Very few of us have any understanding of why Jesus Christ died. It wasn’t out of sympathy. If sympathy is all that human beings require, then Christ’s cross was a farce; there was no need for it. But the cross was necessary. What the world needs isn’t just a little bit of love, as so many preach today; it’s a surgical operation.
When you are face–to–face with a soul in spiritual difficulty, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If the soul you’re counseling can get to God by some path other than the cross, then the cross is unnecessary. If you’re holding out your own sympathy as that other path, you’re a traitor to Jesus Christ. You have to keep your soul rightly related to God and pour out for others in the way he has designated, not in the human way of sympathy and understanding. The dominant note in spiritual guidance today is amiable religiosity; we have to avoid this, or we ignore God and his gospel.
The one thing New Testament workers have to do is exhibit Jesus Christ crucified, to lift him up all the time. Any doctrine that isn’t embedded in the cross will lead astray. When we believe in Jesus Christ and base our message on the reality of redemption, the people we talk to will inevitably be concerned by what we say. The thing that remains and deepens is the worker’s simple relationship to Jesus Christ. Our usefulness to God depends on that and that alone.
God’s workers can’t be poetic; we have to be surgical. Our calling is to uncover sin and reveal Jesus Christ as savior, not to give beautiful discourses. We have to go deep when we preach to others, as deep as God has gone with us. We have to be discerning in sensing which Scriptures will bring the truth straight home to another soul, and then apply them fearlessly.
