GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 10

Our  book this month  is a continuation of “Chiseled by the Master’s Hand ~ Lessons From the Life of Peter,” by Erwin  Lutzer.  Dr. Lutzer is  Canadian-born and served as Senior Pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years, until his retirement in 2016.   He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Moody Church.  He’s written many books and has radio and internet teaching programs.

THE HIGH COST OF AVOIDING THE CROSS

(Matthew 16:21-18)

OUR PERSPECTIVE

Peter’s desire to avoid the cross was intended to spare Christ a shameful death.  He was by no means the last to diminish the cross.  Our society, yes, even our evangelical churches minimize the cross in ways that are more subtle, but just as devastating.

How can we cheapen the cross?

1.  By thinking that we must do some penance before we come to the cross to be forgiven.  Often people feel that guilt is necessary, because we don’t deserve to receive Christ’s forgiveness.  The purpose of guilt is to lead us to the cross; but once we have been there, guilt is NOT one of the ways in which God disciplines His people.  Often we lose sight of the wonder of the cross and we bear our own guilt, forgetting that the sin troubling us is the sin that has already been taken away when we repent of the sin and acknowledge Jesus as our personal Savior and the Lord of our lives.
2. We can diminish the cross by thinking that we have committed a sin too big for God to forgive.  Recently I received a letter from a man who had raped several women.  In prison he came to accept Christ as his Savior.  Though he mentally knows he is forgiven, his emotions will often not let him enjoy his forgiveness.  He remembers the painful thought that his salvation has not changed the horrible consequences in the lives of his victims.  Can such a one be forgiven?  The answer is YES!  Let us never minimize the cross by suggesting that some sins are unforgivable!
3. We can minimize the cross by thinking that it is irrelevant to Christian victory.  But Jesus went on to say to the disciples in Matthew 16:24:  “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”   In John 12:24 He taught: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”                                                                      To take up the cross doesn’t mean having bad health or some other calamity.  Those kinds of crosses are common to all people in the world.  To carry our cross for Christ means the renunciation of self-will; it means that we give up all attempts to be the center of our own life.   To carry our cross means that we humbly submit to the supremacy of Christ.  We have to be willing to be identified with Him even at great personal cost.
4. Finally, the cross can be nullified by those who think there are other ways of salvation.  As often as I can I witness to people, sharing the Good News.  But from time to time I meet those who honestly tell me that they do not need Jesus.  They see no reason to be saved from the wrath to come.  

As we have learned, Christianity is only superficially the same as other religions.  Many other religions offer blood to God for sin; in Christianity, GOD SUPPLIES THE BLOOD! The blood of the cross is the only blood He will accept.  All other attempts to reach God diminish the wonder and the beauty of the cross, the only path to the Father.                                                                                                                           

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Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 1:3

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

1John 1:7

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Ephesians 2:13

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:3

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

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