Lift High the Cross
Our summer morning series of sermons brings us to what Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has called “the heart and centre of the Christian evangel, the good news of salvation” (The Cross: God’s Way of Salvation). While the cross of Christ is not to be abstracted from either the incarnation or the resurrection, it is certain that without the accomplishment of the cross, the incarnation would fall short of achieving our salvation and the resurrection would be superfluous.
The importance of the cross is obviously, then, one reason for considering it in detail. So vital and so rich is its meaning, that the Bible uses multiple terms, concepts, and metaphors to describe it. Accordingly, we shall dig down under a mere surface acquaintance with it, considering each week a different biblical portrait of Christ’s work at Calvary: the cross as covenant, redemption, propitiation, expiation, reconciliation, acquittal, and conquest.
These terms are not exhaustive, nor are they necessarily easy for us to grasp. Nevertheless, if the first-century believers could come to grips with them, then so can we! We don’t need big brains to do so; we just need hearts brimming with thankfulness to God and eagerness to investigate more of what he has done for us through Jesus. We are helped in this investigation by the promised Spirit who guides us into all truth (Jn. 16:13). Let’s pray for his illumination. The cross—this superlative and climactic expression of God’s love—should encourage us to do so. Writes Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The cross . . . is not something to be regretted. It is not something to be explained away. Nor is it something to be kept out of sight or hidden. . . . you do not regret the cross, and you do not try to forget it or idealize it, or philosophize about it, and turn it into something beautiful and wonderful. No, what you say is this: I glory in it! . . . It is the means of my salvation. It is the very way in which I am saved.”
Secondly, our focus on the cross helps balance our use of Scripture. As Reformed Christians we hold tight to the truth that “All Scripture is profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16), and not simply that which is immediately connected to the cross. And yet, we must ensure that in covering as much as we can of the revealed counsel of God, we do not miss what is so crucial and pivotal, namely the death (and resurrection) of Jesus. In other words, God’s servants are to cover in pulpit ministry both the breadth and intensity of God’s Word; both the big picture and the wonderfully intricate specifics of Christ’s work.
Thus, I plan on telling “the old, old, story,” but in detail intended to mature our faith and understanding of God’s Word.
Thirdly, we focus on the cross because of the present danger of it being sidelined in today’s church culture. I have heard good men lament of this in my homeland, and have read British evangelist Roger Carswell rightly critiquing a “crossless evangelism.” Such a phenomenon would have been a contradiction in terms in the minds of the New Testament authors. And yet twice of late visitors to our church have complained to me of how little gospel is being preached around Grand Rapids.
If this is true, several reasons might explain the trend. We may point, for instance, to the loss of awe and respect in regard to the justice and holiness of God. If God is not so just or holy then perhaps we don’t need the cross after all to atone for our sins. There’s also the possibility that we have misused our blessings, becoming self-reliant rather than grateful. The cross, by contrast, nails our feelings of self-sufficiency, and tells us definitively that without visiting it we shall not fare well before the throne of God. Then there’s also been the desire to universalize salvation and get rid of hell. Sometimes this has been attempted by pushing back the atonement from Calvary (the cross) to Bethlehem (the incarnation). This phenomenon has been with us since at least Victorian times, but is very present in Rob Bell’s Love Wins. We may also mention the prosperity gospel of the likes of Joel Osteen, which marginalizes both the person and work of Christ. Although I try to be as generous and as slow to react as possible, I could not help observe from a recent TV “sermon” of his that Christ was mentioned only in the very last sentence. The footage then cut to a personal statement in which Joel Osteen invited the TV audience to receive the Christ he had entirely omitted to explain and proclaim. In short, the stadia are filling up, but it is less certain that heaven is.
So, in this modest way we reassert the priority of the cross. May God use the series to draw you to Calvary if you’ve never been there, and to dismiss from those of us who have been to its foot any coldness of heart; all satisfaction with speaking of the gospel in mere platitudes; and any lingering thought that our lives are our own, for we have been purchased for God by nothing less than the blood of Jesus’ death.
Dr. Tim J. R. Trumper