For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2, ESV).
Have you ever noticed how often the concept of the center arises in golf? Think about how lovely hitting the center of the fairway feels! Consider how energized you are when your putt rolls into the center of the cup! As great as those moments are, hardly anything compares with finding the center of the clubface time after time; compressing a golf ball with a center strike must rank high among athletic achievements, right?
And yet, for all those amazing moments finding various centers on the golf course, at least two centers eclipse all others for the follower of Christ: the cross of Christ and the heart of the believer.
Without debate, the cross of Christ is the center of redemptive history. This centrality, of course, in no way minimizes the incarnation or the resurrection. Rather, it is to say with two millennia of inquiring theologians, worshipping hymnists, and passionate preachers that the cross of Christ is the apex of God’s inexpressible love.
All disciples know that the person and work of Christ is the defining moment in the history of the world. There, on that cross, the Son of God willingly gave his life, both body and soul, as an offering for sin. There, the Lamb of God sacrificed his life as a ransom for many. Sacrificially, he gave his life for the redemption of his bride, the church.
At Calvary, the justice of God was satisfied. On that old rugged cross, the love of God was poured out for rebellious creatures. On that hill, mercy and justice kissed. On that mount, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ. Jesus was paying a debt he did not owe. Jesus was suffering a punishment he did not deserve. He was experiencing unspeakable agony by enduring reprehensible humiliation and inexpressible torment.
Worst of all, he was forsaken by his father. When Christ cried out, “my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” he was not asking a question for which he did not have the answer. That there is mystery here is undeniable. However, what we can be confident in is this—Christ was cursed in that moment as he bore the judgment of all God’s wrath for the transgression of believers.
Secondly, while the cross is the objective center of biblical Christianity, the human heart is the subjective center of all true believers. What do I mean by this? When we employ the word objective, we are simply saying it happened outside of us. When we use the word subjective, we are merely saying it is something that happens inside of us, in our experience.
The cross stands out as the pinnacle of God’s activity in history—that which happens outside of us. However, for Christ and the cross to have any relevance in the life of the believer, a necessary change must occur in the human heart. When scripture uses the word heart, it is speaking figuratively about the very center of our beings—our wills, our emotions, our desires, our affections, our loves, and our thoughts are all being considered.
For Christ’s historical cross to have any redeeming impact toward wayward creatures, the heart must undergo a supernatural change effected by the work of the Holy Spirit. In John’s gospel, we are told, “you must be born from above.” That is, we must be born a second time or “born again.” Simply stated, while Christ and his work on the cross stand at the objective center of history, the subjective center is the human heart. As the hymn writer penned it, “He paid it all (historical event), all to him we owe (our heart).” He must have our hearts!