The document discusses the importance of the cross in Christianity. It begins by providing historical context of the crucial role played by RAF pilots and their planes in defending Britain during WWII. It then discusses how the cross has become a symbol that various groups seek to remove or diminish due to its significance in Christianity. The main part of the document explains what the cross represents theologically - that through Jesus' death on the cross, God provided a way for humanity's sins to be forgiven so that people can be saved. It emphasizes that the cross signifies the gospel and Jesus paying the price for sins. The document concludes by asking readers to reflect on how Jesus wants them to respond by following him and making adjustments in their lives.

1. The Importance of the Cross
In March of 1941, German bombers began a series of air
raids on Glasgow, home to huge ship-building and
ammunition plants. 20 miles away, a 14 year-old girl huddled
in her home on the second floor of an apartment building
with her parents and five siblings. She survived and six years
later on Feb. 15, 1947, I was born in that apartment during a
heavy snowstorm.
Why did my mom survive? Partially because British RAF
pilots drove the bombers away. Britain flew two of the best
fighter planes in the world: the Hurricane and the Spitfire.
Those amazing planes and pilots are usually credited with
saving Britain from invasion and may have saved Europe
from total defeat by keeping Great Britain out of German
hands so it could be a staging area for the American-British
offensive that eventually won WWII in Europe. Churchill
said of the RAF: “Never was so much owed by so many to so
few”
Think of it: about 1000 mostly unknown pilots, their ground
support troops and the women and men who built the planes
in makeshift factories hidden in cities may have saved the
free world from Nazi Germans. But today, most people do
not remember those British few. It is easy to forget the
saviors of western democracies.
Today we remember Jesus--the Savior of the World!

2. The Cross is His Main Symbol
We Understand this:
In the last couple of years, the Chinese government has
forced hundreds of churches to take down their crosses
off their buildings. They know that being a follower of Jesus
is a political statement. A true Chinese Christian is more
committed to Jesus than to the Chinese government. So, the
government fears a rival in Jesus.
In 2005, a tape was found in which Osama bin Laden’s
deputy, Egyptian-born Ayman Al-Zawahri, urged all
Muslims to take up arms, saying a refusal to join the fight
against “the Cross and Zionism” was a “malignant illness”
that would lead to the defeat of militant Islam. Islam has to
crush its main rivals if it is dominate the world politically
and militarily as the war-like Quran demands.
BUt Why is This Happening?
The Bishop of Stockholm, a practicing lesbian, has recently
proposed a church in her diocese remove all signs of the
cross and put up markings showing the direction to Mecca
for the benefit of Muslim worshippers who might come into
the church.
A Church of England school has removed the cross symbol
from its uniform, over fears that it may offend local Muslims.
Real Madrid, the highest money-making soccer club in the
world until recently, has taken the cross off their official
crest in order to do business in the Muslim Middle East.

3. Why? Because they have forgotten the importance of the
cross.
Why Is the Cross So Important?
What does the cross really mean?
What we are not talking about:
1. A physical object!
Except for fictional vampire movies, the physical cross no
power to help us. Kissing a cross or lighting candles before a
cross are NOT biblical practices. There is no special blessing
for wearing crosses as jewelry or having them on your wall.
A physical cross is there only to remind us of what is really
important: the death of Jesus for all mankind.
The Cross = the crucifixion and death of Jesus on a wooden
cross to pay God’s just debt for the sins of the entire world
for all time.
In short, the Cross stands for the Gospel: Jesus paid for
our sins so the way home to Father God & heaven is open to
all who believe and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Christianity is all about the Person of Jesus Christ. And
Christianity is all about the Cross of Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:23: “…but we preach Christ crucified, to
Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” (1 Cor.
1:23-24)

4. Today is Communion Sunday
Jesus told us to remember His death on a cross by
celebrating the Lord’s Table or communion. In 1 Cor.
11:25-26, Jesus says:
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s
death until He comes.
So, to answer question # 1: what does the cross really
mean?
Let’s look at it from a negative position: Let’s suppose that
Jesus did not die on the cross for anyone. It never
happened. What would that mean?
1. We would all die in our sins and never be forgiven by
God.
2. We would all suffer forever the just wrath of God against
our sins.
3. We would continue to be sons of the devil. “and the field
is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of
the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one...”
Matt 13:38 spoken by Jesus.
1 John 3:10 describes “children of the devil” as those
who live unrighteously. The children of God live righteously.

5. 3. Our eternal destiny would be to live in “the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels”, in eternal destruction
forever separated from God.
Without Jesus dying on the cross as Our Savior, our lives on
earth would be like a horror movie. What awaits us in
eternity would be worse.
But because of the Cross--
1. God’s just demand for judgement against our sins has
been satisfied by Jesus offering His life on the cross as a
sacrifice for all our sins.
The Judge of all humanity became the Justifier of all
humanity.
3. We can receive forgiveness of all our sins that Jesus
purchased with His death by putting our faith in Jesus as
our Lord & Savior.
4. We can become righteous, adopted children of God for
all eternity through faith in Jesus?
5. We can receive the gift of eternal life through faith in
Jesus. His death permits us to have life forever. This is
God’s great exchange: we give Him our sins and he gives us
eternal life!

6. 6. God Almighty, the Holy Spirit, lives inside us to teach,
guide, empower and comfort us so we make it all the way to
heaven
7. We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Jesus of all
that heaven holds! We rule and reign with Jesus in heaven!
8. Through the Cross, God fulfilled His pre-creation promise
to call us as adopted sons in Jesus that he chose before the
world was made ( Eph. 1:3-5).
Incredible: God was a Savior before He was a Creator!
No one could ever have written a book with a story like that!
That’s what the cross signifies.
This is what we remember about the death of Jesus in taking
communion.
Only His death on the cross makes all of that possible!
“We preach Christ crucified”
▪ Colossians 2:13: “[He forgave] by canceling the record
of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
▪ 1 Corinthians 15:3: “I delivered to you as of first
importance what I also received: that Christ died for
our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.”
▪ 1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins in his body on
the tree.”

7. Jesus’ death on the cross is all God demanded to give us all
that! One sacrifice for all humanity for all time.
On the cross He cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30).
The Book of Hebrews declares unequivocally that “by one
offering [on the cross] He has perfected forever those who
are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).
Tetelestai: The Greek business word means “Paid in full”!
The Cross is all God required to forgive the world of its sins.
All man has to do is receive Jesus as Savior and Lord and try
to follow Him faithfully all their lives.
That’s what we remember at Communion.
_______________________
So How Does Jesus Want Us respond to His Cross?
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his
soul?” (Matt. 16:24-26)
Ask Yourself Now:
What decisions has God been asking of you?
What sin has he been asking you to leave?

8. What habit has He asked you to change?
What adjustments in your life is He whispering to you to
make?
What parts of your life are you still withholding from Him as
Lord?
Let’s:
Talk to God now about all that.
Sing: I Surrender All
Take Communion