DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GLORY IN THE CROSS

GLORY IN THE CROSS

"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. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." (Galatians 6:14-15)

When I talk with people about the Gospel, many times I get the response, "I'm a Baptist," or, "I'm Lutheran," or, "I'm holiness," or, "I'm Pentecostal," as though any of these things would get them to heaven.

In the Galatian church, there were two groups – the circumcised, those of the Jewish tradition which believed that one must obey the law of Moses to be saved, and the uncircumcised, the Gentiles who contended that they were saved by faith alone and not by keeping the Old Testament law.

Paul was saying that these are not the important things. What matters is if I am a new creation in Christ – born again. Whatever group I'm a part of – whether circumcision or uncircumcision – is not the issue. The issue is my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross by which I have been crucified to the flesh, and the world system has been crucified to me.

We need to keep our eyes focused on the Cross of Christ. It was His atoning sacrifice that saved us. We are not saved by keeping rules, lest we make the cross of no effect. We today do not have this struggle regarding circumcision. But we do have other issues that could detract from Christ's Sacrifice. Any work that I do – even Baptism, as important as it is – would make the Cross and Christ's sacrifice of unnecessary if it considered a means of my salvation. In his letter to the Corinthians, he said that God did not send him to baptize people, lest the cross of Christ should be of no effect. His calling was to preach the Gospel. (I Corinthians 1:17)

May we never make our boast in anything – whether our church, our doctrine, our spiritual heritage, our good works, or anything other than the Cross of Christ and the sacrifice He made there. We cannot boast in any thing other than the grace of God provided by Jesus death on the cross. That sacrifice is sufficient.

Love, Dad