1 Series: The Cross of Christ #2 Rev. Jamie Sipsma Mark 8:31-32; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 30-31 March 19/20, 2011 The Centrality of the Cross This morning we continue in our series that is focused on the Cross of Christ and how it impacts us today. I don t know if you have ever worn a cross but it s likely that many have. Have you ever wondered how unique that practice really is? Nicky Gumbel, the founder of Alpha which we run here at the church articulates how interesting it is that crosses have become such an engrained part of our culture. Here s what he has to say: VIDEO HERE He asks a great question: Why? Why do we wear these crosses? If you look at the symbols of other world religions, what do you see? The star of David, a crescent moon, and a lotus flower; these all display beauty or light. But the cross is an instrument of death. The cross is THE symbol of Christianity. About one-third of the Gospels are about the death of Jesus and half of the Gospel of Mark is about his death. i Much of the rest of the New Testament addresses why Jesus died and how we are to live because He died. Communion is about the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As Pastor Jay mentioned last week, the apostle Paul was obsessed with the cross. The cross is central to the entire plan of God. But something has been happening that is tempting people to decentralize the cross. They essentially say, Sure the cross is nice, but is it really necessary? Tim Keller in his book, The Reason For God, puts it this way: The primary symbol of Christianity has always been the cross. The death of Jesus for our sins is at the heart of the Gospel. Increasingly, however, what the Christian church has considered good news is considered by the rest of our culture as bad news. ii He goes on to state that more and more people are asking this question: Why don t we just leave the cross out? Why not focus on the life of Jesus and His teachings rather on His death? His assertion is supported as he cites a leader at a theological conference from a large Protestant denomination, who, when given the floor said, I don t think we need a theology of atonement at all; I don t think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff. The question becomes, Why can t we just concentrate on teaching about how God is a God of love? The answer is that if you take away the Cross, you don t have a God of love. iii As pastor Jay has stated, If the cross is not central to your gospel, you don t have the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2 What happens when we make a conscious effort to keep the cross of Christ central to our faith? We see three things: the offense of the cross, the grace of the cross, and transformation because of the cross. I. The Offense of the Cross Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23 Here Paul calls the message of Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, in particular the Greeks. Why is it a stumbling block for Jews, and why was it foolish to Greco-Roman society? Because to them Christ crucified was offensive; it was outrageous to both but in different ways. Paul says the Jews were offended by the cross because they wanted miraculous signs and power, and the Greeks were offended by the cross because they wanted wisdom. But Paul says, to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24 What Paul is saying here is that some people are offended one way and others are offended another, and if you look at the two ways people were offended in Paul s time, you still see the same type of thing today. Let s look together. First, there are people who are offended by the cross because they think the real answer is wisdom. Today, these are the intellectual elite. The Greeks, above everything else, valued wisdom as the ultimate treasure. Today, the intellectual and highly educated class not everybody, but in general have found the cross to be at best passé and at worst insulting. We live in an area of the country that is literally surrounded by the most prestigious and intellectually elite universities in the country. And if you go to these places, it becomes clear that, in general, there is strong dismissive condescension to the message of Christ crucified. My wife, Heather, recently received her doctorate from Yale, and I m very proud of her hard work and achievement. Naturally, as she would get to know people they would inevitably ask her, What does your husband do? It kind of became an ongoing source of amusement to us how people would respond to her answer. When she would say he s a pastor, the response was kind of like: Isn t that adorable that people still do that. That s so cute. And we came to realize that they didn t have so much a problem with Christ, but rather Christ crucified. The reaction and bristling of the intellectual culture isn t so much toward Jesus, but the cross and what it stands for. The great theologian John Stott in his book, Calling Christian Leaders, quotes Sir Alfred Jules Ayer, the prestigious Oxford University philosopher, who was scathing in his denunciation of Christianity, particularly the cross. In an article in The Guardian, he wrote that of all the historic religions there is a strong case for regarding Christianity as the worst. Why? Because it rested on "the allied doctrines of original sin and atonement
3 (that is, the cross), which are intellectually contemptible and morally outrageous." iv Last year Newsweek Magazine ran an article entitled Why Harvard Should Study More Religion. It covered several events in recent history that showed the school s distaste for formally incorporating anything faith-based into its community. For example, in 2006, a group of faculty members were tasked with revising Harvard's core curriculum, and they made the case that undergraduate students should be required to take at least one course in a category called Reason and Faith. These courses would explore issues such as intelligent design and the history of American faith. Steven Pinker, the evolutionary psychologist, led the case against such a proposal. He argued that the primary goal of a Harvard education is the pursuit of truth through rational inquiry, and that religion has no place in that. Pinker went on to say, Faith is a phenomenon. Reason is what the university should be in the business of fostering. The group rescinded their proposal and the issue never even made it to a vote. v What do we see here in these examples? They re offended and they re aggressive. They say the cross is intellectually contemptible; it s morally outrageous! Do you think these guys would be up for a casual conversation about faith? They don t really give off the warm fuzzies you would hope for in a respectful dialogue. Now they don t hate the idea of Jesus. They see Jesus as a wise man, as a great teacher. The things Jesus said are important and helpful, but as soon as you start talking about him being the Savior of all humanity, and folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff, that s over the line and here s why: because the intellectual elite just like the Greeks think the real problem is a lack of wisdom. So the idea of Jesus as a teacher a wise man is very attractive. Look at Jesus Sermon on the Mount. He says things everyone can get on board with: be a peacemaker, help the poor, turn the other cheek. And they think, If only people simply followed His teachings about life, then the world would be fine. That s what we need. And that s why they re insulted by the cross, because the cross says this: the problem s not wisdom, it s your sinful heart. Pastor Jay did a great job last week of impressing on us that Jesus died because of our wickedness, plain and simple. If Jesus had come just to tell us how to live, that would ve been fine: Overall you re pretty good people, but let s just smooth down the rough edges. There s nothing insulting in that. But if Jesus came to die, what He s saying is that wisdom s not the problem, it s the corrupt, sinful nature of humanity, and they say that s ridiculous, that s foolishness. The cross says a healthy intellect is not enough. The Greeks wanted wisdom but Paul said we preach Christ crucified because wisdom won t fix it. And the cross doesn t say we re kind of bad; we re a little sinful. What the cross says is that our sin is so bad that nothing short of the Son of God s dying for us can cover it. So that s one group of people they exist today as they did in Paul s day. Here s someone else that s offended by the cross. Paul says the Jews wanted signs and power. They lived by the law and saw that it was very important to be very good and that s what s important because being good and moral is what counts. These people aren t really represented in our culture by the
4 intellectual elite; these represent the general population, the common, everyday person. The common person isn t into expertise; they don t necessarily believe or care whether or not someone holds the right philosophy. But what many people do believe is that some people are good and some people are bad. Work hard, love your kids, pay your taxes, don t get in trouble, be decent that s what will make the world better. The problem with the world right now is bad people who cause grief for the rest of us. But Paul says the cross is a stumbling block to them as well and here s why: the cross says there s no difference between the good and the bad. For those living spotless lives and those living life in the gutter, when it comes to standing before God, there s no difference everyone needs the cross. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:22-23 There is no difference between anybody and people say that s outrageous. One of my favorite places is Lake Michigan. This is a picture from Big Sable Lighthouse in Ludington (DISPLAY PICTURE). Lake Michigan is 307 miles long and 118 miles wide. Let s put you, me and Michael Phelps on the beach and say swim to Milwaukee. I ll probably be the first to go down, if you don t give me a rescue boat. You may drown after two miles, if you don t have a rescue boat. Michael Phelps may go 100 miles without a rescue boat, but sooner or later, we re all going to drown without a boat. There s a sense that Michael Phelps may be 50 times better than I am, but in another sense we re all ruined because there s no difference: no one can make it. The cross comes and says in one sense some of you are better than others and that s good: be a good parent, be a good friend, be self-disciplined, pay your taxes. But when it comes to a relationship with Christ, none of us are even close and it s not like crossing a lake it s like crossing the ocean. We re not even CLOSE to it. And the average person says, my goodness doesn t save me? I m put into the same category as those vile people on death row? That s outrageous. Do you see? The cross offends everybody it offends the Greeks and it offends the Jews, it offends the intellectual elite and the everyday person, it offends not just the malevolent but also the moral. Why? Because there is no difference. Once we see that the offense of the cross is at the center of our faith, we can see the grace of the cross. II. The Grace of the Cross If we aren t saved by wisdom, if we aren t saved by our own goodness, we can only go to grace: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
5 Grace an undeserved gift given by an unobligated giver. It doesn t matter what your situation, for God to save you it s an absolute mercy. You can do nothing to merit it; it doesn t matter who you are or where you are, and this bothers some people. Some people are offended by the exclusiveness of the cross. People say, I don t like Christ crucified because it s too exclusive and marginalizes people who aren t Christians. I believe that all good people should be able to come to God. But that argument is self-defeating because now YOU VE set up an exclusive faith system, because your saying only good people get to God. You say, We don t need the cross, any good person can come to God. Okay, but what about the rest of us? What about those of us who struggle with sin? What about those of us who know how flawed we are, who know how desperately we need saving? The cross isn t fundamentally exclusive, it s so inclusive it says no matter whom you are, no matter what you ve done, you can come to the cross, and your sins will be covered. But in order for that to happen you need to admit that you need it, and when we can t admit we need the cross, it s offensive. Not wisdom, not morality, but grace alone. When we see the offense the cross points out, we can see the grace we need that can only come through the cross, and we are put at a crossroads. Why a crossroads? Because the only way one can stay neutral at the foot of the cross is if you don t understand it. In other words the cross will offend you or it will transform you. III. Transformation Because of the Cross You are either offended by it or you bask in it and are awe-struck by it and it becomes the transforming center of your life. But nothing in between is realistic, because we either dismiss it, or it changes your life. You may say, Huh, that s interesting. That s strange though because that s not really true for me. I mean on the one hand I don t dismiss the cross, but I m not offended by it; I think it s a beautiful image but I don t bask in it, I m not transformed by it. If we aren t feeling one way or the other, we re missing something. We don t see the depths of what Paul is teaching us here. Seek it out, look for it, and don t stop until you find it. And if you are in that place of ambivalence, don t be complacent but don t be discouraged either, because you re not alone. The Apostle Peter thought he was serving Jesus until the cross offended him. If you look at the first half of the Gospel of Mark, you will see that Peter thought he was doing everything right. He thought the key was to serve Jesus and do what He says. Those are good and noble things, just like a healthy intellect and a strong moral foundation are good things. But then Jesus, in Mark 8:31, begins teaching his disciples that he has to suffer and die, and what does Peter immediately do in the next verse? Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Mark 8:32
6 Peter tells Jesus, That s absurd! That s outrageous. Stop it. He s offended by it. Guess what? That s a small step in the right direction, because once we see the offense of the cross, we see more fully the grace of the cross, which can transform us to be more like Christ. Peter didn t understand it; he didn t understand that salvation had to come purely by grace so that it could be available to ANYBODY who came to the cross. Once you see that salvation comes through God s grace and you can t do anything to earn it, instead of being offended and dismissing this truth, you can decide to accept it. This acceptance changes everything: you ll see God transforming your life through the cross and you ll boast in it. [Christ Jesus] is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:30b-31 If you boast, boast in the Lord. Why? The answer is in the verse before. I boast because Jesus Christ is my righteousness, my holiness, and my redemption. He s the only reason I have anything good. He s the only reason I possess anything pure. He s the only reason I have any life. And it comes solely through the cross. How do you see the cross? Do you see the offense it? Do you see the grace because of it? Are you transformed by it? Is the cross central to your life? When you see a cross, what do you think of? Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. What does your life preach? i Gumbel, Nicky. The Alpha Course. Talk Three: Why Did Jesus Have To Die? 2006. ii Keller, Timothy. The Reason For God, p. 186. iii Ibid., p. 193. iv Stott, John. Calling Christian Leaders, p. 48-49. v Newsweek Magazine. February 11, 2010.