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Do You Boast in the Cross Alone?
Mikael Thomsen
When you find the source of your pride in the cross, you find, through dying to your self, life in Christ.
"But 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 cross of Christ was the Apostle Paul's magnificent obsession. It was the pride of his life; the defining object of his joy, praise, exaltation and worship – the fact that Christ died on a cross; cursed with my curse; punished with my punishment; crushed under the wrath of his Father because of my sins, my rebellion and hatred toward God. He drank the bitter cup of God's wrath, which was ment for you and I, so that His righteousness could be imputed unto us, undeserved, by grace alone.
The incomprehendable depth of the wisdom of God in the cross; a fragrance from life to life; God's power for salvation to anyone who believes, was at the very center of Paul's life and ministry. One single idea; one goal; one passion: the cross of Jesus Christ.
To Paul, the cross also ment that the world was crucified to him and he was crucified to the world. Through his complete turning to Christ, he crucified all sin, complacency, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, selfish pride and all other self-oriented, humanistic and narcisistic tendencies. The cross of Christ ment death to sin and death to the self for Paul:
”I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Anything, which could have been assets to Paul, he now regarded as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus and gaining Him (Philippians 3:8). Everything else in his life was crucified to gain Christ and have his pride and affection in Him alone.
What does the cross mean to you? Are you filled with a sence of awe and pride, when you contemplate what Christ has done to purchase you from the curse of sin? Or has the message of the cross become trivial to you? Is it something, you feel that you have heard enough about?
Dear freind, nothing is more magnificent than the cross: the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
I believe that one of the primary reasons, people become indifferent about the cross, is that they lack an understanding of the their own moral responsibilty for crucifying Christ. He did not die to make life better for people. He died to take the punishment for the sins of mankind. When you do not understand that all mankind is guilty and deserves to be sentenced to eternal death for its sins, it will never appreciate the cross.
Your appreciation of the cross of Christ must come out of a deep, internal conviction of your own guilt, God's justice in responding to that guilt with punishment and finally, God's amazing grace in executing that punishment on his one and only son, as a propitiatory sacrifice for you. You deserve the punishment. He pays the price. When this truth sinks into your soul, it is impossible for you to remain indifferent about the cross.
Missionary and evangelist Paul Washer puts it in these words: ”The greatest motivation of the Christian life is the cross of Jesus Christ; what he did for you on that tree. We as Christians stand between two days: the day Christ hung before all men and the day all men will stand before Christ. These two days ought to control you. They ought to be your magnificent obsession.”
This was the case for Paul. It ought to be for us too.
The most effeciant way to quench your pride in the cross of Christ, is to center your affections in life on your self rather than God. All people have an inate tendensy to seek after things, which satisfy thier personal agendas and their own human needs for approval and self esteem. However, with an exagerated self centering, people will seek after anything that will approve their own goodness and make life nice and convenient.
True christianity is never convenient. Jesus said: ”If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). With self-denial, you remove your focus on yourself and your own needs, and center your focus on God instead. In return, he rewards those, who diligently seek Him, by meeting their needs. By denying yourself, you are motivated by the glory of God and not your own personal approval. Through self-denial, you give Christ the opportunity to live through you. You die to the world and the world dies to you, as Paul describes in Galatians 6:14.
Self-denial is one of the pillars of true discipleship. Being a follower of Christ is not a convenient way. It will cost you something. And those who seek their own way, will end up loosing everything in the end: ”For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).
The 20 century prophet, A.W. Tozer, once said: ”Some people believe that the cross should't inconvenience anyone. But it was the most inconvenient thing in the world, that cross of Christ. It took a man named Jesus, at the hight of his healthy human life, and took him up on a hill and killed him there. You see, that wasn't very convenient for him. Any cross is inconvenient.”
When you find the source of your pride in the cross, you find, through dying to your self, life in Christ.
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