In 2000, John Piper spoke to thousands of young adults in a huge open-air arena. As part of that talk, he uttered some words that have been repeated countless times. Let me add to that number by reciting them once again, because I believe they will help us to answer Charis’ wonderful question.
“You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing.” – John Piper
John Piper is making a really vital point; that to have a deep and lasting impact in this world you don’t need to know a hundred and one things. In fact, you don’t need to know many things at all. What you do need is a deep treasuring of just a few world-changing issues and to look to live for them and if need be, to die for them. And at the top of that list is the cross of Christ!
The Apostle Paul put it like this:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6:14)
Here Paul is saying that he is someone who does want to boast (notice that!) but only in one thing… the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why, of all the things Paul could have boasted in, does he single out the cross of Christ for boasting? The simple answer is that the cross of Christ is the only place where everything changes (1 Cor 1:18).
Spiritually dead people are made alive, where? – at the cross of Christ. Spiritually blind people are made to see true spiritual reality, where? – you’ve guessed it, at the cross of Christ. God haters are transformed into God lovers, where? – yep, at the cross of Christ.
To boast in the cross of Christ is to say that everything we have that is of any eternal significance is found in Christ’s cross-work and not in anything we can muster. To boast in the cross of Christ is to recognise that religious performance (i.e. if I live a certain way) gains nothing of eternal significance, only the cross of Christ brings eternal change. To boast in the cross of Christ is to see all other religious routes as dead ends and only Christ’s cross-work is able to lead us into life- everlasting.
Only the cross of Christ is able to wipe away the smear of sin and to turn away God’s rightful judgement. Only the cross of Christ is able to turn hopelessness into unbreakable and eternal hope and joy.
To boast in the cross of Christ is to see everything and anything else as sinking sand and only Christ and his cross-work as everlastingly secure.
For Paul, to boast in the cross of Christ is to see it and it alone as life and world changing!
For you and me to boast in the cross of Christ requires that we first believe these shockingly stark realities! When these truths get down into our hearts, we will find ways of speaking and talking about and shining the light of our lives upon the splendour of the cross because we will be undone with gratitude and gladness at what Christ has accomplished for us. We will see as utter foolishness, any other route to salvation or happiness. Only the cross of Christ is able to have a meaningful and eternal impact on our lives.
To boast in the cross is to be convinced, to the core of your being, that you are saved and secure in the Father’s family, not because of anything you have done, but because of the cross-work of Christ! This is a revolutionary message and one that turned the ancient world upside down and is still able to turn our world upside down today.