“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” … “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:18, 23-24).
What kind of things come to mind when you think about the word “power”? Are you drawn to the government realm of military or political power? Or how about the power of money? Do you think about the concentration of economic power in the hands of wealthy individuals, corporations, or sovereign nations? Or what about the world of pop culture? The idolized status of celebrities breeds an outsized social influence among fans and followers. It seems on a cultural scale, everywhere we turn someone is trying to bring our thoughts, opinions, actions, and our money under their control, power, and influence.
Maybe it is a function of my age, but lately I am losing interest in all of these cultural powers. I feel like this world is awash in foolishness. And over the years and by God’s grace, my response to this foolishness has turned from anger to compassion for a world lost without Jesus. The world, for its part, is looking at us as the foolish ones. And this is no surprise. The Bible acknowledged this response. “The word of the cross” – the very thing that can save the world – is looked at as “foolishness to those who are perishing.”
But to us, “the word of the cross” is literally the “power of God.” This is not an illusion. The cross, for you and me, is literally the power of God. Somehow, God completely flipped the script on what this symbol represents. How did God turn a source of shame and humiliation and death into a demonstration of His incredible power?
He did this through the astonishing miracle that Christ accomplished on our behalf through the cross.
How did “Christ crucified” become the “power of God” for us?
THE POWER OF THE CROSS TOOK AWAY OUR SIN.
“Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The power wielded by the cross is the power to take away our sin. The cross, and Jesus’ death upon it, is strong enough to hold “the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us”; decrees held against us because of our sin. No winds of evil are strong enough to blow that certificate off of its nail. The nail is firm. The debt is forgiven.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS RECONCILED US TO GOD.
“And through Christ to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20). Through the power of the cross, we have been reconciled to God.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS RECONCILED US TO EACH OTHER
“For He Himself is our peace, who has made us (Jew and Gentile) both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us (Jew and Gentile) both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2:14-16). The cross has reconciled us to God and has reconciled us to each other. The cross of Jesus has brought us together into one body.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS ENERGIZES OUR NEW LIFE.
“And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (I Peter 2:24). Christ’s death set us free to “die to sin”, be released from its power, and to “live to righteousness”, walk according to the power of the Spirit that lives in us. Dying to sin – something Christ accomplished for us in His body on the cross – means being set free from sin’s power as our master.
This is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the power of the cross. But it is a great place to start in welcoming the power of the cross into our lives.