Easter – 2022 – Village Campus

                                                         Easter – 2022 – Village Campus

Subject – The Purpose, the Pain, and the Power of the Cross

By Rick Welborne

1 Corinthians 1:17-18 (NIV)
¹⁷  For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
¹⁸  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

Philippians 3:18-20 (NLT)
¹⁸  For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
¹⁹  They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.
²⁰  But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

--I heard someone use the term “Christian Atheist” and I thought immediately that statement is definitely an oxymoron. Then I listened to their definition. 

Christian atheist:  Someone who confesses Christ but lives like He does not exist.

--Today I want to speak to you about cross-less Christians.

Cross-less Christian – Someone who believes that their life in Christ should be, and must be, free from pain and suffering.

--Much damage has been done in the Kingdom by those who have taught a prosperity gospel that is all about what we receive and enjoy compared to what we give up and endure.

--So many want preachers to tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. Preaching or teaching the Word of God comes with great responsibility and with fear and trembling. My job:

2 Timothy 4:1-5 (NKJV)
¹  I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
²  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
³  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
⁴  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
⁵  But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 

--Today I want us to talk about the cross of Jesus Christ…The Purpose…The Pain…The Power!

1. The Purpose of the Cross

John 3:14-16 (NKJV)
¹⁴  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
¹⁵  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
¹⁶  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

--The absolute purpose of the cross…the reason Jesus was lifted up was so that all of us could be saved. We do not have to be lost or to spend eternity away from God because of the price Jesus paid. 

--The message of the cross may seem to be foolish to some…think about the pretty cross you wear around your neck as jewelry. The symbol of death for our Lord Jesus Christ!

--Celebrities wear crosses…athletes have crosses tattooed on their bodies…right next to momma…people have crosses on their walls or desks…oh, that we would remember what it stands for. Its message.

--So what’s my point?  We have so softened the purpose of the cross and we have so devalued the price Jesus paid to the point we can wear the symbol of His death and still live like Hell.

--Please don’t misunderstand me, you can wear your cross but please don’t forget what it was for. When people tell you your cross is pretty, you tell them about Jesus. The cost.

Matthew 27:41-43 (NKJV)
⁴¹  Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said,
⁴²  "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
⁴³  He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' "  

--He saved others; Himself He cannot save…the chief priest, the scribes, and elders didn’t know how true their statement was…His purpose was not to save Himself but to save all of us.

--His purpose was not to get off the cross and save Himself but to bear our sins on that tree so that you and I can walk in freedom every day. 

Missionary Joseph Gordon – You hear people say the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. Tell that to Jesus. God’s perfect will hung Him on the cross. 

2. The Pain of the Cross

Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
⁶  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
⁷  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
⁸  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

--You see Jesus did not endure the cross for a bunch of wonderful people…He did it for rotten sinners like you and me. Our veterans went to fight for those who loved our country and those who do not. Thank you!

--Oh, how we here in America want a painless Christianity…give me the assurance of Heaven, give me my children serving God, give me blessings (big house and fancy cars) but no suffering please. No pain.

1 Peter 4:13-14 (NKJV)
¹³  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.
¹⁴  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.

--Only a century ago there were brave souls who became known as one-way missionaries. They purchased their tickets to the mission field without the return half. Today we have Live-Dead Missionaries. 

 --Instead of suitcases they packed their belongings in coffins. Most said their goodbyes to family knowing they would never see them again.

--A.W.Milne was one of those missionaries. He sailed to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific knowing that the missionaries before him were martyred by the headhunters there.

--Milne did not fear for his life because he had already died to himself. His coffin was packed. He had counted the cost and considered the pain. 

--He lived among the people there for 35 years and loved them. When he died they buried him in the middle of their village.

Milne’s Tombstone – When he came there was no light. When he left there was no darkness.

Matthew 16:24 (NKJV)
²⁴  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

3. The Power of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)
¹⁸  For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

--The cross is the power of God…the cross is the power of God to save us and to save those who are lost. The power of the cross was by Him (Jesus) Who hung on it. 

John 12:32-33 (NKJV)
³²  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."
³³  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

--To the carnal mind this does not make sense…how can a dead man on a cross draw people to Himself?

--Yes, He died on the cross and, yes, He was buried but that is not the end of the story…something happened three days later.  Jesus walked out of the tomb sealing the deal forever. He is alive!

--The power of the cross can take away all your sin. It was, no it is nailed to the cross.

Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT2)
¹³  You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
¹⁴  He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
¹⁵  In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.