The offense of the Cross

"Just don't buy any Bibles with crosses on them."  That was the request I got from my best friend a few weeks ago.  My best friend, being the selfish guy that he is, had recently ABANDONED ME and moved overseas to make the Gospel known in an unreached context amongst Muslim peoples.  He then had the gall to ask me to send him a few new Bibles.  Matt needed the new Bibles because he had written in his, and, for a number of reasons that we won't go into in this post, that simply would not do when sharing with Muslims.  Well, as anyone who has stepped foot into a Christian book store can tell you, Bible buying is a tricky business.  What translation?  What size?  What font size?  What features do you want?  What kind of binding?  As we tackled these pressing issues, one issue kept coming up.  "Whatever you get," Matt said, "just don't get one with a cross on the cover.  No crosses."  The cross, you see, offends Muslims.  Well, we finally settled on the right kind of Bibles for Matt (ESV, small and medium size ones, regular, no features, leather), and I was left chuckling over how silly those Muslims were.  Offended by the cross, indeed.  What a bunch of nuts.  As I left the bookstore, securely saddled on my high horse, I was slapped smack dab in the face by the Holy Spirit.  Offended by the cross?  All men are offended by the cross; Muslims just admit it.  

I'll just come right out and say it:  The cross IS offensive.  If you think of the cross as a piece of religious "memorabilia" then you aren't thinking of the same cross as I am.  If you think about the cross as a good example of loving others, then you aren't thinking about the same cross as I am.  If you think about the cross as a piece of our history, then you aren't thinking about the same cross as I am.  The cross is pain.  The cross is torture.  The cross is shame.  The cross is death.  The cross is life.  If you have never been offended by the cross, then you have never seen it for what it is.  

How does the cross offend?  The cross offends by being a real piece of our history and a daily part of our existence.  You see, the cross of Jesus Christ is, before it CAN be anything else, a real event.  Even respected, pagan historians testify that there was a man named Galilee named Jesus who was crucified on a cross around 2000 years ago.  We won't even get into the resurrection in this post, but let's just all agree that Jesus existed, Jesus died on a cross, and Jesus followers began to claim that He was alive almost immediately.  My pastor, David Platt, often makes the statement that wearing a cross around your neck is like wearing an electric chair around your neck.  With respect, that's not even scratching the surface.  I'm not saying the electric chair is a fun way to die, it does not compare the depth and length of suffering that the cross offered.  The cross was created by the Romans as a way to punish and intimidate the worst of the worst of their subjects.  The cross was so barbarous that Roman citizens could not be put to death by crucifixion.  The cross was an all day affair of torture and pain and humiliation.  THAT is what Jesus endured for us.  He was brutally tortured for hours before dying.  When we wear a cross around our neck, we are wearing an instrument of torture.  What's more, Jesus told his followers that, to really follow Him, THEY had to take up their cross and follow him every day.  Want to follow Jesus?  Take up a cross and give away your rights.  The cross is the real death of Jesus and the real death of your own desires.  

How does the cross offend?  The cross offends by showing us just how deep our sin is.  There was a recent controversy within the Presbyterian church that broke my heart.  They voted to remove "In Christ Alone" from their hymnals because the writers would not let them change this line:  "Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied."  They no longer wanted to sing about God's wrath against their sin.  They were offended by the thought that God could be angry at them.  Even more, they were offended by what God's anger says about their sin.  My friends, have no doubt:  the wrath of God is real.  If God was not full of wrath against our sin, then the cross was exactly what one theologian called it, "Divine child abuse."  We all like to think of ourselves as being pretty much OK.  We've drawn a scale in our heads, you see.  On one end is Hitler.  On the other end are people like Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, and Martin Luther King.  In the middle are "regular" criminals.  We like to think of ourselves as not so good as Jesus and not so bad as "regular" criminals.  We're not THAT bad.  We're pretty much good.  The cross destroys that illusion.  There is no scale in God's eyes.  We all-me, you, everyone who has ever lived-are bad.  All the way bad.  We are just as bad as Hitler.  The cross looks at me, regular Joe Andy Wood, and says your wickedness is so deep, so pervasive, so OFFENSIVE before the Holy God of the universe, the only way to remove the shame and the guilt was to kill the Son of God.  The cross tells all of us that our guilt is infinite.  Oh, do we hate that.    

How does the cross offend?  The cross offends by showing us just how helpless we are our to save ourselves.  We're Americans!  We pull ourselves up by our boot straps!  There's nothing we can't fix with a little bit of elbow grease and best intentions!  The cross puts an end to that illusion.  The cross says that not only are we infinitely guilty, but there is no way-NO WAY-that we can remove the guilt on our own.  Our own efforts are, in fact, offensive to God.  Do you see that?  If there was anyway for you and I to "make it right" between us and God, Jesus would not have had to die.  But He DID die-so there is no way for us to be made right before God on our own.  All of our efforts, all of our best intentions, all of our illusions are put to death at the cross.  Your guilt is infinite.  Your efforts are insufficient.  The cross leaves no doubt of either of those facts.  Oh, do we hate that.  

How does the cross give life?  The cross gives life because the Son of God paid our price on that instrument of pain and death 2000 years ago.  Despite all of the offense of the cross (or maybe BECAUSE of the offense of the cross), life can only be found in kneeling before it.  Jesus was tortured and killed on the cross.  You are guilty.  You are unable to save yourself.  But, praise be to God!, we are not without hope because of that cross.  If you are reading this, have you seen your guilt for what it is?  If you are reading this, have you seen your inability to save yourself?  If you have not, I pray that your eyes are opened at this moment.  I pray that you are brought to life through this instrument of death.  The cross is where the wrath of God was poured out on His Holy Son so that guilty sinners like you and I could be declared innocent and enter into His presence.  The way is open to you.  Don't let the offense of the cross be a stumbling block.  Repent, believe, and live.