Offense of the Cross
Galatians 5:11
- The word “offense” is translated from the Greek word “scandalon” (where we get our word “scandal”).
- The same Greek word is translated “stumblingblock” in 1 Corinthians 1:23—“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, [a scandal] and unto the Greeks foolishness.” Peter called Jesus “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word” (1 Pet. 2:8).
The message of the cross of Christ was offensive and a stumbling block to the Jews. To the Greeks who prided themselves in their wisdom, the cross was foolishness. But, to the Christian, it is the power of God unto salvation.
Paul wrote the book of Galatians to refute the teachings of the Judaizers. Judaizers mixed the gospel of Christ with the works of the Old Testament law. They acknowledged Jesus, but did not believe Jesus alone could save a person. Judaizers taught a person needed to be circumcised after the law of Moses to be saved. To say that simply trusting in Christ’s work on the cross was sufficient to save a person offended them—That was a scandalous teaching to them—They stumbled at it.
To preach that a person is saved by grace through faith, apart from good works (Eph. 2:8-9) is still considered by many a scandalous teach- ing. People still stumble over Christ’s FINISHED work on the cross. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” on the cross, He meant exactly that. There is nothing more a person can add to what He already has done. All a sinner needs to do is accept it by faith (Eph. 2:8-9)!
Yet, there are multitudes today who say, “That’s too easy!”
Four ways people are offended by the cross today.
I. It is DISTASTEFUL to man’s sight.
It offends man’s aesthetic values. Men cringe from it’s unsightliness and ugliness. It was sickening to behold. The ordeal at Calvary was a horrifying spectacle. Christ’s “visage was so marred more than any man…” (Isa. 52:14). “There is no beauty that we should desire Him… He is despised and rejected of men… and we hid as it were our faces from him” (Isaiah 53:2, 3).
Even Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” fails to show the true horrors of Christ’s cross.
A. The SYMBOL of the cross. Today, the cross is seen as an emblem of Christianity. It is looked upon as an ornament…a piece of art.
1. It is embossed on covers of Bibles…
2. Erected on church steeples…
3. Hung on necklaces as a beautiful piece of jewelry.
People are no longer offended by the cross. Why? Because, people don’t really understand the significance of the cross.
B. The SIGNIFICANCE of the cross. When Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he was not talking about actual wooden cross Jesus was nailed to.
- What makes the cross important is: (1) The One dying on the cross—The Lord Jesus Christ—God manifest in the flesh. (2) The work He accomplished by shedding His blood on the cross so we could be saved. That is what we mean when we sing hymns like: At The Cross; When I Survey the Wondrous Cross; Near the Cross; The Way of the Cross Leads Home.
- Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and His redeeming blood, the cross is just another device of man used to execute criminals (like the gallows, electric chair, lethal injection, or gas chamber).
C. The SPECTACLE of the cross. The cross of Calvary was not pretty to look upon, like the white crosses on church steeples!
1. Calvary is gruesome…distasteful…disgusting…repugnant because Christ was dying for our sins.
2. The cross is offensive because it confronts people about their sin— The cross shows us what sin really is. Sin is serious. Sin is deadly. Sin is ugly.
II. It DISPUTES man’s scholarship. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
- It offends man’s intellectual thinking. The preaching of the cross is INCOMPATIBLE with worldly wisdom. To the wisdom of the world, it was ridiculous.
- The cross was the instrument of a humiliating death. It would equivalent to preaching the electric chair or lethal injection.
Partial Sermon: CLICK HERE for full PDF
