"For
all of its joy and celebration and for all of its gifts of life and grace, the
Kingdom of God is a kingdom of sacrifice. The central event in the history of
this kingdom is a shocking and unthinkable sacrifice. This moment of sacrifice
confounded the followers who were there to see it and has interested
theologians ever since. It is at once the most terrible and most beautiful
event in the kingdom. It is a sacrifice that makes perfect sense and no sense
at all. And this sacrifice forms the operating agenda of the kingdom from that
time on.
"Jesus,
by his bleeding and broken body on the cross, not only gave the kingdom of God
its life and hope, but its paradigm for living as well. That history-changing
death on the cross is also the life-changing call of Christ to everyone who
would follow him. And as it did on the cross, that willingness to die will
always result in life. This kingdom is a kingdom of the cross, and everyone who
celebrates that sacrifice is called to drag a cross along with them every day.”
(Paul
David Tripp, A Quest for More, p. 178)
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