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Last Words
There can be only one reason for an anemic church--because she
is malnourished. To be strong the church must continually feed upon the Word
of God, nourishing herself with a balanced diet. I fear, however, that much
of what the church has been consuming is junk food. We must return the cross
to the place it deserves--as the main course of every meal.
Respected pastor, Jack Hayford, recently wrote:
I believe that
the charismatic movement must chart a fresh course to the central point of Christian
truth: the cross of Jesus. The remedy for any imbalance is precisely there,
where those two crossbars remind us of the need to balance heaven's requirements
(vertical) with human need (horizontal).80
Only the cross can restore
balance. It is the foundational truth of the Bible. We know that if a building's
foundation is faulty, then the whole structure will collapse. Jesus, His person
and His work, must be returned as the chief cornerstone. Only then can the church
be built properly, "a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5).
Pastor Hayford went on to write:
One recent study of the content of most charismatic worship music
indicated that both Christ's cross and His blood are scarcely mentioned. Does
this drift from the biblical and historical center of Christian faith signal
a warning? I think so. It's hard to synchronize this tendency with the theme
song of heaven, both now and eternally; "To Him [the Lamb] who loved us
and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Rev. 1:5; see also 5:9).
The cross must command center stage in our lives, ever and always; and as participants
in this revival, let us be certain it does in the charismatic movement as well.
The cross is the fountainhead of all God's wisdom, as well as the source of
all His power (1 Cor 1:18-25; 2:1-4).
Let's start singing again, "Jesus, keep me near the cross." Humility is assured there, which will keep arrogance and pride from gaining ascendance. Holiness is assured there, which will keep presumption and ungodliness
at bay. Love abounds there, which will help us to hear each other and
to keep the teachable heart of a child. Finally, the power is there--for
the fountainhead of all Christ's glory-workings toward humankind was opened
there. We must keep that fountainhead as our foundation--resting all our revelations
and blessings on the footings that Calvary provides.81
E.W. Moore, a clergyman in the church of England in the early
1900's, witnessed firsthand the historic Welsh revival. Upon observation of the
amazing ministry of Evan Roberts, the primary human agent in that revival, Moore
passionately wrote,
He has had a vision of Calvary….He has seen "One hanging
on a tree, in agonies and blood," and the sight has enthralled him….What
we need is a fresh vision of the Cross. And may that mighty, all-embracing love
of His be no longer a fitful, wavering influence in our lives, but the ruling
passion of our souls.82
This book is only a primer on the greatest subject ever studied--the cross of
Christ. My hope is that it will inspire ministers and lay-people alike to reevaluate
everything that is done under the banner of Christianity. Let us return to the
foundation of our faith. Let us once more place Christ's cross where it belongs:
in the center of everything we say and do. If we will, sermons will change,
churches will change, lives will change, cities will change, and for multitudes,
eternity will change.
Footnotes
80 Jack
Hayford, Charisma, Sept. 1990, p. 74
81 Jack Hayford, Charisma, Sept. 1990, p. 76.
82 E.W. Moore, The Story of the Welsh Revival, p. 82.
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