Thankfulness - The Message of the Cross!

Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE! A few days early!

Today is a day that we enjoy family, friends and food. It’s a time to rest and recoup; as well as a time to reflect on the things that we are truly grateful and thankful for. And yes, I am thankful that I am still here among the living, and for my husband and children as well as my extended family. Some will reflect on being thankful for their careers, travels and just life in general. With all of these in mind, I have also been reflecting on my thankfulness of hearing and being able to understand The Message of the Cross. It has made that much on an impact on my life. I want to share with you some things from the great book, The Bible, that shows the importance of having our Faith place in the Finished Work of Christ.

Before I start, again, I want to stress the understanding that everything that Christ Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance, but it is at the Cross that God’s Plan of Redemption for all those who would believe was made. Having Faith in the Redemptive Plan of God is what’s saves us, justifies and sanctifies us. Jesus and The Cross should never be separated, and our Faith must be firmly, exclusively placed in both – The Cross of Christ! All scriptures are in the Amplified Version from BibleGateway.

• 1 Corinthians 1:17 - For Christ did not send me [as an apostle] to baptize, but [commissioned and empowered me] to preach the good news [of salvation]—not with clever and eloquent speech [as an orator], so that the Cross of Christ would not be made ineffective [deprived of its saving power]. Not all, but nowadays, pastors want to preach a good message. They don’t want to offend but instead want to preach a message that lift ones spirt up. Paul’s ministry focused on proclaiming the Message of the Cross rather on eloquent speech, hype or clever words to persuade and make the people “feel good”. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:23 states We preach Christ Crucified! Every message preached in Church should come from the foundation of what was accomplished by Jesus on the Cross. Everything should be traced back to the Cross because ALL of God’s Word is made possible due to the Cross. He goes on to say that the preaching of the Cross is stumbling block for the Jews and it’s foolishness unto us (Gentiles).
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the Message of the Cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God. Describes the message of the cross as the power of God for salvation to believers, though it appears as foolishness to those who are perishing.
• Romans 5:6-8 - 6 While we were still helpless [powerless to provide for our salvation], at the right time Christ died [as a substitute] for the ungodly. 7 Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to willingly give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a good man [one who is noble and selfless and worthy] someone might even dare to die. 8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Emphasizes God's love demonstrated by Christ dying for humanity while they were still sinners.
• Ephesians 2:16 - And [that He] might reconcile them both [Jew and Gentile, united] in one body to God through The Cross thereby putting to death the hostility. Explains that the Cross reconciled both Jews and Gentiles to God in one body, ending hostility. It was and is the Cross.
• Colossians 2:11-14 - 11 In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, but by the [spiritual] circumcision of Christ in the stripping off of the body of the flesh [the sinful carnal nature], 12 having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him [to a new life] through [your] faith in the working of God, [as displayed] when He raised Christ from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh (worldliness, manner of life), God made you alive together with Christ, having [freely] forgiven us all our sins, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands [which were in force] against us and which were hostile to us. And this certificate He has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to The Cross. States that Jesus canceled the record of debt against us by nailing it to The Cross. It is all made possible to us by the CROSS!
• 1 Peter 2:24 - He personally carried our sins in His body on The Cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed. Shows that Christ bore our sins on the Cross so that we might live for righteousness.
• Philippians 2:8-11 - After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a Cross. 9 For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father. Points to Jesus' humility and obedience in dying on the cross. It also shows that only He is worthy of our praise (no other Name but the Name of Jesus!), and it’s ALL because of what He accomplished for us on the Cross! This is what we should hope, trust and believe OUR FAITH should be in for it is the foundation of our Redemption. Nothing is possible for us without the Cross. Had Jesus not paid the ultimate price on the Cross none of us would be saved!
• John 19:30 - When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] gave up His spirit. Records Jesus' declaration "It is finished!" on the CROSS, signifying the completion of His Redemptive work.
• John 3:16 - For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish but have eternal life. Who is God’s Son? Jesus! And what did God give His Son, Jesus, for? He gave His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross to reconcile His Creation back unto Him! It was the Cross of Christ that completed The Plan of God to redeem mankind and the world itself. Believing in this PLAN makes us a Whosoever that believes that will not perish in our sins but have everlasting life.
• Romans 6:3-5 - Or are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways]. 5 For if we have become one with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [one with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection. Some think this is speaking of “water baptism” but this is speaking of us is how we fit into the Cross. When we evidence Faith in Christ’s finished work (on The Cross), God sees us in His Son on the Cross. Which leads us to 2 Corinthians 5:17.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. This means that the “old man” dies with Christ on The Cross and are raised with Him (Resurrection) in “newness of life” a “new creation”. It is all made possible by the Cross of Christ. Yes, the Resurrection so very important, but remember that the Resurrection was dependent upon the Cross. Christ had to died first to be resurrected.
• Romans 6:11 - Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him, 9 because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11 Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus. Because of Christ’s Great Sacrifice, we can now see/account/consider ourselves “dead” to that “old man” – the sin nature (that which was born in ALL of us to have the ability/capacity to do wrong and be evil).
• Luke 9:23 - And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. Tells us that we must evidence our Faith in Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross DAILY! Every day we choose to decrease so that He might increase! We must deny ourselves, setting aside selfish interests, and commit ourselves to follow Jesus even to the point of suffering because of our Faith in His Finished Work on the Cross. Many people in the Church will come against you if you stand with Cross as our ONLY place of Faith. There is ONLY one Truth that set us free, and that is the truth of what was accomplished on the Cross of Calvary! This is the ONLY Faith that God will accept! We must evidence Faith in the Cross of Christ DAILY!
• Romans 6:12-14 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and passions. 13 Do not go on offering members of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness. But offer yourselves to God [in a decisive act] as those alive [raised] from the dead [to a new life], and your members [all of your abilities—sanctified, set apart] as instruments of righteousness [yielded] to God. 14 For sin will no longer be a master over you, since you are not under Law [as slaves], but under [unmerited] Grace [as recipients of God’s favor and mercy]. Sin no longer has dominion over us because Jesus DEFEATED SIN on The CROSS!

Jesus said in John 14:6 that He is The Way, The Truth and The Life. NO man comes to the Father except through me! First you see that all is singular not plural meaning that there is ONLY ONE Way, ONE Truth and ONE Life. Also, no man comes unto the Father except through Jesus. Well, how did/do we come to Jesus? We must come to the Cross! Well, how do we get to the Cross? We must deny self! Denying self is hard for us humans. We want to play a part in the redemptive process; we want to have a “say” in our Salvation. WE want to live for God “our way” and not His WAY! We want to pick and choose what parts of the Word of God we want to “live by”. We continue to look to what we are doing and how well we do it, and somehow think that anything we do or say has any power to save our souls. It must be Faith; this is the ONLY way we get ANYTHING from God - Faith. But that Faith must be in the right thing/object. What redeemed your life/soul? What got you into the Kingdom of God? What was done that made it possible for sinful man to be reconciled unto God? It was the selfless, sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary!

If it is NOT the Cross of Cross, then it is NOT God’s Way, and it is NOT Faith that God can accept! Luke 18:8 - When Jesus returns, will He find Faith in the Earth? Singular – Faith! It is not plural “faiths” meaning more than one; it said will I find Faith. It must be the Faith that God will accept. Faith is the means by which we were united with Christ (via the Cross) and received right standing with God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin; so that in Him (on the Cross) we might become the righteousness of God. When we evidence Faith in Christ’s Finished Work on the Cross, God see us through the lens of Christ Jesus’ Righteousness! Praise God!

All of what I have shared are not my words, but God’s Word! We should be EVER GRATEFUL and THANKFUL for the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross!