The reason why - Chambers, Oswald
The reason why the apostle Paul was a preacher was because of his understanding of the cross of Christ. The majority of present-day preachers understand only the blessings that come to us from the cross, they are apt to be devoted to certain doctrines which flow from the cross. Paul preached one thing only, the crucified Christ, who of god is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
The cross of Christ for doctrine (1 Corinthians 1:23)
Never confuse the cross of Christ with the benefits that flow from it. For all pauls doctrine, his one great passion was the cross of Christ, not salvation, nor sanctification, but the great truth that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son; consequently you never find him artificial, or making a feeble statement. Every doctrine Paul taught had the blood and the power of god in it. There is an amazing force of spirit in all he said because the great passion behind was not that he wanted men to be holy, that was secondary, but that he had come to under- stand what god meant by the cross of Christ. If we have only the idea of personal holiness, of being put in gods show room, we shall never come anywhere near seeing what god wants; but when once we have come where Paul is and god is enabling us to under- stand what the cross of Christ means, then nothing can ever turn us (see Romans 8:3539). If Paul had been set on his own holiness, he never would have said, for i could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren. He cared about nothing on earth, saving one thing the cross of Christ. That was the great passion of his preaching, he paid no attention to what it cost him. Woe is unto me, if i preach not the gospel! Pauls preaching was a necessity laid upon him.
The cross of Christ for direction (1 Corinthians 2:2)
The direction of pauls sentiment, amongst saints or sinners, was never pathetic and pious, but passionately taken up with Christ crucified. What direction does my preaching take? What direction do my letters take, my dreams? What direction does the whole trend of my life take? Paul says he is determined that his life shall take no other direction than this: the emphasis on and exposition of the cross of Christ. That is the note that is being lost sight of in our preaching to-day. We hear any amount about our cross, about what it costs us to follow Christ; but who amongst us has any inkling of what the apostle Paul saw? He had caught an understanding of the mind of god in the cross of Christ and grasped it, consequently he could never be exhausted or turned aside.
You cannot be profoundly moved by a sentiment or by an idea of holiness, but you can be moved by a passion; and the old writers used to speak of the cross as the passion of our lord. The cross is the great opening through which all the blood of christian service runs. Do we bear the marks of the lord Jesus in our preaching, or do we leave our congre- gations with the impression of how sweet and win- some we are? Whether pauls words were stinging or comforting, for praise or for condemnation, the one impression left was Jesus Christ and him crucified, not Jesus Christ risen and exalted, but crucified. The reason some of us have no power in our preaching, no sense of awe, is that we have no passion for god, but only a passion for humanity. The one thing we have to do is to exhibit Jesus Christ crucified, to lift him up all the time. I, if i be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Paul had one passion only, he had seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? God exalted in Christ crucified.
The cross of Christ for disposition (Galatians 6:14)
Paul disposed his whole life and all his interests in the light of his understanding of the cross of Christ. Never take these words to mean pauls identification with the death of Christ only. . . . By whom the world is crucified unto me, and i unto the world because of my identification with the death of Jesus? No, because Jesus Christ was crucified to the world. If we deal only with our identification, we lose sight of the objective fact of our lords death. The profoundest truth to us is shallow compared with the revelation given here. Most of our emphasis to-day is on what our lords death means to us: the thing that is of importance is that we understand what god means in the cross. Paul did not understand the cross in order that he might receive the life of god; but by understanding the cross, he received the life. Study the cross for no other sake than gods sake, and you will be holy without knowing it. The danger is to fix our eyes on our own whiteness. I, if i be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Are we lifting up what Jesus Christ can do in the place of his cross? That snare besets us until we learn the passion of pauls life. The call to preach is not because i have a special gift, or because Jesus has sanctified me, but that i have had a glimpse of gods meaning in the cross, and life can never be the same again. The passion of pauls preaching is the suffering of god almighty exhibited in the cross of Christ. Many who are working for god ought to be learning in the school of Calvary. Paul says determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucifiednot myself crucified with Christ, that is a mere et cetera; the one figure left is Jesus Christ, and his cross.
The cross of Christ and discipline (Galatians 2:20)
This is not a theological statement, it is a statement of christian experience wrought by the holy ghost. The holy ghost is the one who regenerates us into the family to which Jesus Christ belongs; through the eternal efficacy of the cross we are made partakers of the divine nature. I have been crucified with Christ (rv ). Pauls personal identification with the death of Christ is simply the presentation of how that death will work out in the life of anyone. The cross of Christ is the self-revelation of god, the exhibition of the essential nature of the godhead. Nowadays the great passion is the passion for souls, but you never find that passion mentioned in the new testament, it is the passion for Christ that the new testament mentions. It is not a passion for men that saves men; a passion for men breaks human hearts. The passion for Christ in wrought by the holy ghost goes deeper down than the deepest agony the world, the flesh and the devil can produce. It goes straight down to where our lord went, and the holy ghost works out, not in thinking, but in living, this passion for Christ. Whenever the passion for souls obscures the passion for Christ, Satan has come in as an angel of light
