“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” 1 Corinthians 1:17
What does the Apostle Paul mean by the cross of Christ having no effect, specifically in the lives of men on this earth? Is it possible that the suffering of Christ, the facing of the wrath of God upon Him as He took the sins of all men upon Him to the cross, be of no effect upon the heart and soul of the sinner? What about the believer, or the disciple of Christ who knows Christ, and is seeking to serve Him? Is it possible that his service be of no effect from an eternal standpoint, especially as it applies to the desired purpose and work in the hearts of those to whom the disciple is sent to preach the gospel? The answer to these questions is “yes.” The fact and reality of Christ’s terrible cross, and all that was accomplished there, though the world may behold it, may have no effect upon the lost soul, or no effect in and through the believer at a specific time. Why? It is because the cross of Christ is very much more than a piece of terrible wood. It is more than a symbol, declaring that the justice of God has been met, and conquered by the love of God. The cross is the cry of God the Son, the call of God the Father, for mankind to come to grips with this fact: God is holy, perfect, pure, good, Life eternal, and love, joy, and peace everlasting, but He cannot, and will not forgive sin, unless sin is paid for entirely in a just manner. The cross is thus, a declaration to mankind, lost and wandering, rebellious and doubting, that there is but one answer for sin, and it is the solitary provision of the Son of God slain on that cross, who alone can pay to the full the just penalty and price for every sin of every sinner. The cross is a signpost erected on a solitary hill, declaring to all men that on this particular cross, sin would come that far, but no further. In the death of this Slain Lamb of God would be the complete and final, total, and singular proclamation, and revelation, by God our Maker, and Christ our Redeemer, that sin has been dealt with totally. Christ would take upon himself the sins of the world, and every individual sinner on it in death, so that the sinner, might receive from Him, his perfect, pure righteousness, which alone would guarantee his eternity to be one not of the wrath of God, but of the very Life of Christ, of God, by the Spirit. For the lost soul, only by the cross can the sinner’s sins be purged, cleansed, washed away, and this in the blood of Christ on that cross. For the believer, only by that cross, can he know the freedom from himself, his sin nature, the world, and Satan, for when the glorious Son of God yielded up His spirit to the Father, in that moment that He died, the believer, in the eyes of the Father, also died, along with everything that pertained of his old life in sin, and every evidence of it afterwards. The “old man,” outside of Christ, lost, dead in sins, and dying in the flesh, was crucified with Christ, and buried with Him. The cross accomplished this, for not only would it reveal the awfulness, the very wretchedness of sin, but it would reveal that nothing of that life outside of Christ would be allowed into heaven. The cross was the final point of no return.
How then is the cross of GREAT effect? When one takes Christ as His all, not looking back, surrendering to Him fully, and trusting Him wholly, the power of Christ is given to him to know and live by. The freed believer, crucified with Christ, now lives by Christ’s faith.
Dear Father, Grant us Christ’s faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.