The Way of the Cross

The cross should be at the center of our worship and our lives, as it is the most important part of our lives.

John 19:30

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

We cannot go ahead in faith without going back to the cross. If we remove the cross of Jesus from our faith, we are left with just another religion. The cross is the center and pivot of our faith. What Christ accomplished on the cross is what has made us who we are today. The gospel without the cross is just another session of encouragement or motivational teaching.

We must have the cross for the gospel to be relevant. It is because the cross points us to God, our Savior, our Redeemer.

Galatians 6:14

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.

The cross is the basis of our reconciliation with God and with people

Ephesians 2:16

..and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

The cross was not a Jewish thing, but a heathen thing, that they used to punish people. It was an instrument of torture, for capital punishment. Sometimes they used to suffocate people with smoke while on the cross, other times like we see in the times of Jesus they used to break their bones.

As we sing, God turns things around. God turned an instrument of torture to something that can save a man. God turned that which used to kill, torture and punish so that you and I can get life. That is what our God can do. In the same way God can use that which brings shame in your life to something that can be celebrated. God used the cross to bless us and the nations.

When people wondered why Paul was making a big deal of the cross, thinking that the cross was folly and wondering why he could not boast in anything apart from the cross (Gal. 6:14), this is what he told them:

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For us who have received the work of the cross, we are on the path of salvation.

People hate the cross because it reminds humanity that we are weak, sinners, and cannot make it on our own. That’s the last thing people want to hear, but it is the only thing that can save. The cross is opposed to the flesh, to pride. The cross does not respect any person, and does not discriminate or favor anyone. It deals with all humanity. Whether you are learned or not, black or white, rich or poor, the cross will remind you that you are a sinner, if you have not accepted the finished work of the cross.

Who died?

Many people die and are dying, but none of them grabs our attention or cause us to pause and think as we should. This Man when He died shocked the world, as darkness covered the world, and earthquakes shook the world.

John 19:30

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

In the original text, the Greek text that mentions the name of Jesus, it starts with the article “the”, implying “The Jesus.” The article implies that there is no other like Him, that there is only one The Jesus who died. He was the One who was prophesied, the Messiah.

Isaiah 53:2

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

This is the One who died, the One who Was, Is and Is to come.

John 8:58

Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

He is the incarnate God. He was whipped, nailed to the cross, until His form could not be recognized. When the importance of Jesus is not to be minimized, His importance is very much attached to His death on the cross.

When you look critically, there is a question which comes up.

The writers of the Gospel did not use the direct translation of the Greek word that implies that Jesus died; the use one that says that He willingly gave His life. the word used in this verse implies that the mood of this verse and context is that Jesus loved to and willingly gave His life.

John 10:17-18 (AMP)

For this [reason] the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life — to take it back again. 18 No one takes it away from Me. On the contrary, I lay it down voluntarily. [I put it from Myself.] I am authorized and have power to lay it down (to resign it) and I am authorized and have power to take it back again. These are the instructions (orders) which I have received [as My charge] from My Father.

The ones who crucified Him thought they killed Him, but rather He gave His life. We can never know the details that went on that cross, which is why we used our language to say that He died for us, which is what we can comprehend with our minds.

To walk this walk with the cross, we have another question we are answering:

How did He die?

John 19:30b

He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

According to the original manuscript, Jesus shouted, exclaimed, made a declaration, announced, decreed (with finality), and said “It is finished!” according to the Greek manuscript, the mood in this text was a victorious declaration, a statement with finality, such that no one could reverse what He decreed. It was not a shout of a loser, of that of someone who is dying. It is a shout of victory, the shout of a winner, an overcomer.

The mission that the Father had finished is what Jesus was shouting in joy and victory, that it was finished. The healing of sicknesses, infirmities and diseases, salvation, deliverance, was finished. Today as we celebrate our Madaraka as a country, we are celebrating our victory in Christ.

In bowing His head, Jesus was bowing His authority. In life, death and resurrection, Jesus triumphed over sin and the enemy. By His death, He won us to God, and we legally belong to God.

Why did He die?

Since the fall of man, he had lived in sin. For salvation to be effected, there had to be one who was one with men, but above men, which is why Christ became like one of us, still being God incarnate.

•  To make us righteous

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (AMP)

For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].

Jesus received the punishment of a criminal, becoming sin, so that when we believe in Him, we are made the righteousness of God. Do not walk in guilt anymore, allowing the devil to pin you down and mind you of what you did years ago, Jesus bore all your sins for you so that you may become the righteousness of God. The penalty of sin was taken away. You are blessed, the righteousness of God. Christ took away the penalty. We should walk in confidence, in joy, glorying that we have become the righteousness of God through what Christ did on the cross. 

If you have not received Christ, He is inviting you to become the righteousness of Christ, so that wherever you go, you represent Him as His ambassador.

2 Corinthians 5:20

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

An ambassador represents his kingdom. We are not of this world and kingdom, we are ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven, as a result of what Jesus did, and we need to show others the rules and depth of the kingdom we represent.

• To heal us

Matthew 8:16-17

When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, ¹⁷ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses."

Isaiah 534-5

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

Today we can believe we are healed because He took away all sicknesses, illnesses, infirmities, diseases, and carried it all on His body, on the cross. Today we can walk by faith, declaring that we are healed, because the word of God said so, because Christ took it away when He went to the cross.

• To free us from curses

Galatians 3:13-14

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

Galatians 3:13-14 (AMP)

                        

Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse (doom) of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified); 14 To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.

A curse hinders us from being who God wants us to be. By the taking away the curse, Christ set us free to be who God wants us to be. By being blessed, we should not struggle to make anything happen. The blessing takes away the idea of toiling. The blessing turns that around, and this is what Christ did for us. We are blessed, not cursed.

• To free us from poverty

2 Corinthians 8:9 (AMP)   

For you are becoming progressively acquainted with and recognizing more strongly and clearly the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (His kindness, His gracious generosity, His undeserved favor and spiritual blessing), [in] that though He was [so very] rich, yet for your sakes He became [so very] poor, in order that by His poverty you might become enriched (abundantly supplied).

The word “rich” and “poor” in this context talked about material things. Poverty does not glorify God.

We should be determined to and make a declaration that whatever Christ accomplished we shall lay a hold of and not be deterred, because Christ has done it for us. Christ has taken away our sins, set us free, healed us, blessed us, and freed us from poverty.

This is our word and blessing, and what we need to rise up and get hold of. 

Amen. 

-- Pastor Karani Kaugi.

(01/06/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 

Pastor Karani Kaugi is a pastor at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.