Rooted

Over the weekend I listened to a thought provoking sermon by Matt Chandler. The message was part 11 in his great series on Ecclesiastes. In the message he claimed that “so few of us ever sit back and pray and think and dwell on what was purchased on the cross.” He then goes on to assert that because, we don’t often think about what it is God has done for us, we fall back into relying on our works and actions to win favor with Christ. In a sense, we resort to trying to make our rights overcome our wrongs.

When I heard him talk about this, I didn’t think much about it. I thought that I probably do that sometimes but not too often. My opinions soon changed when he asked 3 questions that helped to show if the cross was central in my life. I encourage you to think about these three questions and be honest with yourself on what your answer is.

1) Are you currently defining your righteousness by what you do or do not do? In other words, what makes you a good man or a good women?
2) Does God love you? If yes, why?
3) Do you bring God joy?

If you are like me, a lot of times the cross and Christ’s love isn’t central in your life. This is significant because “Anytime the cross is no longer central in doctrine, in preaching, in teaching, in your life, all of a sudden we're leaving what was purchased for us [on the cross] and we're clinging to a system that didn't work for us to begin with.”

Naturally, the question becomes how do I make Christ's love expressed through the cross central in my life? While not trying to sound formulaic, there are some things that I have heard and applied that help. Later in the sermon Matt Chandler encourages his congregation to take time to meditate on the cross, and to think about what Christ did for them. Think about how, as Christians, Jesus loves us despite our sin, how his righteousness is given on our behalf. As we begin to see our sin next to His wonderful acts of love we will naturally want to change to become more like him. Chandler quotes Romans 2:4 which says “God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” to support that idea. These are some practical ideas to help but as I said earlier they aren’t some kind of formula to get the cross central in your life.

If you are interested in Matt Chandler's messages you can check them out here.

Jonny