The Message of The Cross
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 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. 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 NKJV.
It’ll be Easter soon. And I wonder what message it has for you and your loved ones? The world is awash with messages today. I once set a message. Flowers and a card. It was a powerful message and it changed my life. She said yes! (If you’re wondering, it was my marriage proposal to Wendy, and she replied via that old fashioned way, by telegram!).
On today’s modern motorways most have from time to time a large digital billboard, with weather reports, traffic conditions, and information about road closures. We do well to take note of them and act accordingly.
Paul writes a letter to the Church at Corinth.
- The city of Corinth was located in southern Greece, in what was the Roman province of Achaia, about 70km West from Athens.
- Corinth was one of the great cities of the ancient world, and a community very much like many modern cities. It was prosperous, busy, and growing; it had a deserved reputation for the reckless pursuit of pleasure.
- Leon Morris describes Corinth as “Intellectually alert, materially prosperous, but morally corrupt.”
- The church in Corinth was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 18).
- Paul was in Athens a day or two; he stayed in Corinth for a year and a half.
- As usual, his ministry began in the synagogue, where he was assisted by two Jewish believers, Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he lived for a while, as they were fellow tradesmen.
- Although the major thrust of this epistle is corrective of behaviour rather than of doctrine, Paul gives fundamental teaching on many doctrines.
The Apostle Paul had a message for the Christians at Corinth in that time and in that culture, and it wasn’t classy words of human wisdom or oratory excellence, it was simply The Message of The Cross. But what is The Message of The Cross?
The Message of The Cross, is the Gospel! What is the Gospel? Good News! What is the Good News? The story of the Cross!
It is that God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son Jesus, to live, and die, on that Roman Cross, but to rise again, thus paving the way for us to be with God forever with our sins forgiven. That’s the message of the Cross. It is the Gospel. It is God reaching down to a sinful humanity and providing a rescue plan for those who believe.
Paul felt constrained to not go with his education, his skills in debate and oratory excellence, in favour of focusing his message on the Cross.
- But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ … Galatians 6:14 NKJV
- Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 NKJV
The Message of the Cross is plain and simple – it is the good news that we can be saved. It is that but much more.
The Message of The Cross is being just, or right with God, or in right standing with God. We call that righteousness.
Without the Cross, this is impossible. We can never be right with God apart from the finished work of Calvary, the Cross of Jesus.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV.
Further to my Salvation, here’s what I think about when I think about the Cross.
When we are in Christ, then, God is righteous conscious, and is not conscious of our sin. So neither should we be. Guilt and shame try to make us unrighteous conscious. Outside of Christ, God does remember our wickedness, our iniquity, and our sins. It is they that separate us from Him. It is they, that are the barrier to communion between God and us.
But when we’re in Christ, hidden in Him, God can’t see them. When we abide in Him, we are covered, encapsulated, enveloped, by Him and all He is. So when God looks at us all He sees is Christ. And when He sees Christ He sees no sin, no wickedness, no iniquity, no guilt, no shame, no fear, no brokenness. He just sees the righteousness, the purity, the worthiness of Christ. Outside of Christ, God does see and know and remember our sin, but when we’re in Christ, He doesn’t see it. When we’re in Christ it doesn’t exist. It’s forgotten. Praise be to His wonderful Name!
It’s a package deal. When you buy shoes, you buy a pair! You get both shoes. You need both. It can be understood like this; salvation is one like one shoe, righteousness is like the other.
This is The Message of the Cross.
The right standing with God (righteousness) we receive in Christ is a gift, of His grace. Wow! We can’t earn it, we can’t work for it, we can never deserve it, we will never qualify for it of ourselves. But, Jesus Christ went to the Cross and secured for us, freedom from the consequences of our sin, and gave us His righteousness. This is phenomenal stuff. It is hard to comprehend, it is hard to believe. But it is just received by faith. Yes a payment needs to be made – and it has been, the payment has been paid in full, the sacrifice of Jesus, His blood is the payment. We can never repay and should not try. We can only receive, and rejoice, and run in the strength of this revelation, and serve Him forever.
That’s good news! That’s the Gospel. That’s part of what we celebrate on Easter weekend. That’s what the Cross and the resurrection means for us.
This is The Message of the Cross. Let’s celebrate this Easter and tell all we can of love of God which enables us to be saved from our sins, and in right standing with God.
