One can go almost anywhere today and see a cross. Crosses can be found on church buildings, clothing, jewelry, Bibles, Bible covers, in bookstores and in homes. Some people even tattoo them on their skin. Some see the cross as trendy and fashionable. Others view it as sacred and holy. Still others stand in fear of the cross and what it means.
The cross of Christ contains a powerful paradox. A paradox is a contradictory statement that is in fact true. It carries two messages that don't seem to fit together on the surface. A simple paradox found in the Bible is, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” [2 Corinthians 12:10]. While this is a contradictory statement, we know that it is true.
The paradox of the cross can be summed up by Lee Camp’s statement in his new book
Mere Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Brazo
Press, 2003). Camp says, “The cross of Jesus signifies for the disciple both Christ dying in our stead, and Christ calling us to die with him.”
That is the paradox. How can the cross mean that we no longer need to die, yet at the same time call us to die?
We love the “no more death” message. It is truly good news. Our punishment for sin was supposed to be death, but Jesus came into the world and took our place and our punishment. He took our death! Praise God! That is the message we love to hear and preach. I believe that is why the cross is so special to so many people. It signifies a death that was supposed to be ours, but Jesus took it instead.
But, there is another side to the cross. The cross screams out, “No more death!” But if we listen a little longer we hear it saying, “You must die (to yourself) in order to escape death.” Jesus put it this way: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [Mark 8:34].
Paul writes in Romans 12:1 that we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. What does a living sacrifice look like in a campus ministry? What does it look like to pick up my cross and carry it across a college campus?
I think the first thing we must realize is that once you become a part of a campus ministry, you become the campus ministry. It is no longer there to please you and provide you with fun and excitement. You become the campus ministry and its mission statement becomes your mission statement. Rather than being served by the campus ministry, you serve alongside the campus ministry. Social events are a way to reach others, rather than
satisfy you. Devotionals become a time to look for faces you don’t know rather than all the faces that you do know. Think about a time when you were not part of a campus ministry. How did your campus ministry reach you? What appealed to you about the ministry? There are others out there who are in the same place you were before you became involved. Can you pick up your cross, deny yourself and take the campus ministry to them?
It took me a long time to understand this idea. I viewed the campus ministry as existing for me. I avoided bringing others with me to activities at the campus ministry because I thought it would take away from me being able to get something from the activity. I was wrong. Jesus said in John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am
going to the Father.”
What could be greater than the things He did while here on this earth? Well, Jesus seems to be saying that changing lives is a much greater challenge than performing miracles. Changing lives can only happen when you respond to the message of Jesus’ cross. Yes, that cross says that we no longer have to die for our sins. It also calls upon us to pick up our crosses and die to ourselves.
Gilbert Kerrigan is the Associate Minister for Greenwood Park Church of Christ in Bowling Green,
KY. He was actively involved in the Auburn Christian Student Center and the Middle Tennessee Christian Student Center as a student in college. He interned for two years with the Hilltoppers for Christ at Western Kentucky University.
