the mystery that has
been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious
riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians
1:26-27
ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there
has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is
like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the
differences, fundamental.
From this new cross has sprung a new
philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new
evangelical technique-a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This
new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the
same and its emphasis not as before.
The old cross would have no truck with the
world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into
effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed
to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it
is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam
live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for
his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching
religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The
accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally
if not intellectually.
The new cross encourages a new and entirely
different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of
the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but
similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity
makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does,
only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring
after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers,
only the religious product is better.
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it
redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner anal jollier way of living and saves
his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself
for Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in
the Lord." To the thrillseeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of
Christian fellowship." The Christian message is slanted in the direction
of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
The philosophy back of this kind of thing may
be sincere but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false
because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands
for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took
up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends.
He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no
compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man,
completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim.
It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no
more.
The race of Adam is under death sentence. There
is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin,
however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages
the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of
life.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels
between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to
the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it
intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a
higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the
ground and die.
We who preach the gospel must not think of
ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ
and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ
acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education.
We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an
ultimatum.
God offers life, but not an improved old life.
The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of
the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate
himself and concur in God's just sentence against him.
What does this mean to the
individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus" How can
this theology be translated into life" Simply, he must repent and believe.
He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover
nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with
God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God's stern displeasure and
acknowledge himself worthy to die.
