| Introduction I am convinced that the best thing for the Church of Jesus Christ is to spend more time studying, meditating on, talking about, and living out the reality of what the cross of Jesus Christ has done for us. The cross and all that it represents must be at the core of all of life. As a matter of fact, life must be cross-centered. The cross saves us and keeps us saved. The cross redeems us from the bondage of sin and from the wrath of God. The cross brings us to the family of God. At the shadow of the cross marriages are joyful, children grow to serve their Lord. Near the cross, sinful people are able to die to self and live for Christ and for others. I. The power and wisdom of God – 1 Cor. 1:18-31 II. An important question: what is at the center of your life? A. What's really the main thing in your life? B. What are you most passionate about? What do you love to talk about? What do you think about most when your mind is free? 4. Political affiliation? D.Maybe your life's passion is not so much a single focus as a constantly shifting gaze. III. The Essential: God sent his Son to the cross to bear his wrath for sinners like you and me. 1 Cor. 15:3-4– For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…. A. Paul is pointing to the one truth that should define our lives. B. In the midst of all the things that go one in our lives, one overarching truth should motivate all we do: Christ died for our sins. C. That is what the cross stands for. "The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us." John Stott in Guard the Gospel. "The cross isn't about playing it safe; it's about being found safe in Christ – and that is the most exhilarating experience a human being can ever know." Al Mohler in The Cross-Centered Life IV. The Scriptures and the cross Rom. 3:21-28– But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth asa propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 1 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. 1 Cor. 2:2– For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Gal. 2:20– I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the lifewhich I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal. 6:14-15–But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Eph. 2:14-16– For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is,the law of commandments containedin ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man fromthe two, thusmaking peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. Phil. 3:8-11– Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which isfrom the law, but that which isthrough faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Col. 1:19-20– For it pleased the Father thatin Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Col. 2:13-14– And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. A. We are in constant danger of forgetting about the cross. Gal. 3:1, 3– O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? "I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry." D. A. Carson in The Cross and Christian Ministry: An exposition of Passages from 1 Corinthians "All around us we see Christians and churches relaxing their grasp on the gospel, fumbling it, and in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether." John Stott in Guard the Gospel B. Every day, we all face the temptation to move away from the Gospel, to let it drop from our hands and hearts. C. Three main tendencies in particular tend to draw us away: 1. Subjectivism – basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions. 2. Legalism – basing our relationship with God on our own performance. 3. Navel gazing – being more focused on our sin than on God's grace. A. Maybe you are wondering: I can see how the cross is important for my salvation; but now that I am saved shouldn't we move on to more mature matters of living? B. The answer is NO, we never move on. "We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross." David Prior in Message of 1 Corinthians: Life in the Local Church C. If you think that the truth of the cross is something you have already fully understood, let me bring up some symptoms that arise from not being cross-centered. 2. You are not consistently growing in spiritual maturity. 3. Your love for God lacks passion. 4. You are always looking for some new technique, some "new truth" or new experience to pull all the pieces of your faith together. D. If you can relate to any of these symptoms, you have room to move closer to the cross. E. The cross will teach you... 1. How to break free from joy-robbing, legalistic thinking and living. 2. How to leave behind the crippling effects of guilt and condemnation. 3. How to stop basing your faith on your emotions and circumstances. 4. How to grow in thankfulness, joy, and holiness. F. These are God's promises to all who keep responding with their whole lives to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified. "The gospel cannot be preached and heard enough, for it cannot be grasped well enough. Martin Luther VII. When we center our lives on the cross grace becomes more and more amazing. A. Do you continue to find your salvation an incredible miracle as your remember the judgment you genuinely deserve? B. Are you amazed by the power of the gospel, over and over? "There is nothing more overpowering and captivating to the soul than to climb Calvary's mountain with childlike attentiveness and wonder, with all the distractions and wrong assumptions cleared away." C.J. Mahaney in The Cross-Centered Life VIII.The cross must be at the center and climax of our lives because it is the center and climax of redemptive history. A. From the moments following the fall of man when God promised to crush Satan's head through the seed of the woman, history waited with baited breath for that seed. 1. Eve's reaction to the birth of Cain showed that hope that the seed was coming, just to be crushed by his wicked heart. 2. Then God's plan is narrowed down to this one family, Abraham's! a. God organizes his church in this family. b. He promises that he will give Abraham a son, Isaac. c. But then God wants Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but at the last minute God provides a substitute pointing to the day when God will not spare his own Son so that our sons might be spared. 3. From the family of Abraham, one nation is set up apart and the law that will be fulfilled in Christ is codified and given to God's people. a. A place is given for God's people to meet with their God. b. But people are afraid and decide that it is too burdensome to seek God in the way God wants to be sought. 4. Of that nation, one particular tribe is chosen, Judah, and from Judah one particular family, David's. a. David comes to the throne as the representative son of God, but he fails, and his sons for the most part depart from the Lord. b. Then God promises that he will give his people a Davidic King, but infinitely better than David. 5. King Jesus came, and his throne was the cross and he conquered all his enemies and liberated his people from the bondage of sin. B. Now history flows from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1. All of history, not just churchy things, flows from the cross of Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:20-28– But now Christ is risen from the dead, andhas become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man camedeath, by Man also camethe resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who areChrist's at His coming. Then comesthe end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy thatwill be destroyed isdeath. For "He has put all things under His feet."But when He says "all things are put under Him," it isevident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. 2. All of history includes our individual lives as well. IX. Because the cross is the climax of our lives, the reality of the cross should dominate our thinking and our doing, not what we feel. A. If we want our hearts to be moved by the Gospel, if we want our emotions engaged, if we want to be truly amazed, we have to start by putting our feelings in their proper place. B. Have you ever considered how thoroughly most of us live by our feelings? How feelings-focused we are? 1. Take this sermon for example. 2. My guess is that some of the things I've said today were met with the thought "I don't know how I feel about this." 3. Perhaps without even being aware of this reaction, you have judged the merit of words according to the subjective feelings you experienced while hearing them. C. A common tendency is habitually to begin with the internal, the subjective, the experiential, then use those feelings and impressions to determine what we will accept as being objective fact. D.We let our feelings tell us what is true, instead of letting the truth transform our feelings. E. We are conditioned to this approach not only because of our sin, but also because of our culture that is always encouraging us to follow our heart, which usually means, "do whatever makes you feel good. F. It would be fine to follow our feelings if we could always be sure they are faithful to reality. 2. Our emotions are often flighty, fickle and far too easily dominated by any number of influences. 3. Our feelings simply cannot be trusted as the primary way to determine what is real. a. In our arrogance, we invest our feelings (or the lack thereof) with final authority rather than recognizing that our emotions tend to be unstable, unreliable, often govern by pride. b. It is a frightening experience to sit with individuals who actually insist that what they feel is ultimately more authoritative to them than what is written clearly in the Bible. c. They even somehow assume God is sympathetic to this attitude. d. He is not and in fact he would identify it as the height of arrogance, which he opposes. G.Our first response should be humility. "The humble are those whose first response to objective truth from God's Word is not to ask, 'How do I feel?' but to say, 'I'm not going to let my faith be determined and directed by the subjective and experiential. Instead I confess openly before God that I will believe the objective truth of His Word, regardless of how I feel." C.J. Mahaney "Avoid the mistake of concentrating overmuch upon your feelings. Above all, avoid the terrible error of making them central. Anyone making this mistake is doomed to be unhappy because that is not the order that God himself has ordained." D. Martin Lloyd-Jones X. The right order: truth that dictates feelings. "What we have in the Bible is Truth; it is not an emotional stimulus… and it is as we apprehend and submit ourselves to the truth that the feelings follow." D. Martin Lloyd-Jones A. When we focus first on truth, feelings follow, and they will be reliable feelings because they are anchored in truth. 1. As we read and meditate seriously about what is in the Bible, and believe it, then ultimately we will indeed experience it, and we will feel the effects of it. 2. There is heart-transforming truth in the Bible, but we won't encounter it by first trying to feel it. 3. We encounter it by first believing it. B. We establish the right order by not just listening to our feelings, but by talking to them as well. C. On a daily basis we are faced with two simple choices: 1. We can list to ourselves and our constantly changing feelings about our circumstances. 2. OR, we can talk to ourselves about the unchanging truth of who God is and what He has accomplished for us at the cross through his Son Jesus Christ. "The evangelical orientation is inward and subjective. We are far better at looking inward than we are at looking outward. Instead, we need to expend our energies admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ." Sinclair Ferguson
What's the conclusion? In the cross alone we glory because we have been crucified with Christ and the life that we now live is his living in us.
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