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May 7, 2017 | Pastor Bayles | The Wonderful Cross | Colossians 2:6-15
The Wonderful Cross
Colossians 2:6-15
There is a center to the faith. Something that makes Christianity come into the human experience. The resurrection demonstrates the power and glory of God in redemption. The cross brings us to the very bottom of our depravity. Sin, is the great enemy of our life. And sin is highlighted by the law. Without the moral standard of the law, we could declare ourselves to be good, most of the time, people. But, in the presence of the law, every defect of our fallen nature is revealed. The Apostle Paul lamented, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”(Rom.7:24). “This body of death,” what is the apostle talking about? It is what we all know about ourselves. We try to hide it, to distract attention to it, to even be deceptive in order to keep others from seeing our dirty secrets. But, it is there in all of us. Depravity. The condition of sin. The rotting, hopeless connection to a nature that is birthed in the sin of our father Adam and has effected every aspect of our thinking and doing lives. Today the Apostle sends us a message of hope. We are not children of Adam any longer, but children of God. And it is because of the cross that this is how we are viewed by God. As a result, we must turn our eyes toward what we know is true. Only the cross makes us whole. We must see our lives and thinking through he prism of the cross where our sins: past, present and future, were nailed and taken away.
Colossians 2:6-15
There is a center to the faith. Something that makes Christianity come into the human experience. The resurrection demonstrates the power and glory of God in redemption. The cross brings us to the very bottom of our depravity. Sin, is the great enemy of our life. And sin is highlighted by the law. Without the moral standard of the law, we could declare ourselves to be good, most of the time, people. But, in the presence of the law, every defect of our fallen nature is revealed. The Apostle Paul lamented, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”(Rom.7:24). “This body of death,” what is the apostle talking about? It is what we all know about ourselves. We try to hide it, to distract attention to it, to even be deceptive in order to keep others from seeing our dirty secrets. But, it is there in all of us. Depravity. The condition of sin. The rotting, hopeless connection to a nature that is birthed in the sin of our father Adam and has effected every aspect of our thinking and doing lives. Today the Apostle sends us a message of hope. We are not children of Adam any longer, but children of God. And it is because of the cross that this is how we are viewed by God. As a result, we must turn our eyes toward what we know is true. Only the cross makes us whole. We must see our lives and thinking through he prism of the cross where our sins: past, present and future, were nailed and taken away.
