The Peace Of The Cross

A traveler in the South found himself stranded in a small town on Saturday night.

Wondering around, he noticed there were two Baptist churches. He couldn't understand it,

so he asked someone why it was that such a small town would have two Baptist churches?

The local man said, "They just couldn't agree. One of the churches believed that Pharaoh's

daughter found Moses in the bull-rushes. The church claims, that's what she says. Man has

always been a creature of strive, even there is nothing really to fight about. Horace, the

ancient writer, refers to a controversy in his day as to whether goats hair should be called

lana or wool, and he says of the contender, "He wrangles about goats wool, and donning his

armor, fights for trifles." Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet writes of one, "Thou! Why thou

wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard than thou hast?

Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou

hast hazel eyes."

Thomas Jefferson, who associated with a great many men, spoke out of experience when

he said, "An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which never

yet existed." Even the 12 Apostles argued and disputed about who was going to be the

greatest. It ought not to be surprising then that professor Quincy Wright in his book, A

Study Of War, shows that in the 461 years from 1480 to 1941 various nations had this

record: Great Britain 78 wars, France 71, Spain 64, Russia 61, Austria 52, Germany 23,

China 11, Japan 9, and the U. S. 13, plus 110 wars with the Indians within the U. S. Certainly

it is not necessary to labor the point that peacemakers are desperately needed. They are the

rarest creatures ever to see the light of day on this planet of strife.

Nevertheless, peacemakers have had far more power than warmakers. Practically all the

peace treaties ever signed have been broken. They have been ineffective, but there is one

peace that was established that is still in effect, and has been more powerful than all the wars

of history combined. It is the peace of the Prince of Peace-the peace of the cross. The

greatest conflict in history was and is the conflict between God and man. The consequences

of this conflict were far more dreadful than all the horrors of human warfare. In fact, this

was the source of human strife. Jesus became the peacemaker of all peacemakers by

reconciling God and man. In Col 1:20-22 Paul writes of this reconciliation. "...Making

peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who were once estranged and hostile in mind,

doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present

you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him..."

The peace of the cross is the only universal and everlasting peace ever established, and all

through the centuries in every part of the world men have been able to say with the Apostle

Paul, "Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus

Christ." The peace of the cross not only reconciled men of faith with God, but it became the

basis for peace on earth among men of good will which the angels sang of at the birth of the

Prince of Peace. The cross has ended so much hostility that there is no way to measure its

influence in history. It has broken down walls that all the bombs and bullets of all the wars

ever fought could not dent, let alone demolish.

Paul writes of the great power in the peace of the cross in Eph. 2:13-14. "But now in

Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For

he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of

hostility." Jesus demolished every wall that separates men, and made peace possible for all

men with God and each other, if they will come to the cross. Billy Graham wrote, "In regard

to racial peace let me say that for true Christians there is no race problem! The ground is

level at the cross and there are no second-rate citizens with God."

This is true in every other area of conflict also. The peace of the cross is powerful enough

to solve any conflict if men will come to the cross. The peace of the cross is also proof that

both sides in a conflict can be satisfied, and both can win if one is willing to pay the price of

being a peacemaker. It doesn't cost anything to be a peace lover or a peace talker, but to be