There are days when we see how God orchestrates our meetings together, days when different people, without directly conferring or communicating, so obviously hear the same things from God that there is a wonderful sense of continuity. This morning was one of those occasions.
In the time of worship, we focussed on the cross. Songs such as ‘And can it be?’, ‘You came from heaven to earth’, ‘How deep the Father’s love for us’, ‘You chose the cross’ and ‘To be in Your presence’ reflected that focus. Then Dave preached from Galatians 6:14 on the cross of Christ.
The cross of Christ has always been central to Christian teaching. In Matthew 16:21-23, immediately after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus teaches about the necessity for His death. Peter and the other disciples find it hard to accept this teaching, but Jesus made it abundantly clear that ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.’ (Matt 20:28)
In partaking in Holy Communion each Sunday morning, we reflect the central importance of the Cross. Paul says that he ‘glories’ in the Cross, because it is the means by which we are saved. It is the Cross that sets us free and gives us our salvation. There on the Cross, we see the Lord – fully man, fully God, suffering death and tasting death for everyone (Heb 2:9) so that all may be rescued from the clutches of sin and death. God’s holiness is such that He could not overlook sin (in the same way that Dave’s son, when working on space satellites, has to have a ‘clean room’ in which to work), but Christ gave Himself willingly as that perfect, spotless sacrifice so that we can be reconciled to God.
Our part is to accept that sacrifice. We can’t make ourselves acceptable to God (for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, as our Bible studies in Romans have revealed) but we can accept that Jesus has done all that is necessary. “It is finished!” He cried. We are now new creations in Him; the old has gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5:17) We have been crucified with Christ; we are now free to live in Him.