Encouragement

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I was a teenager in the 1940's. Saturday afternoon was time to rest from the farm.
All six of us would go to the county seat town for a movie, groceries and visiting with friends around the courthouse square. It might sound 'corny' to today's teenagers, but it was a time of joy and good memories. One movie that made a lasting impression on me, was "The King of Kings". It was about the life of Christ and especially the Cross and its central part in our lives. The movie ended, not with "The End", but with the words "The Beginning"!
So celebrate 'The Cross' this week (we should do that everyday)........
and next week, 'The Resurrection' (again, everyday!)

Please remember that Christ was a Victor...NOT a victim. Then decide that you will be a victor...and not a victim!
I hope that this paper's content will help you to pick up your Bible and study the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

C. S. Lewis wrote: "Christianity is a statement, which if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing that it can not be, is moderately important."
The question is, did Christ die on the Cross for SOME things...or for EVERY thing?

While I was in cancer treatment (Dec. 1991-'92) a lady from a prayer group in Clinton, Miss. wrote to me,
"I do not understand why a pastor, especially, would have to go through these things, but then I know, as you do, when there are no answers, there is Jesus."

Of course we all know, that no one is exempt from these things, but we can become a victim or a victor....depending upon our relationship to....and faith in...God.
We are to act in a Christ-like way and not react in a negative way.

Corrie and Betsy ten Boom's father died in a Nazi concentration camp. He had told them as youths, "There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still." Corrie survived the concentration camp and went on to become a great witness for Jesus.
She became a victor by becoming BETTER...and not BITTER.

J.S. Stewart wrote: "Not by Roman nails, but by perfect love in His heart, His refusal to save Himself, has become the saving of the world." By His death on the Cross, Jesus showed us 'how to live':

1) A LIFE SUBMITTED AND COMMITTED TO THE WILL OF GOD.
No matter what happened, He set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem to do the Will of God.

2) A LIFE OF LOVE WHERE UNSELFISHLY, HE GAVE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE.
In the first century and now in the 21st century, many would say that He was foolish, to love as He did, but John 15:13 says: "Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends." Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Christ loved supremely and so should we!

3) A LIFE OF FORGIVENESS FROM CHRIST AND THROUGH US, TO OTHERS.
If you don't experience forgiveness from above...and out from you....you will be a victim and not a victor! Forgiveness helps you to be 'free' and not in bondage. (See Galatians 5:1)

4) A LIFE OF WITNESSING-
Even on the Cross in the worst of circumstances, pain and imminent death, Jesus witnessed to the thieves on each side of Him and to those who stood nearby. This should shame our apathy, indifference and laziness.

I believe that Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, taught us how to become Victors...and not Victims.
(Matt. 26:36-46)
1) If Jesus needed Prayer, then so do we.
2) If Jesus needed to know and do God's Will, so do we.
3) If Jesus needed friends' support, then so do we.
4) If Jesus needed to go a little further in Prayer with his burdens, so do we.
5) If Jesus needed to humble Himself, so do we.
6) If Jesus needed total submission, so do we.
7) If Jesus suffered, so will we! The Cross was vicious, but also Victorious!

On the Cross, He went up a victim, but came down a Victor.
In the tomb, He went in a victim and came out a glorious Victor, not just for Himself, but all who believe.
The Cross is more than a casual item in your well-being. It is life and death - Eternal Life or Eternal Death. Anyone may come home to God, but they must come His Way. (John 14:1-9)
The Cross is God's centerpiece on the 'table of time'.

Romans 8:32 says: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us, how will He not also with Him, freely give us all things?"

But the problem comes when we want to be Christ's disciples, but we want Him to do all of the dying. If there are to be any blessings, there must be some bleeding. Philip Brooks wrote: "Do not pray for easy lives....pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but YOU shall be a miracle."

George MacLeod has written: "I argue that the Cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace, as well as the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek; at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves cursed and the soldiers gambled. That is where He died and that is what He died about, and that is where churchmen should be and what churchmanship should be about."

Little Bobby was 13 and in love for the first time. On advice of his sister, he sent a dozen roses to his girlfriend with a note: "With all my love...and most of my allowance."
Bobby discovered that 'love' costs!
It cost Jesus His all...dare we give less?

A baptismal certificate will tell you only that a person has been baptized. A letter may tell you that he is a church member, but only the Cross in his life, will tell you that he is a disciple. The Cross is something vital, concerning the Lord of the Kingdom.
For Stephen, it was martyrdom;
For Paul, it meant imprisonment and death;
For Dietric Bonhoeffer, it meant being hanged by the Nazis.
For Jim Elliott, it was an inspired attempt to draw God's Circle of Love around savage tribesmen.

Elliott is the one who said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to have what he cannot lose." He lost his life, but gained Eternal Life and rewards.

Elliott also said, "Wherever you are, be all there!"
He knew what it took to be a disciple.

Therefore, we must look at Christ's Cross and ask ourselves, 'What do we have by way of sacrifice, humility, and obedience that measures up?' You cannot share the triumph of the Cross without sharing in it's responsibility.
1) The Cross contradicts our will (Matt. 26:36-46)
2) The Cross contradicts our wisdom (I Cor. 3:18-23)
3) The Cross contradicts our affections (Galatians 5:24 and Colossians 3:1-3)
4) The Cross contradicts our pride (Philippians 2:5-11)
5) The Cross contradicts ourself (Romans 14:7-12)
6) The Cross contradicts human nature at every point (Matt. 16:24)

Galatians 2: 20 says it well: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

One of my favorite poems is by G. A. Studdert Kennedy, entitled "Indifference":
When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged him on a tree.
They drove great nails through hands and feet...and made a Calvary.
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep...
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham (put your town there), they simply passed Him by,
They never hurt a hair of Him...they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain.
They only just passed down the street and left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall and cried for Calvary.

DON'T EVER FORGET:
The Cross of Jesus was VOLUNTARY...VICARIOUS...VITAL...VICIOUS...AND VICTORIOUS!
THE CHOICE IS YOUR'S.....be a VICTIM....or a VICTOR?

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