The Cross

Hello Church family: The cross, we wear them as jewelry, put them on bumper stickers and t-shirts, we make them out of chocolate and cakes, we tattoo them on us, we put them on windows and walls and steeples, but what does the cross mean?

As a Christian, the cross is central to everything we believe. The cross of Christ declares that Jesus has fully absorbed the wrath of God that you and I have stored up for ourselves, as sinners. The blood of Jesus that was poured out on the cross rescued us from eternal, spiritual death. The cross declares that Jesus is our substitution to take the penalty for sin and death. When you see a cross is that what you think? Do you think Jesus Christ’s righteousness was given to you and your sin was taken by Him?

On the cross, Jesus Christ became the greatest sinner the world had ever seen as our sins were reckoned to His account. And that great exchange of our sins for Christ’s righteousness results in no condemnation or accusation against us (Romans 8:1; Colossians 2:13-14). It means that we are no longer God’s enemies (Romans 5:10). It means we have been adopted into His family (Romans 8:15). It means God’s love for us is eternally steadfast and unwavering (Romans 8:37-39). t means that our future is secure and God will provide every good thing that we need (Romans 8:28-32). It means that we have been delivered from sin’s deadly dominion and set free from the deceiving pleasures of a passing world (Galatians 5:14, 24). It means that death has become a doorway to glory rather than an enslavement to fear (1 Corinthians 15:54-55; Hebrews 2:15). That is just a glimpse of the meaning of the cross. The theological phrase that explains the cross is "Penal Substitutionary Atonement." It is a life-changing reality!

Let us labor to be affected by the cross never letting it become domesticated, boring or irrelevant. Enjoy the penal substitutionary atonement of the cross today, because the gospel is the greatest news we will ever hear and experience.

I look forward to worshipping with you the One who went to the Cross, Steve