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Why be Cross-centered?

Tony Reinke Cross of Christ, Gospel, Gospel in Culture, John Stott, Obedience to Scripture, spurgeon

Near the end of His earthly life, Jesus gave His perplexed disciples the precious words now synonymous with the Lord’s Supper: “And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood’” (Luke 22:19-20).

For the disciples, Jesus’ anticipation of an impending Cross was as comprehensible to them as a toddler flipping through a microbiology textbook. For them the importance of the Cross will remain shrouded until after the Resurrection.

In these words, Jesus reveals the prominence of the Cross in His thinking. The disciples may have been confused but Jesus was fully aware that He would soon be forsaken by earth, forsaken by heaven, and hang alone between them both.

In other words, Jesus had a full awareness of the coming Cross. His consciousness included a detailed appreciation of His own death and an expectation of its painful details. His lonely ‘quiet times’ must have certainly been filled with meditations on Isaiah 53, as His own prophetic biography was laid out in the ancient Hebrew words. “Crushed” and “stricken” were in his immediate future.

So let’s pause right here and ask the question: Why are we Cross-centered? Why are the greatest songs we sing filled with the crucifixion event? Why do our sermons drip with the blood of the Lamb who was slain? Why do we exult in the foolishness of God and endure the rebuke of the world? Simply stated, we are Cross-centered because Christ was Cross-centered.

John Stott in his magnum opus The Cross of Christ (IVP: Downers Grove, IL) writes: “Why do we ‘cling to the old rugged cross’ (in the words of a rather sentimental, popular hymn), and insist on its centrality, refusing to let it be pushed to the circumference of our message? Why must we proclaim the scandalous, and glory in the shameful? The answer lies in the single word ‘integrity.’ Christian integrity consists partly in a resolve to unmask the caricatures, but mostly in personal loyalty to Jesus, in Whose mind the saving cross was central” (p. 43).

Living the Cross-centered life is to strike the dart squarely on the bull’s-eye upon which Christ focused His life, ministry and death. Loyalty to Jesus demands that we see the centrality of the Cross in everything because He saw the Cross as central to everything.

This, according to Stott, is the loyalty expected from all Christians and churches whether or not we fully understand the implications right now and whether or not the Cross-centered life is easy or hard. To aim at anything else is to hit a mere caricature of our purpose in life.

So live Cross-centered with confidence:

– Teach the forgiveness and grace of the Cross when disciplining your children.
– Preach the Cross to yourself when condemnation and personal sin haunt your heart.
– Love your wife as Christ loved the church, modeling the sacrifice of the Cross.
– Build friendships with believers and unbelievers with the Cross as the ultimate purpose.
– Boast and rejoice in the Cross as the heartbeat of your life as its lifeblood flows to warm the lukewarm heart.

Whether we can or cannot understand the full plan of God right now, we can rest assured that living a Cross-centered life is the purpose driving the Christian life!

Simply put: Live the Cross-centered life. It’s what Jesus would do.

tsr

Packing a small library

Tony Reinke Books, Great Quotes, Pastoral Ministry, spurgeon

For me packing my library of books is the most delicate and time-consuming task in moving. Certainly it’s a pain in the neck (literally) to move their weight. But for an organization nut like myself the aches can be compounded.

Thankfully the process has been eased by using Booxter, a cheap program for my Mac OS X. I just connect my webcam (in my case a Sony digital video recorder with streaming Firewire) and the camera automatically scans the ISBN bar off the back of each book. Once the ISBN is entered, Booxter does its work, collecting a picture of the cover, author’s name, title and all types of information off the internet automatically. Entering about 20 books a minute is a real blessing!

Then I make my own genre categories to organize the library exactly the way I need it. I can even mark which packing boxes each book goes into.

You can see what I have scanned over the past few days (and take a glimpse at my book collection) here.

So if you want to organize your library and you own a Mac, look into Booxter.

Book review: Mark Dever, The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made (1581347170)

Tony Reinke Book reviews, Books, BR > Crossway, Great Quotes, Mark Dever, Old Testament, Reading, spurgeon, Together for the Gospel

I doubt I’m alone when I say the Old Testament in my Bible is largely unknown to me. This is probably due to the fact that it’s not chronologically structured and many overlaps and gaps make things confusing. Such prospects can be despairing for a big-picture reader like myself.

Typically before I begin a book I question the themes and overall direction of what I’m about to read. It’s the basic ABCs of critical thinking, really. However the historical big-picture of the Old Testament is often hard to discern and so the details are often disconnected.

Enter Mark Dever.

I remember my introduction to Mark Dever four years ago as a carpenter finishing a basement drywall project. I was somewhat new to drywalling myself, usually opting to hire an expert (the wise choice). So like an amateur, I made the mistake of applying too much drywall mud on the walls. Thus I sanded and sanded for several painful winter days while me and my .mp3 player were both covered in several layers of fine white dust. Audible amidst the white fog, however, Mark Dever preached on.

Over those days I listened to (and was sustained by) Dever’s entire sermon series on New Testament (now also in print). I was amazed at the clarity of his messages and his uncanny ability to summarize whole NT books into nice packages. And I anticipated a survey of the Old Testament.

At Together for the Gospel in Louisville Dever’s Old Testament survey was available for purchase and I jumped at the chance. Although several hundred of you jumped sooner I guess because they were sold out before I could get my hands on a copy. As soon as I returned home I ordered a copy and have not regretted it!

The book is simply a 960-page collection of sermon manuscripts. But don’t be intimidated by its size. Dever’s summary of the message of the Old Testament is terse and clear. With a broad brush he paints the major movements of the Old Testament to highlight the history of God’s chosen nation. In fact, early in the book he summarizes the history of the Old Testament in about 2 pages! Very helpful for big-picture readers like myself.

This is one of the most helpful and (in a world of redundant publishing) truly original books. This volume will provide great help for preachers and laypersons wanting to unlock the message of the Old Testament.

As an unexpected bonus, wonderful reflection questions conclude each chapter perfectly suited for group study and personal meditation.

The Message of the Old Testament is the perfect balance of two worlds – letting the biblical storyline come alive for readers today AND addressing the pressing issues of our lives from the application of the ancient text. Buy it, read it, cherish it and some day pass it on to your children. It’s one of those rare and priceless volumes that will bless your heart and your ministry.

Jonathan Edwards, Princeton Cemetery and an encouraging Friday surprise

Tony Reinke Jonathan Edwards, Photographs, Princeton Cemetery, spurgeon

I received word this afternoon that my photographs taken this Spring at the Princeton Cemetery are featured on the Jonathan Edwards Center blog.

The full website I designed from a trip to Princeton Cemetery can be found here. Thank you to Michael McClenahan and the Jonathan Edwards Center for this wonderful surprise!