Why Two Crosses?

The logo for Grace Life is two crosses.  Why are there only two crosses?  Weren’t there three crosses when Christ died?  Yes, there were three crosses but on one of the crosses, the thief rebuked Jesus and went to Hell.     The other two crosses were the one that Jesus died on and the one the repentant thief died on.  Jesus told him “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”  In Mark 8:27-38, we see these two crosses: The Lord’s cross and the disciples cross.  Two Crosses Sermon.

On the first cross, our Savior died.  In verse 27, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  They told him, “John the Baptist and others say Elijah; but others one of the prophets.”  When asked the question, “but who do you say that I am?”, Peter responded, “You are the Christ.”  He went on to teach them that, “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again”(verse 31).   The message of Christianity is that Christ has come.  The Son of God came into the world to save sinners.  He was the perfect, sinless, Son of God, dying for sinful, depraved, human beings.  He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  The message of the Gospel is not “work for your salvation.”  The message of the Gospel is, “Trust the one who did the work for you.”  The good news of Christianity is a message of Grace:  Receive the one who paid it all!

The second cross is the disciple’s cross.  Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Verse 34).  Self denial and surrender is necessary to being a follower of Christ.  Repentance is a concept that is neglected much today.  An “easy believism” dominates the evangelical culture where a person can claim to be Christian and live like the devil.  Jesus made it clear that repentance (a holy hatred of sin, an abandonment of a sinful lifestyle) is part and parcel of His call to follow Him.  He goes on to say, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”(v.35-36).

One of Charles Spurgeon’s favorite hymns was “There is a fountain.”  The words to the last two stansas are etched on his tombstone.  The song says that the “fountain” is filled with the blood of Jesus, “drawn from Immanuel’s veins.   While offensive to modern sensibilities, the song is “Christ-centered” The song refers to the dying thief.

“The dying thief rejoiced to see

that fountain in his day

and there may I though vile as he,

wash all my sins away.”

Anyone can be saved if they will “deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Christ.”

A new church plant, calling people to follow Christ  is now forming.   The logo for “Grace Life” is the two crosses because there are Two crosses in Christianity, Christ’s cross and the disciples cross.