I was pondering logos the other day, having recently put lettering on our church bus. I wanted more than just our name on the bus. I wanted it to include our church logo.
Logos are important in businesses and organizations because they catch your attention and soon you identify the logo with the business. For instance, the golden arches are very familiar — you already know I am talking about McDonald’s. Another recognizable logo is the “swoosh” — you already know I am talking about Nike. Companies pay big money to develop a logo. Most logos convey messages as well, such as victory, happiness and status. But, how about the church — what is our logo?
For more than 2,000 years, the simplest expression of our faith has been this: a cross. The clearest, most remembered, most widely-recognized symbol of what the Christian faith stands for is two pieces of wood stuck together on which criminals were executed. Think of it. An instrument of death is our “corporate logo.”
Of course, we have tried to dress up our logo a bit and make it a little more fancy, cool or stylish, but, the fact remains, it is still just a wooden cross that symbolizes our faith. Why is this so? What is so important about the cross of Jesus Christ? Why should it be our logo?
First, Jesus died this way to illustrate the results of sin. Jesus’ cross showed how ugly, how horrific, our sins really are. In our world these days, we whitewash sin. We cover up the consequences of immorality. If you want to see how bad sin really is, all you need to do is look at the cross of Jesus. The reason His death was so brutal is because He bore on His body the brutal consequences of the sins for all people everywhere. Whenever you begin to think of sin as harmless, picture the cross of Jesus in your mind. Remember that it was our sin that put Him there.
On a more positive note, another reason Jesus died on the cross was to reveal God’s love. The cross is the clearest revelation of God’s love. As Romans 5:8 says: “God commends His love toward us in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus died in this way to show us the extent to which God’s great love would go to redeem us. If Jesus had refused the cross, if in the end He would have decided to come down from the cross, well, then there would have been a limit to the love of God. There would have been a point beyond which the love of God would not go, but He didn’t. So the cross reveals there is no limit. Jesus died for all of us because God loves all of us that much!
Finally, I want you to know that Jesus died on the cross as payment for our sins, yours and mine. You see, Jesus did not simply die. He died for us! As 1 Peter 2:24 says: “He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”
He paid it all. He paid for our sins with His blood. In fact, do you remember Jesus’ last words? “It is finished!”
The cross now provides us an invitation. He hung on that cross as an invitation to everyone to return to God. Jesus said in John 3:14-15 …so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life…
The next time we see a cross, whether it’s on a church building or a tattoo, I hope we will see it not just as another decoration but that we will be reminded of the story behind the symbol.
