So Why Crossmark?
God gave me a vision not just for a different kind of church but ultimately for a true church that is rooted in deep theology and a church that is willing to be culturally missional (to live like missionaries in our society) just like Jesus. I believe people experience God as they come face to face with the person of Jesus. I believe God speaks in the Scripture and that his Spirit moves us to towards Jesus. I think the problem is the Church in America doesn’t show the real Jesus anymore. I think the unchurched world knows that the Church is filled with real saints but also hypocrites, liars, notorious sinners, and every other type of scoundrel imaginable. They can deal with that. They know that some people just claim to be saved and are not. They can even forgive that some of us are in process. What the watching world can’t get is how Christians can worship their own desires, their own righteousness, and call it worshiping the real Jesus. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:8-9 (NET Bible):
More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.
The Greek word (σκύβαλον) pronounced skubalou (schoo-ba-lou) is translated in the NET Bible as dung but in our modern vocabulary it would best be translated as the evocative crap.* The idea of skubalou came from the disgustingly public open bathrooms of Phillipi. The open bathrooms were open benches along the streets where people in Paul’s day could stop and use the bathroom. The stench of them would have been horrible particularly in the heat of the day. Think of porter potty’s at a crowded ball game in mid August around one o’clock. The incredibly raw and foul smell is what Paul wanted his audience to think about. Paul was using the evocative word to pull up a very frank mental image that was meant to disgust and shock his hearers. He wanted them to vividly connect his assertion that all the great things of his life and theirs in comparison to Christ were no better than crap. *Neither Paul nor I ever use strong language simply as a way to use profanity. Like the prophets in the Old Testament he was trying to rouse the hearts of people who were complacent in their self-righteous sin. Their profanity was that they had the arrogance to believe that they were somehow spiritually superior to other people.
Paul was raised in a very religious culture. His culture was kind of like living in certain parts of the Southeastern US. He was raised in the very best of what his society had to offer. All indications is that his parents, grandparents, and family line were all seriously devout. He came from the best of families and went to the best of schools. Paul’s pedigree always proceeded him wherever he went. The irony is Jesus was always known as the “carpenter’s ’son.’” The man Paul was known for his rich heritage and his once deep devotion if not obsession with his faith. For him to reject that to follow Jesus made many people assert that he had gone stark raving insane.
After meeting the real Jesus everyone of Paul’s perceptions changed. In Paul’s mind the most important thing in the world was to be with the real Jesus and to have Jesus righteousness imparted to him. His righteousness, that is being made right before God and man, was based on the faithfulness of Jesus.
Everything else wasn’t just secondary it didn’t even measure up. Everything else was no better than useless human waste. The thing about human waste is it smells bad to everyone but the people who get use to it. They get so acclimated to it they don’t even notice it though everyone else does notice it.
Remarkably the Church in America has become like the culture of Paul. It has become a graveyard for consumers that consume “God stuff” like a buffet line. It someways the only difference between much of modern Christianity, medieval Catholicism, and first century Judaism is the culture. Some draw from Jesus ideas to support their liberalism and others draw ideas to support their legalism. Many don’t smell how bad things have gotten because of their own selfish ambition. Many sincere Christians are very content with all the trappings of this consumer version of Christianity. I know I use to be one of them. Others of us aren’t. Some of us have been given a divine discontent. We want to throw off all the stuff that detracts from the real Jesus. That is why we are creating this church called Crossmark. We want people to find the real Jesus apart from all that filthy crud that is done in the name of Jesus. The Reformers taught two things equally well. The twin enemies of the gospel are liberalism and legalism. Liberalism doesn’t work because it leads us away from God and in to rebellion as it opens the door to promiscuity. Legalism doesn’t work because it leads us away from God because it opens the door for self righteous moralism. The Reformers taught we must repent of our rebellion but also of our righteousness. What we need is to be like Paul who counted everything for loss so that he might obtain Christ righteousness.
The problem with much of Christianity is that it has a obsession for consumption of the wrong thing. We should have a strong desire to know Jesus and be known by Him. We should be consumed by the love of God that is found in Christ. We need Christ righteousness. As we get this people will want to be around us. Irreligious and religious people will want to be around us because we will start becoming like Jesus. Jesus attracted both and he was the most righteous man that ever walked this Earth.
Why are we planting another church when there are so many out there now? Because all people including religious people like me need to practice repentance and to come to the real Jesus and take part in his awesome righteousness so that they can live right before God and men. We are planting Crossmark because a lot of irreligious people think that the water downed consumer version of Christianity is all Christianity has to offer. We want to prove that what real Christianity has to offer is the real Jesus. We want to know him better and to make him known.
This is why God gave me the vision for a church called Crossmark. Why don’t you come and be a part of it? Seriously. Come and see then go and tell others about the real Jesus.
-Pastor Will
