The Christmas Season is well-over, and in Worship Ministry World, that means time to be thinking and preparing heavily for the next big season of Good Friday and Easter. The Incarnation has been celebrated and we now move on to Propitiation and Resurrection.In an effort to not get swept away with all the details of service plans and miss reveling in the work of Christ, I'm doing some extra heart-preparation with some focused reading on the Cross. One particularly good book is a recent Crossway compilation edited by Nancy Guthrie called "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter." It's a small book of 25 short essays, devotions, and sermon passages by a list of who's who of authors, pastors, and preachers, past and present: from John Piper to Augustine; from C.J. Mahaney to Francis Schaeffer; John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Martin Luther, Joni Eareckson Tada, and so on.
The chapters are quick but rich in thought toward the work of Christ throughout Holy Week.
From R.C. Sproul, "Cursed" - "When Christ was hanging on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned his back on Christ. He removed his face. He turned out the lights. He cut off his Son. There was Jesus, who in human nature had been in a perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout his life. There was Jesus, the Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Now he hung in darkness, isolated from the Father, cut off from fellowship - fully receiving in himself the curse of God - not for his own sin but for the sin he willingly bore by imputation for our sake."
That's what it's all about, friend! Jesus Christ, the 2nd person of the Trinity, God's only Son, was sent to die for you and me. Doubtful you or I have ever sacrificed as much...(Romans 5:6-11)
If then we have recognized our sinful nature and have acknowledged Christ's atoning work, let us likewise understand His being raised from the dead to claim victory over death, a victory celebration to which he also calls us!
From Stephen Olford, "Crucified With Christ" - "As I heard those words, God set me free. I saw the truth that Christ died for me; I died with him. He went to the grave, and so did I. On the basis of that death and burial, I can claim resurrection life! If you want to know Christ's resurrection power released in you, then sincerely pray, 'Lord, I am dead, but alive in you. Resurrection power, fill me this hour. Jesus, be Jesus in me.' This is the termination of the self-life."
So yet while I live in this life I will increasingly choose to remember what Jesus Christ has done for me, both in his death and resurrected life, and to daily realize, through His gift of salvation, the fullness of my joint participation in his death and resurrection and what that means for my life which is now His! (Galatians 2:20)
I'm looking forward to Jesus using this book to keep me very near the Cross throughout the year and not just in the few early spring months. Highly recommended!
