Message of the Cross

“If anyone desires to come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

These words of Jesus clearly signify that if we are genuinely serious about following him, then there is a greater demand that is required of us. To take up our cross was the metaphor that Jesus used to introduce the ‘deeper’ message of the cross to all those who would truly follow him.

The cross is the central theme of God’s dealings with mankind. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed at the cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of man’s sins.

After we receive the forgiveness of our sins, the Holy Spirit leads the Christian back to the cross to reveal the deeper work that now needs to be done in the soul of every believer. This deeper work that God wants to accomplish in us, the Bible calls sanctification. Jesus’ prayer for all His followers was, “Father, sanctify them.” (John 17:4)

The word ‘sanctify’ means to make holy. When God reveals the deeper message of the cross to the followers of Christ, the Holy Spirit leads us to a deeper surrender of our heart and soul. Speaking to the Christians in the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul called this “the message of the cross.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

As the Christian begins to walk the ‘way’ of the cross, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal more and more of the depths of our identification with Christ in His death.(Romans 6:6)

So the Christian realizes that more and more of their self-life has to be yielded to the cross, or in the words of Jesus, there is a denying of ‘our’ self-life and a taking up of our cross that must take place. That is a daily process. (Luke 9:23)

Surely, this is a vital message that should be taught in the churches of Perth.

 

Acknowledgements:    Reference.