The Cross and The Way
September 24th, 2007The Cross & The Way[1]
INTRO:
A. Illustration: Cheated on the Cost of the Cross
Clarence Jordan, author of the “Cotton Patch” New Testament translation and founder of the interracial Koinonia farm in Americus, Georgia, was getting a red-carpet tour of another minister’s church-building. With pride the minister pointed to the expensive, imported pews and luxurious decorations.
As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross atop the steeple.
“That cross alone cost us ten thousand dollars,” the minister said with a satisfied smile.
“You got cheated,” said Jordan. “Times were when Christians could get them for free.”
1. For me, that’s the kind of story that you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. And if you do laugh, you feel uncomfortable.
B. This series is meant to make us uncomfortable. Yes, we should all be comfortable in the love and grace of God; but I am afraid too often and far too easily we have become comfortable with us – our gross spiritual state is the reason for the cross.
BODY:
I. THE WAY OF THE CROSS
A. Song: The Way of the Cross Leads Home
- Contemplate the meaning, the applications, and the impact of each line. We will read it instead of singing it to concentrate more fully the words.
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the Gates of Light,
If the way of the cross I miss.
I must needs go on in the blood-sprinkled way,
The path that the Savior trod,
If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
Where the soul is at home with God.
Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
To walk in it nevermore;
For my Lord says, “Come,” and I seek my home,
Where He waits at the open door.
Refrain:
The way of the cross leads home,
The way of the cross leads home;
It is sweet to know, as I onward go,
The way of the cross leads home.
B. Scripture:
Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
1. Reading this passage might help us understand what the way of the cross meant for Jesus – and what it should mean for us.
- Negatively – endured, shame, hostility, wearisome
- Positively – Joy with God.
II. THE WAY ON THE CROSS
A. Jesus is “The Way” on the cross.
B. Jn.14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”
1. Life Experience:
Once I saw a comedian sarcastically make fun of this verse by mocking a god who would send people to hell just because they did not believe in his son. People laughed and I felt uncomfortable. And admittedly part me wondered if this mocking funny man was right.
What I am about to say, I want you to listen carefully, very carefully. This verse is not saying that we go to hell if we don’t believe in Jesus. Not really. That might be the result of what Jesus is saying, but that is not the real point. What this verse is saying is that we can’t go to heaven unless we believe in Jesus. What’s the difference? Believing in Jesus is the cure to the sin problem. Not believing in Jesus is not taking advantage of the cure. People go to hell because they have sinned – that’s the problem. Don’t confuse the cure with the disease.
a. Illustration – If someone has cancer – or any fatal disease – do they die because they don’t take the cure or do they die because they have the disease?
b. Application – Not being baptized is not what sends someone to hell. Being a sinner is what sends someone to hell. Not being baptized is not the problem. Being baptized is the solution because it is in baptism we come into contact with the the way, and the truth, and the life.
2. Vv.1-6 – Jesus is the Way that was one the cross (This was spoken on the last day before the crucifixion – possibly at the last supper).
John 14:1-6 NASB “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. (2) “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. (3) “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. (4) “And you know the way where I am going.” (5) Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” (6) Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
3. Because Jesus is “The Way,” later on, as we see in the book of Acts, the term, the Way, became associated with Jesus’ followers, much like the words Christian and Christianity are associated with Christ.
4. Do you realize that this descriptive term is used more often (Acts 9:2; 19:2; 19:23; 22:4; 24:14; 24:22) in the Bible for Jesus’ people than Christianity (0), Christian (3), and church of Christ (0/1) combined?
a. What’s the point? Just as we commonly use, without even thinking, the language of the world over the language of the Holy Spirit, we also use the lifestyle of the world, over the lifestyle of Jesus.
5. In reading the entire chapter, plus the preceding and following ones (ch.13ff), I noticed something important. Jesus is the Way. How? Through the cross. But read the chapter and you will discover that the cross was not just the way for us to go to the Father. It was the way Jesus had to go to go home to the Father. The way of the cross leads home for Jesus too. And if we think we can go to heaven without going through the cross, then we must think we are better than even Jesus.
III. THE CROSS ON THE WAY
A. Illustration: The Iron Cross
During his reign, King Frederick William III of Prussia found himself in trouble. Wars had been costly, and in trying to build the nation, he was seriously short of finances. He couldn’t disappoint his people, and to capitulate to the enemy was unthinkable.
After careful reflection, he decided to ask the women of Prussia to bring their jewelry of gold and silver to be melted down for their country. For each ornament received, he determined to exchange a decoration of bronze or iron as a symbol of his gratitude. Each decoration would be inscribed, “I gave gold for iron, 1813.”
The response was overwhelming. Even more important, these women prized their gifts from the king more highly than their former jewelry. The reason, of course is clear. The decorations were proof that they had sacrificed for their king. Indeed, it became unfashionable to wear jewelry, and thus was established the Order of the Iron Cross. Members wore no ornaments except a cross of iron for all to see.
When we Christians come to our King, we too exchange the flourishes of our former life for a cross.
1. The problem is, for too many, all bearing a cross means is wearing a cross.
2. Another problem is, too many do not understand what Jesus meant by carrying our cross. I can guarantee you that it does not mean that becoming and being a Christian is fashionable.
B. Lk.14:27 – “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
C. John MacArthur – “A Christian is not one who simply buys `fire insurance,’ who signs up just to avoid an unpleasant afterlife. A Christian…is one whose faith expresses itself in submission and obedience. A Christian is one who follows Christ, one who is committed unquestionably to Christ as Lord and Savior, one who desires to please God. His basic aim is to be in every way a disciple of Jesus Christ. When he fails, he seeks forgiveness and wants to move forward. This is his spirit and his direction.
“The call to Christian discipleship explicitly demands just that kind of total dedication. It is full commitment, with nothing knowingly or deliberately held back. No one can come to Christ on any other terms. Those who think they can simply affirm a list of gospel facts and continue to live any way they please should examine themselves to see if they are really in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).[2]
1. If we are not willing to commit to this degree, we might as well leave. Church attendance and church membership mean absolutely nothing without total commitment.
2. If you think this too harsh, listen to the words of Jesus (Luke 14:25-33).
Luke 14:25-33 NASB Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, (26) “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. (27) “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (28) “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? (29) “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, (30) saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ (31) “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? (32) “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. (33) “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
a. Notice when Jesus says this – when large crowds were going along with Him. Jesus is not interested in a strong following. Jesus is interested in strong followers.
b. Illustration:
Francis X. Bushman, the first of the old-time movie idols, started as a sculptor’s model. He won “the most handsome man” contest sponsored by Ladies World magazine. He was working in 1915 for the Essanay studio in Chicago for $250 a week. His agent David Freedman, however, knew that in the gold-rush atmosphere that prevailed among the competing film studios in those early days of movie making, the sky was the limit for talent with a proven following. How to prove it was the problem, and Freedman conceived of a plan.
The agent instructed Bushman to take the train to New York. Freedman met him at Grand Central Station, carrying a large sack of pennies. The sack had a small hole, and as the two gold-diggers walked along Forty-second Street they were followed along the trail of pennies by a surging crowd. By the time they arrived at the Broadway offices of the Metro Film Corporation, the movie executives looking out the window beheld such a mass of followers that they felt lucky to sign Bushman on for a mere thousand dollars a week.
1) Gimmicks and money is how many churches today grow. This church is going to grow (repeat), the old fashioned way. We are going to follow the Christ, on a cross, dripping blood.
D. John Stott -
“One who is not willing to lose his life by taking Christ is not worthy of Him….that person cannot be a disciple (Luke 14:27). These statements cannot be made to accommodate the kind of casual approach to conversion that is in vogue in our generation. Jesus does not ask people to add Him to the milieu of their lives. He wants disciples willing to forsake everything. This calls for total self-denial – to the point of willingly dying for His sake.
“When (Lk.14:27) says, `Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be My disciple,’ it does not mean bearing the `cross’ of a difficult situation, a chronic disease, or a nagging spouse. We have all heard devotional sermons spiritualize this passage to interpret the cross as everything from a cranky mother-in-law to a leaky roof to a 1957 Chevy. But that is not what the word cross meant to Jesus’ first-century audience. It did not call to their minds the idea of long-term difficulties or troublesome burdens. It did not even evoke thoughts of Calvary, since the Lord had not yet gone to the cross and they did not understand that he would. When Jesus said, `take up your cross’ to them, they thought of a cruel instrument of torture and death. They thought of dying in the most agonizing method known to man. They thought of poor, condemned criminals hanging on crosses by the roadside. Doubtless they had seen men executed in that fashion. They understood He was calling them to die for Him. They knew he was asking them to make the ultimate sacrifice, to surrender to Him as Lord in every sense….The Bible does not teach salvation by martyrdom. The Lord was not advising the disciples to try to get themselves killed for Him. He is referring again to a pattern, a direction. He simply says that genuine Christians do not shrink back, even in the face of death. To express it another way, the true disciple tends to follow the Lord, even at the expense of his own self.”[3]
E. Some of the tortures and persecutions Jesus’ disciples (you and me, if we live back then, or if we live in that situation again) endured:
1. Being sewn up in the skins of wild animals and then hunted by ravenous dogs.
2. Covered with tar and set on fire for Nero’s parties.
3. One lady named Rhais, had boiled pitch poured on her head; then she was burned.
4. Timothy, a deacon of Martainia, was order to hand over the Scriptures to be burned; but he said, “Had I children, I would sooner deliver them up to be sacrificed than part with the word of God.” When he said this, the Governor ordered that his eyes be put out with red hot irons saying, “The books shall at least be useless to you, for you shall not see to read them.” After that, because of Timothy’s patience, he ordered him to be hung upside down with a weight tied around his neck and a gag in his mouth; then he and his wife were crucified beside each other.
E. Now that we have studied the cross on the way, we need to ask ourselves if the cross is in the way?
IV. THE CROSS IN THE WAY
A. Illustration: Greenwich, Connecticut
In old Greenwich, Connecticut, stands a church building with a cross in it. Unlike most worship houses, whose crosses adorn the front wall behind the preacher, this one is bolted down into the concrete floor in front of the platform, not more than three feet from where the preacher stands.
Its positioning defies reason and art and convention. No architect in his right mind would have designed such a placement. It is an obstruction. The preacher’s words have to pass through it; the congregation’s eyes always have it somewhere in view, so that even when they look away, it is still there, impressed on the back wall of the retina.
It is a sturdy wooden cross, ten feet tall. The cross bar is set high on the vertical beam, so high that it seems out of proportion compared to other more proportionate crosses that decorate other more proportionate church buildings.
Nothing about this cross is pretty. It is made of raw, untreated wood, and when you see it up close, you think of splinters, of something hard…immovable. It is set deep in the concrete floor as well as bolted to it, so that a blow makes it vibrate rapidly. Strike it hard enough, and it will answer back in a low tone. It could be removed, but not without difficulty.
It would be almost impossible to forget about this cross. Where ever you are in the room, you always know where it is…or, more accurately, where you are in relation to it.
There is nothing comfortable about that cross which is in the way.[4]
B. “This raw, wooden cross in the middle of the floor manages to defy the efforts we often make to soften its blow. Most crosses we encounter are harmless. They dangle from an ear or a wrist or lie in the nape of a pretty neck. They perch atop buildings or adorn the interior walls of our places of worship. The cross has become as an ornament, a religious symbol mellowed by sentimental value. Some think that wearing a cross or hanging it on a wall makes God more favorably disposed to them. Others attribute some kind of magical or superstitious power to it, like a ball player signing the cross before he swings away.
“The cross as a symbol has become more like a charm on a bracelet than a huge, rough, inconvenient reminder I might bump into in the front of a church building. That is what makes (the Old Greenwich cross) stand out. It is not something to wear or wish upon. You can’t bring it into your life that easily. You can’t hold it in your hand and bring it lovingly to your chest. You can’t even pass your hand across its surface without getting splinters. The closest you could get to this cross would be to hug it, and hugging this cross is a little like hugging a tree.
“The bold placement of this particular cross takes on a special significance in this last decade of the twentieth century. The church in America has become increasingly accustomed to a Christianity without a cross – or, at best, with one hanging harmlessly in the background. In our eagerness to popularize Christianity, we have created a very user-friendly gospel that asks for hardly a sacrifice. We have forgotten that in the middle of this gospel stands a cross – an instrument of execution, whose splinters are largely ignored by a contemporary Christian world eager to tell mostly the good part of the story.”
C. “The good part, of course, is the love of God in sending His Son to die such a painful death for us. How much He must love and value us to do this! But are these the only messages the cross brings to us? Is it only a coincidence that we receive other versions of these messages from our culture in the form of self-worth and self-love? Has the gospel found us and reoriented our thinking about ourselves to bring it more in line with the truth, or have we merely isolated the parts of the gospel that fit in well with prevailing culture?”
D. “But what about sin and the helpless state of our existence that sent God’s Son to the cross in the first place? In our day, such conviction has been overshadowed by discussions of dysfunctionalism and codependency. Even in our churches, we don’t need the cross as much as we need a good psychiatrist to help us straighten out our thinking.”
E. “And what about God’s inapproachable righteousness and holiness that required a sacrifice for sin? The God of present day evangelicalism is a big buddy in the sky, and the closet thing to sacrifice most of us understand is a fly ball to right with a runner on third and less than two outs.”
D. “What about the blood of bulls and goats that were slaughtered for (thousands) of years in an unsuccessful attempt to satisfy the righteous judgment of God? What do we hear of these things? Do we wonder at all about any of this, or is a contemporary Christian love song from God all we need to know about the cross? Is the cross only a way that God says “I love you” to all of us?”
E. “The truth is, the timelessness of the cross forces us to encounter many unpleasant realities about ourselves, outside our present cultural mindset. But we may not encounter any of these things in the crosses we see every day…unless we happened into a certain church (building) in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. There an unreasonable ten-foot wooden cross stands in a place where it demands to be more than an ornament, a piece of jewelry, a religious icon, or an afterthought.”
F. “The cross reminds us of our sin, the equality of our guilt, and our only hope….And the truest hope of the gospel is that forgiveness is available for all of us because we are sinners of comparable merit. We are, all of us, experts at the subtleties of sin and equally good at cover-up. A cross in the middle of everything blows our cover. Its’ difficult to be haughty and proud when a hard physical reminder of what that pride cost the Savior casts a shadow in your own personal spotlight.”
G. “The cross shows little regard for relevancy in any age. While each generation tries to manifest its own culture, the cross seems hardly to care. At any point in history, at any place on this planet, the death of Christ, like the lines of the cross itself, runs perpendicular to the flow of culture. The cross is shocking, arresting, out of step, out of time…and yet for all time.”
H. “I’m beginning to believe that God designed it this way – that the cross is purposely irrelevant to any age, so that God might draw attention to his sacrifice by virtue of its ageless incongruity. Blood sacrifice for sin doth not a popular song make. And yet the church today is trying to win friends and influence people by being popular and relevant to current needs and trends. To such a church, a stark rendering of the cross in the middle of everything could be an embarrassment.”
I. “The cross is an anomaly. It is inconsistent with what would naturally be expected. The cross destroys the wisdom of the wise and frustrates the intelligence of the intelligent. Yet it is perfectly in line with a God who had always been full of surprises. Who but God would have ever thought of this…?”
J. “The very anomaly of the cross, in fact, makes the truth of Christianity self-evident. No human being would have come up with dying on the cross as a means of saving the world. `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 [the message of the cross] to save those who believe’ (1 Cor.1:21).”
K. “This is why something valuable is lost when the cross becomes no more than a charm or an ornament or a sign a nervous batter makes before an 0 and 2 pitch. This is why the attractive cross on the front wall of the church (building) – the one designed by the same graphic artist who coordinated it with the logo on the bulletin and the four-color brochure that is handed out every Sunday to new visitors – has somehow lost its foolishness. This cross is too pretty. It blends in too well with the decor. It doesn’t move us to ask any hard questions like: Why was it necessary? What does it mean? What is its purpose in my life now?”
L. It’s only right and good that the cross is in the way. The cross is supposed to be in the way, because it stands for my sin and God righteousness. And it is and was sin that stood in the way of a righteous God reaching man – reaching me.
M. 1 Cor.1:18-2:2
1. Yes, the cross is in the way. It’s in the way of converting more people. But mainly, it’s in the way of me being me (Gal.5:24, 2:20)
1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2 NASB (18) For the word 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, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” (20) Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater 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 come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (22) For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; (23) but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, (24) but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (26) For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; (27) but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, (28) and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, (29) so that no man may boast before God. (30) But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, (31) so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” (2:1) And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. (2) For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Galatians 2:20 NASB “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 5:25 NASB If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
CONCLUSION:
A. At the beginning of this lesson, we spoke of an expensive cross and free crosses. The reality is that the only cross that truly matters is Jesus’ cross – and the cost was His life.
[1]Title of series taken from book of same name by John Fischer. Point #4 is based on chapter one of his book. The other points are original.[2]John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, p.197.[3]Ibid., p.201-202.
[4]Adapted from John Fischer, On A Hill Too Far Away, pp15ff. All quotes, unless otherwise noted, from this same book, chapter one.
Loading...