What Is Kind Of Cross Do We Bring-part I

What kind of Cross do we bring? Part I By Lewil Dale Rosario “Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the Gospel.”-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest Before Christ ascended back to the Father, He commanded his disciples to “go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).” Christ gave all true believers, and not just the clergy, the holy privilege of sharing the gospel of Christ to the lost. God gave us the opportunity of being a part of his plan in the salvation of men. Unfortunately, many of us who call ourselves Christians, do not see how privileged we are to be vessels of God’s love. If we really understood what the gospel is we cannot be content, and we should not be content of being spiritual gluttons in our church, always absorbing God’s blessings, without being a blessing to others. There is so much reluctance among so called Christians that they would rather stay in their spiritual comfort zones or even die in church blessed than share the gospel of Christ. Many who professed to be followers of Christ would rather keep quiet, while wolves in sheep’s clothing continue to ravage the flock by preaching and teaching another gospel. The problem could be because we are either ignorant of what the gospel is or we have not experience God’s goodness and are lost. There is an urgent need for us to re-evaluate our understanding of the gospel. A.W. Tozer once warned that a new cross has come. A new kind of Cross “which is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.” Tozer further explains that “the old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.” In this present generation a new kind of preaching and teaching is being propagated in the churches. It is the kind of gospel which teaches that in order to reach the world one has to be like the world taking out of context the statement of Paul. A new kind of preaching that calls men to live their best life now. Others preach that Christ died in order to restore man’s dignity and self-worth. Still some teach that a mere confession in the name of Christ is enough. So the question is amid so many teachings on the gospel which of these is true? What really is the gospel? It is important for us to know what the gospel really is because “it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Romans 1:16).” In 2nd Corinthians 11:9, Paul warns that “if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.” That’s why it is important to re-

examine the gospel otherwise our preaching has no power and we may find ourselves accursed. In the next parts of this series I will try to discuss the essentials of the gospel.