163 Sermon Illustrations on Cross

Quote by Rev. George McCloud:

"I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center

of the marketplace as well as at the steeple of the church.

I recover the claim that Jesus was not crucified

on a table between two candles

but on a cross between two thieves,

on a town garbage heap,

at a crossroad of politics so cosmopolitan that they had to

write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek,

and at the kind of place

where cynics talk smut

and thieves cursed

and soldiers gambled

because that is where he died and that is what he died about

and that is what Christ's followers ought to be about."

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One of the most publicized events of the last decade was the execution of a Texas woman who had been convicted of murdering two people 14 years earlier. During her time in prison, she became a Christian. The evident genuineness of her conversion elicited calls from all over the world to spare her life. Even the Pope pleaded with the Governor of Texas to intervene. In the end, those who sought justice for the crime she committed prevailed. With a lethal cocktail running through her veins, Karla Fay Tucker “coughed twice, let out a soft groan, and fell silent.”(1)

The debate raised by this case was gripping enough, but what I found to be most fascinating was the intense contest that was unfolding outside the premises where the execution was scheduled to be carried out. Both the proponents as well as opponents of the death penalty camped outside, each side trying to drown the other’s voices. The news of the execution was greeted by a boisterous cry of triumph from those who had so vehemently sought justice for the crime. Others were left wondering where, when, and how mercy applies when the life of an individual hangs in the balance.

This drama was a classic representation of the two most disparate poles of justice and mercy. How are the guilty to be spared in cases where absolute justice is administered? If there are no shortcuts, no bribes, and no turning of a blind eye against evil, what hope is there for those wedged between the jaws of justice? The tension between justice and mercy is a reality with which we all live, and depending on the circumstances, our hunger for vindication is only matched by our plea for mercy and forgiveness.

The biblical solution to this conundrum is uniquely ingenious in both logical and relational terms. It was at the Cross of Jesus where God’s justice was perfectly administered and his eternal mercy publicly displayed when God took upon Himself the punishment meant for the guilty. The perfect, sinless, infinitely just God devised the means whereby sinful, guilty human beings could be justly reconciled to God without an ounce of guilt being swept under the carpet. No other proposed means of liberation for humanity in the world even begins to address this dilemma. The rhetorical force of the question posed by the author of Hebrews ought forever to haunt every seeker of justice, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation” (Hebrews 2:3)?

Unfortunately, some stumble over the gospel of Christ even while incessantly seeking either justice or mercy in matters they deem themselves entitled to judge. When our sense of justice is threatened, we rarely hesitate to demand answers, whether the object of our wrath is a mere child or a perfect God. This is nowhere more evident than in the current attack on the character of God based on his administration of justice, especially in the Old Testament. But at the root of this reaction lies the failure to appreciate the full implications of what one really asks for when one demands justice. If justice is to be absolutely served, the guilty cannot go unpunished. The only recourse for the guilty is to seek mercy, and mercy cannot be demanded.

Old Testament saints harbored no illusions about God being subject to their standard of justice, for they were no strangers to his terrifying holiness and hence the gravity of sin. The fact that the Israelites were his chosen people did not keep them from facing the consequences of their own disobedience, as even a casual reading of the book of Lamentations will show. It was not without reason that the script writer for the motion picture Fiddler on the Roof, which chronicles the struggles of a Jewish family, has the lead character suggest that God choose other people the next time around.

Part of the reason why we are disinclined to recognize our own need for mercy may be due to the fact that our clamor for justice, however impassioned, is almost always skewed in our favor. Narrow indeed is the path to the dark recesses of our own hearts. But there the light of the gospel must shine, and our strong sense of justice demands that we agree with God’s assessment of our true condition. Nothing short of the kind of repentance that produces humble love within those who turn to Him can ever point humanity towards their identity and purpose. Without a clear glimpse of our own sinfulness, not even God can measure up to our lopsided, self-righteous standards.

But if God is anything like the Scriptures say He is, then not only should we expect Him to judge sin but we can also be confident that, in the end, no one will be able to find fault with his verdict. That is why Abraham was able to trust in God’s righteous judgment, even beyond the grave, when he chose to sacrifice Isaac at the behest of his Creator. He reasoned that God is able to raise the dead (Hebrews 11:19). Whenever we demand justice and obedience, we affirm the same standard that also condemns us. They are blessed indeed whose passion for justice is informed by the mercy of the Cross.

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1. http://www.cnn.com/US/9802/03/tucker.executed/index.html

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Copyright © 2008 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #92]

In October of 1978, on the 33rd anniversary of the completion of the Bridge of the River Kwai, Dennis Roland of New York and his former guard, Ryuji, walked together arm in arm, over the black, steel-girded span. Said Roland: "I bear no bitterness (toward the Japanese), but I have many memories."

Although it was not part of his plan, at Calvary rebellious man constructed a bridge. In crucifying the Son of God, man had a part in building the "new and living way" to God. Now all of us, whether we are Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, can walk together across that bridge. "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." (Ephesians 2:14)

One night when I was in college, I went to what I thought was going to be an ordinary concert. After playing some music and singing a few songs, the Christian musicians passed out index cards to all of us young college students in the room. They said the cards were for us to anonymously write down any barriers to faith that we were struggling with. I filled up every inch of that little 3 x 5 card with tough objections to Christianity that I had heard from professors and classmates. I turned in my card and waited eagerly for them to provide detailed answers to each question. But that is not what happened. They invited us instead to close our eyes and begin a time of prayer about the things we wrote down. I must admit, I was a little disappointed. I wanted instant, verbal answers to my questions -- not a moment of silence. Reluctantly, I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and started to think about some of the questions I wrote down. Just when I was starting to get into it, my prayer time was interrupted by a strange clanking sound that I found very distracting and untimely. I opened my eyes and looked up to see where the racket was coming from, and when I did, my heart sunk. Each index card full of tough questions and objections to faith was being nailed to a big, wooden cross. As I listened to the sad sounds of the hammer striking the nails, I heard a different kind of answer to my questions -- one that was both heartbreaking and hopeful all at once. It was an answer that I wasn’t expecting, and sadly, one that I was usually all too quick to try and ignore.

As we journey to the Cross this Lenten season, we are reminded of the importance of looking inward and examining the state of our hearts before God. Spiritual introspection is a crucial part of growing in faith. But we cannot forget in the midst of all our self-reflection to look outward, to Jesus, just as doubting Thomas did. We read in John 20:25 that after Thomas was told the news of the resurrection, he said, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” In verse 27, Jesus replied, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” Jesus allowed Thomas the dignity of carrying his doubts to the very one who carried the Cross. He did not ask Thomas to bury his questions, but offered him the most convincing answer available -- himself.

In our quest for absolute certainty, we long to find comprehensive answers to the mysteries of faith. Yet as Alister McGrath reminds us, “The things in life that really matter cannot be proven with certainty -- whether they are ethical values (such as respect for human life), social attitudes (such as democracy) or religious beliefs (such as Christianity)...there will always be an element of doubt in any statement that goes beyond the world of logic and self-evident propositions. Christianity is not unique in this respect; an atheist or Marxist is confronted with precisely the same dilemma. Anyone who wants to talk about the meaning of life has to make statements that rest on faith, not absolute certainty. Anyway, God isn’t a proposition -- he’s a person!”(1)

The same nail-scarred hands of the person that reached out to doubting Thomas reach out to us today with assurance and compassion. In his poem “The Ancient Sage,” nineteenth-century British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson writes:

For nothing worthy proving can be proven

Nor yet disproven; wherefore thou be wise

Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt

And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith!

This holy week, instead of clinging to truth in propositions alone, let us rest in the embrace of the person who embodies it.

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1. Alister McGrath, DOUBTING: GROWING THROUGH THE UNCERTAINTIES OF FAITH (Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity, 2006), 23-25.

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Copyright © 2008 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1981]

When Lincoln's body was being carried through the streets of Albany, New York, a Negro mother said to her little boy, “Take a long look, Honey; that is the man who died for you.” I would point you to the Cross and say, “Take a long look -- there is the Savior who died for you.”

(“Choice Illus.” W.W. Clay pg.29)

Most evangelicals believe in the doctrine of penal substitution, that Jesus took the place of the sinner when He died on the Cross. However, the question of the extent of the atonement drew two very different responses from theologians David Nelson and Sam Waldron at a Southern Baptist conference.

Nelson, senior vice president for academic administration and professor of theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, defended the non-Calvinist view of atonement which argues Christ died for every person without exception, but that salvation is given only to those who believe.

Waldron, academic dean and professor of theology at the Midwest Center for Theological Studies in Owensboro, Kentucky, defended the Calvinistic view of limited or “particular” atonement, which asserts that Christ died only for the elect and not the whole world.

Both Nelson and Waldron agreed that the Bible clearly insists that Christ died as a substitute for sinners, bearing the wrath of God for their sins.

Nelson briefly examined the diversity of views on the atonement, which Christians have held across the sweep of church history before presenting a biblical apologetic for a non-Calvinistic view of atonement.

Texts such as John 3:16-18, 1 Timothy 2:1-6 and 2 Peter 3:9, which speak of God desiring to save “all” or the “world,” are not sufficiently explained by those who hold to limited atonement and, thus, give credence to atonement for all who believe, Nelson said.

Nelson proposed several exegetical considerations to support interpretation of cosmos or world as “all” without exception:

• In John 1:29 and 12:46 cosmos means the earth and all inhabitants of the earth in the sense Jesus came to save all who believe in Him. Attempts to make cosmos mean other than “all people” are strained and unnecessary; the necessity of faith is clear.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul is speaking about the Gospel in telling the church to pray for “all” people, for kings and all who are in high positions in order to promote an environment of peace. This is good to God who Himself is shalom and who brings shalom. God desires all people to be saved, to come to knowledge of the truth that Christ Jesus is the one mediator who gave Himself as a ransom for all.

• Hebrews 2:9 says Jesus tasted death for everyone and verse 17 reads that He makes propitiation for the sins of the people, drawing an analogy between Christ’s mediatorial role as High Priest and the high priestly ministry of the tabernacle. If “everyone” and “the people” are not read in general terms, understanding that only those who believe are saved, it presents a dilemma for Calvinists. Arguing the Calvinist’s position that “everyone” and “the people” pertain only to the particularly redeemed allows analogies of universalism that are not intended.

• Paul’s statement in 2 Peter 3:9 that God desires none should perish is similar to Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:4, and with the truth revealed in Ezekiel 18 that God genuinely desires the wicked to repent and live, though none would do so without the grace of God.

“These texts and others like them lead me to a general atonement,” Nelson said. “I find no compelling reason that leads me to see the use of ‘all’ and ‘world’ as meaning anything other than Christ dying for all men without exception.”

Nelson argued that the atonement of Christ must be considered within the broader context of the “mission of God” to redeem the world, noting that the atonement includes divine intentions that reach beyond the reconciliation of individuals. Those intentions also include the redemption of the church as a corporate body and the restoration of the created order, he said.

Nelson warned Calvinists in the SBC against embracing limited atonement simply on the ground of human logic.

“Do Calvinists hold to limited atonement primarily for logical or exegetical reasons?” Nelson asked. “Calvinists must answer this and other questions for the sake of clarity and for the sake of building bridges in the SBC.”

Nelson concluded by posing two lingering questions to those in the Southern Baptist Convention who affirm limited atonement: “Does God love all people such that He shows common grace to all men?” and “How is limited atonement consistent with the free and universal proclamation of the Gospel?”

Waldron said those who believe the doctrine of particular redemption simply place profound importance on penal substitution.

“When we ask, ‘For whom did Christ die?’ I think Southern Baptists see in the preposition ‘for’ the idea of substitution when they speak of Christ dying for men,” Waldron said. “Most evangelicals hold to limited atonement of some form because they hold to a penal substitutionary atonement.”

Waldron set forth four proofs in favor of limited atonement:

• The substitutionary nature of the atonement demands that it be limited. If the wrath of God was satisfied by Christ as a substitute for every individual without exception, then God would be punishing unbelievers in hell even though their sins have been atoned for, Waldron argued. “Was God propitiated toward me or not?” Waldron said. “Real penal substitution results in a real purchase of men.”

• The New Testament demonstrates that the benefits of Christ’s atoning death are restricted to a certain group of people. This restriction is seen in texts such as John 6:37-40, 15:13-14, 17:9 and Ephesians 5:25, Waldron said.

• The saving effects of the atonement are guaranteed in texts such as Romans 8:32-39. “There is a guaranteed salvation for those for whom Christ died,” Waldron said.

• The covenant context of the atonement shows that Christ’s death was effectual only for His covenant people. “That the non-elect are not included in the new covenant is explicit in the Bible,” Waldron said.

Waldron concluded by addressing opposing arguments, two of which were articulated by Nelson: how universal terms such as “all” and “world” in Scripture are to be understood and how those who assert limited atonement are able to freely offer the Gospel to all people.

The universal terms in Scripture are often restricted by their context, Waldron said, and orthodox Reformed Christians have always held to a free offer of the Gospel as evidenced by the Canons of Dort, which established the Five Points of Calvinism in 1619.

The issue of the atonement should not divide Southern Baptists, Nelson said. Scripture demands that all believers love one another and seek to find common ground in working together for the sake of the Gospel, he said.

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Jeff Robinson, director of news and information at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was among the writers covering the “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism” conference at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #320]

NEW YORK -- Everyone here now asks, "Where will you be?" They don't say "on Sept. 11." They don't have to. Everyone knows. Most everyone has a plan. Some people are leaving town. They just don't want to go through it again, through the nonstop TV and the weeping families and the memory of the smoke and the sound and the sight of it all. A lot of people are staying, of course. Those who are working, or going to school; those who can't leave, or won't. I'm one of the latter. I feel a kind of loyalty to that day, and those who suffered through it, and I'm not leaving.

So on Wednesday, on Sept. 11, 2002, I plan to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge before dawn. I will, as I pass under its two heavy stone towers -- the original twin towers of downtown Manhattan, and still the most beautiful -- reach out my hand and touch them lightly, as you would the arm of an old friend.

On the Manhattan side of the bridge I will make my way to Ground Zero, and watch the sun come up at dawn. I don't know why. I just want to see the new beginning of a new day at the place that was the World Trade Center. I want to see the sun rise and light the skyscrapers all around it.

I will carry in my pocket a little metal cross about two inches high, and a little metal heart the same size. They're twisted and bear burn marks, like pots left too long on the stove.

_____________________

One night after Sept. 11 I went to a church near the site. I poured coffee for construction workers and Con Ed guys on the overnight shift. A construction worker who'd been at the site since Sept. 11, first trying to find and save people, then trying to clean up, walked up to me. He was a big man in work clothes with a hardhat. He looked beat. He told me he had read my columns, and he told me he'd heard I was here, pouring coffee. He said, "I have something for you." And he pulled from a soft brown paper bag the little cross and the little heart. He had cut them from a beam that held up one of the towers.

To me they were like an old bullet pulled from the ground of Gettysburg, a treasure of history. When people come to my house and see them on the wall, they're always silent after I tell the story.

I'm going to bring them with me, back to where they came from, on Sept. 11. I'll probably look at where the towers used to be and think, "The buildings were here. A year ago today they were here. And then they became the cross and the heart."

_____________________

A year ago on Sept. 11 it was so beautiful, just the most beautiful day. The school year had just started, and kids downtown were being walked to class. They heard the first plane. They were walking on the sidewalk when the shadow of the plane passed over them.

Where would we be if the shadow hadn't come, if 8:46 a.m. that day had not happened? Where would we be if the whole day had been as peaceful as its start?

We'd be where we were on Sept. 10, 2001.

On Sept. 10, 2001 we were, a lot of us, immersed in a national culture -- a big, vivid, full-network, broadband, opens-soon-at-a-theater-near-you culture -- that allowed us to live knee deep in distraction. What's on tonight, who's pitching, when are The Sopranos back, who won, when does the sale start? There was nothing inherently wrong in this -- fun is part of life, or should be, and entertainment, art and sports are worthy endeavors. But for a lot of us our emphasis was off. We weren't paying attention to core things, essential things, first things. We were staring at the peripheral, missing the big picture.

And then Sept. 11 came. The demonic cloud chased modernity down the street. It chased businessmen down the tall and narrow pathways of downtown Manhattan, a city that lives on the periphery of the continent but is at the core of its commercial life, its art, its hedonism and hipness, its focused and full-throttled pursuit of the tangential.

Thousands died. The buildings disappeared. And were transmuted into the cross and the heart.

_____________________

The heart, to me, stands for the explosion of human sympathy, kindness, forgivingness and generosity that came from the people of our city starting at 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. It's been -- and here I think, oddly, not of an American word but of the highest accolade used by an old friend from New Zealand -- brilliant. Brilliant and shining. You all know the stories -- the friendliness on the streets, the helpfulness to strangers, the millions of volunteers, the money given, the hands held.

The cross stands for a renewed sense of the centrality of the spiritual in our lives. People say it was fleeting, but I don't think so, and I base this simply on my interactions with friends, family and acquaintances who are New Yorkers. Something big happened here. The spiritual was reborn. It started with the spontaneous shrines that filled the city sidewalks last September and it has continued with a greater sense of individual pondering. People are thinking about God. I believe I have witnessed from so many people an enhanced sense of the sacredness of ordinary things, and a greater ability to see grace at work in the lives of others, and ourselves.

This week Newsweek had the story of the boy in the red bandana. He was a young man in the north tower who didn't think first of his own safety after the planes hit, but tried to help strangers. He pointed them to exits in the smoky corridors, led them down the stairs, carried a woman on his back. He was last seen going up the stairs as others walked down. They found out later who he was, a 24-year-old equities trader. Life is rich and unknowable: You don't know when you'll accidentally bump into hell, you don't know what angel you might meet there.

_____________________

"He was last seen going up the stairs." Those are famous words here now. Usually we say it about the firemen. It's going to be a long time before we get used to the idea that 343 of them lost their lives that day. Or rather gave them.

Those 343 -- they were mostly tough Catholic men with soft hearts from the outer boroughs. They were Italians and Irish and Poles and Puerto Ricans, and they lined up for absolution, received a blessing and ran into the buildings lugging their gear. Their funerals were at Our Lady Queen of Peace, and St. Rose of Lima Church. And sometimes at the funerals they played an old '70s song whose title you'll never hear the same way again: "Stairway to Heaven."

The other day I got a letter from the mother of Michael Dermott Mullan, Ladder 12, Engine 3, 19th Chelsea. He was a graduate of Holy Cross High School, a registered nurse attending Hunter College School of Nursing, a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves stationed at Fort Totten, and a New York City fireman. He must have been some guy, Michael Mullen. His mother wanted all of us to know who he was. She wrote, "He was dedicated to the well being and protection of his fellow man." She wrote, "He was second generation Irish by way of County Tipperary, County Down and County Kerry." She wrote, "He loved his God, his Country, his family and his city."

Michael Mullan called from his truck on the way to the Trade Center the morning of the attacks. "He called to tell us, 'I love you. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.' Michael never said goodbye -- it wasn't a part of him to think goodbye, he would always say, 'See you later,' or 'Take care.' But that fateful day he said goodbye to his family." His body was found on Oct. 7. Then the Mullan family found out about his last hours. After Michael called home he bowed his head and, with a friend on the rig, prayed. Michael and his crew went to the Marriott Hotel, next to the Trade Center. It had been badly damaged, and later collapsed. They made their way to the upper floors and then were ordered out by their lieutenant. The way was blocked, but they found a path down. Then word came there were two firemen on a higher floor who couldn't find a way down. "Michael's last spoken words," his mother said, "were, 'I'll go back and get them.'"

He was probably last seen going up the stairs. He was a man of the heart and the cross.

_____________________

And the flag. For that was the other things that re-emerged, the explosion of America-love.

We had been losing it as a society, and for a long time.

The immigrants of a century ago arrived to a flag flying culture. They were told that they were investing their lives, their futures, their unseen grandchildren in something high and good and decent. Free speech was here, the free practice of religion, democracy, the ballot, free markets -- everyone, from the brilliant and altruistic to the bright and merely greedy, could get in on the great bazaar, and make his way. What a country -- all that freedom and the streets were paved with gold.

They were taught to love America by the culture all around them -- the penny newspapers, George M. Cohan, John Philip Sousa, the nascent movie industry, the stage, the schools -- taught a burly America-love.

Which was good. Because when you don't love something you lose it.

We were losing it. But now the flags are out again, and loving America isn't considered a faux pas, or evidence of limited intellect. The thing now is to see it doesn't degenerate into mere conceit: "We're No. 1, we have the best tanks." That's triumphalism. Patriotism is solid and grounded; it holds up the ideal of a nation founded on the equality of men; it has to do with founding documents, guaranteed freedoms, clear rights, stated responsibilities. That's what the flag stands for.

It's certainly how Michael Mullan must have seen it. And the boy in the red bandana, too.

And that in the end is my Sept. 11, a trauma that was transmuted into a heart and a cross and a flag. Each expressing a facet of a great and fabled people who are still, one year after, the hope of the world.

________

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of "The Wall Street Journal."

1. Beneath the cross of Jesus

I fain would take my stand,

The shadow of a mighty Rock

Within a weary land;

A home within the wilderness,

A rest upon the way

From the burning of the noonday heat

and the burden of the day.

2. Upon that cross of Jesus

Mine eye at times can see

The very dying form of One

Who suffered there for me;

And from my smitten heart with tears

Two wonders I confess–

The wonders of His glorious love

And my own worthlessness.

3. I take, O cross, thy shadow

For my abiding place–

I ask no other sunshine than

The sunshine of His face;

Content to let the world go by,

To know no gain nor loss,

My sinful self my only shame,

My glory all the cross.

[Tune “St Cristopher”]

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1. Am I a soldier of the cross?

A foll’wer of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own His cause

Or blush to speak His name?

2. Must I be carried to the skies

On flow’ry beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize

And sailed through bloody seas?

3. Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

To help me on to God?

4. Sure I must fight if I would reign —

Increase my courage, Lord!

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy Word.

[Tune “Arlington”]

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Garrison Keillor, author of the nostalgic Lake Wobegon books, recalls his childhood Thanksgiving dinners, as the family gathered around the table and remembered the blessings of the past year. Uncle John usually gave the prayer, which caused everyone to squirm. As Keillor said, "Everybody in the family knew that Uncle John couldn't pray without talking about the cross and crying.... Sure enough, Uncle John prayed, talked about the cross, and cried. Meanwhile, the rest of us shifted nervously from one foot to the other and longed for the prayer to end."

Then Garrison Keillor adds this powerful observation: "All of us knew that Jesus died on the cross for us, but Uncle John had never gotten over it."

___________________

"Standing in the Light of the Cross" by Bill Bouknight, Good News Mar./Apr. 2002, p. 21.

Harry Emerson Fosdick once said that Jesus was "Crucified by Stupidity." He said the leaders of the people had small, closed minds. The people themselves made stupid choices. And the whole Passion story of the gospels breathes with the stupidity of the short look.

We were speeding along an interstate in Texas, and suddenly there it was - a huge, illuminated metal cross. It dominated the landscape, especially on the flatlands of Texas. That cross is actually nineteen stories high and it can be seen from twenty miles away. They claim it's the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. We've been by there before, but this was the first time we ever stopped to look at it more closely.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Speeding by the Cross."

We had been like most people - not stopping to check it out. As impressive as that cross is, most folks just speed right by it. Which is okay with that cross. But it's dangerous to do it with the cross - the one where Jesus died to pay for every wrong thing you and I have ever done.

But for all its eternal importance in determining our heaven or our hell, too many of us glance briefly at Jesus' death on the cross, think it's nice, and drive on by. It could be that you've made many stops on your life-journey, looking for that spiritual or emotional fillup that would satisfy your soul. But nothing ever has. None of those relationships. None of those accomplishments. None of your religious or spiritual experiences. So you keep speeding along on your journey, looking for a better place to stop - maybe driving right by the only place where your lifelong search will end.

In our word for today from the Word of God in Mark 15:39, we see what a life-changing thing it can be to stand at Jesus' cross. The man we're about to read about was a Roman officer - the man who was in charge of the execution of the Son of God. But before this day ends, this hardened executioner has a dramatic change of heart. The Bible says, "When the centurion who stood there in front of Jesus ... saw how He died, he said, 'Surely this man was the Son of God!'"

What happened here? This man comes to this hill to execute Jesus and leaves apparently believing in Jesus. What was it about "how He died" that changed this man's heart? It had to be the things Jesus said from that cross - "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing" ... "Today you will be with Me in paradise" ... "It is finished!" Jesus was forgiving the very people who were responsible for Him being on that cross. In a very real way, that's you and me. Because it was our sins that Jesus went there to pay for. And now He can say to anyone who puts their trust in Him, "You will be with Me in paradise. I'm taking you to heaven with Me!"

If you've never stopped at the cross to make your peace with God, would you finally stop today? Maybe right now, right where you are. Tell Him, "Jesus, I get it now. Some of those sins you were dying for were the things I've done. You died for me - and I've never responded. Jesus, I'm giving you what you died for - I'm giving You me."

So many miles you've traveled ... so many times you've breezed by the Son of God who died for you. But this is your day to stop and experience for yourself what Jesus died on the cross to give you. You will never be the same.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

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There is something transforming about the process of growing older. The more we see the unconscionable ends to which the human spirit can descend when it is determined to remain autonomous, the more our confidence in human methods diminishes. Into this kind of self-centered, earthly kingdom, Jesus brought a different and dramatic - albeit radical - response to pain and suffering. His answer was a stumbling block then, and it is a stumbling block now. But only if it is properly and seriously understood can its beauty be seen.

I am referring to the cross of Christ. The cross stands as a mystery because it is foreign to everything we exalt - self over principle, power over meekness, the quick fix over the long haul, cover-up over confession, escapism over confrontation, comfort over sacrifice, feeling over commitment, legality over justice, man over God.

In his book THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN AMERICA, H. Richard Niebuhr wrote, "We want a God without wrath who took man without sin into a kingdom without justice through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Likewise, Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in the waning years of his life:

I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have

learned in my seventy-five years ... everything that has truly

enhanced and enlightened my existence has been through affliction

and not through happiness whether pursued or attained... It is

the cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably

to Christ.

"The cross more than anything else." Why would a one-time cynic utter such words when his life was ebbing to its close? I believe it is because in the cross alone, pain and evil meet, and in the cross alone love and justice are found. Upon both love and justice we find our moral and spiritual home. If only one of these two is focused upon, an inevitable extremism and perversion follow. The ideals of liberty, equality, and justice taken alone have led to ideologies with dastardly experiments left in their wake. And love unbounded by any sense of morality is not love but self-centeredness and autocracy. In the cross of Jesus Christ, and the cross alone, the demands of justice were satisfied, and the generosity of love was expressed.

There is a popular spiritual song called "The Beauty of the Cross." At first blush, that title might seem nonsensical. However, when we come to realize what the cross signifies, we find that because of Jesus’ sacrifice, victory over evil is possible - and that is a beautiful truth.

_________________________

Copyright © 2002 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

We had rented a cabin in the mountains, and we didn't want to leave it much. The view across the valley was like a majestic painting. It changed as the sun and the weather changed - all these moods, you know. I had looked at the mountain across the valley from us many times before I took a good look that direction at night. That's when I saw it - the cross. There was a lighted cross on top of the mountain, glowing in the night from a vantage point where it could be seen all around. Actually, that cross is there all the time - but you don't really see it until it's dark.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Light in Your Night.”

For many of us, the greatest discovery of our lives came when it was night - one of those dark times we all go through in our life. A lot of people have learned that when it's night, you can see the cross, often for the first time in your life.

The cross - that awful place where Jesus was brutally crucified - turns out to be the ultimate proof of how much God loves you and me. If it's sacrifice that proves love, then we don't ever have to wonder how God feels about us. God the Father gave up God the Son to absorb the guilt and hell for every wrong thing you and I have ever done. There's never been a greater sacrifice. There's never been a greater love.

But we can know about what happened at that cross. We can be around it for years and still miss the forgiveness, the love, the heaven Jesus died to give us. Maybe you've been avoiding dealing with Jesus personally. Maybe you feel someone's been pressuring you about Jesus, and that's just made you resist it even more. Maybe it's pride that's kept you from your life-changing encounter at the cross, or even your Christianity, because you've thought having Christianity meant having Christ.

It's easy to busily go about the routines of your life and never really see that cross. Until it's suddenly nighttime. Something happens to your health, to your family, to your job, or to whatever you've counted on for security. And none of your answers, none of your fixes are enough. That's when a lot of people look up and finally see the cross, shining in their night, showing them where hope is.

In John 12:32 and 33, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus said, “'When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.'“ That was it - lifted up to die on a cross. But there would be a magnet in that old hunk of wood; a magnet that would draw the people He died for to His side.

Which is exactly why you may be feeling that tug in your heart right now. He's drawing you to come to the cross, to give yourself to Him and find what you've spent your whole life looking for. All those religious hang-ups, all those lame arguments, all the proud resistance, all the spiritual pride drops to the ground at the foot of His cross - and you finally belong to the One you were made for.

If you've been doing it without Jesus all these years, and you want this to be the day you finally experience Him for yourself, just tell Him that right where you are. Tell Him, “I'm not driving anymore, Jesus. I'm Yours from today on.”

Maybe it's night right now - not because God doesn't love you, but because He does. He doesn't want to lose you. His cross shines brightly in your night. Once you meet Him there, it will never be night in your soul again.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5409]

His students are studying to be ministers and theologians. They've committed their lives to following Jesus' teachings.

But more and more, some reject the usual Christian talk about Jesus' death.

They don't consider Jesus a ransom for sin. They shudder at hymns glorifying the "power of the blood." They cringe at calling the day Jesus died Good Friday.

They say a God who requires human sacrifice sounds mean and vindictive. It doesn't mesh with their idea of a God who loves and forgives.

That's what Philip Lyndon Reynolds is increasingly up against as a theology professor at the United Methodist Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.

Theologians around the country tell the very same story.

It's a challenge pastors face, too, as Christians enter Holy Week, the most solemn time on the church calendar. Over the next few days, churches will recall Jesus' final days with Last Supper, Good Friday and Easter celebrations.

Belief that God's only Son died for the sins of humanity permeates Christian teaching. Good Friday, though a day focused on crucifixion, is called "good" because of what Christians believe Jesus' death accomplished: their redemption.

But placing so much emphasis on Jesus' death overshadows the message he proclaimed while he lived, say those troubled by atonement theology. It makes the crucifixion all about appeasing an angry God, they say.

"People don't think God needs to punish sin to forgive," said Scot McKnight, a biblical scholar at North Park University in Chicago, an Evangelical Covenant school. He, too, has heard the complaints.

"Some find it repulsive that one person could die for another," he said. "This is a modern distaste for atonement."

Christians who wince at atonement theology prefer to talk about Jesus as a martyr for his faith, and his death as a heroic sacrifice. He's the fullest expression of God's love, they say, and the ultimate manifestation of God on Earth.

These Christians defy easy labeling. They're young and old, conservative and liberal, and cross denominational lines. Their thinking is still a minority viewpoint, though no longer simmering only on the fringes of church life.

"People don't think of it as scandalous to reject atonement theology any more," said Father Michael Driscoll, a liturgical theologian at the University of Notre Dame.

Even Roman Catholics are playing down the transactional overtones of atonement theology, he said. But the theology is still evident in the Mass. Priests call Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

THE BIBLE

Dr. Reynolds said his students don't relish thwarting Christian tradition.

"The problem is finding an account of Jesus' death that makes sense to them in a theological way," he said.

It's a growing 21st-century challenge, he said.

A key reason is that blood sacrifices are not part of American culture, Dr. McKnight said. People associate them with primitive societies, and not their day-to-day relationship with God.

"For many people, there is no 'power in the blood,'" he said. "It's just outside the modern orbit. They have to be taught about blood sacrifice. At first, it strikes them as ghastly."

Flipping through the pages of the Bible doesn't lend quick solutions. Christians won't find any verse in which Jesus explicitly claims to die for their sins, though he comes close.

"That wasn't the language Jesus used," Dr. McKnight said. "His language was not about individuals getting their sins forgiven so that they could get to heaven."

Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God – a concept broader than heaven and related to the fulfillment of Old Testament expectations. He spoke of the kingdom withast, present and future overtones, scholars say.

But atonement theology didn't just drop from the sky.

It's there, in the gospels and letters of the New Testament. These books provide the first glimpses of how early Christians understood Jesus' death.

Romans 3:25 states: Through his blood, God made him the means of expiation for all who believe. 1 Peter 2:24 is stronger: In his own body, he brought your sins to the cross.

The entire Letter to the Hebrews is riddled with sacrificial language about Jesus. The gospels, too, are packed with talk of Jesus' dying so others can have life.

"This sounds gory, but the Bible is a bloody book," Dr. McKnight said. "It's very clear in the New Testament that Jesus' death was understood as a sacrifice and his blood was understood as atoning."

Christians who dismiss atonement theology don't give great weight to these passages. They see them as theology, not history, and note that they were written several years after Jesus' death – points few scholars dispute.

"The only texts we have are written from the stance of the Christian faith," said Jaime Clark-Soles, a New Testament scholar at the Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, and an American Baptist minister.

During her years as a student at Yale, she said, some classmates complained that atonement was theologically "grizzly." Too much blood and gore, they said.

But she didn't flinch.

"The salvific death of Jesus is pretty central to Christian theology and people in the pews," she said. "If you read the New Testament, especially the gospels, you get atonement."

OTHER VIEWS

Dr. Reynolds' students are turning to the past for an alternative view.

They're finding it in a theory put forth by Peter Abelard in the Middle Ages. Rather than a sacrifice for sin, he said that Jesus was a role model whose suffering was exemplary.

Some Bible scholars today also assert that Jesus died primarily as a martyr for his beliefs. One of them is Duane Friesen, who teaches at Bethel College, a Mennonite school in North Newton, Kansas.

He argues that Jesus died for the message he proclaimed on behalf of the poor and marginalized. Jesus stood against the kingdoms of this world on behalf of the Kingdom of God, he said.

"The salvation he brings is a transformation of the social order," he said. "But atonement theology makes Jesus' death all about changing God's attitude toward us, so we can get to heaven."

Lanny Mullins disagrees. If Jesus didn't atone for sin, then his death is meaningless, said the associate minister of the Skillman Road Church of Christ in Dallas.

He also takes issue with those who characterize atonement theory as some sort of cosmic child abuse. His views reflect the dominant Christian viewpoint on atonement.

"Death is always a gruesome act," he said. "But we have sinful blood coursing through our veins. A pure sacrifice had to be given to God. Christ's blood is pure."

Atonement theology is rooted in three theories from the early church. Most modern thinking is a mixture of these theories:

• Ransom theory: Jesus' death was a ransom paid to release humanity from Satan's grip. This view was the most prevalent until the Middle Ages.

• Satisfaction theory: Jesus embraced death to make amends for the offenses of humanity and, in doing so, satisfied God's honor. This theory was popularized in Middle Ages by Anselm of Cantebury's treatise, CUR DEUS HOMO ("Why God Became Man").

• Sacrificial theory: Jesus is the unblemished lamb sacrificed for the sin of humanity. This theory draws on views of animal sacrifice as a sin offering to God found in the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament.

The modern problem with atonement, writes Catholic theologian Gerald O'Collins, is that some churches have taken the theories to extremes never intended. In doing so, they make Jesus' death seem a response to God's anger rather than to human cruelty.

"While sometimes speaking of the divine anger, the New Testament never associates that anger with Christ's suffering and death," said Father O'Collins, who teaches at the Gregorian University in Rome.

JESUS' VIEW

Jesus died on a criminal's cross, which is fitting because capital punishment theory most closely resembles atonement theory today, according to Arthur Dewey, who teaches theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati.

"Atonement theory basically considers people expendable for the good of society," he said. "This notion of sacrifice was embedded in the culture that Jesus lived."

The Gospel of Mark (10:45) suggests that Jesus understood his death as a "ransom for many." In Mark 14:24, Jesus said, This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out on behalf of many.

Even so, many scholars shy from speculating about whether Jesus anticipated his death or what meaning he attached to it.

"People read between the lines of the gospels," said Daryl Schmidt, a historian at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. "But Jesus never wrote anything, so we can't know what he was really thinking."

But Dr. McKnight suspects that how Jesus understood his death may be significant to understanding his mission. It's a question historical scholars have largely ignored, he said.

"To me, it's a pity," he said, "because it creates an incredible imbalance that all New Testament atonement theology comes from early Christianity and nothing from Jesus."

Jesus spent the last days of his life in Jerusalem, according to the gospels. There's an ominous tone to the writing, signaling the tragedy about to befall him.

Paula Fredriksen, a historian of ancient Christianity, doesn't think Jesus expected to be arrested. When taken to the high priest, he asked why he was being questioned since he'd always taught openly rather than in secret (John 18:21-24).

"His disciples act very shocked, demoralized and unprepared," said the Boston University professor. "That implies to me that Jesus' arrest came as a shock to him."

Marcus Borg, who teaches at Oregon State University and writes best-selling books on Jesus, said the gospels show Jesus not only speaking of his death, but insisting that it had to happen.

But Dr. Borg doubts that Jesus understood his death as atoning. He says Jesus probably knew that he risked execution if he continued teaching and aggravating the religious authorities in Jerusalem.

"He may well have known that his journey to Jerusalem could end in his death," Dr. Borg, an Episcopalian, writes in The Meaning of Jesus. "But that is very different from saying that he saw his death as central to his purpose."

Dr. McKnight said that Jesus entered Jerusalem knowing he was going to die and that his death had a larger, saving purpose.

"Otherwise, he would have high-tailed it back to Galilee," he said. "Jesus had to have believed that his death was the way God was going to redeem his people."

Dr. Dewey said the gospels don't reflect a single viewpoint on how early Christians interpreted Jesus' death. The Q sayings, which many scholars say that Matthew, Mark and Luke used to write their narratives, portray Christians as more interested in Jesus' vision of the Kingdom of God than in atonement.

"Christians then, like Christians today, had different ways of making sense of Jesus' death," he said.

"Atonement theory is one way of saying God is somehow present in that death."

Since we're living in the country these days, old city boy here is seeing a lot more farm animals - and learning a lot. There are even some donkeys nearby. It's kind of fun to hear their braying - you know, there's literally no other animal that sounds quite like a donkey. Now, one these is gray, the other one is brown, but they both have the same marking on their back. It's one long dark line along their spine and a shorter dark line across their shoulders - it actually makes a cross. One old farmer told my wife that all donkeys have that cross - and that they have it because a donkey carried Jesus to His birth and on Palm Sunday. I don't know the reason, but there's no doubt that many a donkey carries the cross on his back.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "A Donkey With A Cross."

I have to tell you that I saw myself when I looked at those donkeys. No, I don't have donkey ears and I don't bray. But in a lot of ways, I am sort of a donkey who carries the cross of Jesus. Jesus' great ambassador Paul knew that the message of the cross - the one that he carried everywhere he went - was all he really had to offer. In our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:14, he simply says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Oh, Paul had a list of Christian accomplishments that would dwarf anything any of us could be proud of. But he knew who he was - in his own words, "the less than the least of all God's people." (Ephesians 3:8) He said, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst." (I Timothy 1:15)

Several years ago I was surprised at a large Christian event by the presentation of a wonderful award. In fact, I was almost in shock as I went up to accept the award. They wanted me to say something, and, for once in my life, I did not know what I would say. And this verse, King James style, was all I could think of - "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." See, I'm nothing without the cross. Paul was nothing without the cross. You're nothing without the cross.

This isn't a matter of putting yourself down and insulting God by saying that He created someone worthless. We are "His workmanship." (Ephesians 2:10) But without the cross, we are stranded in an orbit away from the One who gave us our worth - and the death of Jesus on that brutal cross is the only way to connect with our Creator.

If you've drifted into promoting yourself these days ... if you've been trying to get attention or recognition or advancement for yourself ... how about going out of the self-promoting business? God has you here to promote Jesus and His cross.

God doesn't need you or me - but when we pick up our cross to follow Jesus, He appoints us to His service. And He gives a simple mission to you and me - in a sense, the one He's given those donkeys ... "Carry My cross wherever you go!"

Are you? Your mission is to take as many people as you can by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of Jesus' cross where you show them how much Jesus loves them. Anyone who knows you for very long should be guided by you to the cross. I pray that you will not be ashamed of the cross of Jesus - aren't you thankful He wasn't ashamed of you when He died for you on the cross?

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

The rescue worker whose story is being syndicated in newspapers around the world sought out Florida Baptist volunteers to help share what he believes is a miracle amid the rubble of the World Trade Center.

In the process of removing debris from a fallen crosswalk that connected the North Tower to Building Three two days after the disaster, recovery worker Frank Silecchia found two steel beams in the perfect shape of a cross.

The beams, at least six feet high and four feet wide, were naturally bolted together as part of the total structure. When the other beams were ripped away, they were all that remained. The edges of the beams bear no markings of being cut or welded to make the shape. In fact, some of the bolts that once attached the edges to other beams are still intact.

The most heartwrenching discovery was that a silver object melted onto the cross's left side was the remains of a firefighter's jacket who died in the blast. Firefighters say the fire-resistant jacket turned silver and took on the look and consistency of metal when it encountered extreme heat and fire. Now, it is wrapped around the left arm of the cross.

This revelation, along with several smaller crosses found amid the rubble of Building Six, has led Silecchia on a crusade to save the metal crosses from demolition. He has petitioned Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to spare the crosses so they can be included in a memorial to the victims.

The discovery also has led Silecchia, a Christian, to lead fellow rescue workers to the crosses to pray with them. Since then, the firefighter's cross has been filled with yellow and red writings made by rescue workers in memory of their colleagues. The most visible of these markings runs down one side, "God bless our fallen brothers."

Near the pile of rubble where the other crosses stand, Silecchia spraypainted "God's House" on an inside shell of a building and drew an arrow pointing to the crosses.

"It looks like Calvary down there," Silecchia told Floridian Fred Edwards, pastor of Suwannee Baptist Church in Suwannee. "It took me back a little bit when I found it. I couldn't believe it and I just had to stare for a while.

"For the terrorists, terror is their faith. For us, God is our faith. Who's going to win? God is. He's going to have the last word. And he did here, through his presence revealed in the crosses.

"I bring people to it who need encouragement when they are depressed or sad. It helps restore their faith in God, because the crosses couldn't just be a coincidence. It doesn't happen like that. They are there for a reason. He never leaves us. He is here right in the midst of us."

*

My friend Alan was working with a carpenter friend of his on a building project. Out of the blue, Alan sprang this rather unusual question on the carpenter - "Do you know what the most powerful nails in the world are?" The craftsman paused on his ladder for a moment and then he replied, "I don't know - US Steel?" Alan said, "No. The strongest nails in the world are the three nails that held Jesus Christ on His cross." And then Alan just walked into the other room. A few minutes later, the carpenter called for Alan. He said, "Man, you gotta help me. Every time I drive a nail now, it's like I'm nailing Jesus to the cross." My friend responded, "In a way, we did."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Strongest Nails In The World."

For some people, Jesus' death on a cross is just history. For others, it's a religious event. But to some of us, the brutal death of Jesus on that Roman cross is a deeply personal event. I hope it is for you - or soon will be.

In Galatians 2:20, our word for today from the Word of God, there are two words that are literally life-changing ... even eternity-changing. They're the difference between someone who has Christianity and someone who has Christ. Between someone who has a Christian religion and someone who has a personal relationship with Jesus. Ultimately, these two words are actually the difference between heaven and hell.

Galatians 2:20 says, "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." There's those two words - "for me." One of my associates was on a plane recently with a man in his 30's who talked pretty openly about his years of spiritual searching. He said that as a young man he moved beyond his boyhood church and began experimenting with a buffet of spiritual beliefs and experiences. But nothing satisfied the restlessness in his heart. Then one day he came back to visit the church he grew up in. He said, "As soon as I walked in the door, I saw something I had seen hundreds of times as a boy - the cross at the front of the church. But suddenly I was overwhelmed with something I had never realized before. I said out loud, 'For me. What Jesus did on that cross was for me.'" He said his search ended that day, and the hole in his heart was finally filled.

My guess is that you know about Jesus dying on the cross ... you know He died there to pay for our sins. But you somehow may have missed that life-changing moment when, in your heart, you walk up to that cross and say those words - "For me, Jesus. What You did there is for me." When my friend said that in a way we all did help nail Jesus to the cross, he was right. Because it's our rebellion against God and His ways, all our "my way" choices that left us cut off from God and under His death penalty - until Jesus came and did the dying for the sinning we did. And, in reality, it wasn't the nails that kept Him on the cross. After all, He's the Son of God! No, it was His deep love for you that kept Him there 'til your bill was fully paid - with His life.

If you've never had your "for me" moment with Jesus, it could happen today. Right now. Right where you are. Tell Jesus you are taking for yourself what He died to give you ... that you're pinning all your hopes on what He did on that cross - for you. If you're ready to begin your relationship with Him, I want to send you the booklet, "Yours For Life," that I wrote about it if you'll just let me know you want it.

In your heart, you're standing there at the foot of the cross where God's Son died for you. This could be your moment to finally make the Savior your Savior.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

*

Your first clue that something unusual is ahead is a sign on the Interstate announcing what they call “the biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere.” Sure enough, as you approach that spot in Texas, you begin to see a large white cross on the horizon. Actually, it doesn't look all that large - from a distance. Then, as you drive that direction, it looks more and more impressive. Until you are coming up on it (or especially when you do what I did), you stop and stand at the foot of it - that cross is huge!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Amazing View Up Close.”

When you're far away, that cross is nice but it's not particularly impressive. But the closer you get, the bigger it looks. Sadly, there are people - even good church people - who go through their life never realizing the magnitude of the God they belong to. He's nice, but they never see how big He really is. Because they never get close enough to Him to experience His amazingness. Their God is too small - so their life is too small.

The Apostle Paul didn't want the believers that he cared about to miss the awesomeness of the God they had. In Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 17, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power ... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. That you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (In other words - so you can experience everything God's got.) Then Paul - who's paid the price to see God up close - describes what He's like when you see Him up close. He describes God as “Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”

You don't get to see God that big by just taking your place at church every time the doors are open. You never see the amazingness of your Lord by just reading the Bible when you get around to it ... by praying general, predictable prayers ... by obeying God's Holy Spirit only when it's not too hard or not too risky. It is possible to be around Almighty God for your whole life and just keep a safe distance. You've determined how big God's piece of your life is going to be and that's that. But you'll never know what your life could have been if you'd dare to step on the spiritual accelerator and experience God up close. When you do that, nothing else in your life ever needs to be overwhelming to you again - except the overwhelming size of your God.

If you want to experience a big, big God, make a daily time with Him in His Word the non-negotiable of your personal schedule. You can't specialize in your Lord unless you specialize in His Word. Throw open the doors of your heart and tell Him, “Lord, I've played it safe long enough. I'm ready to go for everything you've got - by surrendering to you everything I've got.” Tell Him you're ready to follow Him out of your comfort zone; beyond where it feels safe.

We make serious mistakes because we forget - or we don't know - how very big our God is. We overestimate earth-stuff and underestimate our Almighty God. A safe distance isn't really all that safe. Don't just believe in Him - pursue Him with everything you've got. The closer you get, the more amazing He looks.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

It was a sign of hope in the awful despair at Ground Zero. There's a good chance you've seen a picture of it. In the horrific collapse of the World Trade Center towers, two cast iron beams, forming the shape of a cross, apparently were driven through the roof of the 6 World Trade Center building. Later, in the shell of 6 World Trade, rescue workers found that cross, amazingly, standing upright in a sea of rubble, with insulation hanging on one arm of the cross. Ironworkers eventually removed it from the rubble and they mounted it on a concrete slab, a remnant from a collapsed bridge between two World Trade Center buildings. One Brooklyn firefighter said the cross was a symbol of some hope to his heroic "brothers." He said, "It reinforces their faith in God - that God's here for them."

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cross in the Rubble."

The picture is etched forever in my mind and, no doubt, in the minds of many who worked what they called "The Pile" at Ground Zero - the cross towering over a mountain of rubble. You know, that may be a picture of where you're going to find hope in the "rubble" you're in right now.

Maybe it's a relationship that's collapsed on you; maybe even your marriage. Or it could be that your health has collapsed, or your job, maybe your financial security, or your dream. In a sense, you are picking your way through the rubble of what's broken, of the despair you feel sometimes, of the questions about where to turn now.

And then there's the cross. A cross you might not have even paid much attention to before your personal tower collapsed. But you need that cross now. You've needed it all along, but maybe you've never realized it until now.

I'm talking, of course, about that "old, rugged cross" on which the Prince of Glory died for you. God talks about it in 1 Corinthians 1:18, our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (He's referring to those who are still under the death penalty for their sin because they don't know Jesus.), but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God." That cross is the most powerful place in the world for those who realize they're away from God because they've run their own lives - who realize that their only hope is a rescuer - Jesus, who died for your sins so you don't have to.

In the rubble, we realize we're not enough. In the rubble, we realize how much we really need the God who made us. And we realize how far we are from Him. And then there's the cross - where Jesus died to bring us back to God. That cross where He died represents God's love for you, that He's ready to forgive you now for every wrong thing you've ever done, that He can heal what's broken inside you. If, in your heart, you'll come to that cross and give yourself to the One who gave Himself for you there.

If you're ready to belong to this Jesus who loves you so very much, whose power you need so much, just tell Him, "I'm Yours, Jesus, from this day on."

It's in the rubble of something we thought we'd never lose that we can find the Someone we will never lose. There's that cross rising above your rubble. And the One who died for you there will never let you go.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

*

A little girl once begged a famous preacher to visit her dying mother. “Come and get my mother in,” she pleaded. He followed the girl to a slum tenement, and sitting by the mother’s bed began to speak of the beautiful example of Christ. But the woman interrupted him saying, “That’s no good, mister, no good for the likes of me. I’m a poor sinner and I’m dying!”

He was one of those preachers who did not think it proper to speak of the cross and the blood of Christ. But he remembered the simple story of Jesus dying on the cross, which he had heard from his mother, and he explained it all to the woman. “Now,” she cried, “you’re getting at it! That’s the story for me!”

The minister said afterward, “The gospel message got her in, and got me in, too!” That’s the message that can bring salvation - the cross of Christ.

It was September of 1999. A Cambodian pastor had made his way to a remote corner of his country to bring the story of Jesus to an area he had wanted to go to for years. But that area had been under the control of the brutal Khmer Rouge radicals until then. As far as anyone knew, this pastor was the first person to speak of Jesus in that isolated area where most people were Buddhists or spiritists. Surprisingly, as told in the book THE GOD WHO HUNG ON THE CROSS, when the pastor arrived in one village, the people welcomed him warmly and seemed to hang on every words of his messages. Then this old woman bowed and grabbed his hands and said, “We've been waiting for you for twenty years.”

The story she then told explained what she meant. In their cruel march through Cambodia to destroy much of its infrastructure, the Khmer Rouge forces enslaved, killed, or otherwise caused the deaths of millions of Cambodians. When they reached this village, they forced everyone out of their huts and lined them up to dig a deep pit. The villagers realized they were digging their own mass grave. Anyone who tried to run or hide was shot on sight and dragged to the edge of the pit that was being dug. When the pit was finally finished, the soldiers ordered the people to turn and face the pit. As the people stood, helplessly awaiting their execution, they began to cry out in some desperate plea for help. Some screamed to Buddha, some to ancestors, to demon spirits, and some even for their mothers.

Then one woman, drawing on the distant memory of something her mother told her, began to cry out to one she called “the God who hung on the cross.” Surely this one who had suffered so Himself might have compassion on those about to die. Soon, the screams around her became just one desperate wail - crying out to the God who hung on the cross. And then there was silence. As the people slowly turned, they realized the soldiers were gone. And every since that day, they were, as the book says, “waiting for someone to come and tell them more. More about the God who hung on the cross.”

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “God's Wooden Magnet.”

Jesus said in John 12:32, our word for today from the Word of God, “'But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.” Strip away all the Christianity, and all the rituals, and all the steeples, and all the creeds and you're down to what this is really the issue - the God who hung on the cross. Jesus, God's one and only Son, pouring out His life to absorb all the hell of all the sin of all the people who have ever lived. Including you.

God says that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Maybe that's something that you've never done. You've done Christianity - or maybe rejected Christianity - but you've never been to that cross and given yourself to the One who is your only hope of being forgiven, your only hope of heaven because He came back from the dead on Easter morning.

If you belong to Jesus, don't spend time telling people all about your church or even your beliefs. Tell them about Jesus. Take them to that cross where they can see how much He loves them. And if you don't belong to Jesus, will you, in your heart, just stand there at His cross for a moment and say, “Jesus, that was for me. You died for the junk I've done.” Cry out to this God who hung on a cross for you and trust Him to save you, because only He can.

Jesus hung on a cross so your death sentence would be gone. God wants to know what you're going to do with His Son, after all His Son has done for you.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

[see also HolwickID #25236]

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”So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:33

There is a sign outside a local church here in San Jose. It says, “Free trip to Heaven. Details inside.” I see this sign a lot and have varying thoughts about it. My first thought was “evangelistic aren’t they?” My second thought was “no, not really. The details should be carried by each member to the interested persons.” That would make them evangelistic. Jesus never intended for the details of His grace to be locked up in a brick building with a cross on it.

Then I thought “Free? You’ve got to be kidding!” Yes, grace is free. God’s mercy is free. But salvation? That’s not free.” — and salvation is what is being offered as the ticket to Heaven. So how expensive is salvation? It cost Jesus His life. It cost Paul a lucrative career in the Jewish services. It cost many early Christians a trip to an arena full of hungry lions.

So what does it cost, this “free” salvation. Jesus says it in today’s verse, “no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” That “free trip to Heaven” seems a mite expensive — but it is well worth it if you have any foresight at all!

There are three words that came together at Calvary: Justice, Mercy and Grace.

1. Justice is getting what we deserve.

2. Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

3. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #6265]

Jesus keep me near the cross–

There a precious fountain,

Free to all, a healing stream,

Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

In the cross, in the cross

Be my glory ever,

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest, beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star

Shed its beams around me.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day

With its shadows o’er me.

Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever,

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river.

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