SERMON “ALWAYS REMEMBER HIS CROSS”

Shalom

If we are still alive and able to serve the Lord, all because of His mercy manifested in His sacrifice on Golgotha. God the Father so loved the sinful man, including us. The cross of Christ should be our personal experience in recognition that he is the savior, as written in 1 Corinthians 1:2, 18, 29, “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours; 1 Corinthians 1:18  For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.1 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. so that no one can boast in his presence.”

It is very clear that the message of the cross contains the power of God; that is why, let us not just rely on our own strength eventhough we are successful because being arrogant or boastful is the character of the antichrist who will be authorized to blaspheme proudly for 42 months (Revelation 13: 5). The antichrist will be given authority to rule for 42 months (3½ years) - to match the tenure of Jesus on earth (3½ years) - to mislead anyone even if it could be the chosen people of God (Matthew 24:24).

Therefore, apostle Paul reminded the young Timothy to hold on to sound doctrine and to do so in faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1:13). This teaching contains the sacrifice of the Lord and it sanctifies us, so that we are worthy to serve God. Do not have the wrong perspective that we serve Him in order to be holy; instead, we are sanctified by the atonement sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that we are worthy to serve Him; thus, our service is not based on strength, might, wealth, and intelligence, but by His Spirit (Zechariah 4: 6).

The Apostle Paul - as a native Hebrew, deserved to boast of his strong credit (Phillipians 3: 5-6) - but after meeting Jesus and accepting Him (Acts. 9) he was  completely changed and claimed to be the most sinful one (1 Timothy 1:15).

Let the confession of apostle Paul also be our confession personally that Jesus is our one and only Saviour. Beware, by the end of this age there is another jesus, other teachings and also other spirits who try to mislead us (2 Corinthians 11: 4)! For that, we must stand firm upon His sacrifice. By the power of Golgotha, all could be managed well including the coming Fellowship Service of servants of God as long as each one of us believes that His Word is true and worthy of all acceptance.

A savior means one who saves or acts as a helper in hardship ( the Great Indonesian Dictionary) while the person is the one who is expert in a certain job that needs training, capability, accuracy or skill.

So, Jesus would not have come to earth if people had been able to help themselves using their money and power; on the contrary, He knew that human was weak, helpless - described as a branch that he would cut if it did not bear fruit (John. 15: 2) or like sheep which were  easy to be scattered by the wolf if they were not kept by the shepherd (John 10: 11-12).

Let us open our hearts in welcoming and acceptingHim though we are reprimanded / corrected as experienced by the Samaritan woman whose marriage life was reprimanded, so that she could be made satisfied and be a witness to many people; even the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus not because of her words, but they sawthemselves that Jesus was truly the Savior of the world (John 4: 6-10; 42).

Application: 

A testimony should be started from one’s personal experience. He himself has to experience the process of knowing Jesus until he is justified and then, could give impact to the people around him that they could be transformed, too. What we need to pay attention is that we are saved by faith, not our own works (Ephesians 2: 4-10); He even loved us while we were still living in sin (Romans 5: 8).

Besides the Samaritan woman, Jesus' disciple who once denied Him called Peter, repented and filled with the Holy Spirit and then, he testified boldly in front of the crowd, “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved ... " (Acts 4: 10,12).

The characteristics of one who is converted is leaving the old life, not because of the encouragement of somebody; was willing to be baptized, and then obtaining the gift of the Holy Spirit. In other words, his life is increasingly controlled by the Holy Spirit, so that heexperiencesthe progress of faith - virtue - knowledge - self-control - perseverance - piety - and love (2 Peter 1: 1, 5-11).

All isstarted by the sacrifice of Christ continued with knowing Him personally that makes us active in the ministry and then we can enter the eternal kingdom which is the right of every child of God. This attitude has to be emphasized since we are young as the apostle Paul's advice to young Timothy to be an example in word, conduct, faith and purity (1 Timothy 4:12).

Let no one underestimate us because we are young and helpless. As long as there is willingness, a young manwill reap the harvest as experienced by the Gadarenes who testified after being cured from demon possession (Mark 5: 19-20). Jesus – the Saviour - took the initiative to meet a mad man who was possessed by Legion to heal him. Be vigilant, the demon-controlled heart will cause the mind unable to think well. But as soon he knew Jesus, he sat, dressed, and could testify about the deeds of Jesus and it made those who heard it amazed (verses 15, 19-20).

It is proven that all that is good comes from God - if we can hear and see the very person of Jesus in the Word of God,  this is also a gift from Him (Amos 20:12). Therefore, we do not need to be arrogant when we are successful, because all is from the generosity of God as experienced by a madman of Gerasa and the Samaritan woman who were used by God to testify after knowing Jesus personally. Amen.

Sunday, Lemah Putro, 19 April 2015

Assistant Pastor, Yusuf Wibisono

Share this post