The Beauty of the Cross

I was just listening to a preacher that I like to hear through iTunes. I made a very powerful statement in regards to following religion versus following the Gospel. He said that the beauty of the cross is not in how well I do things or how righteous I am, but in the fact that God loves me despite how sinful I am and that He extends grace and mercy and salvation for those things which I have offended him (my paraphrase).

It's just amazing to me to hear Matt speak about religion versus the Gospel because I grew up in "American Christianity" and during the era of Christendom (or specifically speaking, cultural morality that was based on biblical values). It's cool because Matt gets it. He sees that the Gospel is not about religion in the sense where we have typically defined religion today: a way of being accepted by God if I do what He says. Matt's message is that this is NOT the Gospel! The Gospel really is that God accepts me through the blood of Christ and therefore I obey him out of gratitude and love, not "begrudging submission."

Growing up in American Christianity I have found that by and large the bulk of Evangelical America is following a religion based on the Gospel, not the actual Gospel itself. This leads to and promotes things like basing our self-worth on our ability to adhere to a pattern of behavior that in the end has no actual power to transform the heart of man. Where instead the power of the actual Gospel is that through the grace and life of Christ within me God changes my heart and transforms me into a new creature, and I get to watch and participate in His incredible glory for eternity - both here on earth and forever after this life. What an incredible promise!

The beauty of the cross is not that I make such a great Christian that I bring amazing glory and honor to God. The beauty of the cross is that in all honesty I am a miserable scumbag at heart and because God loves me and is cleansing me via the life of Jesus Christ at work in me, I am no longer neither miserable nor a scumbag. I am a child of God.

*To hear the sermon by Matt Chandler that inspired this post, click here. To read a transcript of his message, click here.