THE CROSS

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

THE CROSS

When I was a music pastor many years ago, my assignment one year during the Easter service was to sing a couple verses of the well-known hymn, The Old Rugged Cross… simple words, powerful message:

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

               the emblem of suffering and shame;

               and I love that old cross where the dearest and best

               for a world of lost sinners was slain.

               So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,

               till my trophies at last I lay down;

               I will cling to the old rugged cross,

               and exchange it some day for a crown.

I had sung that song all my life. Most everyone present knew the words to The Old Rugged Cross, for it had for many years been a classic hymn of the Christian Church.

So, like a bird’s first song in the morning, I started off with the chorus, touching each word and note with great emotion, with plans to head right into the first verse. However, when I got to the first verse, my mind was suddenly void of any semblance of the message written by the author. I had a choice to make: I could just whistle the verse… or I could look like I was so moved with emotions that I couldn’t choke out the words… or I could make up my own words. I chose the latter- to re-compose the first verse with an adlib that I am sure George Bernard, the author most likely went directly to the Lord in Heaven to complain- “look what that guy just did to my song!”

While I still remember that awful moment of having to “cover” for my human weakness, I am reminded of how much of the story of the cross is “re-written” today to fit our own needs and desires.

Nothing has stirred quite so much controversy as the Cross. There are two sides of the cross that are easy to see: on one side the media mocks it, liberal politicians fear it, city and library administrators are known to ban it, countless “progressive” teachers have censored it… Yet Christians keep on wearing it.

So do fashion-conscious teenagers across the country, and some stores can barely keep up with the demand. Girls from coast to coast sport decorative crosses stripped of any real Christian meaning

A cross purged of Christian meaning doesn’t offend anyone. Yet a cross standing on a hill or in a town square during this season portraying the true meaning of Easter sends a message that many often refuse to tolerate.

The world demands a conformity that validates its values, not God's values. Society wants approval, not truths. And, as Jesus once said, "men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19-20)

But those of us who love God…who are "crucified with Christ," …filled with His life and walking in His light -- cannot approve of that darkness because we are in the world, but not of the world. We can spread God's love, but we can't love what God forbids. So, much of society calls us extremists, for it doesn't understand.

The cross sometimes stirs persecution -- even in America. “Remember," said Jesus, "...If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.... because they do not know Him who sent Me." (John 15:20-21)

In hard times, the victory of the cross may look anything but triumphant. But we MUST remember that the way of the cross sometimes brings pain as well as joy. God's way up may first lead down; His call to victory might, at first, look like defeat. The Apostle Paul is an example…For taking his stand with Jesus, Paul faced hatred, persecution, beatings, stoning, imprisonment, starvation and, ultimately, martyrdom. But suffering for Christ didn’t quench his joy. He had counted the cost and received something infinitely greater than all the coveted thrills and treasures of the world -- fellowship with Jesus, the Lord of all, both now and forever.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Instead of changing the Old Rugged Cross into something of my own liking, this Friday, Good Friday, I intend to look on the Cross for what it is, - a symbol of God’s continued work in me, knowing that the cross is only a short time away from Resurrection!