WARNING PREACHY…
Last
week I asked the question of people about why we they thought we exist, or why they
thought they were born. I asked this of
the people I serve in the nursing homes and one gentleman, in particular, spoke
up and said, “I believe that I was born in a cycle of reincarnation so that I
can balance my virtues throughout my many lives.”
I’ve
heard this eastern sentiment before, so I wasn’t shocked by it. My response was kind and gracious when I replied
that his belief wasn’t Christian, but if that’s what he wanted to believe then,
‘good luck with that’.
In
light of this response though, I want to consider the absolute centrality of
the Cross in the Christian faith. There
are a thousand things in the world of Christianity that is centralized in our minds
and dogmas such as,
The
Sovereignty of God [1]
The
Holiness of God [2]
The
Trinity of God [3]
The
Omniscience of God [4]
The
Omnipotence of God [5]
The
Justice of God [6]
The
Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit
Theocentricity
[7]
Christocentricity
[8]
Phuemocentrcity
[9]
The
list could go on, but you get the point.
Of all the things that are centralized by us and our churches, the Cross
of Christ is, for me, the paramount. With
the context of reincarnation, I consider the Cross.
The
Cross eliminates the need for the cosmic balancing; that’s where the idea of
justification comes in. Justification is
an accounting term which is used when balancing the books; making the Assets - the Liabilities = the Equity. The Cross of Christ is that single moment in
all of human history, since the Fall of Adam & Eve, that humanity has actually
been balanced. With the accounting word
Justified, it means it is JUST as IF I’D never sinned. (Did you see what I did there, kinda cute
right? I didn’t make it up, sorry, I
heard it somewhere.) The Cross was the
payment in full for the sin-debt which mankind owed to God.
The
point is that the Cross is the Gospel (the good news). On the Cross, Jesus paid with his life the
price for sin and set us free from the obligation to pay it. This is Grace. This is the free gift. This is redemption.
Have
you ever received one of those letters from the IRS? You know, one of those howlers that are loud enough that even your neighbors know you owe the
Feds money? If not, you’ve heard the
horror stories right? When he IRS says
that you owe them money, you owe them money – like it or not. In a way,
mankind’s sin-debt to God is what every human owed God since the time of Adam
& Eve. We may not like it, but it
doesn’t change anything. I think this is
why they say that there are two things that are sure in this life: death and taxes.
This
is why the Cross of Jesus Christ is the centrality of everything, because it is
there on the Cross that the cosmic balancing happened. It is on the Cross that humanity’s sin-debt
to was paid in full, and men were redeemed and made free; as free as the Israelite-slaves
who left Egypt with Moses through the parted Red Sea were.
This
is why reincarnation isn’t Christian; reincarnation teaches people to believe
in their own efforts to clean up and sort out their own virtues. It ignores the God of Creation’s personal
sacrifice of his one and only son, and it does not trust and believe in the
death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
It’s
sad really, the very idea of reincarnation necessarily demands that someone
focus on themselves in order to clean up and order their own virtues. And so for me, the centrality of the Cross in
necessary; for it is the reason that anything else even matters. Only by the Cross is mankind set free from
the sin-debt and the never ending cosmic cycle of trying to do it ourselves. And its only at the Cross that men are truly
loved by a personal God who redeems us and sets us free.
Some
will never accept it, but for me and my household, we’re going to be at the
Cross and I wonder if you wouldn’t like to join us?
---
1 Corinthians
1:17-18
17 For
Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and
eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to
those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
[1]
God rules His entire creation, He is absolutely free to do what He knows to be
best. God is in control of everything that happens.
[2]
God is set apart from all created beings, this refers to His majesty and His
perfect moral purity.
[3]
The Christian Godhead as one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit.
[4]
Omniscience means all-knowing. God knows everything, and His knowledge is
infinite.
[5]
Literally this word means all-powerful. Since God is infinite and since He
possesses power, He possesses infinite power.
[6]
Psa 89:14. Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne.' In God,
power and justice meet. Power holds the scepter, and justice holds the balance.
[9] Having God, the Holy
Spirit, as the
focal point of thoughts, interests, feelings, and
doctrines.
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