Christ’s self-sacrifice — a model for the homeless

The Word of God is taught at Union Gospel Mission in hopes the Holy Spirit will use it to bring personal reformation and a deeper commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ among men who are given place here. God has occasioned some of these men to find their way spiritually, to make a beginning in residing in Jesus Christ as Lord and to cease their aimlessness of the soul. May the plainest preaching, as excerpted here, aid them as they heard it from our pulpit — and you.

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By Wayne Hammel

We dangle crosses from our earlobes as decoration. But to perhaps get a clearer idea of what the cross meant in Roman times, though, imagine placing in a prominent position in your church a fresco of the massed graves of

Though King Saul was jealous and tried repeatedly to kill David, his harpist and soldier was faithful and true to him as the Lord's anointed.

Auschwitz, the horror of the Nazi concentration camp. Wouldn’t everyone be horrified? But in the first century, the cross had something of that same symbolic value. Scholars have gone through every instance of the word “cross” and related expressions that have come down to us from about the time of Jesus and shown how “crucifixion” and “cross” invariably evoke horror.

Of the various forms of Roman execution, crucifixion could be used only for slaves, rebels and anarchists; it could never be used for a Roman citizen, apart from the express sanction of the emperor. Crucifixion was considered too cruel — so shameful that the word itself was avoided in polite conversation. The Bible’s use of the language of the cross is meant to shock, not build complacence. It is meant to galvanize into action! It is meant for us to clearly to see the magnitude of what God, the Son, did.

Submission, humility, obedience! We take far too lightly this enormous sacrifice of Jesus Christ and then say to ourselves, and I know we do, “He’s God! He could do it! I can’t! I’m not strong enough to live that kind of submitted life!” And you’re right! You can’t! But you see, God isn’t asking you to go to the cross, is He? God isn’t asking you to take the sins of the world on your shoulders, is He? Jesus has already done that! He is asking you, though, to come to Him in submission, repentance and obedience. He is asking you to live your life with Christ Jesus at the very center of it, to be so Gospel soaked that the very last thing on your mind is making sure that you adequately defend your turf from all corners; The very last thing on your mind is jealously guarding what is yours from anyone ever getting their grubby hands on your stuff!

Have you knelt to wash someone’s feet lately? Not necessarily literally, but have you sacrificed your pride, your place, your position, your everything to touch someone’s life who desperately needed the warmth of a human touch? Did you still love them even if they rejected you? Or spit in your face? Ridiculed you? Called you a fool?

You know, I’m wrong about a lot of things. And sometimes I say things when I ought to just keep my mouth shut. But I don’t have good sense sometimes, so I just let’er rip. I got saved back in 1999. I was raised in church; my Dad was a deacon at Highland Park Baptist Church; my grandfather was a Church of God preacher for many years. As soon as I could, I hit the ground running, though, and got out of Dodge – no church for Bubba! I wanted no part of it! I am not going into my testimony, but the Holy Spirit eventually nailed me, I accepted Christ, and here I am. But with some notably few exceptions, I have found that most of the people I used to run with back in the day, while they are still without Christ in their lives, were far better people than most church people I have met.

The church in America is in danger of dying! Flat out! And it is not dying because of liberalism, Hollywood, homosexuals, Democrats, Republicans, atheists or any of the stock answers you can hear from most pulpits all across our country. The church in America is dying because we do not have Christ Jesus of the Gospel at the center of our corporate and individual lives. And you can tell we don’t because there are precious few loving, committed and submitted Christians in America. We are Americans first, and not followers of a crucified and risen Savior. We are nowhere close to having the same mind as Jesus Christ! My opinion! And I ain’t no better!

Wayne Hammel is on the staff of Union Gospel Mission and has charge of the discipleship program.