Because of the Cross
I Corinthians 1:18
CHCC – September 8, 2013
(Outlline inspired by Robert McGee, "The Search for Significance")
INTRODUCTION:
The God of the Bible is the complete opposite of the kinds of gods human beings tend to invent. The gods that humans concoct are impressive, powerful, victorious, and even dangerous. But the God of the Bible showed us His identity by dying the most humiliating, horrific, demeaning death ever invented. People want to turn away from such a horrible kind of death.
The apostle Paul addressed this when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
Those who are being saved understand that Jesus died on the Cross to give us forgiveness and eternal life. But today I want to focus on the meaning and purpose of the cross in the here and now. Jesus died on the cross so we can have the hope of Heaven when we die. But our salvation is not just other-worldly. Because of the cross, our daily lives --- our whole way of thinking about ourselves and others --- can be completely transformed.
The default position of most people is to hold all kinds of harmful and false beliefs that lead us down a depressing spiral into despair and hopelessness. Today I want to look at the remedy Jesus provided on the cross to save us from the traps, addictions, and bondage we tend to think ourselves into. I think this is a good way to top off the series Ronnie and Richard just preached about “toxic thoughts.”
For the sake of you visual learners, I found 4 images that represent what Jesus did for us on the cross. Hopefully the images will stick in your mind to help us remember the freedom we have because of the cross.
1. Justification – Saving forgiveness – Free from the performance trap
The first visual is a picture of a strong arm reaching down to rescue someone else who is helpless and powerless to save himself. If you look closely you’ll see that the arm reaching down has a wound in the very place where they put nails in Jesus’ hands. You will also notice that the hand of the person being saved is so weak it is not able to grab the saving arm to assist in its own salvation. All the power comes from the arm of the Savior alone.
This picture represents the Biblical word: Justification. Romans 5:1 says, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.” We may not understand the full meaning of this word.
Someone described it this way: “Justification means it’s just as if I’d never sinned.”
The trouble is that most of us are held captive in a trap called The Performance Trap. We live our lives focused on behavior … our own and the behavior of others … and we assume that this is what really matters in life. The person caught in the performance trap might think something like this: “I must meet certain standards before I can feel good about myself. And you have to meet those standards, too, before I can feel good about YOU.”
The truth is that most of the world’s religions philosophies are behavior centric. From Islam to Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism --- and even legalistic Christian groups --- the focus is trying to live up to a standard in order to somehow please whatever deity or moral code you think you should follow.
Satan loves this kind of thinking. It allows him to lead people down one of two dead end paths. Either people delude themselves into thinking they ARE living up to the standard that has been set … with the end result of PRIDE and LEGALISM. These are the people you want to avoid because they have that “better than thou” attitude. The Pharisees in the Bible were a prime example. The point is, you may THINK you’re all that, but you’re not.
If you have a more realistic view of yourself and you recognize your own failures and sins, then Satan wants you to get demoralized and give up. He wants you to think you’re worthless and hopeless. He wants you to focus on all your mistakes and blunders. The next thing you know, you’re miserable and depressed.
Either way … whether you’re full of pride or totally demoralized … Satan has you where he wants you. It’s called the performance trap for a reason … because it truly IS a trap in every sense of the word.
But here’s the good news. Because of the cross, the performance trap has sprung open. You’ve been set free! 2 Corinthians 5:21 shows what Jesus did on the cross. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
You no longer need to focus on your own performance at all! You have become the righteousness of God. It’s only HIS performance that matters. The perfection of Jesus Christ now covers you. Jesus has lifted you out of the miry clay of failed self-effort and set you on the King’s highway to growth and maturity in Christ.
2. Reconciliation – Unconditional acceptance – Free from approval addiction
The next picture is a person reaching out his hand hoping that the other person will take hold of it … indicating reconciliation. The picture shows a restored relationship with both hands in warm embrace.
Colossians 1:21-22 explains “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”
There’s nothing held back in this reconciliation. God doesn’t receive us with reservations. He gives unconditional love to us as his beloved children. God APPROVES us of because of the cross. And that sets us free from an addiction that is common to most people.
Most of us tend to live life as approval addicts. This is the false, but common belief that “I must have the approval of certain others to feel good about myself.” We become people pleasers. And what does this do for us? It makes us sensitive to criticism. It makes us want to withdraw from others to avoid their disapproval. It puts us under the control of manipulative people and the guilt trips they try to take us on. We become co-dependent. We live our lives desperately trying to avoid rejection … and of course, sooner or later someone rejects us and we just can’t stand that!
How many of you have already learned (the hard way) that you can’t possibly win the approval of everybody, and you can’t make everyone like you? The good news is, you don’t NEED anyone’s approval except God’s approval. And you have been reconciled to God because of the cross!
Reconciliation is a Bible word that we might hear to describe a married couple who finally quit arguing and fighting and learned how to live together in harmony. Reconciliation is a wonderful thing when it happens, but it requires that someone make the initial effort to “bury the hatchet” so to speak. God took that action when Jesus died on the cross.
Because of Christ’s completed work on the cross we are able to stand before God “holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (Colossians 1:22)
It’s not fun to be rejected by others --- but what does it really matter in light of the fact that we are eternally, unconditionally, fully and completely accepted by God through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ!
3. Propitiation – No condemnation – Free from the blame game.
The visual image here is hands breaking free from bondage. Many of us live our lives in self-imposed bondage based on self-condemnation. People who fall into this trap tell themselves, “Those who fail (including myself) are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.”
We live our lives playing a no-win game called the blame game. This is a game where the most critical, judgmental, unforgiving, grudge holders win. And the prize they win is a miserable life of self-loathing … and resentment toward all the other blame game contestants.
1 John 4:11 says “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (KJV) Now, propitiation is a Bible word that we never use in normal conversation. It means that the cost for something has been paid or covered.
The way we might use this term usually relates to insurance. You don’t have to worry about the consequences of a flood because you’re COVERED by flood insurance. If your car gets in a wreck, don’t worry --- you’re covered by auto insurance. This is a small example of what we have because of the cross. We’re covered! We’re covered no matter what befalls us! The price of our sin --- death --- has already been covered – propitiated – by the death of Jesus on the cross.
One of my favorite verses --- Romans 8:1 --- says it all: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Have you been playing the “blame game”? Throw that game board away forever! Because of the cross you are free from all condemnation.
4. Regeneration – New life – Free from shame and despair
The Biblical word for our last image is Regeneration Titus 3:5-6, “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
The image for Regeneration is the hand of a newborn held in the capable hand of the parent --- because regeneration means that we are made new --- we are born again --- the old has gone and the new has come. There should be no place in a Christian’s heart for shame over the sins and abuses of the past. Christians should never play the blame game and we should never play the shame game! Those playing the shame game might say “I am what I am, I cannot change. I am hopeless,”
Notice how the Apostle Paul used that phrase in I Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” There’s no shame in the words of Paul! “I am what I am by the grace of God.” Because of regeneration we are made new. We no longer bear the shame of our past deeds!
Most of us understand that we are made new in Christ, but do we realize that we are continually being made new, day by day, even moment by moment. I didn’t always understand this. I was baptized at age 10 … but I had put it off for a couple of years. I knew that my sins would be washed away, but I was worried about the sins I might commit AFTER the baptism. You see, I had one besetting sin: I was always fighting with my little brother! (he was a real pest) Anyway, I wanted to wait and get baptized after I got that sin under control. But I finally gave up on waiting for that and just went ahead with my baptism.
Thank the Lord; our sins are ALL covered, past, present, and future. We are continually regenerated --- made entirely new --- because of the cross.
CONCLUSION:
In Christ we are justified, reconciled, propitiated, and regenerated. We’ve been set free from the performance trap, approval addiction, the blame game, and the shame game.
Can you picture how Christ has reached down and saved you --- how He holds you in His warm embrace --- how He has broken the bondage of condemnation --- and how He is making you anew day by day?
All of this is ours because of the cross of Christ. Thank God for the cross. This is the heart of the gospel.
