The cross is not a method for our personal and private “salvation.”
The cross is not the pattern or template for Christian discipleship.
While it is completely accurate to affirm Jesus as Savior and Lord…Jesus is MUCH MORE. Jesus is our SOURCE and RESOURCE. Jesus is our LIFE.
So, that changes everything about how we see the cross and what happened there.
At the cross, Jesus revealed the love and grace of God the Father.
At the cross, Jesus revealed that Father-God reached down past all our sin, rebellion, and brokenness to take hold of us and redeem us.
And at the cross, the Father reveals that Jesus the Son, in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, is our LIFE. In Christ we live and move and have our being.
The cross reveals Jesus is our connection to the triune God.
Now when we get that – then morality, ethics, and lifestyle cease to be a means of trying to impress and earn Divine favor, but rather they become an expression of our union with and life in Christ.
The cross then connects with the whole of humanity because God in Christ is connected to all humanity. You can’t watch the sermon video “It’s Not About You” – preached at Patterson Avenue Baptist Church
“Take up your cross daily, and folloow me.” Superlative discipleship.