why christians could revolutionise christianity...

August, 2005what makes us happy...

When I was 16 I started preaching and sharing Christ on the streets of Geelong. By then, I was recently converted to Christ. I had been brought up to be good and even religious, but I then encountered the risen Saviour who exposed my true spiritual condition as bankrupt.

I realised that being "good" or "religious" (while having merit for making a person civil) was not the criteria for determining where a person would spend eternity. It was at this point in my life, at the age of 15, that the Cross of Christ's crucifixion began to make sense. In its simplicity, the Cross was: Christ dying for me. As Romans 6:23 states, "the wages of sin is death". The Cross therefore was Christ suffering my penalty of sin. But I've since discovered that the Cross means much more...

The Cross is the core of the Gospel. No Cross- no Gospel. At the core of the Gospel is the ultimate Sacrifice. To become a Christian means to embrace The Cross--but it also means to embrace a cross. It therefore means that by accepting the ultimate Sacrifice as the payment for our eternal salvation, means that we too are committed to living "sacrificially".

A recent government enquiry in the USA into the state of social welfare there found that Churches were by far more effective and efficient than the Government at delivering services to the community. President Bush said that the Government should recognise these "Faith-Based" service providers as being able to do a far better job than the Government and begin to channel funds through them instead. While the enquiry seemed to be more concerned with the economics of social welfare than the motivation for it, they perhaps missed the main reason why Churches generally do a much better job at caring for the community than the Government: the Cross.

To be a Christian is to live out the implications of the Cross. Consider Christ's journey to the Cross. His prayer-life increasingly became one of pleading for the Father's will to be done (Lk. 22:42). For us to live authentic Christian lives means that increasingly our prayer-lives will resemble this Lord's prayer- Not my will, but Your's be done. We are also confronted with a Christ who, moments before His arrest by Temple Guards, is ministering to those who would be His enemies (Lk. 22:51- healing the High Priest's servant's injured ear). Someone has said that the hallmark of Christianity is not just how we treat each other, but how we treat our enemies. To live out the implications of the Cross means that we are even prepared to sacrifice for our enemies (Rom. 5:10).

Throughout the ages, several notable Christians have understood that if the Cross is the core of Christianity then a cross is the core of Christian living.

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matt. 10:38

That's why this recent US Government Enquiry found Churches had a higher degree of volunteerism, genuine compassion for those they served, and preparedness to "go the extra mile". As Christians take up their cross to follow the way of the Cross they invariably find themselves serving their communities, not for monetary gain, applause, or fame, but out of sheer obedience to the Crucified Saviour. That's why Christian medics serve quietly in the Third World. That's why Christian missionaries serve as teachers and aid workers in tribal villages where superstitution justified such things as infanticide and sati (widow burning) and poor sanitation results in high infant mortality and decreased life expectancy. So you would think that a Gospel producing such good for society would welcomed by all. But it is precisely this insistance upon the Cross of Christ and a cross for every Christ follower that the opponents of Christianity can't stand.

The Qur'an denies that Christ died and especially denies that He died on a Cross!

Recently I received a nasty email from an Australian Muslim who saw our web page promoting our "Jesus and Islam" video cd. He attacked me for our disclaimer which warns Muslims not to view the video as the Qur'an forbids investigation into its claims. He stated that this was an ignorant lie. I cited Q.2:2 (from the Qur'an which says that its claims are not to be doubted) and reminded him that this was the Koranic verse which Iran used to justify imprisoning any Iranian who questioned the Qur'an. I challenged him to either produce the Koranic verses which invited scrutiny of its claims (something that Bible does in several places, eg. 1Thess. 5:2; Acts 17:11) or apologise. I received neither. But as a result I was prompted to examine the Qur'an a little more closely. And what I found, anyone could find! That's why I'm encouraging people to read the Qur'an! What you'll notice is that despite the Qur'an describing Christ (Isa) as "sinless" and "the Messiah" and a "prophet" it adamantly denies that there was a Cross! It also curiously affirms that if in any doubt about the revelation of God then the Christian Bible was to be consulted! So download your own MS WORD version of the Koran by clicking here.

So in this age of pseudo-pluralism (where all religious ideas are considered equal, "pseudo" because no one really believes this) people are prepared to accept Christ but not His Cross and therefore not His teaching! Unfortunately though, there is a growing trend among some Christians to agree with them!

why christianity only works when there is a cross...

For 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.
1Cor. 1:18

It is true that Christianity benefits the believer in several ways. Peace, blessing, prosperity, fellowship, knowledge, are just some of the benefits of the Christian life. But the way of a cross means that we are not just believers, but disciples. The cross that we are called to take up daily means that we live sacrificially and under discipline. All too often though, we do the opposite and when we do we give Christ and Christianity a bad name - but even worse, we remove the central truth of the Gospel: the Cross. And once the central truth of the Gospel is removed, the core of truth is therefore removed from society's view and along with it any rationality about what is truly right or wrong.

Thus, as we enter into the cultural battles before us where all manner of sexual perversion is being promoted as merely being "tolerant" and exercising "anti-discrimination" and any religious ideas are acceptable in this "post-christian-era", and evolutionary philosophy is allowed to masquerade as "science" - we must recognise that this has come about due to an absence of the Cross in Christianity where Christians have lived indifferently to society rather than engaging it with the Gospel.

In our revitalised efforts to engage society through the arts, the academy, law, politics, sport and the media, let us take up our cross and point people to the Cross. We can do this as we live out the teachings of the Gospel found in the Scriptures. That's why while I'm encouraging people to read the Qur'an, this can only be truly effective if we know the Scriptures. Therefore, in our pursuit to find the truth, I'm greatly encouraging you to become an avid Bible reader. To effectively become a daily cross bearer demands that we become a daily Scripture reader and heeder. When we are confronted with various outspoken lobby groups who represent minority groups who seek to overturn all Christian influence from society we must remember that these are people whose lives can only be changed by the Gospel. Ultimately while we seek to repoint society toward True North on the Moral Compass we are only going to fully achieve this if by promoting the Core of Truth: the Gospel of Christ's Cross.

Andrew Corbett, August 2005

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