THE CROSS OF CHRIST
You can look around NSCC and see many crosses. There are wooden crosses, metal crosses. Some are big, some are small. Some are plain, some are fancy. Cross necklaces are popular. It's interesting how many celebrities wear them. But for some of them, when you see what they're wearing or listen to their music or watch their shows or look into how they live you have to wonder what that cross necklace is really all about. Is it merely a fashion statement? Are they simply following a trend? The cross is not just a decoration or a piece of jewelry. The cross of Christ represents so much more than that.
1) A symbol of suffering and shame.
Heb. 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
The joy set before Jesus was his victory over death in his resurrection and the joy of making the way for our salvation. But he first had to endure the shame and humiliation of crucifixion.
The following is taken from a Wikipedia article: "While a crucifixion was an execution, it was also a humiliation, by making the condemned as vulnerable as possible. Although artists have depicted the figure on a cross with a loin cloth, writings by Seneca the Younger suggest that victims were crucified completely nude. When the criminal had to urinate or defecate, they had to do so in the open, in view of passers-by.
Crucifixion was usually intended to provide a death that was particularly slow, painful (hence the term excruciating, literally "out of crucifying"), gruesome, humiliating, and public, using whatever means were most expedient for that goal. The goal of crucifixion wasn't just to kill the criminal, but also to mutilate and dishonor their body. It was intended to also terrorize onlookers. Victims were left on display after death as warnings to dissuade people from committing the crimes punishable by it. Crucifixion was the most dishonorable death imaginable."
We can have nice, shiny, pretty crosses to wear or display, but we need to make sure we recognize the horrific pain and humiliating shame associated with what it was used for so we don't forget what Jesus went through for our benefit.
Phil. 2:8, "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!" The "honorable" way for Jesus to have died would've been the Jewish method-stoning. But he allowed himself to suffer Roman crucifixion.
Jesus endured the torture and died in the most humiliating way. Why? To show us how terrible our sin is and how great his love is for us.
2) Foolishness to some; powerful to others.
1st Cor. 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."
Why is the message of the cross foolish to some? Because they look at it through the lens of human reasoning. Paul said in vs. 17 that he doesn't preach the gospel with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
To those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, the gospel is powerful and effective. But to those who only look at it through the lens of worldly wisdom-the cross not only doesn't make sense-it's foolish. God coming to earth as a human? Nonsense. Jesus willingly taking on the torture and punishment of crucifixion for something he didn't do? Insane. God sending his Son to go through all this? Sacrilegious and unacceptable.
This rejection is something that deeply saddened Paul. Phil. 3:18, "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ."
Part of the reason for his tears may have been in recognition of his own time spent as an enemy of Christ and his church. So now, after coming to see the message of the cross as the power of God, he now has deep sorrow for those who can't see it.
He goes on to explain why they're enemies of the cross in vs. 19, "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."
Because they're spiritually blind they can't see that their rejection of the gospel has put them on the path of destruction. Their god is self. Their passion lies in living for their pleasures rather than devoting their lives to following Jesus. And they glorify that which is sinful and shameful. Their minds and hearts are on earthly things; earthly principles; earthly ways. They don't consider the mind of God, the way of God, the will of God.
Those who live against the cross of Christ, those who see the Christian life as foolishness live under a different gospel. A gospel that gives them the freedom to live how they want; a gospel that convinces them that at the end of their lives they will be okay. A gospel that doesn't compel them to look at their sin; a gospel that doesn't consider God's judgment and wrath.
The message of the cross is salvation through Jesus but part of that message is looking at why we need saving. The power of the gospel is that Jesus alone saves but living as an enemy of the cross tells me I don't need Jesus-I can save myself.
Because people live as enemies of the cross; because they see the gospel as foolishness, they make a mockery out of it and demean those who believe in it. When Paul was speaking to King Agrippa in Acts 26, he talked about the resurrection of Jesus. Then Festus interrupted.
Vs. 24-25, "At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable."
The gospel is true; the resurrection is factual. Paul came to see this but Festus, who no doubt knew Paul when he was a Pharisee, concluded that this dynamic 180 was due to Paul being out of his mind. It's as if he was saying, "I can't believe that you, as knowledgeable as you are, would fall for this garbage." But Paul simply explained that he wasn't insane; everything he said was reasonable and true.
People may make fun of us for believing the bible. They may criticize and ridicule us for being a Christian. We may be tempted to be ashamed of our faith. But we need to echo Paul's words in Rom. 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
The message of the cross is not foolishness; believing the gospel isn't crazy-it's wise and powerful. People can make a mockery of God; they can use the cross merely as a fashion statement or a trinket, but we see it differently. We know what it represents. We know its message; we know its power. And we honor who it's attached to because we know what was accomplished on it.
So now we live in dedication and obedience to Jesus by taking up our cross and following him.
Luke 9:23-25, "Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
If we have recognized the magnitude of what Jesus did for us, if we are grateful for our salvation, then we'll honor him by taking up our proverbial cross and following him. The cross represents death. Jesus wants us to die to self; he wants us to die to sin. We no longer live to serve our own agenda; now we live for him.
Jesus explains that it does us no good to live to please ourselves when in the end we lose everything. He basically said, "I don't care if you had all the power and resources in the whole world, nothing is worth losing your soul over". What's 80 or 90 years compared to eternity? Living for Jesus is not foolishness; it's the wisest decision we could ever make.
