"Why the Cross" with Kevin Harvey

WELCOME TO THE ROCKBURN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .... IT SO GREAT TO GATHER TOGETHER EACH SUNDAY .... TO SING, TO PRAY, TO LISTEN. TO LOVE.


Opening Prayer

God, we do not always find it easy to be open before you.

Often our thoughts and minds are elsewhere. We allow too many things

to become obstacles

between ourselves and your presence.

Touch our lives with your love flight f grace f healing (optional) and fill our worship with your holy spirit

that we may offer our lives and praise to you. Amen


Lord ... We dedicate this money, Lord, for the work of the church, and we ask you to use all that we have and are in your service. Amen."


PASTORAL PRAYER

Holy God, God over all the earth, we are in your house to praise you this day. We are grateful for the ways you guide us, you work with us, you call us to be your faithful people to work in this world for the goodness of all your creation, from great to small..

We remember today that you lead us to be voices for you, to work for life as you have given us new life. Empower us to be children of light, who speak love above all. You are a God who calls lovingly, not forcing us to be what we are not. Help us, in turn, to show all whom we meet your love, how to bear one another's burdens, how to take up the cross. Let us be in ministry as we remember all those near and far, who have been hurt by an unfaithful telling of your story, who do not validate people for who they are .... but force them into doing and acting exactly as they wish. This is not your plan.

We pray and act as your loving people to be a light to all the world, damaged by human or natural calamity.


Let us take a moment for silent prayer to pray for help for the people involved in disasters of our world .... such as the damage & death caused by the devasting tornadoes to the people of Colorado, to pray for the family of Tim Bosma, to pray for 2S yr. old soldier Lee Rigby, to pray for peace, understanding and forgiveness. Please also hear our own personal prayers ... only you know our true concerns .... Let us. TAKE A MOMENT


For the goodness of all that you give us, may we respond in love and light, all in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray ...

Why the Cross

The Cross is a peculiar symbol to the Christian Faith. It has been worn around our necks, put above our doors, placed on Mountain tops, tattooed on arms. It has been found in schools, Hospitals all around the world. 


Symbols hold a lo of meaning in society, yet I feel we, that is westerners have lost the significance of the Cross and what it means personally. 


We must cling to the Old Rugged Cross, indeed.


But I want first for us to get rid of any preconceived ideas we hold toward the Cross and imagine the year  BC not 2013, but 1 BC, a year or so before the Crucifixion of our Lord. 


Now imagine that we live in any part of the Roman Empire. 


Now when you think of the Cross, it is one thing and one thing only. It is the apparatus whereby criminals are executed! 


It is torture / it is punishment / it is like into yet the hangman's noose, or the electric chair. 


It is an horrible atrocity. It is truly grotesque.


Yet to those who have been saved by the blood of Christ, it is the most beautiful, most precious images ever to behold.


1. Why? 
                              A) First and foremost it is where the Son of God was condemned to die for my sin, your sin, indeed the sins of the Whole World!


Isaiah 53 
he was wounded for our transgressions

    
                      B) Second All our sins were atoned for , paid in full.
We now have forgiveness through the blood of the Cross. 


Colossians 2:14
New International Version (NIV)
14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.



1 Corinthians 1:18 
New International Version (NIV)
Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.


                             C) It was Paul's ministry and it is ours as well.
   
1 Corinthians 1:23
King James Version (KJV)
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;


(Jews were waiting for the Messiah, they knew all the passages  etc. Their expected messiah would be a super man, kicking butts . They looked at their messiah as being their King again. Even though it was written in the scripture ...they despised him because of his suffering and his death on the Cross. 


To the Greek, wise philosophers, it was all foolishness)




The Cross, is the Gospel in a nutshell. The Gospel is translated, " The Good News"
Death, burial, resurrection of Christ,  without it : no Gospel, no Good News.


Let's be perfectly clear on this point. 


Galatians 1:9-10 
New International Version (NIV)
9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people?If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.



                               D) Christ on the Cross 
Reconciling us to God.


Colossians 1:20
New International Version (NIV)
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.


John 3:16-17 
New International Version (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.


2. Maybe we haven't taken hold of one truth concerning our heavenly Father, and our fallen state, that we are all separated from God. We are all born into sin.


Romans 3:23
New International Version (NIV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,


All have sinned. None righteous.


We are all in the same sinking boat if you will. All in need of not a new or old Religion. We are all in need of a saviour!  And there is only one. The Lord Jesus.


Acts 4:12 
New International Version (NIV)
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

3. Another expression, we often repeat is :" We all have our Cross to carry."  While it is a comforting expression or thought, it doesn't convey the truth about what " Pick up your own Cross and  follow me" means.


Let's look at the context.


Matthew 16:21-26
New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Predicts His Death
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?



Matthew 10:34-39
New International Version (NIV)
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--
36     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[a]


37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.




Luke 9:18-26
New International Version (NIV)
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”

19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

Jesus Predicts His Death
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.


Luke 9:23 adds "daily".  The "pick up you Cross" always has to do with, a disciple of Christ, following Christ, daily living the life regardless of persecution, suffering for you Faith, never denying Christ even into death, even death on the Cross. Ouch!


4. We must identify ourselves with Christ and the Crucifixion.


Galatians 2:20
New International Version (NIV)
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.


Christ had to die, blood had to be shed, it had to be our Lord's blood, for there to be forgiveness.


Hebrews 9:22
New International Version (NIV)
22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.


Have you embraced the Cross? Have you put your Faith in Christ who willingly hung there between heaven and earth. He loves you more than you can ever know.


Hold fast to the (message) of the Cross.


And we invite you, if you have resisted giving yourself in Faith for whatever reason, be it fear, doubt, pride or stubbornness. Or like I did, take it for granted. Surrender to Him today. Repentance is nothing short of changing your mind towards God's revealed plan of redemption:  THE CROSS!