The Main Thing

“Jesus Christ and Him crucified” 1 Corinthians 2:2

Take away our church traditions, remove the “way we do church”, confiscate our comfortable chairs and peel away the pattern of our typical services, and what would you find? What common ground do I discover every month when I meet with other area youth pastors who come from diverse denominational backgrounds and belief systems? What do I have in common with a persecuted believer in China? What is the true basis for revival? What one thing should my life be centered around?

The answer to all of these questions can be found in the simple yet insightful answer: “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. He is the foundation of our faith, which we build our service to God on (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). He is the object of our faith, and we are made righteous by Him (Romans 3:22). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Your Christian life starts and ends with this truth: the main thing is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

The beginning and the end is easy, but it is in the middle that things get muddy! We as sophisticated, educated, and complicated adults LOVE to add things to the mix. Recently my wife has had a blast experimenting with our pancakes. She takes the basic recipe of Bisquick and milk, and flairs it up, kicks it up a notch, with vanilla, or honey, or other things she won’t dare share with me! We love to do the same with the gospel: we aren’t content with the seemingly simple recipe of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, so we add to it.
We add works to spice it up, make it something we have to earn. Or we move away from the basics and begin to make ‘creation’ or ‘abortion’ or ‘Calvinism’ or ‘holiness’ or ‘discipline’ or ‘prayer’ or ‘this Bible translation only’ or whatever it might be that takes the place of the main thing as our new soapbox. We lose sight of the straightforward message that has the power to change lives for all of eternity, and exchange the glory of God for a good argument. We must return to the plumb line of what is really truly important and get back on the narrow path.

I love the words to “Heart of Worship”, a popular worship song by Matt Redman: “when all is stripped away, and I simply come…back to the heart of worship…it’s all about You Jesus”. Don’t add to the mix. Don’t complicate the clear-cut, down-to-earth truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It all begins and ends with Jesus, and that includes revival, repentance, restoration, forgiveness, grace, truth, and all the promises of God. So come back to Him, and allow Him to shine in your life. I would leave you with a request for your life from John 12:21: “we would like to see Jesus.”

-Pilgrim