The message of Christ and the cross is all about God, His sovereign grace and His glory. Our response is to totally boast but not in our 'great, smart decision' but in God's gracious motivation, aim and ability. When Christ came to the earth to seek and save the lost He started at the back of the line where the religious culture dares not tread. Sovereign grace is the great equalizer of the salvation playing field where wisdom, strength and high social position are boastable hindrances to God's glory. From this passage you see that God does it so that He alone gets all the glory. God's motivation for saving was from within Himself and not from what He saw or even hoped for in man. God's aim in salvation was for Himself, so that boasting would be reserved for Him with none going to man. God's ability to save is expressed by the "so short and undeniable" phrase, "by Him," in verse 30. How does God save? By Christ alone, which is the whole, simple point of the Gospel. So by verse 31 the boasting in the Lord alone becomes very obvious.
I believe the point that struck me the most in this particular message was the most remarkable contrast between what man loves and looks for: wisdom, strength and noble birth verses where Christ came and dwelt, with the fools, the weak and the social mutants. Byron said that God's sovereign grace is the great leveler of the playing field and that we must see everyone as an equal target for the Gospel. I think maybe I've been aiming at the clean cut wise and stepping over the dirty sinners. Christ Himself said it best: only the sick need a doctor and with that only the lost need a savior.
I loved Byron's illustration of the people at the front of the line and the back of the line. That illustration will forever be imbedded in my memory as well as the illustration of us leaving our religious baggage as we enter the holy of holies.
ReplyDeleteSocial mutants. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI love that illustration too about the line which made me think of the humbling lines during hard times where the tables were turned and the rich nobility often found themselves in line with the poor who didn't look so much different now. When Russell Crowe had to go with hat in hand to collect money from the boxing commission in Cinderella Man is another thought that comes to my mind. If only each man could realize their own Great Depression lies within and Christ is there.
ReplyDelete"If only each man could realize their own Great Depression lies within and Christ is there."
ReplyDelete- Mark Smith