Lesson 33: The Glory of the Offense of the Cross

“Paul is saying the message of the cross is offensive. The flesh gravitates towards a list of rules, special diets, exercises, group meetings, pills, boundaries, filters, behavioral modification of any kind. Such things seem wise and reasonable. And because we avoid the offense of the cross, people do not speak out against us or persecute us. It’s win-win! And yet it is entirely powerless! None of those wise and reasonable things can change a single human heart. None of them has the power to crucify our old nature or to raise the dead. The teachings that we are ‘addicts in recovery’ is palatable and reasonable because it avoids the offense of the cross. And believing that we only need to come to terms with the reason why we seek pleasure in this ‘drug of choice’, and then make a conscious decision to refocus and put up ‘proper boundaries’. Well, we avoid the offense of the cross, don’t we entirely? And such counsel is entirely powerless. But why is the message of the cross offensive?... Here are six reasons. The message of the cross: 1) … offends my pride; 2) offends my wisdom; 3) …offends our supposed ability to help ourselves; 4) … offends our natural propensity to excuse our wrong behavior; 5) … offensive to my ability to discover and study things; 6) … offends the flesh’s love of sin.”