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The Culture of the Cross
If they had known . . . if you had known . . . it's an interesting question to consider. If the disciples had known that following Jesus would end at the cross, would they have been so ready to follow? Would we? Is it the culture of the cross that first drew you to Jesus, or something else? In our current culture, where everything is all about consumption and what's in it for us, the cross is not the kind of thing that people would normally select as their goal.
And yet, for Christians, this is not just a possibility, it is the way of life that Jesus tells us is central to who we are. Uncomfortable yet? Why would people be drawn toward that? The way of the cross? Really?
And yet, when we look at the life of Jesus, and the life He invites us to live, it is one that is more about service than being served, caring for than finding ways to make sure we are cared about, a willingness to invest yourself in others . . . even those some might regard as unworthy of the investment . . . even when it costs . . a lot. The culture of the cross is not one that takes delight in suffering. It is not masochistic. But it is a culture that loves so intentionally and so completely, that we love as God loves even when the cost is high. It is not about self-preservation. It is not about protecting our turf or building our own little empires. But it is about responding to love that is so amazing that not even the cross could extinguish it, and in responding, to begin to live that way in regard to those around us.
The culture of the cross . . . that's what Pastor Jon explores for us in the sermon this week. If you would like to listen to this once again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.
Or, if you would like to see the livestreamed version, you can click here.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
New International Version (NIV)
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. 19 For it is written:
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. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
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