The Old Cross And The New
by A.W. Tozer
| ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there has
come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is
like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the
differences, fundamental. From this new cross
has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new
philosophy has come a new evangelical technique-a new type of meeting and
a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as
the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.
The old cross would have no truck with the world.
For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into
effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not
opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood
aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent
enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is
unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight
in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy
songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though
the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually. |
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The new cross encourages a new and entirely different
evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life
before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities.
He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no
unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a
higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the
moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the
religious product is better.
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him.
It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his
self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for
Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the
thrill seeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship." The
Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to
make it acceptable to the public.
The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere
but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is
blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the
abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his
cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was
not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no
compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely
and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck
cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no
commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however
innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the
individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the
ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of
its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it.
In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we
leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as
public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the
world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to
big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not
diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He
offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross.
Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and
concur in God's just sentence against him.
What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man
who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into
life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go
on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing.
Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the
stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.
Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the
risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power.
The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner;
and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life
along with Christ.
To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow
and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon
this message from Paul's day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words
or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and
power to the world through the centuries. The mystics, the reformers, the
revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty
operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God's approval.
Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with
the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or
alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old
cross and we will know the old power. (A. W. Tozer, Man, the Dwelling Place
of God, 1966)
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