Cross Shaped Devotion
Date: Oct 1, 2006
Series: Ancient Pathways of Devotion
Preacher: Rick Mckinley
Passage: Luke 9:23-26
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Summary:

Comments:

On October 06th,alan rutherford said:

I have a question about what cross-shaped devotion might look like, related to current events.

Last year we learned in Romans 5 that God poured his self-giving love into us, while we were still his 'enemies,' enduring torture and death on a cross, justifying us and reconciling himself to us. Because of this love being poured into us, we have peace and hope. That should mean that Christians are uniquely equipped to endure suffering and death and are called to respond to it in non-violent ways. In Jesus Christ death doesn't have the final word, because in his resurrection (and ours) God has triumphed over the power of violence.

So...would followers of Jesus ever see fit to kill in order to save their own life, to 'bring enemies to justice,' or to preserve their 'way of life'? This seems like the toughest yet most basic question about cross-shaped devotion.

On October 16th,Frank Prescott said:

This message reminded me of something A.W. Tozer said; "The one who has taken up his cross is one that is no longer making his own decisions, someone else is doing that for him." If we are carrying our cross then it is Christ who is making our decisions.

Paul stated "I die daily". I do not feel that I can do that everyday but I am seeing more days where His leading makes me face a decision on which kingdom I want to live in and to what length(s) I am willing to go to express my cross shaped devotion.

On October 16th,Rick Mckinley said:

Alan, I think the question that you bring up is really challenging. It is as much a question of biblical ethics as it is related to the sermon. It seems clear enough that Jesus taught non-violence in relationship to our enemies. Paul clearly taught to obey the laws of the land.
When it comes to Christians retaliating against one another that is very clear from scripture, we are to forgive and be reconciled. Many men and women have lost thier lives at the hands of those who killed them and they did so without retaliation. At the same time if someone broke into my house and was going to harm my family I would fight for their safety. Justice is something that God is deeply concerned about. The book of Revelation gives us a picture of Jesus coming back as Judge. All the enemies of God will give an account to him. So Justice is a large part of the Gospel story. When it comes to the issue of non-violence today we should follow in the way of christ, forgive our enemies, leave vengence to God. We can also be active in stopping violence from happening and from preventing injustice from occuring.

On October 18th,alan rutherford said:

In the sermon you said that the picture of the cross has thousands and thousands of different lessons about what following Jesus will look like. I took that to mean that its ethical ramifications would reach into all areas of our life...the cross would inform when we should obey laws and when we break them, never mind the cost...it would inform how you protect your family from an intruder...it would inform how the faithful respond, even when God allows a monster to wage war against them (Revelation 13). In all cases, I'm sure we would agree that Jesus' lesson about self-sacrifical love is still related.