For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. -I Corinthians 1:18

I was at the pinnacle of my Holy Week preparation (for my church’s Maundy Thursday and Good Friday Worship Celebration) when I wrote this article.

“All unannounced and mostly undetected,” wrote A. W. Tozer, “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. First, 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 is not as before.”

Was Tozer perceptive or paranoid when he wrote those words? That the appearance of Christianity today is different from what it was a generation ago can’t be questioned. It’s gained a popular image, like that which a good public relations firm would bring, giving it a new face, making it respectable-yes, even fashionable to a degree. The scorn and shame of following Christ are gone in many areas of the world.

But is the new cross really a contemporary version of the old, or has its basic character changed, rendering it anemic and falling short of the standard of God’s grace? Has popularizing the message altered it in such a way that the essential meaning and purpose of the cross have been nullified and or being nullified?

The new cross tends to be a symbol of God’s love, characterized by an 18-carat gold trinket, beautifully polished and perhaps adorned with precious stones. The old cross evokes commitment of those who followed Jesus, and it was costly.

Paul believed that there was a personal cross- the price which believers must pay. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

One of the proofs that the new cross is not really the cross at all is the vast number of individuals who go to church, and carry Bibles (the larger, the more impressive) yet live no differently than those who make no profession of faith whatsoever.

Don’t be misled. The contemporary cross- the one with no offense, no cost, and no shame- is not the one Paul wrote of when he wrote, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (I Corinthians 1:18).

Which is your cross?

Pastor Gideon Gallo is Administrative Pastor at Gladbrook Community Christian Church – a Global Methodist Church – located at 715 Lincoln Street, Gladbrook. He can be reached at 641-473-2025, or gladbrookmethodist@windstream.net.