The Old Rugged Cross

The True Church   Mocked, Hidden, Forgotten, Torn down… Yet it always has room for those who seek God

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“The pastor, his wife, and their six small children had just read
Psalm 23 while eating breakfast. Suddenly, the police burst into
his home to search the house and arrest him.

The police asked him, “Don’t you have anything to say? Have
you no sorrow or regret?” 

The pastor said carefully, “You are the answer to what we
prayed today. We just read in Psalm 23 that God prepares a table
before us in the presence of our enemies. We had a table but no
enemies. Now you have come. If you would like anything that is
on the table, I would like to share it with you. You were sent
by God.”

“How could you say such stupid things? We will take you to prison, and you will die there. You will never see your children
again.”

With continued ease, the pastor continued, “We also read about that today: ‘Though I pass through valley of the shadow of
death, I will not fear.’”

The officer shouted, “Everyone fears death. I know because I have seen it on their faces.”

“A shadow of a dog can’t bite you,” continued the pastor, “and a shadow of death can’t kill you. You can kill us or put us in prison, but nothing
bad can happen to us. We’re in Christ, and if we die, he will take us
home to His wonderful eternal heaven.”[1]

O that old rugged
cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.[2]

Despising the Cross

I

n
the midst of today’s spreading corruption,
the cross stands as a divisive and humiliating obstacle. Attempts to
minimize its offense through anti-Christian laws and intimidation have
bullied both secular and church leaders into continual compromise. Few
dare take a stand when Bibles are banned in the classroom, crosses are
excluded from public places, and traditional “holidays” are reinvented
in across the country. Even Jesus Himself has become a popular target
for media mockery and ridicule!

Meanwhile, today’s “results-driven”
churches and many “Christian” colleges are marketing a new, more
inclusive form of Christianity. Afraid to offend unbelievers, they
present a watered-down version of the gospel that veils the significance
of the cross. Trained to pursue self-esteem rather than self-surrender,
few will openly share the apostle Paul’s delight in the source of our
salvation:

“God forbid
that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Galatians 6:14

Back in 1963, that Bible verse was the focus of
a series of sermons preached by
Martyn LLoyd-Jones, then pastor of
London’s Westminster Chapel. Reminding us that human nature hasn’t changed
in the last forty years, he asked some probing questions: 

“There are contradictory voices going
out in the name of the Christian church…. So the first thing we have to do is to discover
which is the true
message…. What is the Christian gospel? What does it proclaim? How
can it…

• render me immune to what may happen round and
  about me…

• enable me to smile in the face of death…

• assure me that I have nothing to fear when I come to the
  judgment of God…

• fulfill the promise of everlasting and eternal bliss
  in the glory indescribable? …

“The central thing,
the thing that matters above everything else… is the cross — the death
on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…. This is what they preached….
[But] the preaching of
the cross has never been popular….”[3]

That‘s true. That’s why Jesus warned us long ago that
“

“…they
will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and


you will be hated by all
nations for My name’s sake.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate
one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” 
Matthew 24:9-12

Self-giving sacrifice: T

he heart of the Gospel

Some years ago, Graham and Gladys
Staines left the comforts of Australia to serve poor lepers in
India. Because of their loving encouragement, many Hindus believed
in Jesus and burned their idols.

One day, Graham and their two young
sons traveled to a distant church to share God’s encouraging
message. While they slept in their car, a crowd of angry
Hindus armed with bows and arrows surrounded the car, doused it with
gasoline and set it aflame. Imprisoned inside, the father and two
children were burned alive.

At their memorial service, the grieving
mother and daughter (who would stay in India and continue their
ministry) sang these words:

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living
Just because he lives!

Why is this wonderful old Gospel so
offensive to the world?
Why does it stir such murderous responses?
Or more important, what is it? The apostle Paul summarized it for us
almost 2000 years ago:

“I
declare to you the gospel which I preached to you… by which also you are
saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless
you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you first of all
that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day…. He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once….”

1 Corinthians
15:1-10

In short, the gospel is the “good news” of the
historical event

of

Christ’s
death, burial,

and resurrection — all for our salvation. But in today’s



market-driven
churches, this gospel is overshadowed
by an enticing counterfeit gospel. In the place of the cross, many of
today’s most popular churches are celebrating their visible “good deeds” —
the kind of “works”
and ethical living that draw man’s applause,
not God’s approval.







[Galatians 1:10]

 

As in the days of John Hus, people are fooled into thinking they can earn their
pardon from sin and their place in heaven. The
popular pastor Rick Warren
summarized this illusion of righteousness well:

“The first Reformation was about

belief;
this one’s going to be about
behavior…. The first one was about


creeds;
this one’s going to be about our

deeds.
The first one divided the church; this time it will unify
the church.”[4]

This new “reformation” focuses on
man’s good works
and ignores human depravity. It leads to pride and blindness, not
humility and repentance. It assures sinners that their good deeds merit God’s
approving smile, while it hides their actual need for the cross.

Such self-justification
sounds good to the masses. When led by our human nature, we all would “desire to make a
good showing in the flesh,” not “suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ.”
[Galatians
6:14] 
So, to maintain a
Christian identity while avoiding “the offence of the cross,” many adapt
their message to politically correct standards for tolerance. Thus they please the
world, but not God.

None of the Bible’s ethical lessons can make us
holy or acceptable to Him. Neither the Ten Commandments nor the Sermon on
the Mount can save us from our sin and prepare us to follow our Lord. They were given to
show us God’s high and holy standard (a criterion we can’t possibly reach by human will
or strength) and then to draw us to the cross.

I’m not saying God doesn’t value “good works.” But until He changes our hearts,
our deeds are worthless as a
means to salvation.

When we are “born again” everything
changes. The
result of the cross in our lives will be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
faithfulness… — manifestations of the good “fruit”
of His Spirit at work in our hearts.
(Galatians 5:22) But such “good works”
can neither replace nor precede the cross. His fruit can only come after our
hearts are rooted in Christ.

In other words, our
primary need is for a new life through the death and
resurrection of Jesus. Having “put
to death” our old sinful nature on the cross, Christ fills us with His own victorious
Life! “He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him.” 2
Corinthians 5:21

This wonderful “exchanged life” was
prophesied and promised centuries before the cross became a physical reality:

 “He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows…
 He was wounded for our transgressions, 

He
was bruised for our iniquities;
 The chastisement for
our peace was upon Him,
 And by His stripes we are
healed.” Isaiah 53:4-6

All is from Him, through the cross,
and by His Spirit: our salvation, our new Life,
our changed
hearts, and our Spirit-led service and sharing. And all bear witness to His
sovereign love and grace.

Spiritual battles ahead

Back in 2000 AD, the
United Nations provided a platform where religious leaders from around the
world could express their intolerance for cross-centered missions. Meeting in
the UN General Assembly Hall, the

Millennium World Peace Summit of
Religious and Spiritual Leaders discussed the problem of unwanted
conversions. In his article, “U.N.
religious summit speakers decry efforts at conversion,”
Tom Strode explained that the Peace Summit —

“…evidenced widespread opposition to
efforts at religious conversion….

“…pronouncements were voiced by speakers
from different religious traditions against attempts to convert people
to other religions, and they met with strong affirmation….
Evangelicals especially would be targets for such sentiments….

“On numerous occasions, there were ‘very negative
comments regarding proselyzing’…. Such declarations were met by
‘vigorous applause,’ said Richard Cizik. …the representatives of Christianity were joining that same call to
denounce proselytizing….”[5]

Last year (2008), the World Council
of Churches joined hands with the Vatican “

to seek a
common code


for religious conversions” and “explore
‘the dos and don’ts’ of trying to spread Christianity


among other faiths.“
Notice their

hostility toward Biblical evangelism:  

“Religious freedom and
missionary outreach

by
Christian groups have become increasingly sensitive topics as many
Muslims perceive their faith as under threat by the West and nations
such as China struggle to maintain
state controls on churches.

 

“‘How
can we – anxious to maintain, develop and nurture good relations with people of other faiths – deal with this
highly complex issue that sometimes threatens the fiber of living together?’ said the Rev. Hans Ucko, head of
the interreligious relations office for the World Council of Churches….