THE NATION OF THE CROSS

¹⁴ But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,

by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

G A L A T I A N S   6

 

 

Message Preached Sunday Evening, March 8, 2015 at Faith Community Church - St. Louis

THE NATION OF THE CROSS

 

In his soon to be released book, "Defying Isis", Johnnie Moore tells the riveting story of Pastor Joseph.  The middle aged pastor is usually neatly dressed and clean shaven, but on this day his clothes are wrinkled and his unshaven face is stubbly.  His flock, located in a unidentified middle eastern village is in the path of ISIS, warriors of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Joseph has strong arms, lean face, uncombed hair, and kind, dark eyes.

 

When the faithful pastor first heard that ISIS was on its way this summer, Joseph frantically warned his congregation.  House to house he ran to warn them that their lives were in danger.  When watchmen reported that his time was short, the Pastor knew there were too many Christians and too few hours left. 

 

The roads were crowded as Christian families gathered what few possessions they could carry with them, in search of safety.  It was clear that not everyone would make it out by the time ISIS made it in.

 

Pastor Joseph knew of one family that would probably not make it--it was a family he loved.  Imagine how he felt going to their door.

 

When he got there, Pastor Joseph urged the family, "When ISIS arrives they will come to your door and they will ask you if you are Christian or Muslim.  I would tell them, 'I am a follower of Jesus.'"

 

Joseph knew that Muslims consider Jesus to be a prophet and he thought this might save the lives of this precious family.  He knew that the family would still be threatened as they were clearly a part of that country's Christian minority.

The precious pastor left with one final word of advice before dashing off to the next group.  "If you choose to not convert," he told them, "then just know it will only hurt for a second."

 

ISIS did indeed arrive before they could escape.  All four in the family refused to convert, just as thousands of others before them.  And just as those thousands were martyred, so this family was martyred.

 

We read in the Book of Acts that as Stephen, the first Christian Martyr was changing worlds, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.  Surely our Lord was standing as this family entered the gates of heaven that day.

 

In fact I suppose that Jesus was standing when those 21 Egyptian Christians were beheaded by ISIS a few weeks ago.  These brave believers had taken menial jobs in Libya to provide for their families.  Now because of their faith alone, they families' last images of them will be of them kneeling in orange jumpsuits before their death.

 

I suppose the image of the ISIS spokesman, raising his sword, and threatening "The Nation of the Cross" before he and 20 others spilled the blood of the innocents into the waters of the southern Mediterranean Sea will never fade.  I hope it doesn't.

 

All over the Middle East--where ISIS roams--we are witnessing the type of faith that most of us only remember from the earliest days of Christian history. 

 

Johnnie Moore writes, "The Christian Church was hewn on this anvil of persecution.  It knows that anvil well, and while in this day we are witnessing its evil in rare form--perhaps in a way we've rarely seen in Church History--it is not a new thing but an old thing. Sacrifice and martyrdom are deeply rooted in Christian identity and Christian theology."   After Judas betrayed Jesus he took his own life, then ten of the remaining disciples were themselves martyred for Cause of Christ. 

 

The Church Militant is not deterred by the threat of death, it is our immediate promotion to the Church Triumphant! 

 

 

 

I wonder if the professing Christians in our nation would stand in the face of such a threat.  Christianity in the First World has been so diluted, so muted, and so debilitated--we are witness to what the Apostle warned would come, Christians--"having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5).

 

William Booth, founder of the great Salvation Army warned in the 19th Century, "The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell."  Decades of this "new Christianity" are bearing a dreadful harvest of professing--not possessing Christians.

 

In the last century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned us that Cheap Grace would be the undoing of the Church.  In his classic "The Cost of Discipleship," that martyr who was hung by the Nazis 70 years ago, lamented:

 

"Cheap Grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

 

 

The Apostle Paul testified, "I WILL GLORY IN THE CROSS!"  And as a part of that blood washed band, I can testify without mental reservation--I AM AN UNASHAMED CITIZEN OF THE NATION OF THE CROSS!

 

OUR CONSTITUTION IS THE INSPIRED, INERRANT, INFALLIBLE 66 BOOKS OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.  "The authority of the church consists solely in its agreement with the Bible."  We love the truth.  We believe the truth.  And with God as our helper we are determined to walk in truth.

 

OUR KING IS CHRIST.  We testify with Brother Lockridge:

Our King is a King of Knowledge

He's the wellspring of wisdom.

He's the doorway of deliverance.

He's the pathway of peace.

He's the roadway of righteousness.

He's the highway of holiness.

He's the gateway of glory.

He's the Master of the mighty.

He's the Captain of the conquerors.

He's the Head of the heroes.

He's the leader of the legislatures.

He's the overseer of the overcomers.

He's the Governor of governors.

He's the Prince of princes.

He's the King of kings and Lord of Lords!...

He's indescribable, incomprehensible, invincible, and irresistible.  That's my King!

 

OUR CAUSE IS THE SALVATION OF THE LOST--EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE, ANYTIME.  We, like Catherine Booth, favor Aggressive Christianity.  We will not be satisfied until everyone has heard and received the Gospel.

 

OUR CHURCH IS MILITANT.  We are not on a mission to take prisoners, we are on a crusade to release them.  Every man, every woman, every young person chained by sin and enslaved by Satan can be set free.    We dress in the uniform of the Lord's Army--modestly, simply, and neatly.  We speak in the language of the Lord's Army--we honor the name that the enemy takes in vain.  We gladly march to the beat of another drummer and carefully conduct ourselves in accordance with the orders of our Commander.  We are not just different, we are "gloriously different!"

 

OUR CALL IS TO HOLINESS.  We know that "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."  We preach first and second blessing holiness.  The Spirit answers to the blood!

 

OUR CHARACTER IS VIRTUE.  Called out of darkness into His glorious light we have been called to glory and virtue.   "That we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." We are diligent to "add to our faith, virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity." 2 Peter 1:4-8.

 

ARE YOU ASHAMED OF THE CROSS?

 

ARE YOU EMBARRASSED TO BE IDENTIFIED AS A PART OF NATION OF THE CROSS?

 

 

Johnnie Moore, writes in the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship blog:

 

"The moment I arrived on a visit to Iraq last fall, I asked if we could go immediately to visit the Christian refugees spread across northern Iraq.  The conditions were awful.  These people weren't living in tents made for refugees.  They were living in makeshift tents pieced together as best as they could. 

 

Yet what struck me the most about their tents was not their awful condition, but the crosses accompanying them.  One in particular caught my eye, so I went directly to it.

 

At the entrance of the tent, the family had placed a large cross that reached high into the sky.  It's that cross that nearly got them killed.  It's that cross that cost them their home and their livelihood--and almost certainly--the life of someone they loved.

 

That cross was a burden they had to bear, and they had every reason in the world to shield themselves from it.  Yet the first thing they did when they set up their tent was to make sure everyone still knew that they loved that cross.

 

And the crosses were everywhere among the refugees...they have never been so prominent and to these people they have never been so important.

 

In fact, one family sneaked back into their village which had been annihilated by ISIS and crawled atop their ancient church to affix again the cross that ISIS had torn down, their faith defying ISIS.

 

Through their excruciating pain, through the weight of their trauma and their thousand kinds of brokenness, they don't resent the call to suffer that God has put on their shoulders but rather welcome it. They celebrate it, and they feel honored by it."

 

Can we testify with our brothers and sisters 7,000 miles away, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel?"

Will we "take up the cross" and boldly identify with martyrs and members of "The nation of the Cross?"

 

With the challenging hymn of Isaac Watts we close:

 

Am I a soldier of the cross,
   A follower of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause
   Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies
   On flowery beds of ease?
While others fought to win the prize,
   And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
   Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
   To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign
   Increase my courage, Lord!
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
   Supported by Thy word.

Thy saints, in all this glorious war,
   Shall conquer, though they die;
They view the triumph from afar,
   And seize it with their eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
   And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies,
   The glory shall be Thine.

 

 

LINKS FOR YOUR INTEREST

Faith Community Church www.FCCStLouis.org
Daily Devotional www.NationoftheCross.blogspot.com
Pastor Rick Jones You-Tube www.youtube.com/user/rmjones58
Pastor Dennis Skinner http://bloomingtoncrusaders.org/
Pastor Marsh Jones http://www.fccurbana.org/

Crusaders Church USA www.amazinglove.us