What Does it Mean to be ‘Cross-Centered’? Part 1
Paul’s theology of the cross in 1 Corinthians is not just a model for preachers and preaching. It is a model for the Christian life. So it is also a model for the life of the whole church. We can hardly miss the language of church mission statements today trying to be “Christ-centered.” Some have even gone as far as to talk about being “cross-centered.” But what would that look like? We cannot exhaust the depths of it, but D. A. Carson, in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry breaks Paul’s cross-centered mission into five pieces: I) The Cross and Preaching—1:18-2:5, II) The Cross and the Holy Spirit—2:6-16, III) The Cross and Factionalism—3, IV) The Cross and Christian Leadership—4, and V) The Cross and the World Christian—9:19-27. He summarizes being cross-centered in this way: “the cross stands as the test and the standard of all vital Christian ministry. The cross not only establishes what we are to preach, but how we are to preach. It prescribes what Christian leaders must be and how Christians must view Christian leaders. It tells us how to serve and draws us onward in discipleship until we understand what it means to be world Christians.”[1] I will do my best to summarize Carson’s study in a few paragraphs.
I. CROSS-CENTERED PREACHING
1 Corinthians 2:2 - “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Knowing what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each do in the plan of redemption helps us understand clearly the message of the cross, the outreach of the cross, and the preacher of the cross. First we have to understand what Paul had to resist in order to insist on a cross-centered ministry. The answer is the moral pride of the Jews and the intellectual pride of the Greeks. The cross is not the sort of thing that either of the world’s dominant categories could accept; though we will not obsess over that when we understand that only the called from among those Greeks and Jews will accept it anyway [1:24]. The main factor in preaching is not the context into which we speak; it is God’s activity. This reduces the preacher to a mere messenger but the message to the level of the determinative factor. The upshot of God’s message to the preacher is: “Just lift up the cross, Paul. Neither Jew nor Greek will take to it. But I have my people from among the Jews and Greeks, and they will come, not because you preach an especially moralistic or wise cross, but because of the attractive power of the cross itself.” Every shred of contextualization that the contemporary church is now obsessing over is answered decisively here. Every heart in every culture must be informed that their context is a grain of sand inside of the cross-centered context. The cross will divide between sheep and goat, between time and eternity, between theoretical and practical.
II. CROSS-CENTERED & SPIRIT-LED
Paul’s theology of the cross in 1 Corinthians is not just a model for preachers and preaching. It is a model for the Christian life. So it is also a model for the life of the whole church. We can hardly miss the language of church mission statements today trying to be “Christ-centered.” Some have even gone as far as to talk about being “cross-centered.” But what would that look like? We cannot exhaust the depths of it, but D. A. Carson, in his book The Cross and Christian Ministry breaks Paul’s cross-centered mission into five pieces: I) The Cross and Preaching—1:18-2:5, II) The Cross and the Holy Spirit—2:6-16, III) The Cross and Factionalism—3, IV) The Cross and Christian Leadership—4, and V) The Cross and the World Christian—9:19-27. He summarizes being cross-centered in this way: “the cross stands as the test and the standard of all vital Christian ministry. The cross not only establishes what we are to preach, but how we are to preach. It prescribes what Christian leaders must be and how Christians must view Christian leaders. It tells us how to serve and draws us onward in discipleship until we understand what it means to be world Christians.”[1] I will do my best to summarize Carson’s study in a few paragraphs.
I. CROSS-CENTERED PREACHING
1 Corinthians 2:2 - “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
Knowing what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each do in the plan of redemption helps us understand clearly the message of the cross, the outreach of the cross, and the preacher of the cross. First we have to understand what Paul had to resist in order to insist on a cross-centered ministry. The answer is the moral pride of the Jews and the intellectual pride of the Greeks. The cross is not the sort of thing that either of the world’s dominant categories could accept; though we will not obsess over that when we understand that only the called from among those Greeks and Jews will accept it anyway [1:24]. The main factor in preaching is not the context into which we speak; it is God’s activity. This reduces the preacher to a mere messenger but the message to the level of the determinative factor. The upshot of God’s message to the preacher is: “Just lift up the cross, Paul. Neither Jew nor Greek will take to it. But I have my people from among the Jews and Greeks, and they will come, not because you preach an especially moralistic or wise cross, but because of the attractive power of the cross itself.” Every shred of contextualization that the contemporary church is now obsessing over is answered decisively here. Every heart in every culture must be informed that their context is a grain of sand inside of the cross-centered context. The cross will divide between sheep and goat, between time and eternity, between theoretical and practical.
II. CROSS-CENTERED & SPIRIT-LED
1 Corinthians 2:13-14 – And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
If Jesus Christ crucified is the central message of gospel preaching, then the “things of Spirit” mentioned here will not deviate from that, since Jesus promised about the Spirit that “he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” [Jn. 16:13-14]. If this is true of preaching and hearing sermons, then it also true about worship music and small group leading and coffee-house discipleship. The cross of Christ is where all our sin is dealt with and where all our righteousness comes from. Therefore the work of Christ is literally the answer to absolutely everything. This is called a wisdom that only the “spiritual” [2:13] and the “mature” [2:6] receive. If the Holy Spirit is really on the move—in the giving of gifts, in illuminating the meaning of the Bible, in guiding through the practical affairs of life, in convicting of sin, in the life of corporate singing or fellowship—if it is really the Spirit of God at work here, then there will be a mighty vision of the cross where the love of Christ controls all things and where attention is actually drawn by the Spirit toward Jesus, and away from himself (much more, away from the individual Christian). This Spirit-led attraction to the cross demands three contrasts, according to Paul: 1) those who receive God’s wisdom vs. those who do not—2:6-10a, 2) the Spirit of God vs. the spirit of the world—2:10b-13, and 3) the natural person vs. the spiritual person—2:14-16. Once again, it is when we understand these things that we stop obsessing over means and results that take our eyes off of our true commission and our true power. It should be clear how Paul’s treatment of the Spirit goes hand in hand with his treatment of the cross of Christ—if the cross is folly to the natural man and it “becomes” glorious to the spiritual man, well then, it would seem that this whole operation is up to God: His message, His means, His power. But since the preacher is His means, it follows that the preacher’s job is to stand up there and talk about the depths of the cross come hell or high water, or even empty seats. The same will ultimately be true of other Christian leaders.
Questions for Reflection:
1. What do we do when a significant number of people just don’t seem to “get it”—No signs of spiritual life, no joy, no victory over sin—What part do we play in showing them more of what they need to hear?
2. What does it mean to be cross-centered in worship music? Sovereign Grace Ministries has purposed to do this. How have they done this? How do you do it without falling to the Roman Catholic error of portraying Christ as still on the cross?
3. In what senses is Christ crucified everywhere in Scripture? In what senses is Christ crucified applied to the issues of broken relationships, confused identities, bad habits, learning disabilities, unruly children, your pride?
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