Christ Crucified
23 Oct 2019
It is always dangerous to assume what must be central. A husband and wife who only assume each others love will find their relationship in difficult territory sooner or later. In the same way, a church who simply assumes the centrality of “Christ Crucified” will discover that she has lost that which she thought she had.
I have been struck by the importance of keeping “Christ Crucified” at the heart of all we are and all we do as I have been preaching through the early chapters of 1 Corinthians on Sunday evenings. It is so striking that the Corinthian church - so close in history to the events of the cross and having had Christ preached to them by the apostle Paul himself - had moved so quickly from “Christ Crucified”. They probably didn’t even realise they had done it. It took Paul to write his letter to them to point out that the problems they were facing, especially the disunity they were experiencing, came because they had moved away from the cross.
Recently the historian Tom Holland has published his recent book “Dominion”. In it he argues that the West has been shaped by Christianity far more than it realises. And in particular he argues that the West has been shaped by the cross far more than it realises. It is a fascinating argument, particularly as he is not writing as an evangelical historian, and indeed began writing the book as a typical 21st century progressive liberal (by his own admission). He argues that it just doesn’t make sense to respect Jesus as a teacher and to take from Christianity its social ethics while ignoring the cross. The ethics of Christianity (for example, concern for the weak and powerless, love for enemies) flow from the cross and don’t make sense without it. You can listen to a great interview with him here
He writes -
“The notion that a god might have suffered torture and death on a cross was so shocking as to appear repulsive. Familiarity with the biblical narrative of the Crucifixion has dulled our sense of just how completely novel a deity Christ was. In the ancient world, it was the role of the gods who laid claim to ruling the universe to uphold its order by inflicting punishment - not to suffer it themselves.”
(From "Why I Was Wrong About Christianity - Tom Holland in The Spectator, 14th Seoptember 2016)
As we have seen on Sunday nights, the very phrase “Christ Crucified” should shock us. That Christ, God our King should be crucified - that is be put to death in the most shameful way imaginable (both to the secular society, and even in God’s sight given what he tells us about the curse associated with any who dies in that way) - just does not make sense unless God tells us it does!
While we can rejoice at what Tom Holland is saying to our society about the importance of the cross, the challenge comes closer to home when we couple it with the challenge of 1 Corinthians. It’s not just society that easily forgets the cross. We as the church, even the reformed evangelical church who can sign up to all the right confessions of faith, can easily forget “Christ Crucified”. Or at least we can assume its centrality - and then as a result we forget it.
How can we do that? By not preaching and teaching the cross regularly. We can be tempted to think “we know that”. It’s for beginners. Keep it in Christianity Explored courses. We might think as we go on we need other more advanced teaching. But maturity comes through a deeper appreciation of “Christ Crucified” - how the cross reveals Christ, us, our sin, and the character of God - and then shows us how to live. “Christ Crucified” is the message of the whole Bible. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that if our understanding of any passage doesn’t in some way point us to the cross we haven’t understood it.
We can assume the cross by forgetting that it is only through “Christ Crucified” that anyone can be saved. It truly is the wisdom and power of God. We may be living in a very different world to 50 years ago. The ethical challenges and ignorance of God’s word is enormous. But our need and God’s answer remains the same. So we need to proclaim the cross.
We can assume the cross by forgetting that it is the grounds of our unity as the church. What brings us together? Not our common background or experiences. It is Christ’s death for us on the cross. A church that really appreciates that will be loving, forgiving and welcoming rather than just been a particular slice of society who would naturally meet together anyway.
And we can assume the cross by not seeing worship and prayer as central. The writer to the Hebrews makes that point. If we know the way to God has been opened up for us through Christ’s death we will draw near. We won’t hold back from gathering together. We will pray because we know our access doesn’t depend on us - it depends on him.
(Recently I also watched a great talk on this theme given by Dr Garry Williams at a conference last year. I’d highly recommend it - www.vimeo.com/351154920 )