Galatians 6: The Wonderful Cross

Read Galtians 6:1-18

Outline
6:1-10 Christians living with One Another
6:11-17 Christians living centered on the cross of Christ
6:18 Closing of the letter

I wonder how often we survey the cross of Jesus Christ. We probably remember the cross during the Easter season the most with Good Friday. Or maybe the cross is just a symbol for necklaces, earrings, or a structure on the top or inside of buildings where Christians gather.  

A modern theologian and teacher, Dr. R. C. Sproul wrote this in his book, The Holiness of God:

The Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God’s wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history.  God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willing taken on Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once He volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing.  God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore.  Herein was God’s holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded from us. (pg. 121)

That’s what the cross of Christ means. Don’t beautify the cross. Don’t second guess the cross. It was the way that God’s justice, graciousness, wrath, and His love would be all fulfilled and revealed at the cross of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as a new creation in Christ, it is commendable to boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world… From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. - Galatians 6:14, 17

The Wonderful Cross by Chris Tomlin

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless
Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

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