Outrageous Mercy: Rediscover the Radical Nature of Christianity (The Cross Matters)
February 14, 2008
Pastor William Farley, in his book, Outrageous Mercy: Rediscover the Radical Nature of Christianity
The message of the cross matters to us for at least four reasons.
First, the cross is our message. It is the heart, soul, and center of Christian faith and practice. There is no good news apart from the cross. …. It is the manual to which all Christians should turn to fill their spiritual tank, resolve every ethical question, and amplify every doctrine.
For this reason, powerful preaching is usually cross-centered. Not just evangelistic preaching, but teaching to provoke holiness, to strengthen family life, to motivate stewardship, and to advance every other subject of Christian interest. The cross is the socket into which the preacher plugs for power to illuminate these subjects.
When Christian culture, politics, church government, Calvinism, health and wealth, or the “baptism in the Holy Spirit” become our message, we suffer. I speak from experience. Many of these things have distracted me.
Of course, these doctrines have a place at the table. And they are helpful–if their place is secondary. But when they become central in our focus, they turn our thoughts to this world. By contrast, the cross turns our thoughts to heaven. These doctrines bend our minds to ourselves and our needs, but the cross rivets our gaze on God and his sufficiency. These doctrines puff up our contentiousness, but the cross breaks us, making us meek, gracious, and humble. These doctrines obscure the love of God, but the cross magnifies it in our experience. These doctrines distract us from personal holiness, but the cross motivates us to be holy as God is holy.
We would do well to reflect on these words from Pastor Farley and apply them to our preaching.
I know too many Pastors who focus on deliverance, signs and wonders, the presense of God, money, etc, and in so doing, neglect the centrality of the cross in preaching.
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April 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
In the book that I am currently writing I have just been heavily writing about the importance of this. The church must know what the gospel is from its effects. Because the bible puts a priority above all to live(loving Faith) in the gospel as first place not its effects as first place.