{"id":7821,"date":"2022-03-28T11:39:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T18:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7821"},"modified":"2022-04-26T17:05:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T00:05:04","slug":"god-was-in-christ-reconciling-the-world-to-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7821","title":{"rendered":"<div style=\"font-size:40px\" style=\"color:rgb(0,0,0)\">\u201cGod was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.\u201d <\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Lent-the-cross-5.pdf\">Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<html>\n\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\">\n<meta name=Generator content=\"Microsoft Word 15 (filtered)\">\n<style>\n<!--\n \/* Font Definitions *\/\n @font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Cambria Math\";\n\tpanose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Open Sans\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 6 3 5 4 2 2 4;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{margin:0in;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\np.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText\n\t{mso-style-link:\"Footnote Text Char\";\n\tmargin:0in;\n\tfont-size:10.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\nspan.MsoFootnoteReference\n\t{vertical-align:super;}\np.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\np.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast\n\t{margin-top:0in;\n\tmargin-right:0in;\n\tmargin-bottom:0in;\n\tmargin-left:.5in;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\nspan.FootnoteTextChar\n\t{mso-style-name:\"Footnote Text Char\";\n\tmso-style-link:\"Footnote Text\";\n\tfont-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;}\n.MsoChpDefault\n\t{font-family:\"Calibri\",sans-serif;}\n.MsoPapDefault\n\t{margin-bottom:8.0pt;\n\tline-height:107%;}\n \/* Page Definitions *\/\n @page WordSection1\n\t{size:8.5in 11.0in;\n\tmargin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}\ndiv.WordSection1\n\t{page:WordSection1;}\n \/* List Definitions *\/\n ol\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\nul\n\t{margin-bottom:0in;}\n-->\n<\/style>\n\n<\/head>\n\n<body lang=EN-US style='word-wrap:break-word'>\n\n<div class=WordSection1>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>2 Cor\n5:19<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The fifth\nin a series of seven sermons for the season of Lent<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Luther\u2019s\nclaim: \u201cThe cross alone is our theology,\u201d is simply an axiom based on the what\nthe Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 2:2: \u201cFor I decided to know nothing among you\nexcept Jesus Christ and him crucified.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Why did God\nhave to do it this way?\u00a0 After all, he could have done any number of things. He\ncould have said, \u201cBe done with sin and death.\u201d But this is what he did. And we\nhave asked ourselves why.\u00a0 This is the basic question.<br>\n<br>\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Of course,\nthere\u2019s the other extreme. Some say, \u201cSin and death are no longer problems;\nwe\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d We face those two extremes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>There are\ndifferent ways in the New Testament that this is looked at. It is sorted out by\npeople sometimes as three ways or even twenty ways. Let us look at five ways: <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>1.\nSacrifice, where one life is given for the other. It is similar to redeeming or\nbuying somebody their freedom. But to whom is the price paid? And why is a life\ndemanded?\u00a0 There\u2019s something brutal and terrible about that. What kind of a God\nis that?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>2. Victory\n\u2013 about Jesus who is more powerful than Satan, but that ends up as a kind of\ncharade. Of course God is more powerful, and he knows how it\u2019s going to come\nout, so that doesn\u2019t really explain it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>3. Christ\nis the example. Of course God loves us, but by doing what he did he gives us an\nexample and calls upon us to follow. It is supposedly then a carrying out of 1\nJohn 4:19: \u201cWe love because he first loved us.\u201d And we know that that is not\ntrue. Once we are given this great gift, we say: \u201cNow I can do whatever I\nlike.\u201d There\u2019s no way in which we are required to live \u201cthe life of the cross,\u201d\nwhatever that might be, because he did.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>4.\nReconciliation \u2013 a big word about some kind of dispute between two people. That\nis expanded by some to include the whole cosmos so that reconciliation, making\nit right again, is that we are in God and God is in us. But in this way of\nunderstanding the cross, the distance between God and us disappears. Yes, God\nreconciles with us, but are we implying there is something we are compelled to do\nto reconcile with him? This is not the case.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>5. He is\nour representative. Think of Bonhoeffer\u2019s book, <i>The Man for Others<\/i>.\nJesus represents us. The trouble is that this has been used by all kinds of\npeople to say that the problem is in God. God has to be like me if I\u2019m black,\nor white, or female \u2013 otherwise he can\u2019t represent me. The whole thing is\nturned on its head when God must be like each individual. The particularity of\nsalvation is that he became a certain one at the certain place in a certain way\nat a certain time. He became truly one in our history. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>What do we\ndo with all of these metaphors for what happens on the cross? Some suggest this\nis like a kaleidoscope. You can shake it and get a pattern, then shake it again\nand get another pattern. Isn\u2019t that \u201cinteresting\u201d? Ho, hum.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We remember\nthat language and our ideas are all limited, and we all know this. As\nDillistone said, finally all we can do is play great music like Bach\u2019s <i>Passion\naccording to Saint Matthew<\/i>, or Negro spirituals, and they can help us get a\nsense of what this whole passion, death, and resurrection is all about. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>We do have in\nthe Creed: \u201cFor our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered\ndeath and was buried. On the third day he rose again.\u201d But as to how and why,\nand the meaning of it, that has not been nailed down. <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>And now\nit\u2019s not possible for us to say, \u201cSo what?\u201d We\u2019re not like robots in science\nfiction with no sense of mercy and forgiveness and the meaning of forgiveness.\nThat\u2019s a purely human part of us; that\u2019s what God has put into us. We can\u2019t just\nleave it and say: The meaning of the cross is a hodge-podge, a kaleidoscope, a collage,\na wax nose. We ask ourselves: What does it all mean?<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Each of the\nfour Gospels is, as we know, structured like a tadpole (Ernst Lohmeyer). There\nis the head and a long tail. The head, the major part of each Gospel, is about\nhis passion and death. And then there\u2019s a long tail leading up to it. The\npassion, death, and resurrection is the main thing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>It comes\ndown to the question of authority. How do you decide anything? What is the\nstarting point? There\u2019s always a starting point for everything we think and do.\nWe may not always be conscious of it. There\u2019s always the question behind the\nquestion. The axiom behind all the axioms. The meta-questions. The meta-meta.\nThat which is behind all of it. For Christians it is always the cross. There\nare 5 things which come out as we look at this.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>1. This is\nnot a theology <i>about<\/i> the cross. But a theology <i>of<\/i> the cross.\nThere\u2019s a real danger that we\u2019ll say here\u2019s a theology <i>about<\/i> the cross.\u00a0\nThis is the way we\u2019re supposed to think about it. This is the way I will be\nconvinced. So it is <i>about <\/i>the cross. It\u2019s a theory, a doctrine, or a\nteaching. But it is not basically that. It is a theology <i>of<\/i> the cross.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>2. He did\nnot die <i>instead<\/i> of us but <i>ahead<\/i> of us. The difficulty with saying\nthat he died <i>instead<\/i> of us is that it\u2019s something out there, an\nabstraction which we think about and we can be convinced about. What it\u2019s\nreally about is that he has died <i>ahead<\/i> of us and has taken care of sin\nand death <i>ahead<\/i> of us.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>3. The\nhiddenness of God. We, as human beings, are continually pounding the gates of\nheaven and saying: \u201cHow can you be an all-powerful and all-loving God, and yet\nthere\u2019s evil?\u201d We want to sort that out. Therefore we are trying to break the\nhiddenness, the mask that God has. God has this mask because he wants to turn\nus to the one way he wants to be known. He wants to be known through the cross.\nThat is why we do not say Jesus is God, but rather God is Jesus. To paraphrase\nLuther, or what Luther would have said: Everything about God outside of Jesus\nis of the devil.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\" title=\"\"><span\nclass=MsoFootnoteReference><span class=MsoFootnoteReference><span\nstyle='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>\nThis is who God is: The One who has done what he has done through the cross and\nresurrection for you and me in his Son.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>4. The\ncross is not understood or measured by another system or theory. That\u2019s the\ndifficulty Christians have struggled with throughout church history and that we\nhave been talking about. The cross is its own system. We do not judge the\ncross; the cross judges us. It is unique. No metaphor is adequate. The cross is\nthat which makes the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>5. In the eyes of the world, this is foolishness. It is totally senseless. It is counter-intuitive. It is against all of our thinking.\nWe are reminded of Paul\u2019s words in 1 Cor 1:22-24: <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>\u201cJews\nseek miracles; Greeks seek wisdom; we preach Christ crucified, a scandal to the\nJews and foolishness to the Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and\nGreeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of\nGod is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>This\nfoolishness is summed up in the two great scandals:<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>1)<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The scandal of\nparticularity. The infinite creator God truly became a specific one of us in a\ncertain time [between 4 BC and 30 AD], place [Palestine], and way [by a certain\nmother]. He was probably about 5\u2019 7\u201d with dark hair and eyes, and he died on\nthe cross. This particularity, this scandal, is basic and mind-blowing. How\ncould this be that the creator of all became a particular person? As Paul\nwrites in I Cor 1:27-29: \u201cGod chose what is foolish to shame the wise, God\nchose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and\ndespised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things\nthat are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle style='text-indent:-.25in'><span\nstyle='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>2)<span style='font:7.0pt \"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\n<\/span><\/span><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>The scandal of\nholiness becoming sin. This is the far greater scandal, the one that we cannot even\nbegin to comprehend because our minds, reason, and hearts are caught in sin. The\nHoly One, the One who is truly holy, which we cannot begin to understand,\nbecame one of us, taking on sin, death, and conquering the power of the Devil.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoListParagraphCxSpLast><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>Because the\ncross is the key to Scripture, we have a way of seeing all of Scripture, as it\nsays in the famous directive by Luther &#8212; which shows and drives forth Christ.\nAll of Scripture says, \u201cGod was in Christ through the cross and resurrection,\nsaving you and me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>That\u2019s what\nhe is doing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>To sum it\nall up: It\u2019s not the \u201cwhy\u201d of it; it\u2019s the \u201cthat\u201d of it. The that of it which\nis that in the cross everything changed for you and me, for history, for all of\ncreation. It\u2019s the key to everything. Amen<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div><br clear=all>\n\n<hr align=left size=1 width=\"33%\">\n\n<div id=ftn1>\n\n<p class=MsoFootnoteText><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\" title=\"\"><span\nclass=MsoFootnoteReference><span style='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'><span\nclass=MsoFootnoteReference><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span\nstyle='font-family:\"Open Sans\",sans-serif'> Smalcald Articles 3\/8\/10; Tappert\n313.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>\n\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><strong>2 Cor 5:19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>The fifth in a series of seven sermons for the season of Lent<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Luther\u2019s claim: \u201cThe cross alone is our theology,\u201d is simply an axiom based on the what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 2:2: \u201cFor I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Why did God have to do it this way?&nbsp; After all, he could have done any number of things. He could have said, \u201cBe done with sin and death.\u201d But this is what he did. And we have asked ourselves why.&nbsp; This is the basic question.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>Select <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7821\"> here<\/a> to read more or <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Lent-the-cross-5.pdf\">here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7821"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7830,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7821\/revisions\/7830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}