THE PATTERN OF THE CROSS – Part 2 of 2

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ.”  (2 Corinthians 5:16-18 NLT)

This upside-down pattern of the cross so contradicts the thinking and practice of the world that it creates an “alternate kingdom,” an alternate reality, a counterculture among those who have been transformed by it. In this peaceable kingdom there is a reversal of the values of the world with regard to power, recognition, status, and wealth. In this new counterculture, Christians look at money as something to give away. They look at power as something to use strictly for service. Racial and class superiority, accrual of money and power at the expense of others, yearning for popularity and recognition, these normal marks of human life, are the opposite of the mindset of those who have understood and experienced the Cross. Christ creates a whole new order of life. Those who are shaped by the great reversal of the Cross no longer need self-justification through money, status, career, or pride of race and class. So the Cross creates a counterculture in which sex, money, and power cease to control us and are used in life-giving and community-building rather than destructive ways. 

-- Timothy Keller (1950-2023) in “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”  

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TRANSFORMED IN CHRIST

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

This is essentially Jesus' work during His earthly ministry.  He makes people whole.

He takes a brash, boisterous braggart named Peter who is spiritually as shifty as sand, and fashions him into a solid rock, so that thousands will hear the gospel through him.

He takes a John of boiling temperament and fiery disposition and channels that fire into love and gives gentleness in place of harshness.

He takes a sinful woman twisted in all her thoughts, torn apart in her conscience, tormented by seven demons, and releases Mary of Magdala from her captivity, even gives her the honor of being the first to see Him risen from the dead.

He takes a greedy, selfish, despicable tax collector and transforms Zacchaeus into a person of Christian charity and benevolence who in turn makes a deep committal:  "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." (Luke 19:8)

He transforms men and women by the power of His love.  A group of very ordinary people are forgiven for their sins, changed in their goals, given a vision, empowered with His Holy Spirit, and these Christians turn the world upside down, or shall we say, right-side up? 

-- H.S. Vigeveno in “Jesus the Revolutionary”

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BEING ANGRY WITH GOD – Part 1 of 2

"Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.”  (Psalm 4:4 NKJV)

Author John Killinger tells about the manager of a minor league baseball team who got so frustrated with his center fielder’s performance that he jerked him out of the game and played the position himself. The first hard-hit ball that came to the manager took a bad hop and smashed into his mouth. His next play was a high fly ball that he lost in the sun -- until it smacked him in the forehead. The third ball that came his way was a hard line drive that flew between his hands and popped him in the eye. Furious, the manager ran off the field to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the shirt and shouted, “You’ve got center field so messed up, even I can’t play it!” (From “750 Engaging Illustrations for Pastors, Teachers, and Writers”)

When it comes to the difficult seasons of our lives, God is the subject of more than His share of fingerpointing. A seventeen-year-old accused of burning down a church in Nashville, Indiana explained at his trial that he took a cigarette lighter to the nearly century-old building because, in his words, “I was angry with God.”

One woman, having lost both her husband and son in separate accidents, posted a notice on the internet that declared: “I am ANGRY at God. I am VERY ANGRY!” She dared to say out loud what you and I really feel sometimes. When our world is turned upside down, it’s easy to believe that God is the culprit.

God understands our anger, and when we pray, it’s a good thing to tell Him what we honestly feel. But sustained bitterness toward the Lord who loves us is irrational and unwise. 

-- David Jeremiah in “Keep the Faith: How to Stand Strong in a World Turned Upside Down”

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CONFORMING TO CHRIST

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].”  (Matthew 16:24 AMP)

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say ‘no’ to oneself.”

What do these two quotes say to us today – to a culture where anything goes, where I am encouraged to say ‘yes’ to my desires, where so many are conforming to the direction of society, rather than to Christ? So much is upside down in this world today. We need to say ‘yes’ to Christ and ‘no’ to oneself. 

The Apostle Paul put it this way, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:2 NIV)

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson

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TOSSED TO AND FRO

“This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church.”  (Ephesians 4:13-15 NLT)

To be tossed and blown about, [or “to and fro” as another version reads,] means to fluctuate or roll up and down with the waves. Following a prevailing current will take you places you never want to go -- from bell-bottoms to bad behavior. Children get caught in the undertow of peer pressure. Maturity equips us to go against the flow!

-- Lenya Heitzig and Penny Pierce Rose in “Pathway to God’s Treasure"


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TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

“But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.’”  (Acts 17:6)

The men who followed Jesus were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up. The world has never been the same.

– Billy Graham

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