The Absence of the Cross in Worship

On Bob Kaulfin's website he has recently responded to a question dealing with the absence of the cross in many contemporary worship song. He says that this is indeed not healthy and then he proceeds to list 10 reasons why anyone would want to shy away from the heart of our faith. Why would we shy away from proclaiming what is the heart of our faith? Here are ten reasons that come to mind:

1. We assume everyone understands and remembers what God accomplished through Christ’s death. While this would be wonderful, it’s untrue.
2. Our pride tempts us to think of worship as something we can do on our own, rather than something Christ has done for us. It’s not our efforts, our leaders, our instruments, our passion, or our sincerity that enables us to enter God’s presence and worship Him. It’s Jesus Christ, who bore God’s wrath against us and offered God a perfect sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 10:19-22).
3. We think the Christian life begins with Christ saving us from our sins and moves on to pleasing God through our good works and service. We don’t realize that the Gospel remains our only foundation, providing hope, joy, security, peace, faith, and assurance for our life with God. The New Testament writers were consistent in their focus on the significance of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ for our lives (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Col. 3:1-4; 1 Pet. 1:22-2:5; Heb. 10:19-23; 1 John 4:7-10).
4. We don’t like to sing songs about God’s wrath. Keith Getty has told me that he’s received numerous requests to alter this line from In Christ Alone: "And on the cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied." If we remove the wrath of God from Scripture, it’s hard to explain God’s requirement for sacrifice throughout the Old Testament, God’s concern for holiness, and the existence of hell. Which is why when the wrath of God goes, the rest seem to follow.
5. We don’t understand the significance of Christ’s death ourselves.
6. We look for more creative, interesting, or “mature” themes to sing about.
7. We enjoy singing and writing songs about what we do and feel more than songs about what God has done for us in Christ.
8. Pastors haven’t taught their congregations why the cross must remain central not only to our songs but to our lives (Gal. 6:14; Phil. 3:7-11).
9. Songwriters haven’t studied their Bibles well.
10. We forget that the throngs of heaven will worship the Lamb who was slain forever (Rev. 5:8-14).

"I’m sure there are more reasons. All of this is to say that whether you’re a writer, a leader, or simply a member of the church, we must never lose sight of our glorious Redeemer and his substitutionary sacrifice, which satisfied the holy justice of God against us, and through faith enables us to become God’s adopted children. May our song always be:

My heart is filled with a thousand songs

Proclaiming the glories of Calvary

With every breath, Lord how I long

To sing of Jesus who died for me

Lord take me deeper into the glories of Calvary.

From The Glories of Calvary by Steve and Vikki Cook. Copyright 2003 Sovereign Grace Worship"