Thursday 7/9/15
This past Sunday, I preached on a tremendous benefit of which many Christians do not avail themselves. I am referring to this eternal truth found in the book of Colossians: “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to His cross.”(Col.2:13-14) Many Christians just cannot grasp the fact that when Jesus died on the cross, He paid for the sins of the entire world, past, present, and future. These two verses state that this means He also cancelled what was, and has ever been, written on record against us, our sins as well as the accusations.
I don’t recall now how this came about, but at a stand-up meeting many years ago at the postal sub-station where I worked, our station manager told the one hundred or so employees what I used to do and be like when I previously worked under him in another unit. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense and later, feeling guilty, my manager apologized to me for bringing it up. I told him that it did not bother me, which it didn’t, because everything he said about the “old” Joe was true. I knew less then about the things of God than I do now, yet I knew enough to understand that my sins and all the accusations that went along with them no longer had any effect on me. That was the truth that I was trying to convey this past Sunday. I reminded our congregation that there is plenty of symbolism in the Bible. For example, water baptism symbolizes what Christ already did for us. We were buried with him and resurfaced in newness of life. We supplied a “stick-em” page to the church bulletin and I encouraged them to participate in the symbolism implied in Colossians 2:14 . If they believed that truth, they would write on that piece of paper anything that was “against” them and then come pin it at the cross we also provided for them in front of the altar, symbolizing what Christ did on the day when He went to the cross.
I am very happy for the 42 honest and courageous souls who took me up on that challenge and stuck their piece of paper on the cross. That piece of paper represented any time, past or present, when they have been judged, accused, criticized, belittled, condemned, or slandered because of their sins, failures, and weaknesses. It also included anything that was threateningly looming over their head such as guilt, shame, fear, anger, bitterness, resentment, un-forgiveness, worry, doubt, or anything else that may have denied them their release. It is the same for you too, dear reader. Anything that has ever been against you yesterday, today, and in the future, Christ took it with Him to the cross, nailed it, and left it there. All these things against you died that day; they no longer exist. Believe it and be free!
Memory verse for the week: (2 Peter 3:14 KJV) “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
