27 Jan All Things Crucified
Last Sunday, Pastor preached from Genesis 11:27-12:20, and we considered the calling of Abram and God’s covenant with him that has reverberated throughout history and even unto today. Ultimately, God chose to make a people for himself through Abram, through whom he would bless the nations by providing the promised Savior and a people to tell the world about the Savior and how to follow him.
Read: Genesis 13:1-14:16
This Sunday, Pastor Jeremy Chasteen will preach from Genesis 13:1-14:16 and will point us to hope in God’s way of our rescue alone, namely Jesus Christ. As you prepare for our Sunday gathering, let this devotional from Milton Vincent direct you to the way of God’s rescue from death unto true life: the way of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Reflect: “All Things Crucified”
Thankfully, the gospel teaches me that dying is not an end, but a beginning. For after Christ took up His cross and died, God raised Him from the dead (Ephesians 1:20), exalted Him to the highest heaven (Philippians 2:8-9), and drew Him into His bosom (John 1:18). These facts surrounding Christ’s resurrection stand as proof positive that God will not leave me for dead, but will raise me similarly, if I would only allow myself to die. Indeed, on the other side of each layer of dying lie experiences of a life with God that are far richer, far higher, and far more intimate than anything I would have otherwise known (Romans 6:4).
In God’s economy, death is the way to life. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,” Jesus says, “but whoever loses His life for My sake, he shall find it (Luke 9:24).” Indeed, the more conformable I am made to the death of Christ, the more I experience freedom from sin (Romans 6:6-7) and taste the power of the resurrection of Jesus Himself (Philippians 3:8-10). The path to such power is paved with many dyings, and each stage of resurrection is achieved with each incident of dying to myself and reckoning myself dead to sin (Romans 6:11).
The more I contemplate the gospel, the more I understand that this “word of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18)” stands as a blueprint for my own life story. The death that Christ died is the death to which I also am called, and the death to which I am called is my entry point to union with Christ and life at its fullest (Romans 6:5). So, come what may, I’ll let no one take this death from me!
“All Things Crucified, Part II,” in A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent
Sing: Song List for Sunday
1. “All the Earth,” by Vertical Worship
2. “Exalted Over All,” by Vertical Worship
3. “Your Will Be Done,” by CityAlight
4. “Come Thou Fount (Above All Else),” Arr. Shane & Shane