The 76th Cross

The seventy sixth cross.

Okay, so I had the young disciples try to count all of the crosses in the sanctuary. What number did you come up with?

Not counting the crosses you all are wearing for jewelry, I count seventy five crosses.

One behind the table,

one one the pulpit, baptismal font and the lectern.

One on the flag. And two in the back of the sanctuary, one on hook-rug and one on the banner.

You with me so far?

How about two on each pew. There are a couple of pews put together so you cant see four of the crosses over there in the “young disciples area”

by my count that brings us to 75 crosses in this sanctuary.

But there is at least one more cross. I didn't notice it until our sister Bev. Saxton pointed it out to me.

If you all look at the back of your worship bulletins to day you will see a copy of a rubbing I did of the “76th” cross. I took this rubbing from the top of the Chancel cross where a natural crack occurred and made that cross.

When Bev pointed that out to me, I thought that was pretty cool. Thank you Beverly. We are all blessed to know that that cross is there.

In my conversation with the Young Disciples we talked about waiting. Particularly about the Israelites waiting for Moses to come down off the mountain. We talked about how they failed in their waiting by doing the very thing that God commanded Moses to tell the Israelite not to do. They made a false idol to worship rather than wait patiently for the One True God. Rather than worshiping the God of all creation they chose to bow down and make and altar to an object made by human hands. They were waiting and found it impossible to wait any longer.

You know we are waiting too. We are waiting for the Risen Lord Jesus Christ to return. Jesus came to offer salvation, to extend the invitation to everyone. Jesus will return and will judge the world.

2 Timothy chapter 4 says, “I can't impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your path. Challenge, warn and urge your people. Don't ever quit. Just keep it simple. You're going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food-catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They'll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages.”*

The Israelites were waiting for Moses to come down off that mountain. And they failed. We have been waiting for Jesus to come again for about two thousand years.

Two thousand years ago the King sent out a message. “I'm goin' ta have a party” every body is invited and everybody is welcome. The invited people. The people that “deserved” to be there didn't come. And so the King decided to fill his party with whomever would want to be there. Every body is invited to the party. Scripture says, Jesus says both the good and the bad are invited.

Both the good and the bad. That's pretty wide scope. I was looking and Jesus doesn't go into any more detail about how to get an invitation to the party. Apparently the two requirements to get in are that you have to 1. Good or bad and 2. You have to be willing to come.

So every one of us meet the requirements. We are all either good or bad. And by our presence in worship this morning we demonstrate that we want to be at the party. But then there is the problem of the rest of the story that Jesus told that day. Jesus said “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, 'Friend,how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' for many are called, but few are chosen.” **

I have to tell you as a preacher verses like this cause me some distress. Jesus just got done saying that everybody is welcome. You don't even have to be a good person to get in and you get an invitation. But this poor guy doesn't have the right robe and he gets tied up and tossed out?

Its all about preparing yourself.

Its about how you dress yourself spiritually. The king has invited us to a banquet in honor of his son. And we know the King is God. We know the Son is Jesus. We know the banquet is the Kingdom of heaven where God's will is done, both on earth as it is in Heaven.

Even though God has invited everybody to the party there are those who make light of it and don't come, in stead they go and do other things.

And so we, the good and the bad have been invited. We come in our good church cloths and our nice crosses around our necks. But let me remind you of the “76th” cross. Its in this big cross in front of the church. It wasn't intended to be there. It happened when this old piece of wood cracked. That's why I love it. All the other crosses are made of smooth varnished wood. Or nice pieces of fabric. This one is kind of ugly. It's not perfect. But when I look at it I'm reminded of God.

I'm reminded of God because it is in the shape of a cross the symbol we Christians use. But because it is right there in the middle of what we would call an imperfection, to me, speaks volumes. Some of us may appear to be refined and varnished but we are all broken and cracked in some way just like this old cross.

Under the strain of this human life some of us have gotten worn out, cracked and even broken. But that does not mean that we are unfit to be at the banquet. The party that God is thowin' is open to you.

But what if we don't have the right robe like that guy that got tossed out?

The Robe is supplied. The robe required is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bring life. He said we just have to believe that he is the Son of God and have faith in him as our savior.

To dress ourselves spiritually in a way that is pleasing to God is to know and trust the Son. You see it's all about love. God first loved us. That's the point of Jesus sacrifice in the first place. God wants our love. It doesn't matter if we are good or bad by human standards the only standard that matters is the one that God sets. And Gods only requirement is that you know and love Jesus.

So how is it with you today? Are you spirituality dressed? Did you come to love and honor our Lord Jesus?

Would you Pray with me?

* from The Message numbered edition. 2002 by NavPress. Eugene Peterson

** From the NRSV Wesley Study Bible 2009 Abingdon Press Nashville.