Our Response to the Cross

I love the Easter season. Is it the chocolate bunnies and egg hunts and colorful new outfits that make me say this? No, though I do love those things. I love the Easter season because it takes me back to the cross, back to the very core of our life in Jesus. John Stott in his wonderful book, The Cross of Christ, says, “It was by his death that he wished above all else to be remembered. There is then, it is safe to say, no Christianity without the cross. If the cross is not central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus.” Is it possible to overstate the life-changing significance of Jesus’ death on the cross? Can we focus too heavily on what was accomplished by Jesus on the cross? I think not. In fact, to borrow from Paul, “By no means!” Actually, for the believer, the danger lies in thinking too little of the cross, of failing to daily bask in the beauty of Christ crucified. Too often the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things lead us down a destructive path, one headed away from the cross. But turning back to the cross has a powerful goodness about it that reorients our hearts and minds as nothing else can.

[D]anger lies in thinking too little of the cross, of failing to daily bask in the beauty of Christ crucified.

What does this reorientation look like? What is to be our attitude, our appropriate response to the cross? Let me suggest that thankfulness, joy, and humility are to characterize our hearts and minds as we encounter the cross.

If you were to ask our kids what the two most important words in the English language are, they would without hesitation answer, “Thank you” (primarily because their parents constantly pounded that into their precious little heads). Throughout God’s Word, we see over and over the importance and appropriateness of being thankful and of saying, “Thank you.” Psalm 118:28-29 proclaims, “You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Being thankful has a beautiful quality to it which graciously acknowledges that another did something to us or for us that we did not, could not, or would not do ourselves. And the cross illustrates this perfectly. The debt owed by us for our sinfulness and rebellion against the Sovereign Creator God of the Universe is such that it is impossible for us to repay. Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross, satisfying the wrath of God, accomplished what we did not, could not, and would not do.

Is there anything more deeply satisfying or purely delightful than joy? The unrestrained joy of a child opening a surprise gift, of your favorite team winning the championship, of finding out you received an “A” on that tough final exam? The cross, for the believer, should elicit a joy infinitely superior to any other experience or event. The One-and-Only Living God, out of his overwhelming, never-ending, incomprehensible love for us, “endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2), and “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Instead of the death I deserve, I now have life. Instead of standing guilty before God the Father, He has declared me righteous. Instead of unending suffering alone in hell, I am now a son of the King, soon to live forever with Him on the new earth. Jesus died on the cross for me. How can we be anything but joyful? “Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!” (Revelation 19:7)

We can’t leave it there, though. There is another vital response as we approach the cross. For while it is true that Christ died for us, it is also equally true that Christ died because of us. Stott, from his same book, states: “Our sins put him there. So, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness. We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit.” Our joy must be accompanied by humility. The only way he could save us from our sin and foolishness and stupidity was to become like one of us, and then die in our place on the cross. Did we cry “Crucify him!” when Pilate asked? Did we pound the nails in his hands and feet? No, but we may as well have. For our sin was the reason he was hanging there in the first place. 

So, as we prepare our hearts for this coming Easter season, let us be thankful, joyful, and humble. May our words, our deeds, and how we treat others accurately and gracefully reflect the matchless love and grace of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and point them to the cross. “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)   

Author: Gary Stafford, Elder & Pastor to Men