Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

PASTOR'S PENS 2008

Grace Church of Burlington March 2, 2008 “The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened--but the crash is on the heart of God "    Oswald Chambers             One of the key purposes of the Roman cross was not only to execute judgement on the guilty party but also to rattle the onlookers to their very core of their being. Crucifixion was a very horrible and gruesome death. It was to strike the emotion of fear into all to deter them from rebelling against Rome. Remember Rome ruled over conquered countries, governments and people. Crucifixion was so repulsive that it helped them control these conquered people.             The Cross of Christ should always stir great emotion. The Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:11 speaks of “the offense of the cross.” This word offense comes from the Greek word, skandolon, and means to cause to anger, to ensnare, to make stumble. We’re all familiar with matadors, those famous bull fighters of Spain. A matador will entice the bull with a cape to make the bull angry. Each time the bull charges the matador will pierce the bull will a prickly spear. This happens time and again until the matador destroys the bull as he charges with a large sword. In essence the bull’s own anger destroys him.             For those who are facing God’s judgement and perishing, their own emotion against the Cross destroys them. For those who have embraced the Cross, it brings the emotion of peace and joy as Christ has paid their penalty.             But while the Cross should stir great emotion does it? Are our hearts moved as we contemplate the Cross? Are we overwhelmed with gratitude? Do tears well up in our eyes as we think that God the Father sacrificed His own Son to a horrible death for us?  I’m  afraid that  most  of  us  would  have  to  say,  “No.”     There are various reasons for that. One is that we’ve allowed sin to so contaminate our life so that while we are Christians and saved from sin, we act and worse, think like unbelievers. We do not appreciate the sacrifice and love of God because we are so entrenched in this dying world. Sin is not horrible and repulsive but something to be possibly avoided, at the least the real serious sins...if possible. We need again to see the offense of the Cross with fresh eyes. How much it cost? How undeserving we are of it?             Then, for many of us we have been saved so long that the Cross has become too familiar. Many of us can remember when we were first married. Those first few weeks and months were so exciting. Once we’ve been married though several years or decades, it’s all too easy to take our spouse and marriage for granted. We don’t intend to but we just get sloppy and apathetic. Apparently, that was what happened to the church at Ephesus. It wasn’t intentional or planned but they’d “lost their first love” (Revelation 2:4).             One of the reasons that so many of us do not share what the Cross and the love of God means to us is that it is no longer meaningful to us. Either sin or familiarity have quenched our passion and gratitude.             During the coming weeks to help us stir the embers in our souls, we’ll be focusing on the Cross. And we’re going to look at that old, rugged Cross from a different angle. Typically, when we think of the Cross, we center on what it does for us and what it means to us. During this series we’ll be primarily zooming in on what it cost God the Father, what it cost His Son, how it conquered Satan and sounded the death knell for Him, what it means to a lost world, and then we’ll be concluding with what the Cross means to us as Christians.             I hope that you’ll determine to join us each week. I hope too that you’ll invite friends to join you as we focus on the foundation of our faith. As during the coming weeks we work through, An Earthly Cross, Its Eternal Significance.