THE CROSS WON'T CHANGE
Things are Changing
Things are changing. And I’m not just talking about the time of year as the weather changes from summer to fall and the leaves change from green to yellow. And I’m not simply referring to the regular cycle of this life either, as the times and the trends of this world change for the better or for the worse. I’m talking about the changes that are happening right here a little closer to home: the change in the location of our worship services, the changes in what we can do in our ministry to the lost, the changes we have been planning for this past year and have already begun to put into practice. And they are some exciting changes, aren’t they! A sanctuary that is almost twice the size as this one, an actual fellowship area that provides more than just elbow room for a few people, a pavilion that will be able to accommodate multiple outdoor activities, an entire facility all our own that will give us countless more opportunities to invite and encourage and welcome those around us to get to know the Lord and his Word. No more storefront. No more light fixtures dangling from chains. No more distractions from next door. Things are changing. Quickly. Whether we’re ready for them or not.
Are you proud of these changes? Does it fill you with pride to be able to invite someone you know to a nice looking building? Does it fill you with pride to have the chance to welcome someone into a brand new facility? A place that you helped build? A project that you helped support? A house of worship that you can actually call your own? It should! There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what has happened in the past 9 months and what we have been working towards for much longer than that! The Lord has blessed us tremendously! He has showered us with his grace in more ways than we could have possibly imagined at this time last year! And so don’t hesitate to tell others about all these incredible changes! Invite them to see it for themselves! Encourage them to check out what makes you so excited! But also realize this: Satan will try to use these changes against you.
Satan Uses Those Changes
The devil isn’t going to just sit back and watch. He isn’t going to quietly observe as we invite and encourage and welcome people into a House of God with all of the enthusiasm and energy of a group of Christians motivated by the love of our Lord. And he’s certainly not going to give up. Satan is going to do his best to use these blessings to undermine the Truth, to distract us from the important, to puff our chests up about the inconsequential. Because that’s what Satan does: he may not be able to stop God’s blessings from coming to us but he sure will try to twist them and skew them and take them to the extreme once they are in our hands. He will want to get us so focused and so obsessed with the “new” that we look past the “never changing.” He will want us to be so proud of what our hands have done that the accomplishments of God’s hands just don’t seem that exciting anymore. He will desperately attempt with all of his tricks and deceptions to make us focus on something else rather than on the cross.
In May of 2006 I received the call through the assignment committee of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary to Living Word Lutheran Church in Montrose, CO. And as I sat down with the district president to look over the information sent from this congregation, it was immediately stated in the cover letter that this was a mission congregation that currently worshiped in a storefront. Now, I didn’t really have any specific expectations about the congregation I would be assigned to, but I think it’s safe to say that when I, as with any young man who is studying to become a pastor within our synod… I did not imagine myself at my first congregation standing in a storefront under the sterile glow of precariously placed florescent lights on the other side of a wall from a sports bar. That’s just not the ideal picture that most men have in their minds as they anticipate their first call into the full time ministry. Was I disappointed? No, not at all. I couldn’t have been more excited to serve my God in this way no matter where I was to go. But was I proud? I can’t say I was initially proud of a storefront congregation that had been around not just for a couple years, but for almost 70 years by the time I arrived. I didn’t brag about the storefront location to others; I didn’t think it worth bringing up when people asked how ministry was going for me. And when I would talk to people in town about Living Word at first I would say things like, “We’re in a storefront now, but we’re hopefully going to be moving out soon.” “Yeah, we’re downtown temporarily, but the plan is to build our own place.” “We used to have a church building on Park Ave. but we wanted to build a bigger facility somewhere else so we moved into this storefront in the meantime.”
But why shouldn’t I have been proud? Because what was happening inside these walls? The Word of God was happening. The gospel was being preached and taught. Baptisms were being performed. The Lord’s Supper was being offered. But do you see how the devil was subtly working on me? Do you see how he was trying to get me to focus all of my attention on the outward appearance and the supposed importance of a physical structure and an external impression? Do you see how he can work on you in the same way? Playing with your pride? Diverting your attention? Making it seem like some things are much more important than they actually are?
The Cross is All That Counts
The apostle Paul was dealing with a similar attitude with the congregations in the region of Galatia. They were becoming so concerned about the externals and the impression that they were giving that they were overlooking the only thing that really counted: the cross. “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.”
There were not many physical church buildings that Christians were able to worship in at Paul’s time, and so that social “status symbol” of a building wasn’t too much of an issue. But there was the matter of circumcision: that Old Testament Jewish law that every male had to follow. And these Jewish Christians were apparently being coerced to be circumcised by other non-believing Jews because then it wouldn’t seem like they were turning their backs on their heritage; and it would be a little more socially acceptable if they took pride in their nationality; and they wouldn’t seem so out of place or strange compared to those around them. And so soon it didn’t matter what they believed; it mattered what people thought of them. And their pride was no longer resting on the cross of Christ, but on the precious pedigree passed down to them by their ancestors. They were losing sight of the one thing that they should have never looked away from. They were taking their eyes off the cross.
If you have been over to the new building lately, you have seen the new cross hanging in the sanctuary. Its nine feet tall and six feet wide, designed and hand crafted by a couple of the Builders for Christ out of two different kinds of wood. It’s a nice cross. A large cross. And we have nothing like it in here. The closest thing we have is that brass cross sitting on top of the altar or that old wooden cross that leans off of the side wall by a chain during Lent. But although that new cross is hanging in the new sanctuary in the new church building under new lights over new carpet surrounded by new walls and new paint soon to be looking over new altar furniture and new chairs, that cross is nothing new. It’s the same cross. It may have a new form and a new location, but the cross there is the same cross as we have always had here. Because it’s the cross of our Savior. It’s the cross of his sacrifice. It’s the cross of our forgiveness. It is the exact same ancient instrument of torture that made our Paradise possible - no matter where we are. It has been and it always will be the center of our worship, the theme of our hymns, the focus of every sermon, and the motivation for our entire life. The physical material out of which this symbol of our salvation is made might change; its form and its color and its adornment might vary from time to time; but its meaning never will. It will always mean eternal life to all who believe. It will always be the strength of our faith. It will always be the strength of our congregation. It will always be the strength of the Church.
The Cross is What We Can Boast about
And that’s something we can boast about. That is something that we can invite people to hear and encourage people to see and welcome people to experience firsthand. The cross is the one thing that is worth sharing with people no matter where we are at: a storefront, a new church building, a hospital room, a kitchen table, a coffee shop, a backyard fence. The cross is something to be bragged about! The cross is something that should fill us up with pride as Christians because it has never failed us, it has always been there for us, and it will never change. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal effects that it has produced will always stay the same. Buildings will fall, locations will dilapidate, the beautiful will turn ugly, the new will grow old. But the cross, the cross alone found in the pages of Scripture remains firm and true and ageless. And we can put our pride in that for as long as we live.
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” the apostle Paul said. He could have boasted that he was called by Christ himself in a special appearance on the road to Damascus. He could have boasted that he was set apart by the Holy Spirit to be a missionary to the world. He could have boasted that his efforts produced brand new congregations in multiple locations in a short amount of time. He could have boasted that he was chosen as an inspired writer of Scripture itself and had more books inserted into the Bible than any other author. He could have boasted about his calling, his abilities, his accomplishments, his status… but he didn’t. Instead he boasted about things like his weaknesses because God’s power was displayed through his faults. He boasted about things like his sufferings because God’s grace was evident through his pain. And he boasted about the cross of his Lord because that was what saved him, what rescued him, what made him who he was. Paul was a boaster - but only about those things that Christ had done on his behalf.
What kinds of things could you boast about in your life? A successful career? A good looking family? A nice house? A talented child? A likable personality? A hard working mentality? A new church building? A cross? Yes, a cross. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” May you never have another boast. You don’t need one. The cross has given you everything you need. And that will never change.
Amen.
“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen!” - Rev. 7:12
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