The glorious cause of the church is “faith expressing itself in love” (Galatians 5:6). I went into detail on this in Love Revolution part 1. The ultimate display of “faith expressing itself in love” is what Jesus did on the cross. The cross is the banner of this revolution. Faith expressing itself in love could find no greater fulfillment than a person giving up his or her life for someone else. So what do we, as followers of Jesus, do with the cross? How should we view it?
Much debate has been had in modern circles concerning the placement of and display of the cross. Some churches have crosses up everywhere, others have no cross up at all; some seem embarrassed of the cross, others seem to worship it. I wonder what the response would be if one of Jesus’ disciples, who had actually witnessed the crucifixion, walked into our churches and saw the cross on display. Would he be horrified? Would he look at us and say, “Do you even know what happened on that?”
It is very easy to forget the brutal reality of the cross. The very first churches had no cross at all. For the first Christians, the most common symbol was the fish. The cross became a symbol of Christianity 400 years after the resurrection of Jesus. It became so popular, in fact, that some pagans accused the Christians of idolatry because it seemed as if they were worshiping the cross.
The cross is a symbol to be embraced; it’s not an icon to be worshiped. As with many things, it is easy to vacillate between extremes. For instance, in our church, we have a cross on our stage. It serves as a reminder of what Jesus has done for us. About a year ago someone in our church congregation was offended that we placed the cross to the side instead of in the center of the stage. In fact, they were so offended that they left the church. Really?! The placement of the cross was about ten feet off-center. That reaction made no logical or spiritual sense—leaving a church because of ten feet? Had that person lost that much insight into the message of the cross?
On the other hand, some places of worship display no cross at all because it may offend someone. While I have no desire to offend anyone, our faith is filled with a hard truth: the apex of what Jesus came to do was centered on the cross. “For God so love the word that he gave”…He sent he sacrificed…”His only son…” (John 3:16)
The cross is the banner, the symbol of the love revolution. What Jesus did is the motivation for this Love Revolution. Faith expressing itself in love. We embrace the message of the cross, it is why we do what we do.
Powerful……….thank you, Mike!