With All Due Respect, Mark Driscoll is Wrong

I have to confess: I like Mark Driscoll.

As much as he and I may disagree on some pretty big issues, I have a lot of respect for him, his ministry, and what God is doing through Mars Hills, Acts 29 & Churches Helping Churches.

But with all due respect to Mark, HE IS WRONG.

I saw this tweet of something he said in his message at the Radicalis conference at Saddleback last week. Here is the quote: “The Church must be Cross-centered, not cause-centered”

I know that sounds good… preaches well… and will even get a bunch of amens. But it is theologically incorrect.

The Church must not be Cross-centered, but Christ-centered — and I don’t think the distinction is merely academic.

We worship Jesus, not the cross.

We are saved by Jesus, not the cross. If Jesus had been executed differently, his death would have still been effective for the forgiveness of sins and our salvation; if anyone died on that cross, it would have made no difference.

But there is a bigger problem with what Mark says. To focus on the cross is to actually miss the point of the cross — which is found three days later with an empty tomb. The Resurrection.  Sunday.

The cross is where our sins are forgiven, but it is in the resurrection that we overcome death, destruction, and experience the fullness of hope that comes with the life in Christ. At the cross we are declared not guilty, at the empty tomb and in the encounters with the risen Christ we are called and commissioned and healed and restored and again invited to follow Him.

And we are called and commissioned and invited to a CAUSE.  Not a cause-of-the-moment, but the cause of Christ.

What is the cause of Christ? 

A full reading of the Gospel reveals His heart and passion… we find it in passages like the Great Commandment and the Great Commission… we read it in Matthew 25 and John 13 and Mark 16.  

His cause is our cause. The church would do well to drop all other agendas and instead become a Christ-centered and cause-of-Christ centered church.

So on this one, I think Mark is dead wrong.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?