Focus: The Meaning of the Cross

Text: Lk.9:23

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up HIS CROSS DAILY, and follow me."

There is the cross of history and there is the cross of the Spirit. The cross is more than a symbol of history; it is the spiritual principle of our Christian Faith.

The cross means basically three things for the Christian.

1. Sacrifice to God

Paul says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a LIVING SACRIFICE, holy, acceptable UNTO GOD, which is your reasonable service" - Rom.12:1.

Our text says, "Take his cross daily..." It's a daily sacrifice to God. It's the sacrifice of daily obedience to God and daily living in Christ.

2. Death to self or the flesh

Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ..." Gal.2:20. Again, he says, "I die daily" (1Cor.15:31). It's dying daily. It's daily death because the flesh never dies permanently.

Satan wins any day you miss dying. God is glorified every day you die to self. Paul says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" - Gal.5:24. Apart from dying to the flesh, we also die to the world. Paul says again, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" - Gal.6:14. Worldliness loses its luster. The flesh loses its appeals.

3. Love for others

John writes, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..." - Jh.3:16. God gave His Son on the cross as the proof of His love for humanity. So you can't talk about truly loving others without having the cross at the center of it.

John continues in his epistle, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" - 1Jh.3:16. You see it? Real loving is dying. It's laying down your life for another. It's giving and forgiving.

That's the meaning, principle and implication of the cross: sacrifice to God, death to self, and love for others. By the cross we are saved and by the cross we live. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter