The Offense of the Cross

It's a familiar theme of this blog . . . Cross-less Christianity. It's kind of become one of my primary purposes in blogging to keep pointing out this crisis in the Evangelical community. So I'm happy to point out articles like Jared Wilson's Dude, Where's My Gospel?. Here's a snip:

Gospel deficiency is the biggest crisis of the American church. It has been replaced by many things, most commonly a therapeutic, self-help approach to biblical application. Bible verses are extracted to enhance calls to self-improvement and Jesus is preached as moral exemplar (which of course, he is, but then again, so is Mother Theresa). The result is a Church that, ironically enough, preaches works, not grace, and a growing number of Christians who neither understand the gospel nor revel in its scandal.

Jared lists four reasons why we need to keep repeating the Gospel to ourselves and to one another. I heartily concur.

Along similar lines, we have Michael Spencer's recent post, The Word of the Cross. Check this out:

The cross is, as Paul says elsewhere, an “appeal” from God to reconciliation. It is an announcement that contains an offer. It is a proclamation that has ultimate relevance. It is a word that divides the world into cross appreciators and cross enemies.

The word of the cross is foolishness to a religious world that demands God respond with a miracle when they pull the string. The God of the cross is not a performer. He is not a cosmic servant or entertainer there when religious people insist he show up and do what is necessary to convince the sleeping and the bored.

I like it that Michael speaks of "the word of the cross," not simply "the cross." The word of the cross is, as he says, an announcement, a message. We can downplay the importance of this, but when we do so we inevitable circle back to works, as Jared points out above. Like a dog returning to its vomit, you might say. If we don't speak it, we have not really communicated it (St. Francis notwithstanding).

Notice also that Michael says that the word of the cross "is a word that divides the world into cross appreciators and cross enemies." That's so true. I used to think that the real dividing line among Christians had everything to do with what they thought about the gifts of the Spirit. The zillion dollar question was, Have the gifts ceased, or do they continue among us by the power of the Spirit? It seemed to me then to be a question of ultimate importance. But now, after worshiping in a charismatic church for 8 years now (following about the same period of time in a "cessationist" church) I no longer believe that.

What matters most is Christ and his cross. When the word of the cross is missing, the church is an exercise in do-good clubbiness and that's all. The word of the cross is truly the defining issue. That's where churches stand or fall, where Christians either hold firm or drift. Thanks to both Jared and Michael for pointing these things out with eloquent precision.