The case for the cross

The new challenges we face in sharing the good news

Making The Case for The Cross


The third most

popular tattoo

design is the cross.


“They broke the fast with no

religious justification”

Goals for today’s sermon1. To explore what the Bible has to say about

the cross of Jesus. 2. To come to terms with how secular and

skeptical thinkers view the cross.3. To make the hard decision to pick up our

crosses and lead others to the foot of the cross.


What does the Bible

have to say about

The Cross?

The Cross


Jesus Came to Bring Division!Luke 12

51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.


Jesus Came to Bring Division!

Luke 1252 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.


53a They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,



53bmother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”



1 Corinthians 118For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Jesus’ Cross Brings Division!


1 Corinthians 119 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”



20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?



21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.



22For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,



24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.



1 Corinthians 125For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.



1 Corinthians 21And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

Jesus Cross is Crucial!


1 Corinthians 22 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.



Galatians 614But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.



“Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to – because of us.”Philip Yancey


“At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice.”

Philip Yancey


What do skeptics have to say about

The Cross?

The Cross


Somesay of

the cross…

It’s Unnecess

ary


“It does no good to say that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. I don’t have any sins, but if I did, I wouldn’t want Jesus to die for my sins. I would say, ‘No, thanks. I will take responsibility for my own actions.’”

Dan Barker


It’s Barbaric

Some say of

the cross…


“The notion that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that his death constitutes a successful propitiation of a ‘loving’ God is a direct and undisguised inheritance of the superstitious bloodletting that has plagued bewildered people throughout history.”Sam Harris


It’s Obnoxiou

s

Some say of

the cross…


“[Redemption] is a repellant doctrine.” …it is “almost as morally obnoxious as the story of Abraham setting out to barbecue Isaac, which it resembles.”Richard

Dawkins


Some say…

It’s Immoral!!

!


“I can pay your debt…But I cannot absolve you of your responsibilities. It would be immoral of me to offer, and immoral of you to accept.”

Christopher Hitchens


Common Elements

•A Denial of Sin.•A Disdain concerning God’s character.•A Distaste for God’s Remedy.


How do we counter such attitudes?

• Begin with prayer, not arguments.• Trickle in truth slowly and steadily.• Look for teachable moments.


Deciding to Take Up Our crosses and

Lead Others to the Foot of the

Cross

The Cross


“Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.”

John R.W. Stott


I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)


Matthew 1624Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.


“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The new challenges we face in sharing the good news

The case for the cross

Spiritual

Transcript of The case for the cross