The Accomplishment of The Cross

This was the middle talk. The purpose was to look at what the cross accomplished for us as individuals but also as a community and therefore to set the cross in a corporate context.

Message of the Cross
I started off looking at 1 cor 1 and the "message of the cross being foolish". I intimated that the cross couldn't be separated from the resurrection and 1 cor 15.

Redemption and New Beginnings
I explored the tension between the cross leading to redemption and at the same time making us new creations. The idea being one draws a line under the past, one takes the past and builds on it. I went on a brief tangent about conversion and journey vs crisis as different approaches and therefore how that relates particularly to people like me who've always grown up in a Christian family and don't necessarily have a before and after story.

Atonement and Forgiveness
I looked at the Old Testament examples eg Lev 16 and the idea of appeasement, covering and reconciliation. I touched on the idea of substitution but didn't really dwell on Penal Substitution. Between you and me, I have a hunch that might come back and bite me....

I picked up on Col 1 and how we are no longer aliens etc. and being reconciled to God. I explored forgiveness in this session and things like "as far as the east is from the west, that's how far God has removed our sins from us". But I also took the opportunity to look at the gospel and the cross as more than sin management and pose questions about how the gospel needs to relate to more than the sad and the guilty!

People and Creation
I picked up corporate and creation themes so it wasn't just individual salvation that was covered. I looked at the idea of the cross reversing the fall which included redeeming the created order and picked up again on Col 1 including the idea of Shalom (peace) to mean restoration of relationships, wholeness and echoes of the themes of the Kingdom I'd introduced in the session before.

I also looked at different views of salvation in particular how much of it is viewed as future orientated eg Heaven/Hell avoidance vs the here and now dimension in the traditional evangelical gospel and posed the question of whether the Jewish and biblical narrative and pre Constantine church might have had it the other way round.

Linking back to the idea of early Christians being followers of the "way" I looked at the Cross creating a community of believers who embodied the Kingdom and the role of Jesus as a role model therefore. And hence why the road to the cross is as significant as the cross itself.

Power and Pentecost
I looked at passages like Rom 5 and being more than conquerors as well as the cross being the watershed before Pentecost and the direct access to God open to all with the coming of the Holy Spirit. I also then linked to the Glorious Christ and judgment.

Incarnation
I then dipped back into the individual dimension looked at issues of our culture and the idea that practically the cross had to work for "me". I therefore explored different doorways into Jesus rather than just the forgiveness of sins route. As a practical example how the cross is accessible for doubting Thomas, belligerent peter, the guilty sinner, the earnest seeker, the sceptical follower etc. I dipped into Heb 4 again and the idea of sympathising with our weakness.

I spent some time also talking about the cross granting access to and intimacy with God.

Conclusion
I closed by linking to how the things the cross accomplished link to culture and posed the question what might be key to our society? I touched on identity, acceptance and choices. What do you think are some of the key areas that the cross connects with in our culture?