The Value Of The Cross

Introduction

Some years ago, a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery for more than 50 years. The thieves figured that the 900-pound cross probably brought about $450 and so they cut it off at its base and hauled it off in a pick-up where they cut it into small pieces and sold it for scrap. The cross was put there in 1930 by a Catholic bishop and had been valued at the time at $10,000. Obviously, the thieves didn’t realize the value of that cross.

That’s how it is today in the world, but also sadly in the church. This is part of the reason why the Book of Romans was written because The Apostle Paul fully understood the value of the cross. Once you can behold the magnanimous stature of what the cross means for the life of the believer and every person who responds to God’s invitation to come, everything changes.

If you remember, Paul was a Jewish Pharisee - a religious legalist who had risen to a type of Jewish aristocracy in the Sanhedrin Council. He trusted in being right with God through his position in the council and his strict adherence to Jewish Law.

Yet perspective changes everything and when Paul encountered Jesus while Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the early Christians, Paul’s perspective shifted from his own limited view to God’s view. From that time forward, Paul became a champion for the cross, preaching and teaching the known world who Jesus is and what the death and resurrection of Jesus did for all of humanity.

The Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Romans around 57 AD as a treatise to the Christians in Rome. The central theme of this letter is our Justification of God through faith. Because, like Paul, it is that faith in Christ that changes our perspective. As Christians, hope is central to our faith. Hope rests in the understanding that we are not alone in our sufferings. Because of God’s grace, we can learn how to endure our sufferings, which produces character, which springs into hope. This is a promise we can stand on. Jesus, who endured all things for us, offers us His strength by which we can endure. As Paul wrote to the Philippian Church from a jail cell, “I can do all through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13).

With that, look at a passage from Romans with me that conveys the grand nature of the Cross and God’s immense love that provides us with an eternal promise:

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:6–11 LSB)

What Paul does in Romans is help us change our perspective to see the real value of the cross. The cross is not a trophy for our wall but answers the question of the necessity for faith in God. Today I want to share with you 3 critical points regarding the value of the cross:

I. The Severity of Our Condition (vv. 6-7)

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. (Romans 5:6–7 LSB)

Notice that the Apostle Paul does not use flattering language when describing our spiritual condition in our relationship with God. He uses words to describe us like, “weak” (verse 6), “ungodly” (verse 6), sinners (verse 8), and enemies of God (verse 10).

The word “weak” is used to describe the helpless (CSB) state of the believer; unable to defend oneself. It is ?s?e??? in Greek, which literally means “powerless from sickness.” That’s the state of all of us in our battle against sin apart from Christ.

9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can know it? 10 “I, Yahweh, search the heart; I test the inmost being, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his deeds. (Jeremiah 17:9–10 LSB)