Cross Way Publication's Newletter for May 2008
Cross Way Publications Monthly News
Poem of the Month
A Cross of Wood
BY: Wayne F. Winters
A cross of wood stands on a hill where it is clearly seen,
And there upon that cross there is a dying Nazarene.
"He claims to be the Son of God, he claims to be a king,
They say that he can raise a man from death's unholy sting.
They say he fed the masses from a single loaf of bread,
Let's see if he can feed them in the morning when he's dead."
He watched the soldiers gambling for His robe and for His shoes,
And said: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."
A thief was at the left of Him, a killer on His right.
The hours dragged on painfully as day turned into night.
With the coming of the night He finally dropped His head,
And as the storm clouds gathered, the Nazarene was dead.
His family took His body from the cross where He had died,
And wrapped Him in a blanket while His mother wept and cried.
They took Him to a cave where they laid His body down,
They washed His beaten body and removed His thorny crown.
And with a final kiss goodbye they left Him in His crypt,
And at the entrance to the cave they rolled a stone in front of it.
In the morning there were mourners who came from far and wide.
And they were shocked to find that the stone was pushed aside.
"Go tell your sons and daughters just what we saw today.
We came to see the One who was the truth the light the way.
No tomb can hold the Son of God." (The wisest of them said.)
"Raise your voice in jubilation, today He's risen from the dead."
Scripture of the Month
John 5:15-23
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995 (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version.) (Jn 5:15-23). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Quote of the Month
"Theology of the Divine administration. The Father manifests Himself in the acts of the Son, because He manifests Himself in the being of the Son. And the acts of the Son unfold themselves in the total works of salvation and judgment, to the end that the Son may be honoured and glorified as the Father, in order that the Father may be glorified in Him."
Thomas, D. (1997). The genius of the fourth Gospel : A homiletical commentary on the Gospel of John. Reprint of the 1885 ed. published by R. D. Dickinson, London under title: The genius of the fourth Gospel.; Includes index. Kregel Bible study classics (130). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Notes From 1) On April 16th the process of incorporating Cross Way Publications as a private foundation was initiated. This is being done in order to help secure the continuation of this ministry for the future. Please be in prayer that Lord will have His perfect will brought forth in this endeavor.
2) Our comment section got spammed pretty badly on the 28th of April. I removed all of the spam and blocked the offending IP from the site. If you received notice of a comment on a poem on the 28th and it is not there it was removed because it was spam. Thanks for the heads-up Raymond.
This Month's Devotional Thought Like it or Not God is the Boss
Man, whether in the world or organized religion, has desired from the beginning to be in control. We need only go back to Genesis to see the initiation of this desire and the world around us to see its continuation. Adam and Eve desired to be like God but their desire was focused on a certain aspect of their creator. They were given access to the tree of life so they had the power of eternal life available to them but that was not enough. They were given dominion over all of creation but that was not enough. They were given paradise as home but that was not enough. They wanted to be the boss. They desired to be in control and to be the object of worship and obedience.
A tree was planted in the midst of paradise it was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The knowledge that its fruit bestowed gave them, or so they were told by the father of lies, that ability to control. By eating this fruit they thought they could make the laws and the rules that would produce holiness and make them the objects of worship and obedience. So they ate of the fruit and discovered immediately that they had sinned before God. All innocence was stripped from their lives and they became naked and guilty before God and instead of being god-like they became godless. Instead of becoming holy and objects of worship, sin cursed their lives and they became objects of God's wrath. Adam and Eve were so wrong. They thought that eating the fruit would give them the ability to make the rules but it only revealed to them that they had broken the rules.
Man is a very stubborn creature. Instead of learning from this mistake they continued to think they could take control from God. From that day forward Adam's descendants have blindly attempted to ascend to the heights of godliness where they become the boss and they make the rules and determine the standard of holiness.
Christ confronts this power struggle in our scripture of the month. The rulers of Israel had, so they thought, placed themselves in the position of holiness. They made rules and enforced them thinking it made them holy before God and man. They had attained a position of godliness so that they were, if not worshiped, at least feared and obeyed by the general populace. Then this unlearned son of a carpenter comes on the scene and has the audacity to think he can get away with breaking their rules for holiness. He has a form of holiness (being able to heal the sick and maimed) but He denies their power of holiness and performs the miracles on the Sabbath. He is trying to usurp their authority and He must be dealt with quickly and decisively. So they seek to persecute Him and kill Him.
Christ does not leave the arena but confronts the issue. He tells them the work of His Father, God, is not to keep their rules and commandments. His work is to heal His people. In one simple sentence Christ not only destroys their position of self-made righteousness He declares Himself equal with God, a position they worked their entire lives to attain. This enraged them and they sought even more to have this usurper destroyed.
But wait! He was not the imposter! They were!
How was His authority established? Very simply this; to God alone belongs the ownership of the heavens and the earth and to Him alone belongs all glory, honor and worship. Christ did not try to usurp this authority He came to establish it. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. He did not come to establish His own kingdom. He came to declare and establish the kingdom of His Father.
A bond was established through all eternity between the Father and the Son. It was a bond of love, a love that found its roots in obedience to God's authority. God revealed His desire to the Son and Christ, the Son, carried it out. What was and is that plan of God? That plan was to bring life to those dead in sin. To place them in the position where they can once again honor and worship God. Because Christ fully carried out His Father's plan He was given the rightful place of judgment over the creation. He sat down at the right hand of the Father and judges the earth based on the honor that was given to Him by the Father.
This poses the question; are laws then needed in society? The answer is yes. Laws are necessary to prevent fallen man from destroying each other, but they will never make the doer or even the enforcer holy. Only God is holy and deserving of our worship and praise.
Individual Christians, churches, and denominations across this land have fallen into the trap that the Jews of Christ's day found themselves in. We create laws and doctrines that we believe will enhance our worship of God and make us holy. Like a brick layer we lay each law and doctrine one on another to build our edifice of honor just to find out when we are finished that we are trapped inside. The walls which we thought would raise us closer to godliness have instead sealed us inside a tomb of self-righteousness cutting us off from other brothers and sisters in Christ and a close relationship with our Savior.
We become like the Jews in this passage. When God sends His messenger into our midst he or she is not accepted on the basis of God's presence in their lives bringing healing to His people. They are judged instead on their compliance with the laws and doctrines that we believe make us holy. If their actions or beliefs do not measure up, we judge them accordingly and often cast them out as unholy. In so doing, we are rejecting the action of Christ in our midst, just as the Jews in this passage of John did.
Each of us has a set of doctrines we believe are scriptural and each has a preference in the way we worship Christ. Do not fall into the trap of believing either is perfect and will make you holy. Only Christ's presence in your life through the indwelling of His Spirit can accomplish that work of righteousness. So, if a brother or sister in Christ brings honor to the name of Christ and does the healing work of God, embrace them as God's own.
Christ may visit you today in the life of one of His children. They may very well have a message of salvation or hope that you need to hear. Do not reject them just because they will not bring glory and honor to you or your system of theology.
Jerry