TRFG - Reason 5 - The (true) story of the cross

In a previous lesson, we mentioned how some people are put off by the story of the cross of Christ. They see it as barbaric that the Christian God would require a blood sacrifice to be appeased. In this lesson, we’ll examine what really happened on the cross when Jesus died and why it was necessary.

Real forgiveness is costly

First, we’ll look at an economic example. Imagine that you have a friend who borrows your family’s car and gets into an accident wrecking the car. There are a few ways that you could handle the situation. First, you could demand that the friend pay for all the damages. Second, you could split the cost of the damages with them. Finally, you could just absorb the full sum of the damage and pay it yourself. The thing to note, is that the cost must be paid by someone. The debt does not just evaporate into thin air.

Many human wrongs cannot be expressed in these simple economic terms. Consider the example of the missionaries involved in Operation Auca. Here, five men, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian were missionaries trying to reach the Huaorani people of the rain forest of Ecuador (also known pejoratively as Aucas). These men were brutally killed with spears on the shore of the Curaray River. The wives of these men had two options.

The first option was to make the Huaroni “pay” for the wrong they had done. They could have sought revenge for the killing of their husbands. A less aggressive action would have been to harbor bitterness and resentment toward the tribesmen. They could have left Ecuador and never returned, teaching their children to never trust a Huaorani person. This would have perpetuated a cycle of mistrust and death.

The other option, however is what those women chose. They chose to forgive the perpetrators. They refused to pay back the Huaorani for what they had done. Instead of lashing out, they bore the agony of their husbands’ deaths by themselves. Some people have referred to this type of forgiveness as a kind of death, because when you forgive you choose to suffer the pain of not getting revenge over making the wrongdoer suffer. However, this death also leads to a resurrection or new life. In the case of the missionary wives, they chose to remain in Ecuador and continued to reach out to the Huaoroni. Their persistent example of love, even in the face of tremendous loss spoke very powerfully to the Huaorani people who eventually turned to Christ because of their testimony. Beyond this, Steve Saint, the son of the martyred missionary Steve Saint often referred to Mincaye, one of the Huaorani men who murdered his father, as his adopted tribal father. So while this type of forgiveness can be extremely difficult and costly, it brings new life that revenge never can.

So while many ask “Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn’t God just forgive us?” We now see that in no human scenario does the cost of a wrong simply disappear. Someone has to bear the cost. God has made it very clear that the price of sin is death (Gen. 2:17, Rom. 6:23). Now that people have sinned, God can either let them bear the penalty themselves or he could take the suffering and pain on himself. Now it must be understood that Christianity has always taught that Jesus is God. With this understanding, we see that through Jesus’ death on the cross, God himself has decided to endure the agony of forgiveness. Just like in the human example, his death led to an even more glorious resurrection.

A personal exchange

Sometimes it is also suggested that Christians don’t need to stress the cross of Christ. Instead, it is proposed, we can just emphasize the fact that God is a God of love and that he accepts us. The problem is that without the cross, you don’t have a God of love.

Again, in the human example, it is impossible to love someone who is needy without some form of sacrifice. Parents make tremendous sacrifice when raising children. Anyone who has tried to counsel someone who is emotionally wounded knows that while they might feel stronger after talking to you, you feel exhausted. You have chosen to be drained emotionally to help them. As Keller says “All life-changing love toward people with serious needs is a substitutional sacrifice.” John Stott, in The Cross of Christ wrote,

The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We…put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God…puts himself where we deserve to be.

Then if we as people are experiencing grief, suffering, weakness and pain and God is a God of love, doesn’t he have to become personally involved and take that pain on himself? He does, and Christianity is the only religion that claims he has.

Questions

Question 1 Dave wonders, “Why can’t God just accept everyone or at least those who are sorry for their wrongdoings?”

Question 2 Do you think it’s fair to compare the pain of human forgiveness to God’s act of sacrificing his Son to redeem humanity?

Question 3 This week, try to share the gospel with one person who is not a Christian. Discuss your experience.