The Offense of the Cross

The Offense of the Cross

It was very important to Paul that this offense, this annoyance, did not cease. I wonder why that was. There must have been something particularly good about it, something very valuable! The exceptionally good thing about it is that it is a perfect test for falling or rising. Luke 2:34. The cross is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for the one (1 Pet. 2:7), and the power of God for salvation for another. 1 Cor. 1:18.

The opposite of making this offense cease is making it great and effective. Jesus did this Himself to a marked degree throughout His entire life, and all good fellow workers for the kingdom of God have done this. We have now become their followers. God be praised!

The deeper meaning of the cross—our crucifixion with Him—is the only salvation in these last, evil days. This means that it is carried out in daily life! The test is alike for everyone: the cross and death over everything of my own, over all works of man!

Either you submit to this and out of love for the truth and for souls you step down from all your heights, or you openly become an enemy of the cross of Christ. Phil. 3:18.

People are friends of the cross of Christ as long as they are told that He died for us; but when they are told about the deeper meaning, and the work of the cross, they rage against the cross and against all those who love it and proclaim it.

Furious, the various ones will exclaim: “Aren’t we finished with the cross at some point?” No! Long live the offense of the cross! It is healthy food! By God’s good and true grace that is richly granted to us, we will make sure to keep it going powerfully as long as we are in this world. It reveals with all desirable dependability what dwells in the depths of the heart of each one! It is able to tear off the mask, so that we get to know our true state. The cross gathers the lambs and the sheep together and chases away the wolf. God be praised for that!!!

What is it that the enemies of the cross are so furious about??? Only a few trivialities! They can no longer indulge their belly as they are used to and as they so dearly wish. They are no longer able to manage earthly things, such as collections and tithes and envelope systems, as they would like to. They are exposed as those who do not even come close to having victory over their lusts as their reputation would indicate. They do not receive as much praise and honor from people as they like, and so on.

The annoying thing is that the cross does not acknowledge all the “light” in which they bask; it rather reveals it as darkness. It causes an immense offense that what one makes out to be the leading of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit turns out to be, when it is tested, from the flesh. That annoying cross!!! That must always disturb their comfort and destroy all their splendid “glory” they have built up.

Yet listen now, you who do not like the word of the cross: the puzzling thing is that this cross that disturbs your glory brings us divine and eternal glory!!! It certainly destroys! However, it destroys only the things that exclude that which is godly. And in return, this cross is the scaffolding for a thoroughly divine work.

The cross makes us one in truth; it is not a pretense. It brings us God’s hidden wisdom. It preserves us and saves us in every possible way! It liberates us from false brothers and hirelings. It opens the floodgates of the Spirit for us and closes all other intakes! It sorts, separates, and filters. It comforts and aids all the upright; it annoys and disturbs all the others. God forbid that we should glory in anything but the cross. Gal. 6:14. The cross produces a gulf between me and the world, between me and sin, between me and all works of man. It curses and condemns everything that is from the flesh and acknowledges nothing except the fruits of the Spirit.

It is and will remain an offense to all who want to be in the flesh. It accomplishes a very sound and good and profitable work. Therefore its offense must not cease! Forward with it! Up with it! Constantly and always! Preserve it! Keep it alive! Give it a large place! Let it always be powerfully and variously active in many different ways!

It is a vent for fresh air, for aeration and the moving of the Spirit, for all spiritual health and prosperity!