Citywide Baptist Church
Why the cross?
Why do Christians celebrate an object of torture and execution?
Locations & Times
Citywide Baptist Church (Mornington)
400 Cambridge Rd, Mornington TAS 7018, Australia
Sunday 10:00 AM
Communicate with us directly
https://citywide.churchcenter.com/people/forms/154251?Join our mailing list
http://eepurl.com/g4HtJrGive your tithe online
https://www.citywidehobart.org.au/payment-or-gift-to-citywide/We chose our own Truth... and still do
We are beautiful and we are broken, and so is the world
God is Justice, and he is Grace.
Jesus is God and is the embodiment of God's Glory.
We come back to the core problem facing humanity, and also facing God which is The Problem of EVIL
Depending on your point of view, the problem of evil is either:
- How can a perfectly just God relate to anyone or anything that is evil?
or
- If evil exists, then how can a loving, all-powerful God exist?
or
- Why does God let unjust things happen to good people?
or
- Why is my life so difficult if I believe in Jesus?
We are beautiful and we are broken, and so is the world
God is Justice, and he is Grace.
Jesus is God and is the embodiment of God's Glory.
We come back to the core problem facing humanity, and also facing God which is The Problem of EVIL
Depending on your point of view, the problem of evil is either:
- How can a perfectly just God relate to anyone or anything that is evil?
or
- If evil exists, then how can a loving, all-powerful God exist?
or
- Why does God let unjust things happen to good people?
or
- Why is my life so difficult if I believe in Jesus?
The world is broken, and bad things happen.
In the New Testament, Jesus appears to suggest that circumstances aren't always sent by God as a specific reward or punishment.
Karma is not a Christian concept.
In the New Testament, Jesus appears to suggest that circumstances aren't always sent by God as a specific reward or punishment.
Karma is not a Christian concept.
If you don't believe in God, then your only hope is to control your life to avoid as much suffering as possible... Which inevitably leads to the suffering of others.
Coercive Power is the default assumption of human beings who have chosen our own way.
Some Christians seem to be reaching for coercive political power at the moment, and in doing so, they are on very shaky ground.
Jesus claims to demonstrate an entirely different kind of power from the coercive power we all know.
Coercive Power is the default assumption of human beings who have chosen our own way.
Some Christians seem to be reaching for coercive political power at the moment, and in doing so, they are on very shaky ground.
Jesus claims to demonstrate an entirely different kind of power from the coercive power we all know.
Over and Over again he calls us to follow him in pursuing that different kind of power
Matt 10:37-39, Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 9:23-26, Luke 14:26-27, Luke 17:33, Luke 18:14, John 12:24-26
Matt 10:37-39, Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 9:23-26, Luke 14:26-27, Luke 17:33, Luke 18:14, John 12:24-26
The default assumption of our faith is that the world continues to be broken AND beautiful
We will continue to experience pain. The New Testament tells a very different story to the world about pain.
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S. Lewis
Trauma happens when you are unable to process suffering… facing grief is the opposite of trauma - it's a gift that lets you move forward…
C.S. Lewis
Trauma happens when you are unable to process suffering… facing grief is the opposite of trauma - it's a gift that lets you move forward…
Jesus changes how we see the darkness and brokenness of the world
The Old Testament promised that the pain of the world would be resolved through one person.
The Old Testament promised that the pain of the world would be resolved through one person.
God's servant was going to come and in one day sin would be removed... but somehow he was going to take it on himself.
To understand God’s response to the beauty and brokenness of the world and of us, we need to understand that hope is found in Jesus
It is not that God's help and presence must still be proved in our life; rather God's presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel and in God's Son Jesus Christ, than to discover what God intends for us today. The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I will die. And the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, will be raised on the day of judgment. Our salvation is "from outside ourselves." I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is not that God's help and presence must still be proved in our life; rather God's presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel and in God's Son Jesus Christ, than to discover what God intends for us today. The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I will die. And the fact that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, will be raised on the day of judgment. Our salvation is "from outside ourselves." I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jesus fulfils the promises of the Old Testament and changes everything by entering into history and into our pain.
Jesus took away the threat of death - we now live from an eternal perspective
Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament… creating a New Humanity (restoring what was lost in the Garden) and gave us a way to relate to God Now
The cross is empty because God, in Jesus, is with us now.
Jesus came to offer connection …
The Cross enables the promise of Psalm 23 to be true for all of us
The Cross enables the promise of Psalm 23 to be true for all of us
Increasingly secular psychiatrists and psychologists are recognising that we need to help people cope with pain rather than avoid it.
“Safety is not the absence of threat, but the presence of connection”
Dr. Gabor Maté
There will always be a threat of bad things happening, but because of the cross we don’t need to live in fear.
“Safety is not the absence of threat, but the presence of connection”
Dr. Gabor Maté
There will always be a threat of bad things happening, but because of the cross we don’t need to live in fear.
This is the power of the empty cross and why we need to come back to communion regularly.
What fears do you need to lay at the foot of the cross?
Questions:
1. When you think about “the problem of evil,” which version of the question feels most real to you right now (God’s justice, God’s power, injustice in the world, or personal suffering)?
2. Luke 13:1–5 shows Jesus rejecting the idea that suffering always equals punishment. How does this challenge the way people today (including Christians) interpret bad events?
3. Mark 10:42–45 and Mark 8:34–35 show Jesus’ call to a different kind of power. What would it look like for us to resist coercive power and follow his way of the cross in everyday life?
4. Romans 8:18–23 says creation is “groaning” and so are we. How do you see that groaning in the world today, and how does hope in Christ help you hold both beauty and brokenness together?
5. Hebrews 2:14–15 says Jesus broke the power of death and freed us from fear. What fears still weigh on you, and how might the cross change the way you face them?
6. Communion is a way of remembering and proclaiming Jesus’ death until he comes. How does sharing communion together keep our story rooted in his story rather than our own?
Pray for each other.
1. When you think about “the problem of evil,” which version of the question feels most real to you right now (God’s justice, God’s power, injustice in the world, or personal suffering)?
2. Luke 13:1–5 shows Jesus rejecting the idea that suffering always equals punishment. How does this challenge the way people today (including Christians) interpret bad events?
3. Mark 10:42–45 and Mark 8:34–35 show Jesus’ call to a different kind of power. What would it look like for us to resist coercive power and follow his way of the cross in everyday life?
4. Romans 8:18–23 says creation is “groaning” and so are we. How do you see that groaning in the world today, and how does hope in Christ help you hold both beauty and brokenness together?
5. Hebrews 2:14–15 says Jesus broke the power of death and freed us from fear. What fears still weigh on you, and how might the cross change the way you face them?
6. Communion is a way of remembering and proclaiming Jesus’ death until he comes. How does sharing communion together keep our story rooted in his story rather than our own?
Pray for each other.