A priceless benefit of the illumination of the cross is knowing Jesus as Jesus Christ crucified. There is a difference between just knowing Him as Jesus and knowing Him as Jesus Christ crucified. The tragedy of most believers is that they just know Him as Jesus instead of knowing Him as Jesus Christ crucified. Most believers know Him in this way because the church preaches a cross-less Jesus for living.
There is a difference between just knowing Him as Jesus and knowing Him as Jesus Christ crucified. The tragedy of most believers is that they just know Him as Jesus instead of knowing Him as Jesus Christ crucified.
Most believers know Him in this way because the church preaches a cross-less Jesus for living.
Warning
Paul warns the church of another Jesus in these words: “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached” (2 Corinthians 11:4). When Paul speaks of another Jesus being preached, he is referring to the preaching of Jesus divorced from what He accomplished for mankind through His crucifixion.
The Jesus of the Bible should always be preached in unison with what He accomplished for humanity through His crucifixion.
In other words, only the cross should be preached because God revealed Jesus Christ in tandem with what He accomplished for mankind through His crucifixion to Paul, and it pleased God to call this union of Christ and what He accomplished for humanity through His crucifixion, the cross or Jesus Christ crucified.
I consider Paul as the Apostle of the cross because it is in him that God revealed the cross. Saints today should pray for the illumination of the cross in order to know Jesus as Jesus Christ crucified.
That it is of supreme importance to know Jesus as Jesus Christ crucified is clear from Paul’s resolution when he writes: “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). That Paul determined not to know anything among the Corinthian saints, means that he was extra careful to preach only faith in Jesus Christ crucified or the cross as their only object of faith for living.
In my last article entitled, ‘Church must preach the cross only,’ I implored the preachers out there to imitate Paul and preach only Jesus Christ crucified or the cross as he posits in 1 Corinthians 1:23.
Determined
Today, my plea to preachers out there, is that they must determine to know nothing among their congregants, save Jesus Christ crucified. Paul gives the major reason why he determined to know only Jesus Christ crucified when he was among the Corinthians in this verse: “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).
When only Jesus Christ crucified or the cross, is known and preached as the only anchor of faith for living, the faith of the saints stands in the power of God. When the faith of the saints stands permanently in the power of God, all things become possible to the believer as Jesus Christ crucified stated clearly in Mark 9:23. However, since preachers today know and thus preach everything else, but not Jesus Christ crucified or the cross, the faith of the congregants stands in the wisdom of these preachers, resulting in powerlessness in the church.
Please do not miss our service tomorrow to further unpack the cross to emaSwati in Manzini, at KhulaniBomake Centre, next to MITC. You can contact Apostle AB Vilane at 7912 7350 or 7612 7350.
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