What must Christians do to remember the Crucifixion of Christ?
Reply: “Preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2).
1) Don’t Be Distracted.
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). It is this fact of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Apostle Paul was determined to preach. By following a man-made religious calendar, people have been turned away from that Cross. “Christmas” diverts attention to Jesus’ birth; “Lent” places the emphasis upon human denial; “Easter” skips the cross to Jesus’ resurrection; and “the thief on the cross” makes salvation from a thief rather than Jesus! Bible faith says: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
2) Don’t Be Dissuaded.
"Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Luke 12:51-53). Jesus had just referred to His crucifixion as His “baptism” (Luke 12:50), which can cause dysfunctional family relationships when not everyone in the family believes in His cross. Today, some call for racial, bloody riots, and deaths, which divides families, instead of appealing to everyone to come to Jesus’ Cross for the love of God. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:3)
3) Don’t Be Deluded.
In Corinth, Paul “testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 18:5). “Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). Jesus had said to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:15-16). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name” (1 Corinthians 1:14-15). A sinner’s baptism is “in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), not Paul’s name. Paul made no change in the Gospel, “lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Corinthians 1:17).
4) Don’t Be Disillusioned.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). April 5, 2020
More of my “Words of Wisdom,” can be found at Words of Wisdom Articles
Please use the tags below as an Index for my content.
