“The Meaning of the Cross” (Ready to Worship S8E6)

October 26, 2018

Ready to Worship Season 8, Episode 6 for Friday, October 26, 2018

This season on Ready to Worship, we are contemplating the cross to prepare our hearts for worship. This week, our thought is drawn from the world of tennis. We will consider what the cross means to us as Christians.

Transcript

This season on Ready to Worship, we are contemplating the cross to prepare our hearts for worship. This week, our thought is drawn from the world of tennis.

Rene Lacoste was the top tennis player in the 1920’s. He won seven major singles titles during his career, including a multiple wins at Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open. His friends gave him the nickname, “Le Crocodile,” for his tenacious play on the court. Lacoste liked the nickname and began to have a tiny croc stitched on his blazers and shirts. The symbol caught on. Soon, thousands around the world were wearing “crocodile shirts,” without knowing the significance of the symbol. Only Lacoste’s friends knew the real meaning of the crocodile. In like manner, many today wear a cross around their necks. Most of them have no real understanding of what it means. However, we are His friends (John 15:15). We know what it means.

In Paul’s day, many didn’t know the meaning of the cross. It seemed foolish to them. However, to the early Christians, it made perfect sense. To the saints at Corinth, Paul wrote, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:21-24). Rather than foolishness, the cross represented wisdom for the early Christians. Instead of weakness, it represented power.

As we get ready to worship this week, let’s think of what the cross really means. Let’s think of the wisdom and power of God as we worship.