There is a song we sing when we come together to worship. “The Old Rugged Cross” George Bennard pinned the words and wrote the music for this beloved song in 1913. here is the first line from that song:

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suffering and shame; and I love

that old cross where the dearest and best for a 

world of lost sinners was slain.

Folks, it’s about the Cross, Crucifixion, Death, Burial, and Resurrection! What Jesus did for us is the “VICTORY!” When we have obeyed the New Testament Gospel, we celebrate that victory every day of our life. No more so than when we come together on the first day of the week and lay our gifts, our worship, at the footstool of the cross. It is not entertainment. It is a sin-sick, heartbroken individual pouring out from their heart worship to the one and only God! It is about Him and what He did for us. It is about His son, His sacrifice; His grace poured out on humankind. According to the gospel of John, we have this recorded for us:

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His Spirit. (Joh 19:28-30)

These are the final words of the one and only savior. No human other than Jesus Christ could save humankind from the sickness of sin that ravaged this world. A disease of the mind and heart so utterly evil that our Great Creator allowed His only son to be that sin sacrifice.

At the cross, when Jesus needed his Father more than ever, the Father turned his face away. All of the sins before him, present and future, were nailed to that cross. God, to save His grandest creation, must forsake His son.  These last words echoed to the heavens above the finality of his death and the beginning of our victory.

It was in his death and his resurrection that through God’s grace, we might receive the victory. My sins made the cross necessary. I can choose if I want to be a fan, a mere spectator of the events in the first century, or part of the victory celebration as an active participant.

In Christ, I receive the right to celebrate the victory. The key is that I must be “IN” Christ.

Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Romans 6:4 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. ”

I would encourage you to read all of Romans 6, has Paul lays out the fundamental truth of being dead to sin, slaves of righteousness, and Alive into God!

I’ll close with this:

Galatians 6:14(a) “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Are you going to be a spectator or a participant? The choice is yours.

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies, at last, I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.

Revelation 14:13 “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”