The Reality of the Cross

 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

 The high point in human history - the cross! . . .  The single greatest force in human life [is] the cross.  And believing that totally flips everything upside down.  (Dallas Willard, Jesus and Culture, Divine Conspiracy talks)

The cross is not primarily a show of how bad people are, but how badly people need God.  Without God our efforts at good are always interrupted by necessity.  Peter felt it was necessary to deny Jesus even though he swore he would go to death with him.  Pilate felt it was necessary to turn Jesus over even though he could find no charges against him.  The Sanhedrin turned Jesus over to the Romans because it was necessary for one man to die rather than a nation.

The reality of the cross is that as a human being, when I try to do good on my own, I will inevitably find it necessary to overturn or betray that good for the sake of something "necessary."  The cross outlines the hope of all people.  When my life is turned over to God, the "necessities" become the very things I have to put to death.  Instead of crucifying what it good, true, and beautiful for the sake of these necessary desires and fears, I have to crucify these desires and fears.

"The wages of sin is death," says Paul.  Living apart from God, away from his grace, and on my own only results in a continuing death.  All that is good will be crucified because it threatens the "Almighty 'I will'".  This form of self-will must die if I am to live.

The high point of the cross is that it really changed everything.  The greatest discovery of humanity was made on the cross by the one who showed us everything a person should be, Jesus.  The cross is mine to boast in because it shatters all the lies that I am fed daily about this world and myself.  The cold, hard reality of the cross crowns the life Jesus lived in this world with the power to be humble, the joy to go through suffering, and the life to conquer death.  These are not mere ideas, but realities found in relationship with God.

The world is crucified to me through the cross.  All the glamour, the display of wealth and power, the fear and dread, the seemingly unending supply of pleasure and distraction turns out to be a lie.  The world is a worn-out shirt, ready to be retired.  The world is a defeated enemy, ready to be destroyed.  The world is uninteresting and bland, ready to be replaced and renewed.  The cross tears the mask off of the world of humanity working apart from God and for its own desires and shows it to be futile and empty, like a dying criminal on a tree.

I am crucified to the world through the cross.  I become an exile in this world rather than a resident.  I find myself "on the outside" in many situations.  Jesus said that the world will hate those who follow him as it hated him.  The systems and institutions set up without God or against him have no place for me.  Occasionally I am attacked or rejected, but mostly where I follow Jesus I am just ignored.

Lord, let the cross define my reality and my hope.  Let me be like Paul who boasts only in the cross of Christ.  Amen.

Becoming Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ

Romans 6: Immersion in Christ Leads to Eternal Life


Since "the gift is not like the trespass,"  (5:15) I am tempted to take advantage of that power.  Grace brings life immediately through the presence and influence of God.  Sins cannot take away that life, that relationship.  That is the power of the gospel.  It overcomes sin completely.  The only thing that removes life is removing myself from life.

The way of grace is shown through baptism.  Just as baptism buries me in water, so my old self is buried through taking up my cross and following Jesus.  I am to "count myself dead to sin." (v.11)  This is not pretending or imagining, but learning how to count on a reality.  In my effort to deal with some arthritis that I have, I was lead into regular, rather intense exercise.  One thing I began doing was pull-ups.  One time about a year after I was training, I was in my garage, needing to get up to the rafters to get something.  I bemoaned the fact that in order to get up there, I would need to pull myself up there.  Suddenly, I remembered that I had already been pulling myself up all the time through pull-ups.  My mind had not yet "counted on" or "reckoned" that reality, even though it was already so.  This is how I am dead to sin.  I no longer have to sin any more; it is merely old habits and fears that need to be extinguished.

Baptism also shows new life.  Just as I come up out of the water, I am raised to new life in Christ.  This is a present reality with increasing fulfillment.  I am "alive to God in Christ Jesus."  Just as my sin is reckoned as dead, now God is reckoned as alive and present.  This reckoning, again, is not pretending or imagining, but counting on God as real and as revealed.  This reckoning is the life of faith.

So the power of the gospel is not that it excuses sin, but that it renders it powerless.  The power of the gospel is not that it enables me to be right through my deeds, but through a continuing relationship to God, who makes me good and right.  Baptism gives this picture, dead and buried to sin, but immersed in the life of God as a living, present, and eternal reality.

This departs from the law, which seeks to make up for sins through righteous acts.  Such a departure does not eliminate the need for obedience to God in righteous deeds, but shows that righteousness comes from what or who my heart is dedicated to.  "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as a slave, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (v.16)

The movement of goodness begins with immersion in Christ, not merely as an external act with water, but as a surrender of my desires and old habits and an acceptance of his grace and new life.  Only the regeneration of Christ can begin this walk with God.

Following new life brought by Christ is obedience.  Obedience leads to righteousness.  What is good?  Trusting in Jesus enough to obey him.  This obedience brings true goodness, that is, righteousness.  That righteousness leads to holiness.  Holiness is being closely associated with God in a life as he intends and therefore being separated from the world and its ways.  The character of holiness is what results in eternal life.  The life that Jesus begins through regeneration, he completes through obedience, righteousness, and holiness.  The completion never ends and always grows.  It is eternal.

Lord, may I reckon myself dead to sin and live to God.  May I stay the course with you of obedience, righteousness, and holiness and not be diverted to law or license.  I do not want to try to manage my sin or just ignore it, I want to see it dead and buried as it is.  Change my heart and mind to accept these realities and embrace your eternal life of living in and with you.  Amen.

The power of the gospel can lead to unwarranted conclusions, such as in verse 1.  Since God's grace so completely covers and defeats all sin and suffering without our righteousness, I have been tempted to conclude that my efforts toward salvation are unnecessary.  Although effort toward my own salvation is what self-righteousness is made of, not all effort toward salvation is self-righteousness.  To put it another way, all self-righteousness requires effort, but not all effort leads to self-righteousness.

Immersion into Christ-likeness begins with the cross.  The image of baptism is one of death.  I begin my walk with Christ by renouncing the devil, the world, and my flesh.  I choose God's way over my way.

Bucket Life or Wading Deeper

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. (John 4:10)

The [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Our family pondered John 4 the other day. Bethany, my youngest, said that she sensed the waters of baptism washing over her (vv. 1-2), and then sensed the living water running cool and refreshing inside her. What a beautiful picture of baptism! Not just a bath or sprinkle, but a reminder of the true baptism: rivers of living water flowing from Christ through us. (John 7:38)

I heard God say, "If you knew the gift of God, you would not be so amazed at my love for people." What is this gift? Living water. Eternal life with Jesus. God giving himself. The gift of God is not mere forgiveness, but life with him, having a home with the Father, Son, and Spirit. It is flowing and moving like a river, not locked in a well.

Eternal life without a conversational relationship with God is like having that bucket and drawing out water from a well. I come to the well when I am thirsty. I dabble in the spiritual here and there when it suits me. I keep it in the bucket of my religion or "faith." It is mine to enjoy or dispense of as I see fit. This is "bucket life."

When eternal life is eternal living, when the presence and power of God influence my life each day, even each moment, then I find that I am afloat in living waters. They come from within and surround me. I am immersed in a different life. I cannot hold it in a bucket, but find I am flowing along with God in a life.

The bucket can seem appealing when the life of God sweeps me away from my desires and my demands. I sometimes find I want the bucket and the feeling of control over my life. I want to be able to put it down and pick it up when it suits me.

But life is not like that. I have been told that the world doesn't just stop when I need a break - life goes on. Of course, that image is more sinister in that the world runs over people; God doesn't. But eternal life is not subject to my control. I cannot hold a river in a bucket.

I have found more and more that eternal living is a cooperative project between myself and God. We are working on it together. God doesn't just tell me what to do - that's "bucket life." "He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am his own." He wants my input and my involvement. Eternal life moves and changes and grows.

Although my choices are essential, eternal living in union with Christ is about him. The living water is his gift to give and mine to receive. He wants me to receive it cheerfully, not under compulsion, so we talk things through and work together. Most often, the choice I have is whether I will jump in and wade deeper or stay on the banks with my bucket.

Lord, your life goes on. Let it not be without me. I want to know the your gift and be immersed in your family, your presence, your life. Amen.