Christianity Today

Yes let's preach the cross. "And who would ever come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." The cross is not only about redemption but a denial of self. In a society where self is denied so little, and we give in to every desire imaginable, it seems that preaching the cross must also talk about disciples walking in righteousness. We have to remember that Jesus and Peter both used the first and most important word in preaching the gospel; Repent. What must we do to be saved, "Repent..and believe...."l I wonder if modern preachers actually use that word anymore or even if they know what it means.

I am so glad to see this point made, and especially by a prominent influential magazine, and its Editor. Good works should proceed from the compassion God inspires in us. The preaching of the Logos of the cross is foolishness to the natural mind, but is the power of God unto Salvation.

"In the long run, we cannot gain a hearing for the gospel through our admirable ethics or social justice because in the end, we are still sinners, with hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah put it, that remain desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9)." This is both biblically and practically incorrect. This statement in Jer. 17 is in reference to that portion of Israel who were living in disobedience and rebellion against the covenant--not to faithful covenant members. A better parallel would be folks who either grew up in the church or are in the church today who in fact live, think, and act in such a way that denies the very realities implicated in our covenant relationship with God: faith, love, and trust in God. Secondly, from a practical standpoint, throughout history it is the power of the Gospel manifested in the way Christians live that has often been at the fore of what we think of as evangelism. Salvation is not an end in and of itself--we are saved bu grace through faith to be hoy.l

“In the long run, we cannot gain a hearing for the gospel through our admirable ethics or social justice because in the end, we are still sinners, with hearts, as the prophet Jeremiah put it, that remain desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9).” I don’t know how the writer can make this claim. The Bible interweaves our salvation with our actions toward the poor including mercy, justice, and compassion. We are still sinners and that fact necessitates Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and our embrace of this, but we cannot leave it there. There are severe consequences for doing so, according to Scripture. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10. I rarely hear this preached, but I think we risk much in ignoring it. I believe the only hearing we will gain for the Gospel is when we prove that the love of Christ is indeed alive in us who call ourselves by his name.

I suggest Glorious Ruin by Tullian Tchivijian. Mark Galli is hardly ever wrong in his articles. Solid. Luther was looking very hard and working very hard to discover a gracious God and found God on the Cross. Yes, God on the Cross. You want to understand the human predicament - where is God found?