THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY


     Have you ever heard someone say, "After all, we all worship the
same god?" You may have even said that yourself. But, really now, do
we all worship the same god? Obviously, American religionists take
great pride in their diversity of doctrines, and that is what is
usually being discussed when someone says, "We disagree on doctrines,
but it really doesn't matter because we all worship the same god."
However, looking at this closely, a diversity of doctrines would be
certain to produce a diversity of gods, wouldn't it??  So maybe we
need to look at that again -- or maybe it will be our first time to
really think about it.
     The Latin word for "cross" is crux. So when we say, "This is the
crux of the matter," we're saying that this is the central thought,
the focal point of the matter. The cross of Christ is that to the
Scriptures. If you take away the part of the death of Jesus for the
sins of the world, you have no story in the Bible.
     In all the hype and sensationalism of modern religion, a
stranger to the gospel might find it difficult to determine what
Christianity is all about. From listening to some preaching and
teaching, he could get the idea that the heart of it all is physical
healings and material prosperity. From others he might get the
impression that Christianity is one continual, hilarious experience
with never a care or a sigh. From just looking around, he might get
the idea that Christianity consists of the erection and maintenance
of beautiful cathedrals and magnificent halls of worship. My friend,
what is your conception of Christianity??
     The heart and soul of Christianity is the death of Christ for
our sins, His burial and resurrection. Without this as the focal
point of all the church's functions, such activities are no more than
just that -- activities.
     The death of Christ on the cross gives purpose to the very
existence of the church and every act of the Christian's faith.
Without it, the songs we sing, the prayers we pray, the worship we
offer, the hope which we embrace, and the sermons we preach would be
without meaning.
     Whatever else may be the subject on which we preach, such as
repentance, service, baptism, sacrifice, happiness -- whatever it is
-- Christ and Him crucified MUST be at the center of it to give it
meaning. We must not stray from the cross in our faith and in our
teaching.
     From a purely human point of view the cross is an enigma. It's
the mystery of the ages. There is really no valid explanation for it.
John 1:11, tells us Jesus "came to His own and those who were His own
received Him not." What a contradiction. He was rejected, condemned
and crucified by His very own people to whom He came to minister.
     Peter states, "He went about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38). Was
it for the good He did that they crucified Him? He himself once asked
them, "Many good works have I showed you from my Father: for which of
those works do ye stone me?" (John 10:32). Pilate asked, "What evil
hath He done?" Why would they crucify Him? They had no answer.
     Matthew tells us in his account of the crucifixion that Pilate
"knew that for envy they had delivered Him" to be crucified (Matthew
27:17). Oh, the evil that jealousy and envy bring about. From an
envious and jealous and spiteful heart comes all kinds of
inhumanities to man.
     Peter told the Jews who had part in the vile deed, it was
"through ignorance that ye did it" (Acts 3:17). Remember, also, that
Jesus prayed for them while He was on the cross, "Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:24). They could have
known. They should have known. They had the Scriptures. But, they
chose not to know.
     Hatred played a part in His crucifixion. Jesus stated, "If I had
not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they
have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth Me hateth my Father
also...They have hated me without a cause" (John 15:22-25).
     Prejudice was also a contributing factor. Jesus once said to
them that their prophets had spoken of them saying, "This people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them" (Matthew
13:15). They were satisfied with their religious traditions and they
were not about to hear anything Christ or anyone else had to say.
Prejudice is bad. Racial prejudice! Social prejudice! Economic
prejudice! Religious prejudice! It is all ugly and bad. It certainly
played a part in our Lord's crucifixion.
     Greed was also present, the love of money. Judas, a familiar
friend who had been with Jesus for three years accepted the paltry
sum of thirty pieces of silver to betray him. Others have sold him,
or His cause for the gain of material things. We have even heart of
people who sell their children for money.
     All of these things contributed to the terrible deed: envy,
ignorance, hatred, prejudice, and greed. These are some of the human
factors which constituted the enigma. Yet, what was really behind it
all?
     It was the grace and the love and goodness of a loving Father.
Did not "God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have
everlasting life" (John 3:16). The scripture says, "Wherefore as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so then death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). The
justice of God demands under the law of God that the judgment be
passed on all men. But the grace and the love of God prevailed.
     God has said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek.
18:20). And again, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of
God" (Romans 3:23). Yet, He loved us all so much that He gave His
only begotten Son to die on the cross, so we won't have to die an
eternal death in a devel's hell.
     That is what the cross is all about. The Word of God says that
Jesus "tasted death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). "He died for our
sins" (1 Corinthians 15:1-3). We are redeemed by His blood, as a lamb
slain "from the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:18).
     Christ, in His death, brought redemption and reconciliation and
peace with God, the Father. Through His resurrection He also
conquered death and brought life and immortality to light. In His
death, burial and resurrection, Jesus overcame physical and spiritual
death. This, my friend, is the crux of Christianity. It is the story
of the cross. It is the power and the wisdom of God. That is why Paul
would write to the Corinthian Christians, "Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye
have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believe in
vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received. How that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; and that He was buried, and the He rose again the third
day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
     That is the divine element in the death of Christ. It was no
accident, to be sure. Envy, ignorance, hatred, prejudice, and greed
crucified Him. Those who were involved did so by their own volition
and their own free will. Yet, Peter told the Jews, "Him, being
delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts
2:23). It all happened according to the determination and
foreknowledge of God.
     There are untold millions who believe in the historical Jesus. I
mean by this, they believe He lived and died; He truly existed. But,
that isn't enough. There are many others who believe in the
redemptive plan of God in the crucifixion of Christ. But, to believe
in it isn't enough to be saved by it. Paul makes that sufficiently
clear in chapter six of the Roman letter: "Know ye not that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
     The heart of Christianity is the cross. Baptism has meaning only
when it is viewed in the light of the cross. Being a Christian has
not meaning except for the cross. We must never wander very far from
the cross-- in our faith, in our worship, in our living, in our
preaching. Now, that is not as sensational and as spectacular as some
things we hear preached about. To many people, the preaching of the
cross is just "plain vanilla," and they seek something more spirited
and scintillating. But to those who are called, it is the power of
God. Read 1 Corinthians 1:18: "For the word of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of
God."
     My friend, have you rejected the grace of God, resisted His
calling, and are you still living in sin, apart from Him?  I feel
that you believe in Him and the atonement of the blood of the cross,
or you would not have heard me this far. Then why not, obey Him, be
baptized with Him into His death. Be buried with Him and raised with
Him to walk in newness of life. Time is very fleeting! Don't
procrastinate.
     May I stress, to each one in our listening audience, Christ died
for your sins. It is true that He died for the sins of the world, but
the important thing is that He died for YOU. It was our sins that
brought about His death. I care not what your sins may be, how heavy
they hang on your conscience, or how light they may be in your
estimate. By God's grace, He made forgiveness of all that possible by
the death of His Son on the cross.
     He asks that you believe in Him and His redemptive work, that
you by the obedience of baptism reenact His death, burial and
resurrection. He will set you free from all guilt. Baptism is the
very act that puts you into the body of Christ. Will you not place
your faith and confidence in Christ; repent or turn from your sins;
confess your faith in Him as God's Son; and then be baptized into the
body of Christ. The Father will then add you to His family.
                          
                                   From material by: Mack Lyons
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