Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Things of Man....

Mark 8:31-33 (ESV) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." Jesus knew what he was in for. Jesus knew. Jesus came to do it. It seemed crazy talk to Peter. It would seem crazy talk to us too. The Christ was supposed to be a savior, a king, one who restored Israel to her former glory! And if you know these things are going to happen, why do you make your way to Jerusalem? Peter it seems never really came to terms with this until after the resurrection. Today there are many who still haven’t come to terms with it. I find it peculiar that a large segment of the population where I live want me to consider them Christian, whilst still denying the cross. The cross has been central to Christianity since the beginning. It was central to Christ. Christ went to the cross, he spent his whole life focused on Golgotha, it was there that he would give his life for ours, it was there that he would overcome the world and the tribulation that it gives. When others eschew the cross, they are of Satan, Just as Jesus admonishes Peter for being Satan because of his problems with the cross. As I told my son this last summer, when a “church” has a problem with the crucifix, with a corpus hanging on the cross, I have a problem with them, when they can’t even bring themselves to put a cross on their building, an empty cross around their neck, they aren’t even close to being Christian. Paul would know nothing among the Corinthians but Christ and him crucified. Christians do well to keep their focus their too, it is their salvation.

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