THE CROSS
Among the many spiritual blessings God has given His children is the privilege and authority to speak His Word. God has commissioned Christians and given them the message of the cross. This message that can never be suppressed nor silenced. Though God-haters and the governments of the world may try relentlessly to squash the truth of God and constantly violate the rights of Christians, God's Word will prevail in the end. Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matthew 24:14,35)
Paul wrote, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For since the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:18,21)
The message of the cross is simple. All humanity has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God required a sacrifice to pay the price for sin. Jesus gave His life on the cross so the price has been paid. God so loved that He gave His Son, and whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead can be saved. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9) (KJ)
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18, 19) Christians have been given the ministry and the word of reconciliation, to give people the message that Jesus Christ has paid for their sins and sicknesses, "To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:79)
As ambassadors of Christ, believers are to make known the message of salvation through Jesus, and bring people back to the living God. "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" (Romans 10:15)
As 2 Corinthians 4:5 teaches, Christians are not to preach about themselves, or their church, even with all of its exciting activities and friendly smiling people. Christians are to make known Jesus Christ the Lord. God has committed the ministry and the word of reconciliation to them. To reconcile is to bring together again. This means reconnecting two parties that have been separated. The Christian's message is not a message of an angry God Who wants to punish and destroy, but a message of peace and restoration' the message that God is love, and He sent His son to be the payment for all the sins of mankind.
Christians have the God-given right to share the message of Jesus Christ, the God-given responsibility to hold forth the Word of life. God stands behind His Word. The Word of God never falls to the ground, but as the good seed is sown, it will always produce results and prosper. God guarantees it. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10,11)
