. 1:9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He set forth in Him, 10 regarding His plan of the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. 

 John 17:1 Jesus spoke these things; and raising His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, so that the Son may glorify You, 2 just as You gave Him authority over all mankind, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

Eph. 1:19b These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 

All things start, end and center on Jesus. He is the pinnacle of everything. All praise goes Him. All power and authority are His. All things are subject to Him. There's no higher place than Him. We must be found in Him to have access to God. God looks for His Son before hearing prayer or bestowing any type of blessing. I believe that God is totally interested in how we think of and treat His Son. If we diminish Him or cut Him out as we move on to bigger and better things, I believe that God does the same to us because God is all about His Son and what He did for us. If He doesn't see the blood, He doesn't hear our prayers. Jesus, His blood, His sacrifice is precious and essential in having access to God so what He did for us must also remain essential in our minds.

Even now, we need Jesus. He lives to intercede for us. The intercession of Jesus is the constant reminder in heaven that we are no longer children of wrath, but are bought with the blood sacrifice that once and for all satisfied the law, satisfied God's wrath on sin and took our punishment. His intercession is our peace as we travel forward from the point of salvation through His on-going sanctifying work in our lives. 
 
Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, oh, forgive!” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die.”
Charles Wesley, Arise my Soul Arise

Don't use the Savior, treasure Him. Honor Him. Worship Him. Don't move away from the cross. Keep your mind stayed on Christ and what He did and why He had to do it. He's not a peripheral subject. We need Him still. We get no prayer answers unless prayed in His name and He is involved in every answer. 

Do you look for Christ is scripture when you read? Are you asking, "what does this have to do with Jesus?"  T. Austin Sparks wrote, "We are not trying to make Him bigger than He is, but we are trying to reach His real dimensions; and the need of the Lord's people is to have a new apprehension of the greatness of their Christ, a new appreciation of the Son of God's love-and what a mighty, majestic, glorious, wonderful Son He is-and then to remember that unto us that Son is given. " 

Truly, I know so little of Christ. I don't know about you but I pray often that not one drop of His precious blood would be wasted in my life. I want all that He died to give me and all that He desires me to know of Him. And so, I stay close to the cross because it is the constant reminder of  where I have been and where I am headed.