Cruciformed: Life Conforming to the Crucified Christ

“Cruciformity is, in other words, Paul’s oddly inviting, even compelling, narrative spirituality.  It is...a spirituality of the cross - the focus of his gospel and his life.”
-Michael Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross, pg 5.

This sermon series was preached two years ago, but it seems that it is just as timely now as it was then.  At this time, the United States is wrestling with whether to go to war with Syria, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke have just performed a raunchy and gross musical act on MTV’s VMA Awards, and churches are struggling to effectively engage a new generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  How do we pass along a healthy understanding of morality and the virtues in a way that is also faithful to Christ?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t just about changing our status from “unforgiven sinner” to “forgiven saint” but also about a new way of living and being.  We cast off the old ways of sin and brokenness and embrace a new life.  How does this new way of being impact our understanding of morality and virtue?  The cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified didn’t just atone, or pay for, our sinfulness, it also conforms us to Christ, transforming our understanding of morality and virtue.  We are different because of this, and so we live differently as a result.
This series explores the seven classical virtues, the historic understanding of what they were, how the cross of Jesus Christ transforms our understanding of them, and how we are called to live in light of that transformation.
The inspiration for this sermon series came from a series of sermons preached by Dr. Reggie Kidd in chapel while I was a student at Reformed Theological Seminary.  With his permission, I borrowed the weekly topics, and drew much inspiration from, that sermon series.  The references to his sermons are clear, and almost all of the content is my application of the material to the local church setting in which I found myself in the summer of 2011.  
Rev. David Garrison
September, 2013