Tony Evans - The Power of the Cross: Putting it to Work in Your Life

2016 by
ANTHONY T. EVANS

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Edited by Jim Vincent
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: Thinkpen Design
Cover photo of cross-shaped window copyright by Alexandra Giese/Shutterstock (120529090). All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Tony
The power of the cross / by Anthony T. Evans.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-8024-1118-1
1. Jesus ChristCrucifixion. I. Title.
BT453.E935 2016
232.963dc23

2015031064

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AS A BOY GROWING UP in Baltimore, I had a regular Saturday routine. First, I would finish the home chores that my mom had assigned me. Then, when all those duties were doneusually by noonI would head down to the diamond. The diamond was a large field located just a few minutes from my house where the guys gathered every Saturday to play football.

It was my passion. Even though I played in school during the week as a halfback, and even if there was a Friday night game the evening before, you could still locate me every single Saturday afternoon at the diamond.

On one occasion, we had all gathered at the diamond for our Saturday afternoon games. As we always did, we had chosen sides, and it was time for the game to commence. However, when we started to line up across from each other, we began to look around for the football. We looked for a while, because on this particular Saturday no one had brought a football!

We had taken the time to go to the diamond and had been proactive to choose up teams, yet everything came to an abrupt end simply because the football was not there. We were not able to do what we had gathered to do because the main thing was missing.

Isnt it amazing how something so small can carry so much weight? We couldnt play football without the football.

You see, in the game of football the ball determines everything. First downs are measured by where the ball is placed. Touchdowns are measured by whether the ball crosses the goal line. Fumbles are determined by who grabs the ball. Field goals are measured by whether the ball goes through the goalposts. Men fight over it, rejoice over it, and strive to possess it. The game has spawned a multibillion dollar business enterprise, the National Football League (NFL), that elicits the focus, attention, and adoration of millions of fans each weekend. But if the football is missing, there is no game. Without the football, everything else that goes on in a stadium or on a field is a waste of time.

In Christianity, the cross is the main thingthe centerpiece of the Christian life.

What Jesus gained at the cross is the main thing. Without the crucifixion of Christ on the cross there is no power, no freedom, no forgiveness, no authority, no strength, no victorynothing at all. The cross is the main thing.

Every year around Easter time, people will typically focus on the cross. We remember that Christs death paid the penalty for our sins. The cross led to an empty tomb three days later. Resurrectionlife everlastingcame because of Christs sacrificial death. We meditate on how the reality of the cross enables those who believe and trust in Jesus to spend eternity in heaven. However, once Easter passes, we frequently go back to doing our own thing and trying to live our lives without the cross as the central focus.

This makes about as much sense as if the NFL decided to have a football available for the Super Bowl only, and not use any footballs for the other weeks of the season leading up to it. Without a football every week, a football at the Super Bowl isnt going to do you much good, for there would be no Super Bowl.

In the same way it isnt enough to gather together at the right place each Sundaythe churchor with the right people in our livesfellow believers. And it isnt enough that there is a program or that there are books, seminars, and worship celebrations on Sunday and throughout the week. All of that is good and helpful. But all of that means nothing without the centrality of the main thingthe cross. If we leave out the cross, we are only left with the empty shell called religion.

We are left with an empty set of rules, requirements, and judgments to try and legislate spirituality leaving behind the intimacy, grace, and power to live spiritually victorious lives. As a result, believer after believer finds themselves in perpetual defeatnever measuring up, never fully overcoming their struggles, never rising above their circumstances. They are unable to fulfill their destinies and achieve their own significance because they are operating without the power and deliverance of the cross. They are trying to live the Christian life without the main thingwhich makes as much sense as trying to play a football game without a football.