Master of the Universe.

Growing up, my favorite cartoon was He-Man. The intro was electric—loud, energetic, heroic. He-Man would lift his sword and declare, “By the power of Grayskull,” and instantly he was transformed into a fearless warrior who defended the universe and always won. If we’re honest, that’s often how we imagine the Son of God. That’s how we imagine Jesus and the Christian life—powerful, victorious, impressive, unstoppable. We imagine strength, spectacle, and conquest. But when we turn to the Gospel, that’s not what we find at all.

Jesus does not come wielding a sword but a cross. His Spirit animal is not a battle-cat but a dove. He does not seize power through force but receives a crown of thorns. In Matthew 5, Jesus introduces His kingdom not through domination but through blessing—blessing that comes through weakness, mourning, meekness, suffering, and even death. This is His way of becoming the true Master of the universe. And shockingly, this is the way He calls His followers to walk.

The way of life Jesus presents is off-putting. It sounds backward. It doesn’t sound joyful or successful or attractive. Blessed are the poor in spirit? Blessed are those who mourn? Blessed are the meek? Blessed are those who are persecuted? That sounds like a terrible strategy for life. It sounds foolish. And that’s exactly Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians. The way of Jesus looks like nonsense to the world. Yet it is the very way Jesus Himself lived—and it is the only way that leads to true joy, blessing, and life. To gain life, you must live low. To be wise, you must become a fool.

The Christian life is not glamorous. It isn’t sexy. It isn’t a joyride. The blessings we all want—peace, joy, communion with God, eternal life—come through a path we don’t want to walk. But Jesus is honest about that from the beginning. The Beatitudes don’t describe an impressive life; they describe a cruciform life. They show us the road that leads where we say we want to go. That’s why Jesus tells us to count the cost. Are you ready to be humbled? Are you ready to mourn? Are you ready to be meek? Are you ready to be mocked? Are you ready to lose your life?

To follow Jesus is to follow the way of the cross. And the cross, to the world, is absolute nonsense. The cross was an extraordinary instrument of execution—designed not only to kill but to shame, to deter, to warn others: If you live like this man, you will die like this man. To imitate the crucified was to invite crucifixion yourself. That’s why Paul says the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

But that foolishness is intentional. There is no other way to receive the life Christ offers except by sharing in His cross. To gain life, you must lose it. To lose your life, it must be reduced to nothing. And how does God make something into nothing? Through death. How does He bring down the wise? Through foolishness. How does He bring down the strong? Through weakness. How does He humble the proud? Through shame. God uses what the world despises—what it mocks and rejects—to overcome the world and set it right.

This is why the Gospel is offensive. It always has been. Paul doesn’t soften it: “We preach Christ crucified—a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” To the Jewish leaders, a crucified Messiah was intolerable. To the Gentile world, it was absurd. A dead man as Savior? A crucified Jew as Lord of all? Madness. And yet, to those who believe, this message is the power of God for salvation.

How someone responds to the Gospel reveals the direction of their life. The same message that leads one person to repentance will lead another to rage. It will produce worship in some and mockery in others. And when the message of the cross threatens the world’s power, control, and narratives, it is often met with resistance. Sometimes that resistance is loud and violent. Other times it is quiet and subtle. It may come through social pressure, rejection, gossip, cold shoulders, lost opportunities, or strained relationships. It may come from strangers—or from your own town, your own family, even your own church.

And yet, here is the strange good news: Jesus saves us by His life so that we can live a life like His. He saves us to the life of the cross. That doesn’t sound like good news until you see it worked out in Him. His path led through suffering, rejection, and death—but it did not end there. The cross led to resurrection. Death led to life. Shame led to glory.

This is why Jesus ends the Beatitudes with promise. The life of the cross may separate you from the world. It may bring persecution. It may make you look like a fool. But it also brings eternal reward. The Beatitudes don’t sound beautiful until you see what they produce. Then they sound astonishing. They make the life of the cross worth it.

If you want to master life, you must lose your life to find it. You must follow the true Master of the universe in the way He teaches you to live. When you endure, you will receive more than you could ever imagine. One day there will be no more crosses to carry, no more mockery to endure—only Jesus welcoming you into His rest. And on that day, you will be glad you were a fool in this world so that you might be wise in the next. You will be glad you forfeited this life to gain the abundant life that never ends.

And to leave you with a glimpse of how Jesus wielded that emblem of suffering and shame—how the cross became the throne from which the true Master of the universe ruled—hear this:

The Power of the Cross

God and King, Jesus claimed to be

So the leaders of men hung Him on a tree

When Christ breathed his last and was laid in the tomb.

Satan thought he had defeated the one born of the virgin’s womb.

Hell broke out with cheers in victorious style

Then came a sound that they hadn’t heard in a while.

Hell fell silent and Satan inclined his ear

he heard a knock on the door and a voice very clear:

“Open up you ancient doors and let the King of Glory come in

I am strong and mighty and the battle did I win

I have come to set the captives free

and preach to the dead my Victory

For Sin and Satan have been overcome

By the wisdom of God that the world thought dumb

What was designed for evil God used for good

and worked salvation on a piece of wood.”

So don’t empty the cross or lighten its load

but bear its weight so that you can fully know

The Love of God he showed in an unusual way

through death on a cross, which was foolish some say.

But God used the foolish to shame the wise,

so that those who are lost can receive the prize,

salvation, life, and eternal reward

For all who carry their cross and follow the Lord.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Bruce