the new perspective on the cross
Recently i've been hearing this and seeing this problem from a few sources. I believe i first read about it in something Piper wrote, although i can't remember what it was. i'm not even sure that it was Piper, but I digress. It seems that a large focus of the gospel has become telling people that they are worth a lot more than they believe they are because Jesus died for them. The frame of mind goes like this: God is so interested in making you a child of God that he went as far as to send His son to die for you. That is how much you are worth to God. I'm not sure how this thinking came about, but i have to say that I've fallen prey to it. I'm not saying that man isn't important to God, but I don't think that is nearly the most significant thing in the death of Christ.
The most significant thing in the death of Christ is what it tells us of God's hatred of sin. On Saturday morning at camp I spoke on this subject and in preperation I realized that Christ more had to die because of our sin more than because of our worth.
If you read through Isaiah 53, it doesn't speak to the value of man nearly as much as it speaks of God's distaste for sin. "he was wounded for our transgressions. he was crushed for our iniquities." "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." Verse 10 drives this point home by saying it pleased the Lord and was His will to crush his son and put Him to grief. the amazing thing about the death of christ is not so much God's love for man, but God's hatred of sin.