The Cross is All that Matters

Twisted and mangled corpses hung, lining the road on either side as Paul entered the city, pen in hand. Crosses stretched in every direction along Rome's famous roadways, reminding people not to lie, steal or murder lest they suffer the same.

Paul sat down and began to pen the words of his letter, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,” (1 Cor 1:18) we must remember how familiar (and disgusted) his readers were with crucifixion. Historical accounts suggest many roads were lined with thousands of crucifixions. Men were beaten beyond recognition, often with tongues cut out, hanging above piles of their own waste as they took days to die. For all the crucifixions that took place, very little is actually written about crosses – it seems to be too vulgar, too repulsive a subject for good citizens to pay any regard to. No one wanted to hear about it.

It's no surprise then, that Paul says, “we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). I don't understand much about literature, but I know that this is not how you want to present your hero – identified with criminals, ridiculed by the masses and then hung naked to die. Yet Paul sees no other message of equal importance but “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). He was “not ashamed” (Rom 1:16), but “the gospel I preached to you” which was “of first importance” was that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:1-3) and “we have now been justified by his blood” (Rom 5:9). Paul had no issue with talking about the offence of the cross, but he came to preach it simply (1 Cor 1:17), without removing its offence (Gal 5:11) and boasted only in the cross (Gal 6:14).

Why then, would we have the right to preach on anything else? There is no gospel without a cross. There is no salvation without the propitiating penal substitution of the man on the tree. I do not know how many times I have heard a message in a church that did not include a description of the cross and seen people invited to 'accept the gospel of Jesus.' Dear friends, a gospel without a cross is no gospel at all.

The cross is at the centre of our message, regardless of what people want to hear. You can preach on love, forgiveness, self-esteem, freedom from cutting, pornography, depression, anxiety, God's work in cultural transformation, social justice, or the end times, but if the cross is not at the centre of your message, you have presented no gospel at all. As Greg Gilbert once put it,

“If you preach a sermon, or write a chapter on the good news of the kingdom, but neglect to talk about the cross, you've not preached good news at all. You've just shown people a wonderful thing that they have no right to be a part of because they are sinners.”¹

It's like this – you see a man step into a church for the first time harbouring a lot of resentment, so much so that his life is being consumed, his health wavers, his hair is falling out. So you stand up and Sunday and preach about the freedom of forgiving others - about letting go of bitterness. Just stop and consider – why do we forgive others? “Forgiving one another, as Christ in God forgave you” (Eph 4:32). What enables us to forgive? “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience...those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh” (Gal 5:24). Why do we forgive? Because he forgave us. How do we forgive? By identifying with his death. You see? You preach to an unsaved man about forgiveness but do not mention the cross, you have invited him to be a part of something he has no part in.

The cross is the only way into the kingdom. We happen to live in a day when people do not want to hear about a wrath-absorbing substitution on a tree. That doesn't mean we look for other ways to entice people further into church culture or Christian living. The cross remains as the only way into the kingdom. Preach it proudly – it offended Paul's listeners too.

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal 6:12)

1. Don't Call it a Comeback. DeYoung, Kevin p. 78