Putting the Cross in Crossroads pt1: Focus

You are trying to bring people to God? How? You are trying to make people into better people, more virtues, stronger. What is your method?

Some methods end up killing more than giving life.

Starting a few weeks ago I have been getting ants in my house. The began at the window sill at my sink, but I wasn’t bothered so I let them go, wasn’t bothering me. But then a week went by and these things started to crawl up on my when I was sitting on the couch. I was so confused though because I didn’t have any food anywhere so I would say out loud, why are you here , there is nothing in this house for you? I suppose they were just trying to beat the heat. And so this is one way to get people in the church, make their life so difficult outside the house they they must get in. I think this connects the idea of shaming people into coming to God, you are a bad person if you don’t and I will judge you and I am better than you. Or general persecution, if you don’t pray, then you will not make it today, literally.

But as I was thinking about how to get rid of these ants I decided to get a regular ant trap, and this did nothing at all. I don’t know why, but these ants would go in the trap, get out, and they were not affected at all. First time that ever happened to me. I was quite confused. I suppose this is a weak witness, that actually hurts more than it does good, but people won’t run out of the church or run from God necessarily,

But then I got these liquid ant traps, and wow, this really did the trick. I put them out and out came more ants than I had ever seen inside a house. I must have attracted the entire colony and their mother! The all came in and went straight to these traps, jumped into the liquid, and began drinking I suppose. But guess what, although this brought the entire colony in, within a day, they were all dead.

There is a way in attempting to bring people to God that ended up producing death.

And we see this in 1 Corinthians. People were trying to bring people to Christ, but they ended up with divisions.

it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

1 Corinthians 1:11–17.

There are ways of try to bring people to God that end up in divisions. The first he mentions is pointing towards yourself. But really, pointing and emphasizing anything except the cross will end up on controversy and division.

And controversies usually cause division when the controversies are given undo importance.

Imagine two friends parting over Dunkin’ doughnut. One thinks its fine, the other really loves Dunkin' doughnuts because they were indoctrinated to believe its the most important think, it is essential. Why would this be the case, because Dunkin' doughnuts says that America runs on dunkin. The person says, if we didn’t have Dunkin' doughnuts, America would stop running! Altogether! All the treadmills would stop, throwing everyone off of them, because they were running. and people would begin to burn up in the heat and freeze in the cold because the electrical grid would stop running. All the cars would go right through the red lights right off of cliffs because cars would stop running.

Could you imagine two friends parting because one likes Chevrolet cars and learns another doesn’t and they confront them. What do you mean you don’t like Chevrolet, don’t you know that Chevrolet is the heartbeat of America!! Are you saying you want America’s heart to stop beating, you are saying you hate America don’t you? We then you know what, you don’t like it here? then why don’t you leave? You don’t like Chevrelot, its the heart beat of America come on!

And all of this starts by emphasizing Chevrolet, which is exactly what Chevrolet would want btw. It's their claiming, I don’t know what they were thinking by making their slogan.

But these is are example of things going wrong when the wrong things are put in a primary place and a place of focus.

The problem in Corinth was that they were focused on people.

Interestingly, usually first sermon from a pastor one wants to put a lot about their testimony as a way of introduction. That was my plan.

For me, I do believe the number one important thing is to have a relationship with God. To demystify this, what I mean is to talk to the Lord though thanksgiving, request things from him as well. I also mean hearing his voice through your knowledge of his character and through his promises, and letting his words enter your heart so that you have what we call “spiritual experiences.” All of these changed my life for the better, and they continue to do so each day, and help me become a stronger person.

Because of this, I wanted to start with doing a series through the Psalms which shows how to relate to God in a real way.

So I decided to prepare entire sermon prepared for that.

After I finished the sermon, I decided to go through my lutheran prayer beads that give you an order of scripture to pray. It starts with John 3:16 and you are to think about the verse for as long as you want, then you move on to another verse you read 6 times, then another verse to meditate on, and so on. It begins with the cross, goes to the Ten Commandments then the Lords prayer, baptism, confession, the communion, then ends with the cross.

I had made it a practice to just go through all the prayers and verses one after another, but then one night when I began to go through the prayer beads my eye became fixated on the first verse. John 3:16. I read it once, and usually I think about it for a few seconds, then go on to the next verse. But this time I felt to read it again,

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life The New King James Version Jn 3:16.

Then I felt drawn to read it again, then again, then again. All of this was reading in my mind. I read it faster and faster, but it didn’t hurt my head at all, it felt like I had felt a groove in my brain that I was running through naturally. Like spiral you put a coin down into and it rolls again and again and again.

I must I have done that at least 50 times and I asked the Lord why this was happening to me. It was so odd. But then I felt like I needed to go into each word of this verse, and when I did, I realized that although I knew the verse, every part of it had not yet reached my heart.

My goal is to reconcile people to God, but I had forgotten about the Cross

But this experience changed my mind. I believe it was the Holy Spirit moving my mind to become fixated on John 3:16, and in the context of me beginning my ministry I am taking this as a sign that this needs to be my focus while I am here. I am open to the spirits leading, but right now, this is my trajectory.

I do believe that actually my primary purpose was to give people a relationship with God. I do not think this is wrong at all, I think this is the end goal. The Lord doesn’t want to give you eternal life so that you can get a free golf membership in heaven. That was my main motivator at the beginning I was mostly worried about getting people away from imminent danger. He wants to be known by you, and he wants you to know Him. But both of these things come from focusing on the cross! And really, there is no other starting point.

For me, only one thing should be our focus, I need to bring people to the cross. Now initially that almost sounds blasphemous like surely I meant we need to bring people to Jesus not the cross. But for Paul, these things are not separate.

Paul had this my same goal, but by the correct means.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:20,21

2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

Paul mentions the cross in all of this letters, except for two short ones. 2 Thessalonians which was written to correct understanding the second coming of Jesus, and Philemon which is only one chapter and is about not punishing a slave who had run away but decided to come back.

Relationship with God starts with the cross. We want people to be healed, and we do this by making people focus on an image...

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14–15.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived Numbers 21:5–9.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life John 3:14–15

32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die John 12:32–33.

Jesus could have taken human flesh

24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning (Matthew 27:24), he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. , Matthew 27:24–26.

The cross itself was a spectacle. There were inscriptions at the ancient games that advertised cruxifixion, almost like people wanted to see this happen.

48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts Luke 23:48.

so mostly of public spectacles, religious festivals, processions William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 454.

“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 19:19–20.

This was the great event of human history, God on a cross to die in front of his mother and all who hated him. all were looking. But the sun could not.

36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there Matthew 27:35–36

35 And the people stood by, watching Luke 23:35.

29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying... save yourself, and come down from the cross!” Mark 15:29–30.

49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. Luke 23:49.

25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister John 19:25.

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” Mark 15:33–39.

16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; 17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me Psalm 22:16–17.

48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts Luke 23:48.

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?… Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Galatian 3:1–6.

Do you believe God became a human and died on cross taking the penalty , I want you to stand up you can.

Do you believe you are forgiven because of you believe, if you believe you are forgiven by faith, that you are seen a being righteous in God sight because of your belief, I want you to fold you hands. fold you hands and pray with me

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