THE OLD CROSS AND THE NEW CROSS

THE OLD CROSS AND THE NEW CROSS

Many of us will be celebrating and observing the Lord's Table today.
Here is a power word about the Cross that is worth reading this morning
as you prepare your heart.

"All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a
new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross,
but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences,
fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life,
and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique - a
new type of meeting and new kind of preaching. This new evangelism
employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same
and its emphasis is not as before.

The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly
pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean
fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His
life motivation still lives for his own pleasure, only know he takes
delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of
singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on the
enjoyment, though the fun is now on a high plane morally if not
intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic
approach. The evangelist does not demand forsaking the old life before a
new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He
seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no
unpleasant demands; rather it offers the same thing the world does, only
on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring
after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel
offers, only the religious 'product' is better.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him
into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To
the self-assertive it says, 'Come and assert yourself for Christ.' To
the egotist is says, 'Come and do your boasting in the Lord.' To the
thrill-seeker it says, 'Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian
fellowship.' The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the
current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent
end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took us his cross and
started down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was
not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no
compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man,
completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its
victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the
man was no more.

God offers life, but not an IMPROVED life. The life God offers is life
out of death. How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he
must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go own and
forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing.
Let him seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the
stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.

Having done this, let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Savior,
and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing power. The cross
that ended the life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the
power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life
along with Christ."

Adapted from MAN: THE DEWELLING PLACE OF GOD by A. W. Tozer.

Great quote: "The cross always stands ready, and everywhere awaits you.
You cannot escape it, wherever you flee, for wherever you go, you bear
yourself, and always find yourself. Look up or down, without you or
within, and everywhere you will find the cross." Thomas a Kempis