Why CROSS Purposes?

The title "CROSS Purposes" characterizes the Christian life accurately. If there were but one symbol to represent the heart of Christianity, it would be the cross. Shameful to the first-century Jew, and foolishness to the philosophy-loving Greek, the cross has stood in ignominy throughout the years. Still, for the apostle Paul, it represented the supreme act of God's salvation work in which he should take glory. "But far be it from me that I should glory except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ . . ." (Gal. 6:14). Notably, Paul asserts this in the face of heresy. His conflict was with Judaizers who were attempting to cajole believers into supplementing their new faith with the obsolete rite of circumcision. My point is that it was a specific conflict which prompted this inspiring declaration from Paul. Attacks on our faith often build the platform from which we declare truth most passionately. So, bound up within this single verse are both elements I would like to unite in this blog: 1) the centrality and superiority of the cross, and 2) the mixed blessing which the cross surfaces as it elicits the animosity of this age. Truly, this world is "no friend to grace, to help us on to God." But help us on to God they do just the same. Thomas Watson (puritan pastor) quotes Augustine, "We are beholden to wicked men, who against their wills, do us good" (A Body of Divinity). It is in this sense therefore, that they are "at cross purposes" with the Gospel. Which is precisely why Paul ends this same verse, "the world is crucified to me and I to the world." My prayer is that through this blog, we'll be able to hold forth the crystal diamond of grace against the black backdrop of contrary opinion.