The Old Rugged Cross
One of my favorite hymns of all time is the old rugged cross because it expresses my heart. To the old rugged cross I will every be true. No I do not think that the rugged cross holds some strange power etc. But to me I hold it dear because it reminds me of what my Savior did for me. The other day the old cross that had been hanging around my neck for years finally broke. I must be honest I felt naked with out it. It was like an old friend was gone. But my lovely wife got me a replacement for my Birthday. I have worn a cross around my neck since I became a Christian 30 years ago. It is not because this pastor believes it will bring me blessings or good fortune. I do not believe it will keep the demons or like away. I am not like some religions that insult my Savior by wearing a cross with Jesus still hanging on it. NO!!! I wear a cross that is made of old nails and has no one on it. You see Jesus in not still on the cross and He never wanted us to remember the cross as a place of death and loss. When we leave Jesus on the cross we miss the whole point of what Jesus did for us. We miss the whole point of the Cross. The point of the cross is not to center on it. When the Passion of the Christ came out so many Christians went to see it . Many told me I should go see it. I told them all, I do not need to watch two plus hours of an actor portraying my Jesus being tortured. I don't need that to follow Him. What saddens me about that whole Passion of the Christ thing is that many of the strong Christians I know who went to see it are now lukewarm or falling away. Many have said "they don't know how they can follow a God that did that to His own son." Why is this you ask? I believe that the old devil used that movie to take the focus of many off of Jesus and what He came for and put it on only His death. ( for what it is worth dept. the man who produced the Passion of the Christ is now making a movie to glorify Mary) So yes, I do believe the Passion of the Christ was used by Satan. What most Christians fail to understand is that God did not do this to His Son. His Son volunteered for the job. Jesus had the power to step off that cross and wipe out all the Jews and Romans that had hung Him there. What did He say in the garden? Matthew 26:52-54 (NLT) 52"Put away your sword, Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword. 53Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? 54But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now? You see if God had wanted the death of Jesus on the Cross to be the focus of His life the Gospels would have 20 chapters on the last day of His life and 2 chapters on the rest of His Life. But it is the exact opposite. The Bible focuses on the life of Jesus and all that He taught and did.
When we focus on the old rugged cross we should only see the love that hung there. Not the pain, not the sorrow, not the death, but the love that resided there for a short time. Even during the last moments of His earthly life Jesus had compassion on those who supported Him. One time I was working overseas and I took a picture of an old church. The congregation could not afford fancy stained glass windows or a big cross so they took their fingers and white paint and made crosses on the windows. Even though the many of the windows had been broken and the metal holding them in was rusty you could still see the finger painted crosses on the glass. This little group did not see the Cross as a place of death but as a place of joy and hope. They saw the cross as a symbol of triumph over this world.
You see the cross should be viewed as a doorway to eternal life. Because of what Jesus went through He opened the way for every human being to access the very presence of God. He opened the door to heaven if only we will believe and step through. As an international ministry we receive on a daily basis prayer requests from pastors around the world that are fearing for their lives. Whether it is from the Maoists in Nepal, the Muslims in India or the communists in China there are pastors and Christians putting their lives on the line each day for Jesus. Do you think they see the cross as a symbol of death like the Passion of the Christ portraits it? No! they see the cross as a doorway to heaven, they see it as a symbol of hope. They see it as a tool for our Savior to accomplish His and His Fathers purpose. We in America forget what it is to live with the threat of death for our beliefs. Maybe if more of us did we would not have the 15,000 lukewarm member churches. We would be like many Christians around the world, meeting in small groups ready to give our lives for Jesus. Not showing up at church late being upset because the latte maker is broken.
Take some time this week and reflect on what the old rugged cross means to you and what would you do if faced with death or denying Jesus. I know what my choice would be DEATH. To me it will be an honor to be like Peter and hang upside down on a cross for my Savior.
God Bless
Pastor AJ
