In Sunday’s message I spoke of the cross as the greatest display of God’s wisdom, for by it God resolves the greatest dilemma in the history of the universe. That dilemma, posed as a question, goes like this: How will the holy and righteous God of the universe save hell-deserving sinners (on account of belittling and treating as worthless the infinite glory of God) without compromising His justice?
This line of thinking was informed by something I read in John Piper’s book, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1990). In it he references a sermon by R. C. Sproul on Luke 13:1-5 titled “The Misplaced Locus of Amazement,” wherein Sproul points out that there is an “age-old difference between the way natural man sees the problem of his relation to God and the way the Bible sees the problem of man’s relation to God. Man-centered humans are amazed that God should withhold life and joy from his creatures. But the God-centered Bible is amazed that God should withhold judgment from sinners” (p. 30).
One of the discussion questions for Life Groups this week relates to growing in our understanding of and appreciation for the cross. Understanding the cross as from a God-centered perspective means that we will see Jesus’ saving work as God’s undeserved resolution to the dilemma of our massive sin problem. Let us be reminded that God’s wrath is not by any means an overreaction to our sin. We are worthy of God’s wrath just as God is worthy of glory, but God, in His infinite wisdom (and kindness), chose to bear His own wrath and bring us to glory through the cross. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12)
No comments:
Post a Comment