Christ Crucified, the Sum of the Gospel
8/28 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 20; 1 Corinthians 2; Lamentations 5; Psalm 36
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
8/28 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 20; 1 Corinthians 2; Lamentations 5; Psalm 36
1 Corinthians 2:2
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
HEART
I’ve been writing daily devotionals for over 25 years, and since I started on the Substack platform for a little more than 3 years, I find it hard to believe that I hadn’t written a devotional on this verse yet since starting this endeavor in 2022. There have been two verses that have highlighted the past 25 years of my pastoral ministry— today’s verse of consideration, and a little later, this one:
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me,” John 5:39
When I was first called of the Lord into pastoral ministry, I trembled at the awesome responsibility of being entrusted with the care of the Lord’s redeemed. I cried out, “Lord Jesus, I’m just a broken-down Navy diver who, by Your grace, loves you. How can I tend and feed Your sheep.” I looked down at my open Bible (for that has been my habit in personal prayer for years), and there it was, today’s verse. Of course, I thought, and thanked the Lord. Why didn’t I think of that? Because its power is revelation truth! It must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. It’s been said by many that the truth of Christ crucified is “the sum of the gospel,” and it most certainly is. Yet our flesh hates God, hates God’s Son, hates God’s glory, and hates God’s atoning grace. While unbelievers cannot understand the atonement through Christ crucified unless the Spirit reveals it to them, we who are saved must be reminded of its awesome truth. It doesn’t mean that as redeemed saints we are not without responsibility. I like how this translation rings true for you and me:
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. KJV
You and I as individual Christians must determine to make the truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ the foremost reality in our knowledge. After possibly 25 to 30 years as a Christian, Paul said this:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ Philippians 3:8
There was nothing more important to the apostle than knowing Christ. Jesus Messiah, the God-Man, and His work by His eternal sacrifice are truths that must not be grasped for a moment and then departed from as if it was a springboard for something better. Christ crucified is everything and will be our constant meditation for all eternity. Its depths cannot be sounded. Its heights cannot be scaled. Its length cannot be measured. Its breadth cannot be spanned. In his most excellent treatise, All of Grace, Charles Spurgeon wrote this:
“The law of God was more vindicated by the death of Christ than it would have been had all transgressors been sent to Hell. For the Son of God to suffer for sin was a more glorious establishment of the government of God, than for the whole race to suffer.”
Hallelujah! What a Savior!