Through the Gospel of Matthew, Craig and Troy continue talking about the "two religions." One is firm, built on the rock of Christ. The other is unstable, built upon literally anything else.
Golgotha is the point where not only Mary and John’s family life assumed a new character, but it is the point of orientation for all human community that uses the cross to straighten out the lives of individuals turned in upon themselves.
The cross does not remain on a hill far away. It pursues us into the valleys, the ravines, the crevices in which we get trapped as we wander in search of a fixed point for our lives.
Paul wants us to see this “present evil age” is dominated by a theology of glory and “the age to come” is dominated by a theology of the cross. They are two ways of understanding and interpreting all of reality, but especially the ways and nature of God.
Christianity is not about principally about ethics. It was the Cross on the Hill rather than the Sermon on the Mount that produced the impact of Christianity upon the world.
And because Jesus on the cross was sin in its entirety, God cannot look at him. He turns his face away, causing Jesus to cry out in utmost agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
A crisis isn’t all bad. Crisis encourages us to recognize who we are and what is real. Ringside meets the Craft of Preaching with Dr. Bruce Schuchard exploring the crazy history of this sinful world and a preacher’s response to it. The Cross of Christ speaks volumes above anything that is offered as an empty solution. Come Lord Jesus!