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Bible Will I Find: The Connection Of The Cross To The Church? By: Gary Colley
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Bible Will I Find: The Connection Of The Cross To The Church? By: Gary Colley
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Many seem to think they can magnify Christ’s death on the cross while minimizing or completely ignoring the Lord’s church. But the Scriptures express a definite relation between the cross and the church. It is not possible to understand the nature of the church until one has viewed it in the light of the cross. A proper understanding of the relationship between the cross and the church will enable one to appreciate God’s plan of redemption for sinful man. Please note some definite connections between the cross and the church: 1. The cross made the church possible. It was through the cross that God reconciled both Jew and Gentile in one body (Eph.2:13-16). When Christ died, He took away the Law of Moses and created one new man in His church. Paul wrote, “And he is the head of the body the church..” (Col.1:18). Hence we conclude the cross made the church possible. 2. The church was purchased by the blood of the cross. The church did not exist before the cross, because it was purchased with the blood of the cross (Acts 20:28). Before Christ death, the New Testament was not in force, and without the New Testament, the New Testament church could not exist (Rom.7:4; Heb.9:15-16). 3. The cross is connected to worship. New Testament worship cannot be rightly understood without being viewed in the light of the cross, since we have access to God through Christ and His cross (Eph.2:15-16). It is by the cross that we approach God through the new and living way or the church (Heb.10:19-20). All Christians are priest who offer worship, through our High Priest Jesus Christ (I Pet.2:9). Every act of Christian worship relates to the cross. 4. The cross relates to entrance into the church of Christ. The way of the cross is the way into the Lord’s church. The message of the cross must be preached to every creature, and is the means of approaching the benefits of the cross of Christ. These acts are faith (Jn.8:24), repentance (Acts 3:19), confession of faith in Christ (Rom.10:9-10), and baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; Rom.6:3-4). 5. The cross condemns division. Denominationalism is out of harmony with the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ purchased one church (Acts 20:28; Eph.2:15). Every Christian should know that it is a paramount duty to promote unity, and discourage division, in order to fulfill one of the purposes of the cross (Eph.4:1-6). To the Corinthians, Paul administered a scathing rebuke for their divisions (I Cor.1:10, 12-13). The entire Christian religion centers around the cross of Christ, and every act of obedience, and every facet of His teaching---the church, its establishment, its worship, its entrance, its unity---directly relates to the cross (Gal.6:14). –Gary Colley