The Cross

God's ways are so much more different than our ways. The Cross is a perfect example of that. In Matthew 16:16-18, Peter confesses that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Christ, that is, the savior of the Jews, the one who would eradicate all evil from the world. And because of Peter's profession, Jesus tells Peter that he and the apostles will be "the rock" that He will build his entire church upon. The funny thing is, that about four verses later, in the same chapter, Jesus calls Peter "Satan" (16:23). Why does he do this? Because after Jesus affirms Peter's place in the church and tells him that nothing can stop the church's success (16:18), He also begins to tell His disciples that He is going to Jerusalem to suffer and die. Peter was going to have no part of that.

Peter was thinking, "Sweet! Jesus is going to conquer Rome and the world and I am going to be his Vice-Regent." Jesus was going to conquer the world but not with a sword and fire, as Peter had thought. Hence, when Jesus told him that He was going to Jerusalem to die Peter couldn't understand it and wasn't about to let that happen.

Peter couldn't see how Jesus' going to die on the Cross would actually be the greatest event in human history, that is, apart from the Second Coming. And in many ways, if we are honest with ourselves, we forget that too. We think that life should be victorious, that we should have "our best life now." The reality of it is though, is that we do have "our best life now" and the reason why we don't see it that way much of the time is because we are letting our deceitful hearts and the world tell us what "our best life now" should be. We get envious because of this or that person's life, family, job, body, health, church, or whatever (you can pretty much put anything on the list). Like Peter, we assess victory through worldly measures.

A lot of this worldliness comes because we have made the Cross some common ornament on the Christmas tree of Christianity instead of the golden star that sits on top. Through the Cross of Christ, believers have been "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). Paul says, "For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's (1Corinthians 3:21-23). If you and I have true faith in Jesus' work on the Cross, we, right now, at this very second, are the most blessed creatures in the universe. Of course, it doesn't always seem that way. This life is hard, no doubt about it. But one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. And we can always possess joy, no matter what our circumstances. And the only way we can do that is knowing that through Christ's completed work on the Cross, the sadness of this life will turn into inexpressible joy in the life to come. It's the hope assured that is found in Christ's work on the Cross that pulls us through.

Embrace the Crucifixion. Hebrews 12:1-2, tells us to look to Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." What was the joy that was set before Him? It was that He would spend eternity with you. You are Christ's joy. When He returns, He will pour praise and glory upon you (1 Peter 1:7). All because of the Cross! Don't negate or despise the Cross like Peter did in Matthew 16. Live at the foot of the Cross every day, every hour. Revel in the Cross, celebrate the Cross. Don't mourn for the Cross, or get sad about the Cross. Don't tell God that you wish there was another way, like Peter did. The Cross was the Missio Dei, the mission of God. It is the victory of God in Christ. It is the only thing that can provide any true hope and joy for mankind. Embrace the Cross!

written by Nik