Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (7)

 

 

“Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.”

 

There are many enigmas in Jesus Christ, things that are mysteries, which we may not understand yet which we may experience. Paul writes to Timothy that he is to be “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1), and to the Ephesians that they are to be “strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” (Eph. 6:10). Yet, Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9), and we know that the treasure of Christ is ours in our “earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor. 4:7).

 

So we are strong, and we are also weak. Our strength is Christ, it is always Christ. We need not hide our weakness, our frailty, for His glory is manifested through it. Indeed, to pretend to be something we are not would be to deny Jesus Christ.

 

Christ is not only our wisdom, sanctification, righteousness, and redemption, He is our strength – our everything (1Cor. 1:30 – 31). We may put it, “Yet not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

 

We are indeed “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16), always remembering that “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

 

When I confess that my spiritual state here is frail and poor, I mean that Christ is God and I am not. I mean that I must always abide in the Vine and that without Him I can do nothing, absolutely nothing (John 15:1 – 5). I mean that I need Him desperately, that He must be the Air that I breathe, the Water I drink, the Wine I enjoy, the Bread I eat, the Light by which I live and see all things, the Raiment I wear, the House I live in.

 

I mean that after knowing Him (in some measure) for 60 years, that I need Him more than ever, that I desire to do nothing independently of Him, and that I want to live every day for His glory and the blessing of others. I mean that I cannot possibly know my true spiritual condition, other than in Jesus Christ that condition is righteous, holy, glorious, and perfected in Him…always in Him. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony, which is all Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:11).

 

This is why Calvary’s Anthem means so much to me, I began true Life in the Cross, I will conclude this life in the Cross, I will sing of the Cross in eternity. The Lamb of the Cross will ever be the Light by which I live, and He is the Light which shines brighter and brighter until that perfect Day (Pro. 4:18).

 

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy – laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28 – 30).

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (5)

 

 

“I have a longing for the world above where multitudes sing the great song, for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth. Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor, I shall go on singing Calvary’s anthem.”

 

I love Hebrews 11:8 – 16, for it is not only the testimony of our fathers and mothers of faith, it is our testimony too – or at least it should be. Our spiritual ancestors were “looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” They confessed that they were “strangers and exiles on the earth” making it “clear that they are seeking a country of their own…a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

 

“Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

 

Our forebearers knew that the promise of a land was a shadow and type of a greater inheritance, a greater and lasting City and Land. Abraham was not focused on his descendants inheriting a strip of land in the Middle East, he was focused on what that land represented, becoming “heir of the world…through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13). The world which he was called to inherit was a heavenly world, kingdom, and City which would encompass and envelop and renew all things, heaven would (and will) descend upon earth.

 

Hence Paul writes that the earthly city of Jerusalem is not our mother and should not be our identity and focus, but rather the heavenly Jerusalem – the mother of those who live in the faith of Abraham (Galatians 4:21 – 31). How foolish we are to identify with earthly things when Jesus has said that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

 

Paul writes that we are to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1 – 2).

 

One of the great lies in our society is that a person can be so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good. I have never encountered such a person, I have never read of such a person. On the contrary, it is often those who are heavenly minded who lead the way in caring for others – the poor, the refugee and alien, the homeless, the prisoner, the orphan and widow, the outcast, the sick. Those who are heavenly minded are those who point us to our destiny, to God our Creator and our Father, to the Christ of the Cross. Those who are heavenly minded insist that we do not prostitute ourselves to this present evil age, to its values, to its systems, to its prison of conformity to this world.

 

Those who are heavenly minded proclaim that, in Christ, we are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). Those who are heavenly minded have the courage to live against the grain of the world, the flesh, and the devil; to witness for Jesus, to give their lives for Him and others. They also have the courage to live against the grain of a professing church that, at least in the West, has sold itself to the powers of the present age.

 

Those who are heavenly minded remind us that our souls were “never created to love the dust of the earth.”

 

Those who are heavenly minded sing Calvary’s Anthem, inviting us to sing the Great Song of the Ages.

 

Shall we join them?

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (4)

 

 

“O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live that was gained on the mount of blood; in the midst of a world of pain it is a subject of praise in every place, a song on earth, an anthem in heaven, its love and virtue knowing no end.”

 

As I read the above, I recall Paul’s words, “For one will hardly die for a righteousness man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7 – 8).

 

Christ did not die for me because I was good, nor did He love me because I was good; He died for me when I was a sinner, but I was not just a sinner, I was an enemy of God. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

 

The love of God is beyond words. I was a sinner, a transgressor, but I was not only breaking the commandments of God, I was also an enemy of God. I was not only an individual enemy of God, but I was also joined to the realm of darkness and rebellion, I was participating in the rebellion of Satan (Psalm 2; Eph. 2:1 – 3). We must not gloss over our condition before being reconciled to God through the death of His Son, we must not fool ourselves about ourselves – this is true about who we were, it is also true about who we now are in Jesus Christ.

 

I was participating in the great family betrayal; the sons and daughters of the Living God had joined the forces of darkness through their sin and were living under the domain of Satan. When God sent His Only Begotten Son to bring us back to Himself, we killed Him, nailing Him to the Cross; unknowingly we were sacrificing the Lamb who was our true Passover. Jesus came to declare the Name of the Father to us (Heb. 2:9 – 13), and in the deep mysteries of God, even in our rebellion, we have heard His Voice. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God – is this not beyond words?

 

We were in such a condition that there was nothing we could do to help ourselves, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6).

 

One translation has it, “when we were without strength.” I love that image, we could not lift a finger to help ourselves, we had no energy to save ourselves, we were overwhelmed by sin and evil and our wills were held captive by darkness until that Day when “He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13).

 

When we realize, in some measure for we can never (I think) see the full measure, our lost condition without Christ, when we see that we were His enemies, when we have a sense of our betrayal of God our Father, then we can begin to see the incredible love of God in Christ for us, for you and for me and for those around us. Then perhaps we can begin to sense the chasm that Christ crossed to love us, the depths of darkness into which He plunged to save us, His piercing cry on the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

O what a free forgiveness! We cannot merit it. We cannot deserve it. We cannot add to it. We cannot repay it. We can, by God’s grace, be good stewards of it; we can share it, we can live in it as God’s sons and daughters, we can sing Calvary’s Anthem, we can share this Good News with others.

 

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

the emblem of suffering and shame;

and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

for a world of lost sinners was slain.

 

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,

till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

and exchange it some day for a crown.

 

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,

has a wondrous attraction for me;

for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above

to bear it to dark Calvary. [Refrain]

 

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

a wondrous beauty I see,

for ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,

to pardon and sanctify me. [Refrain]

 

To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,

its shame and reproach gladly bear;

then he’ll call me some day to my home far away,

where his glory forever I’ll share. [Refrain] (George Bennard)

 

Calvary’s anthem – A Meditation (3)

 

 

“At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones, and ample blessings that last forever; the blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace with never any diminishing of its fulness as thirsty ones without number drink of it.”

 

Picture, if you will please, a fine dining restaurant with luxury cars in its valet parking lot, with sophisticated patrons coming and going. Inside is a Matre’d, a sommelier, a place to check coats and hats, white tablecloths, and attentive servers. The menu has words that most of us don’t use every day, some are in French, others in Italian, and the wine list is a maze for many – some will admit this, others won’t.

 

Some of the patrons frequent this restaurant on a regular basis, others are there for a special occasion; some are about to spend more than they can afford. The elegance, the (let us hope) superior food, the service, the atmosphere, comes at a price; for some patrons the cost is inconsequential, for others it is manageable, for still others…well, perhaps they should have commemorated their special event elsewhere so that they could also enjoy financial piece of mind.  

 

Adjacent to the fine dining restaurant is a study in contrast, it is only there because it was there first and its owners will not sell their property. While there are a few luxury cars in the parking lot, most cars and pickup trucks and SUVs and motorcycles are unremarkable; the ones that are remarkable attract notice because of their age, they are old, some are rusted, some are banged up and need body work, and some have bald tires. As we ponder the parking lot, a transit bus stops and passengers get out and head to the door of the building next to the fine dining establishment.

 

This second building is also a place to eat, but all the money in the world cannot purchase a meal, for all meals are free. Why would those driving the few luxury cars in the parking lot, those who could dine anywhere they wanted to, who could dine next door with the wealthy, want to be found inside this unpretentious eatery? It is certainly not because it is free – these people can afford anything they want, well…almost anything.

 

They cannot purchase forgiveness or peace with God, nor can they do anything to earn peace with God or His forgiveness. But they can eat at the table with Jesus, they can eat with those He has redeemed, who have come to Him, and in doing so they sit at Table with rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, people of all colors and languages and cultures. The meal is simple, yet not so simple.

 

It is bread and wine, it is His Body and Blood – and it is shared among all who enter. All patrons receive it from His hands, and they share it with one another, breaking the bread, breaking it again, and breaking it again; they are One Bread in Jesus Christ, One Loaf (1 Cor. 10:16 – 17).

 

Only the “poor and meek ones” may dine with Jesus, those who have repented in sorrow and surrender and who have taken up their cross to follow Him; those who have renounced their lives to live by His life, those who no longer belong to themselves. Only these can sing Calvary’s Anthem, only these can dine at the Master’s Table.

 

There are restaurants that require a coat and tie, restaurants that have a dress code. Jesus also requires a dress code to eat at His Table, and this dress code means that we cannot tell by one’s attire whether the person is rich or poor, we cannot tell from clothing what nation or culture people are from – we cannot tell anything about others in terms of their earthly lives (2 Cor. 5:16).

 

For the dress code of Jesus is the raiment of repentance, the clothing of humility and meekness and awareness of both sin and cleansing, of filth and purity – of joy and relief and peace that comes from drinking at the river of infinite grace. This means that we all look the same, in Jesus Christ we all look the same – we are all brothers and sisters of the same heavenly Family, drinking from His River, partaking of the Bread and Wine which is Jesus Christ.

 

As I ponder this admittedly poor image and illustration, I wonder why we attempt to make the “church” look like the world? Why do we market the Gospel with the world’s ways and methods, appealing to the consumerism of the world? Do we not know that the Gospel is foolishness to the natural man, that the Cross is an offense, and that until a man or woman or young person confronts the Christ of the Cross, that our cotton-candy religion will simply lull them into a false sense of spiritual security in which they can never have peace of mind or peace with God? (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:5).

 

The world and the earthly church may not value the meek or the poor, but Christ Jesus bids them come to His Table and drink of His River, and that, my friends, is all that matters. O yes, it also matters whether you and I are among them.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:3 & 5).

 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

 

Where are we dining today?

 

Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (2)

 

“For there is power in the blood of Calvary to destroy sins more than can be counted even by one from the choir of heaven. Thou hast given me a hill-side spring that washes clear and white, and I go as a sinner to its waters, bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.”

 

When I was a lad we sang of the blood of Jesus. There is Power in the Blood; Are You Washed in the Blood?; When I See the Blood; There is a Fountain; O the Blood of Jesus. Later Andre Crouch came along with The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power.

 

How I love the vibration in my soul when I sing, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” The music of this hymn communicates reverence, holiness, and commands attention.

 

When I See the Blood takes us back to the Passover in Exodus and God’s promise that His judgment will pass over those households with the blood of a lamb on the lintels of their doors. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul reminds us that, “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed for us.” In our present age of Biblical illiteracy within the professing church, we do not readily make the connection between the first Passover in Exodus and the Perfect Passover of the Lamb on the Cross.

 

About eight years ago I was in a Sunday school class which was using curriculum from what was supposed to be an Evangelical denomination, written by a Ph.D. within the denomination. The lesson was on the Passover in Exodus and there was not one mention of Christ being our Passover Lamb. I could not believe it. I had to interrupt the teacher and make the connection between Exodus and Jesus for the class.

 

What is perhaps worse is that no one else in the class made the connection, even though most, if not all, of the people had been professing Christians for decades, many growing up in the congregation – a congregation which professed to be Bible believing. When I was a young Christian such ignorance would have been unthinkable in the congregations I knew.

 

The story of the Passover and God’s assurance of mercy remains a comfort to me in Christ, I trust the blood of the holy, pure, and spotless Lamb of God.

 

The hymn Are You Washed in the Blood? begins, “Have you been to Jesus for His cleansing power, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” This is the question that matters, is it not? Do we even ask this question anymore?

 

Do preachers and pastors ask it? Do elders and deacons ask it? Do professing Christians ask it? We can have all the group therapy sessions we want on Sunday mornings, sing songs, engage in self-improvement, have motivational messages – have our coffee bars and our doughnuts and sit in our seats eating bagels and omelets – but if we aren’t washed in the blood of the Lamb we are dirty and unclean and under the judgment of God for we have not run to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing and new life in Him.

 

Have we forgotten the deadly seriousness of sin? Have we glossed over its evil consequences? Have we downplayed the holiness of God and the utter wickedness of who we are outside of Jesus Christ, outside of the Cross, outside of being washed in the blood?

 

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb, in the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?

 

How I love to sing There is Power in the Blood. “Would you be free from the burden of sin? There’s power in the blood, pow’r in the blood, would you o’er evil a victory win? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

The evil, of course, is not “out there,” it is within me and within you. Jesus has broken the power of the evil one “out there,” we must be washed in the blood and die with Him and be raised with Him for the evil within us to be broken, there is indeed power in the blood of the Lamb.

 

When we gloss over our sin, when we treat sin as some kind of developmental problem that can be cured with therapy and self-improvement programs and self-talk and positive reinforcement and developing a better self-image…we are fools and we are believing the lies of the devil. Only Jesus Christ and His blood and His Cross can free us from sin and from self, only the power of Jesus Christ can set us free. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can wash our sins away.

 

Another verse says, “Would you do service to Jesus your King? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood. Would you live daily His praises to sing? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”

 

Do we think about doing service to Jesus today? Are we interested in singing His praises daily? I seldom hear church folks speak of wanting to serve Jesus. I hear them speak of politics, of the economy, of sports, of entertainment, of acquiring more and more things, but I seldom hear anyone speak of serving Jesus Christ, I seldom catch anyone singing about Jesus Christ.

 

Friends, we can get caught up in “Christian” music all we want, but if we ourselves are not singing to Him, if we are not singing to one another and rejoicing with one another in Him, then we are deceiving ourselves – we really don’t know what worship is, we don’t know what true “Praise and Worship music” is, because if it isn’t flowing from our own hearts and souls then we are substituting what others do for our own koinonia with Christ.

 

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

 

If we aren’t doing this as our way of life in Christ, then something is terribly wrong. If we can’t sing with our friends, if we can’t share a song with others, something is amiss. What would happen if no musicians or choirs showed up on Sunday morning? Would we sit like those who cannot speak? Would we wait for someone else to lead in song? Is this a game we’re playing, or are we living in service to Jesus our King?

 

Calvary’s Anthem could also be titled, An Anthem of the Blood of the Lamb, for indeed it is. The blood of the Lamb flows from Calvary, from the hands and feet and head and side of Jesus Christ. It flows from eternity past into time and space, down through the ages, and onward and upward into eternity future. It is a glorious and mighty river, and the Lamb beckons us all to be washed in His sacrificial blood, to confess our sins, to repent (which means to change direction and follow Him), and to live daily for Him.

 

“It reaches to the highest mountain, it flows to the lowest valley. The blood that gives me strength from day to day, it will never lose its power” (Andre Crouch).

to be continued....

Calvary's Anthem - A Meditation (1)

 

 

Calvary’s Anthem is the title of a prayer in The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett and published by Banner of Truth. I have often found solace, comfort, encouragement, and inspiration in this collection of prayers and Calvary’s Anthem has spoken to me more than once. Over the past few days I have heard its Voice anew.

 

“Heavenly Father, Thou hast led me singing to the cross where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish, where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain, where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand…”

 

I love speaking the word “Father” to our Father, I love calling Him “Abba” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Jesus teaches us to call Him “Father” in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9) and if we listen to Jesus, if we watch Jesus, we come to know that He is indeed our Father and His Father, our God and His God (John 20:17; Hebrews 2:10 – 13). In one sense, the entire Gospel of John is about the Father, it is about the Son living in the Father and the Father living in the Son and you and I living in them in and through the Holy Spirit.

 

The Christian life is a life of communion with the Father, of constantly speaking His Name, of enjoying life in Him, of receiving His life and offering our lives to Him in and through Jesus Christ the Son.

 

While my Father is truly my Heavenly Father, He is very much here on earth with me. He is not far away; He lives with me and within me (John 14:23) – isn’t this a mystery? He teaches us to live in the heavens and on earth, our source of life is above, flowing from the Presence of the Trinity; we learn to express this life on earth, living in koinonia with the Trinity and with one another.

 

If we have joy in special friendships, how much more joy should we have in our friendship with our Father? How ought we to cherish every day with Him?

 

The image of singing as we approach the cross speaks of our praise to God for His love and redemption for us, inviting us to fling our burdens down and watching them vanish. We are reminded:

 

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10 – 12).

 

We are also reminded that “This is the Day which the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” is the Day of the Cross, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone, this is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” (See Psalm 118:22 – 24).

 

When we read concerning the writer’s sins, ”though they are the greatest that exist, and are more in number than the grains of fine sand” we may think, “Surely whoever wrote this could not have the greatest sins that exist, surely they could not really be more numerous than are the grains of sand on earth – whether by the oceans or in the deserts.”

 

If we think that whoever wrote Calvary’s Anthem could not have had the greatest sins that exist, if we think they could not have been as many as the grains of sand on earth, we may be right, but there is only one way in which we can truly be right and it is not a pleasant way.

 

We can only truly be right if we have come to look into the mirror and realize, “I have the greatest sins that have ever existed, my sins are more numerous than the grains of sand on earth.” For when we see ourselves outside of Christ, when we see ourselves outside of Him as we truly have been, our sins overwhelm us and we see no one else’s sin, for our sin alone engulfs us in sorrow and despair and repentance.

 

We go “singing to the cross” when we realize:

 

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8 – 10).

 

What song will you sing to God today?

 

To be continued….

The Cross - Our Way of Life (3)

 

 

“Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing”” (Luke 23:34).

 

Betrayed by one who has been near Him for three years. Abandoned by those with whom He has shared the intimacies of love, friendship, truth, kindness; whom He has invited into the depths of the love of the Father and the Son. Mocked, slandered, delivered for crucifixion by the religious leaders – the leaders who are supposed to be the guardians and transmitters of the covenant which He and His Father gave to Moses. Tortured and crucified by Rome, embodying the governments and powers of this world.

 

“The rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”” (Luke 23:35 – 37).

 

Can we hear the voices?

 

“If You are the Christ of God!”

 

“If You are His Chosen One!”

 

“If You are the King of the Jews!”

 

Can we hear the criminals in their suffering saying, “Save Yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39).

 

Now my friends, let me ask you, what proof would you have that Jesus is the Son of God as He hangs on the Cross, suffering, bearing our sins, bearing the iniquity of mankind in realms that we cannot comprehend? As God of very God hangs there in the suffering of His soul, what proof would you have?

 

Would you like Him to come down from the Cross?

 

Would you have Him call his angels (Matthew 26:53)?

 

What proof would you have that Jesus is the Son of God as He suffers and dies for you? What would satisfy you that you might give your life to Him and take up your cross and follow Him?

 

Behold the cruelty He is enduring! Behold the isolation! Behold the hatred! Listen to the vitriol! Sense the venom spewing from the mouths of the religious leaders! See how pleased they are to finally be rid of Jesus! (Does He not threaten their detente with Rome, with the Imperial Cult? Does not Jesus threaten their religious – political alliances? Does He not pose the same threat to us today?)

 

What proof must we have that Jesus is God?

 

Jesus is displaying what is perhaps the greatest evidence of His Divinity as mockery and hatred is hurled as Him, as His suffering body undergoes the torture of crucifixion, as His very soul bears our sins, our wickedness, our evil – personal and collective, as He moves toward a curtain of darkness, as the judgment of God falls upon Him as both Priest and Sacrifice…as all of this swirls around Him and within Him…

 

He is saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

 

Now, dear friend, what more would you have?

 

What more would you ask from Jesus?

 

The Cross - Our Way of Life (2)

 

 

“Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:45 – 46).

 

“The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” (Mark 10:10:39).

 

To be called into the fellowship of His sufferings is to be called into depths of Divine mystery. Whether with the psalmist of Psalm 22, with Jesus on Calvary, or with Paul and his friends in their affliction in Asia (2 Cor. 1:2 – 11), we are called to places we will not always understand, places not always visible to the natural eye.

 

Paul writes, “We were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:8 – 9).

 

Paul knew that the sufferings he and his companions experienced were for the blessing of others. “We are comforted by God so that we may comfort you” (2 Cor. 1:4). “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation” (2 Cor. 1:6).

 

“So death works in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12).

 

Do we not see our Lord Jesus in Paul?

 

“We are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

 

There is, my friends, a shame associated with the Cross of Christ. We are told that we are to “go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:13).

 

Jesus was not ashamed of His shame; He despised it in the light of the joy set before Him. Likewise, we ought not to be ashamed of the shame that the world, the flesh, and even the religious world associates with following the Christ of the Cross, of being associated with the Cross of Christ, of hanging on the Cross with Jesus for the world to see.

 

Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

 

The Gospel is foolishness in many ways to the world, it appears weak to the world (and to many professing Christians, which I suppose is why we employ the ways of the world), but we are to “know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; see also 1:17 – 31).

 

This foolishness of the Gospel extends from Jesus dying on the Cross to reconcile us to God, into the Way we live our lives for Him and others. Jesus says that if we are to follow Him that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. He asks the quite reasonable question, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul?” (Mark 8:34 – 38). Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives for His sake and the Gospel.

 

Paul writes, “He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor. 5:15).

 

Whether we are seeing Jesus in the Gospels, in Psalm 22, Psalm 116, Psalm 118, Isaiah 53, or elsewhere throughout the Bible, we can be assured that the darkness will lift and the light of the glory of God will shine on His servant, on His Son, in glorification and joy and pleasure. This is true of the Body of Christ, and it is true of you and of me, it is true of us.

 

We are indeed called to be broken bread and poured out wine in the hands of Jesus for others. We are the fish and bread with which He feeds the multitudes. We are the lambs the Good Shepherd chooses to give their lives on behalf of others. O what glory to be chosen by our Shepherd, to know that we are in His arms and hands as He offers us up, just as the Father so loved the world that He gave His Son Jesus Christ. Can there be any more glorious fellowship?

 

Some Christians think that Jesus died so that they would not have to suffer, this is a lie. One of the reasons Jesus died on the Cross was that He might bear the wrath of the judgment of God for sin and sins; that our sins might be atoned for and that our sinful selves might be put to death on the Cross, buried with Him, and that we might be raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus – a New Man (Romans chapters 1 – 8).

 

Because we are now raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ, we are called to the life of the Cross, called indeed to suffer; not to suffer for our sins, not to suffer the wrath of God, but to suffer for the glory of God and the blessing of others. We are called to suffer as our Father transforms us into the image of the Firstborn Son.

 

One way to put this is that because of Jesus’ death on the Cross we do not suffer the wrath of God but are now called to suffer for the sake of Christ and others. Jesus did not die so that we might live life on earth in some kind of Christian Disneyland, but so that He could send us into a world of pain and suffering and chaos and hunger and death – so that we might bring the light and love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ to others…so that the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross might be seen in us and through us.

 

During this season of Lent, will we enter into the sufferings of Jesus Christ? Will we seek to know the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10)?

 

Will we and our congregations become broken bread and poured out wine for others?

 

The Cross - Our Way of Life (1)

 

“But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household” (John 19:25 – 27).

 

This was a horrid and cruel scene; a violent and bloody and drawn-out torture of three men filled with taunts directed to the One in the center. “If you are the Son of God, save Yourself, come down from the cross!” When the veil is drawn back, we often see the world’s leadership for what it is, including its religious leadership – here we see the “heirs” of Moses and Abraham not as they purport to be, but as their hearts truly are. What about our hearts?

 

Whether we trace our inheritance to the Fathers, to a branch of the Reformation, to the Ancient East, to more recent traditions and distinctives, or even to the Apostles; what about our own hearts?

 

The mother of Jesus stands by her Son in His agonizing death. Thank God she is not alone, other women are with her, and the disciple whom Jesus loves is there. Amid the shouts, the jeers, the gambling away of His clothing (is anyone selling popcorn?), the life of Jesus is ebbing away, His blood is dripping from the cross; it is on the wood, on the ground…is the blood of Jesus on those gathered around Him? Are Mary’s tears intermingled with Jesus’ blood?

 

Where are the multitudes whom Jesus has fed?

 

Where are the lepers He cleansed?

 

Where are the many who followed Him?

 

Where are the few who were with Him in the Upper Room?

 

These are not questions that matter so much, the question that matters is, “Where am I?”

 

Where are you?

 

Today, it is not enough to ask, “Am I standing by the cross?”

 

I must ask, “If I am standing by a cross, which cross am I standing by?”

 

Am I standing by a cross that has a dollar sign affixed to it? Is it a cross with a national flag wrapped around it? Is it a cross used to budgeon, imprison, and trample on others? Is it a cross employed to gather votes? Has the cross I am standing by been wrapped in cotton candy and entertainment? Has it had a “do over” to make it attractive and tasteful and profitable?

 

There are typically only two types of crowds around a cross, one crowd is crucifying the Son of God, the other crowd is around a cross they have made to order – a Christless cross. Perhaps the only place we shall see a faithful crowd around the true Cross is in heaven…at least until heaven is manifested fully on earth.

 

If there is no reproach, no shame…there is likely no true Cross with Christ crucified.

 

We are taught that we are to “Go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Hebrews 13:13 – 14). How tragic when professing Christians are made the servants and slaves of the powers, leaders, and agendas of this world.

 

The Cross is offensive, it is foolishness, it is a stumbling block – it always has been, in this present age it always will be (1 Cor. 1:17 – 2:2).

 

On Easter morning the message of His resurrection first came to those women who had stood by the Cross of Jesus. As we know Him in the koinonia of His sufferings, we will know Him in the koinonia of His Resurrection!