"The Cross cannot be defeated for it is defeat." - GKC 'The Ball and the Cross'
I used to despise the song lyric "little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong" from Jesus Loves Me.
Why can't God use me when I'm strong? Or when I'm no longer a little one and get bigger & stronger he can't use me? I want to both be strong & be used by God. It wasn't that I was worried about not being used, I don't want to be weak. Vulnerability - get outta here; I want to open a can of whoop ass for Jesus.
The Christian church is unique in that it's built on weakness. The cross is a symbol of being defeated. Jesus was abandoned on the cross. The apostles were average joes not spiritual supermen. It was more a collection keystone cops than the Justice League.
Then it is fully a doctrinal point that the church is built upon fallen people who are full of mistakes. "Not a museum of saints, but a hospital for sinners." I heard that this week and it made sense and made me smile.
Since giving up on my strength identity (and perpetually giving it up as it sneaks back) that lyric doesn't bother me at all. If it succeeds despite my weakness it proves all the more that God is doing the work.
When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, bur a shuffler, a snob, a coward - in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing - the historic Christian Church - was founded upon a weak man, and for this reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link. - GKC 'Heretics'
Not to nit-pick, but this is a rare weak moment for GKC. Christ is the cornerstone of the church, not Simon Peter. Neither did Christ say, "On you Peter, I will build my church." Rather, Christ founded the church on the rock of Peter's confession, "You are the Christ." To wit, the church is not founded on a man, weak or strong, but on God Himself through the knowledge of Him given by His Spirit.
ReplyDeleteYou are nitpicking:) It's from the wrap-up of his views on Shaw (I had to go look it up). Shaw was trying to preserve progressive philosophy by getting better men instead of a better philosophy. Christianity doesn't worry about needing better men, or being built on the strong ideas of one man; the power isn't from men. I think GKC was more dismantling the progressive philosophy especially related to a Christian worldview. SD Smith would have me tarred & feathered for using a GKC quote for a point different from it's context.
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