Taking the Cross off the Wall
At BSCC we are blessed with a beautiful sanctuary where we can gather and worship God. On the front wall, facing the congregation, is large cross that is nearly thirty feet high and about 12 feet wide. The cross is cherry wood overlaid on a silver frame.
This week it is so heavy on my heart that the church is hoarding the cross inside our buildings, when we should be taking the cross off of the sanctuary wall and taking it into our communities as people of grace.
The cross helps people who have asked Jesus Christ into their heart and mind to remember the grace of Christ that saved them, but even more so, it calls the lost home to Christ. So it becomes imperative that BSCC and every other church that claims to belong to Christ, take the cross off the sanctuary wall and carry it into our communities.
To be that church we must:
1) Go to the lost…we must connect with lost people in the community and demonstrate grace to them long before they will enter the church and become part of our worshipping body. Christ said “go” in His great commission.
2) Establish a presence in the community…the church must be in the community. To live within the four walls of the church building is to horde the cross for the saved. If we are to turn the world upside for Christ (as those in Acts 17:6 were accused of doing) it will only happen out there in the community, not inside the church walls.
3) We must fight for the lost in prayer…if we are unwilling to fight for the lost in prayer then we can not be agents of grace to them. Our desire to reach the lost is measured by our willingness to fight for them in prayer. Please read Ezekiel 22:30. May we not be found wanting.
4) We must carry grace into our community…grace is loving the unlovable, loving when others don’t love you back, giving mercy where none is deserved, forgiving freely, and giving blessings where none are deserved. Please read Ephesians 2:10. God has made appointments for us to be agents of grace, will we keep those appointments?
Now please Read Psalm 126:5-6….a harvest awaits the church that will take the cross off of the church wall and carry it into the community with grace….
“Oh dear Jesus…let BSCC be a church without walls….one that doesn’t horde the cross inside the church building…but rather one that takes the cross off of the wall and carries it into the community with grace…show us how to be that people…strengthen us to be that people…inspire us by Your Spirit to that lofty goal….help us Lord to be the church that You died for….Amen.”