GUESS WHAT? IT AIN’T ABOUT YOU

Off the coast of the South China Sea, on a large hill overlooking the Harbor, stands a large wall facing the harbor.  That wall is all that remains of a massive Cathedral that the Portuguese settlers had built on these hills hundreds of years prior.

A typhoon had come through this area and destroyed everything – it leveled everything – except this one section of wall facing the harbor.  And sitting on top of that wall, is a very large, bronze Cross.

In 1825, a songwriter by the name of John Bowring was sailing in a ship off that same coast when a storm struck the ship that he was on.  The ship became shipwrecked and torn to pieces.  John was thrown from the ship and found himself floating on a broken piece of wood.  He said he felt as though the next wave that crashed on him would be the last time he ever breathe on this earth.  But in the midst of that storm, John Bowring said he caught a glimpse of that Cross sitting on top of that hill, and it was like the Spirit of God had reassured him that he would be alright.  John Bowring was in fact rescued from those treacherous waters, and he was so moved by that experience that he penned the words to a poem entitled “In the Cross of Christ I glory.”

This poem may well have been the theme song for the Apostle Paul, who wrote in Galatians 6:14, “but God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, if you do a little research, you will find the word “glory” mentioned over 400 times in the New Testament alone.  Throughout the Bible, we can see God’s Glory in Creation.

You see, years ago, God stepped from behind the curtain of nowhere, and stood upon the platform of nothing and spoke the world into existence.

And the Psalmist said in Ps. 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

Where Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory in anything except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• We see the Glory of God in Creation.
• We see the Glory of God in Christ.
• We can see the Glory of God in the Church;
• And we see the Glory of God in the Cross.

Now you think about Paul – there’s a lot of things he could have boasted about, there’s a lot of things that happened that could have caused him to pat himself on the back.  In fact, Paul may well have been the greatest Christian that ever lived:

• He was a powerful preacher;
• He was a prolific author – having written over half the New Testament;
• He had the right pedigree – circumcised the 8^th day, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

I mean, Paul was a religious thoroughbred – and had he remained a Pharisee, he would have no doubt been the High Priest among them.  If anybody could pat themselves on the back, it was the Apostle Paul.  But Paul tells us here, “I glory, I brag, I boast, in this one thing and this one thing only – THE CROSS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

• Paul’s Pride was limited to the Cross!
• Paul’s Praise was limited to the Cross!

In our day, when we think of a Cross, or when we are discussing the Cross with people, they typically think of a Jeweler – and the Cross as a piece of jewelry we wear around our necks or on a lapel.

But, in Paul’s day, when you thought of the Cross, you typically thought of a Jailer!  For in Paul’s day, the Cross was a cruel place, a place of harsh punishment and death.  The Cross was the cruelest form of death known to man.

I am afraid today that our Churches are cursed with a Cross-less Christianity.

• Our pulpits are filled with preachers that only want to preach “relevant” messages;
• They are filled with preachers who are teaching us that God wants to exalt us;
• Churches are teaching and preaching that God wants us to be prosperous;

We are hearing everything except what we need to hear.  The Bible says man’s problem is SIN!  And what man desperately needs is a good dose of the Cross of Jesus Christ.  What we need is to get back to the Cross of Jesus Christ.  It is not the job you have, or the car you drive, or the house you live in that is going to make the difference in your life or in the lives of those in your sphere of influence – it is the Cross of Jesus Christ that is going to make the difference.

Paul said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”