What can one add to the canon of writings that are in existence on the Cross of Jesus Christ? Is there anything left to be said that hasn’t already, in one form or another, been said? Therefore, the aim of this article is not to add anything, but rather to remind and to underscore the importance of the Cross as a living symbol in our daily walk of worship. In essence then, I would like to focus more on aspects of worship as highlighted through the Cross of Jesus Christ.
As Christians we should be recognizable as different from those who aren’t. Principally the difference will be reflected in the way we think, speak and act, in other words, in the way we live. We are constantly encouraged to take note of how, where and when we “walk” and of how we conduct ourselves as people who live in the authority of calling themselves children of God. Paul writes, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16 MKJV). Throughout Scripture we are constantly reminded that the lifestyles of those who follow God are different to those who don’t. The question we obviously need to answer then is, how do we live this lifestyle? The answer, equally obvious and simple is this: worship God. And here we get to one of the secrets of Christian life: the Christian is as inseparable from their worship of God as Christ is from the Cross.
We cannot look at the Cross and discuss anything pertaining to it if we don’t also discuss Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ the Cross is just another symbol of ancient cruelty and a manner of torturous death. However, by placing Jesus Christ, the Word of God on the Cross, its significance is so great that we battle to find words to explain it. The Cross of Jesus Christ represents everything of Who God Is. When we look at the Cross, we are looking at God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him (John3:16-17 MKJV). When God gave His Son, and when Jesus gave Himself (John 10:17-18), they did so with the full knowledge that the Cross would become the place of decision; the Cross would become the place where Jesus became sin and the Father would have to avert His eyes from that – a place of separation between Father and Son; the Cross would become the place of decision for future human generations; the Cross would become the guide to a proper lifestyle in the Spirit of God.
We see then that there are certain things that are very important to God the Father, both in terms of us as well as the Cross. Firstly, we need to understand that God has given us the power to satisfy Him; I always like to think that we have the power in us to put a smile on the face of God! This is an awesome thought, don’t you think? In Hebrews 11:6 we read that without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is right that the one drawing near to God should believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out. We also know that God has given each of us a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). Thus, we understand that God has given us faith, and that we are required to make use of that to put a smile on His face! (Or ‘be pleasing to Him’). The grace of God is His precious Holy Spirit that leads us into making use of our faith in an appropriate manner. When we utilize our faith in a manner that is pleasing to God, we are in actual fact practicing our worship. We are worshipping Him through this exercise! Let me add this to those that are a little more skeptical: God allows us to practice our entire life, as He is not so much interested in the perfect performance, as He is in the perfect motivating heart behind the performance! (2 Chronicles 16:9).
The Cross is the ultimate and most recognizable of all Christian symbols. However, for the true Christian it cannot stay at the mere symbol, but has to be recognized and understood at its deepest representative meaning. Like any other symbol, it represents something far bigger and far more real that the item itself. And so too it had very deep meaning for the Father! The Cross for the Father is not some dead piece of wood, but the very life of His Son, Jesus Christ! When God looks at the Cross He is reminded of the ultimate sacrifice – His and that of His Son. It must bring painful memories of a moment in time when He had to avert His eyes and turn His back to the sin that His Son became on the Cross! However, when we combine our ability to use our faith and believe in Jesus with the importance that the Father places on the Cross we have a powerful and dynamic result – for the preaching of the Cross… is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).
What have we established so far? That our worship is a gift from God in the form of a “faith deposit”, that when we make use of it has the ability to please the Father and as a result we experience the power of God in our lives! This is a win-win-win situation. It seems unbelievable that there would be anybody unwilling to exercise their right to worship God. Anyway, let us get on to the next step in our drawing. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the ultimate symbol and representation of Divine Love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). As we’ve seen earlier, God already knew that the Cross was a reality even at the time that He gave Jesus as a love offering. The Cross represents that Love. Thus, the centre of the Universe, the Source of absolutely everything is the Cross of Jesus Christ, because He is that Centre Himself! For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).
We read in the verses just before these that Jesus is the First-born of all creation (v.15), and as such Jesus becomes our ultimate example to follow. Peter encourages us to follow Jesus: This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step (The Message 1 Peter 2:21). And it is precisely here where our life and the Life of the Cross meet, and precisely here where our worship (in spirit and in truth) is defined. Jesus tells us that if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow Me (Luke 9:23). We are invited by Jesus to take up our “Cross” which is nothing more and nothing less than self-denial. When selflessness finds its purest expression in our life, we will find that our life is all about God and other people first. This is where we find true expression of the greatest commandment in a tangible way: to love God and to love others. At this point in our life we are truly at a Cross-road, a place where we must decide daily which direction to walk in; walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:16), abide in the truth (John 15:4-7), or following our own agendas (1 John 2:16). The Cross was the ultimate sacrifice on God’s behalf, and the most exquisite expression of Love. What else can we do but return that to Him through our worship – in the sacrifice of our lives for His love! Hence our faith, that deposit from God which makes it possible for us to please Him, works by love (Galatians 5:6), and expresses itself in a life dedicated to the unity forged in the Cross of Jesus Christ. So, be calm (and) put on the breastplate of faith and love (1 Thessalonians 5:8), Paul encourages.
Practically we must “work out” the Cross and what it represents in our daily life. Salvation is a free, and a gift from God, yet we are required to cultivate our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12); Jesus is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30) yet we are still required to activate our righteousness, because for Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice is to be chosen more than sacrifice (Proverbs 21:3). So too we must “activate” the power and meaning of the Cross by our obedience to follow God through the greatest commandment – after all, we have been created in the image and after the likeness of God! We are made just like our Dad! However, in order to act just like our Dad, we need His Holy Spirit as the catalyst and energizer of our faith! (Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure – Philippians 2:12-13, The Message). This simply means that we must be united in Spirit, and that is precisely the prayer of Jesus for us: … that all may be one, as You are in Me, Father, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:21). This unity of Spirit to spirit, of being One, of being exactly like God had intended for His creation, finds its expression through the Cross – the symbol for us of God’s love.
[Author: Waldo Malan]