Christianity: A Past Event and Present Reality

"I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."
--1 Cor. 15:3-5 

All too often the cross and resurrection of Christ is proclaimed as though it's a fairy-tale.  I don't question whether preachers and Christians believe in it or not.  I think most of them do believe it happened--I just know that for a long time I believed in it like I believed in poverty in other countries:  Something that's real, but since it didn't immediately effect my present situation, I never was forced to wrestle with it or think about it in deep and "present" terms.  It's important, but only in conversation--not existentially.

Yet Christianity, since it's inception, has been entirely wrapped up in an event that happened.  The work of the Son of God who stepped foot onto earth 2000 years ago and fulfilled the Law of God which man is entirely incapable of keeping (see Mt 5:17, Rom 8:1-4), is to pay a ransom for the sins of many people (Mk 10:45) who are His sheep/Church (Jn 10:15), that they would be "set free from sin" (Jn 8:34-36, Ac 13:39).  His being betrayed, tried, condemned, and crucified was all the work of Sovereign God opening the way of salvation (see Ac 2:23, 3:18, 4:27-28) for those in darkness, as also was Christ's being risen the work of God (2:23, Rom 8:11).  Through His work on the cross--His death as a perfect final sacrifice instead of the person--the person can receive the gift of eternal life simply by having faith in the goodness of the work in Christ's death and resurrection (see Rom 3:23-26), because through the work of Christ, His Spirit comes from Him to the person, and they are counted righteous, seated with Christ "in the heavenly places" (Eph 2:4-5), and through His work they begin to walk in "good works, which God has prepared for (them) to do" (2:10). 

Do you understand this?  The cross and resurrection as an event that actually happened is at the center and core of all that Christianity is.  If it didn't happen, or if it is only approached flippantly and half-asleep, the natural course of the Christian message will be legalism masked as "Gospel": "Obey these commands, and you'll be saved", which is no different than the Law of the Old Testament.  This is why almost all Christian preaching and writing is to one of two extremes: Hyper-legalism (command-keeping as the central tenet), or Relative-loveism (no command matters, just love).  Of course, these are both the same thing.  The former is just explicit with setting up a Law for sinful and spiritually dead people to follow by their helpless self; the latter deceives itself to think it has the better standard, but it certainly is still a standard which helpless people have to keep, and so is a Law as well. 
And neither one is a Gospel, because both give the hearer a standard to have to measure to from where they're at presently. 

But the Christian message has been about good news even 400 years before it happened (see Isaiah 40:9, 52:7), as it was from the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry (see Mk 1:15), and so also when He ascended to heaven after the resurrection his disciples were to preach the same good news/Gospel (see Mk 16:15).  And what was the message?:

    --"When the Spirit comes upon you, you will bear witness about me"--(Jesus in Ac 1:8).

This is why every page of the book of Acts has the Apostles preaching sermons about Jesus' good work on the cross and out of the grave.  And this is why Paul, writing in the original passage at the top of the page, reminds the Corinthian church that just as he came preaching the gospel of "Christ crucified" (see 1 Cor 1:17-24, 2:1-5), he also came preaching Christ resurrected (15:4-5).  The message, from first to last, was entirely Christ's finished work of going to the cross, rising from the grave, and sitting down at the right hand of God (see 15:27, and the Old Testament passage there quoted). 

Because of this event in history, there are infinite riches in the present reality.  The gift of Son/Daughter-ship is a present reality dependent upon the past event (Rom 8:15-17, Gal 4:4-7), as well as the gift of belonging to Christ (1 Cor 3:9,16,20; 6:19-20), and the gift of the sanctifying power of Christ to make us pure and holy in Christ-likeness (Jn 17:19, 1 Cor 6:11, Eph 5:26-27, 2 Thes 2:13, Heb 9:14). 
Of course this is all dependent upon the greatest gift of all: His Holy Spirit.  It has been said that Christ's work was really meant to be the precursor to the fuller work of the Holy Spirit.  This wouldn't be inappropriate to say, especially in light of the fact that the Prophets have God's giving His Spirit as THE Great Promise (see Prov 1:23, Ezek 38:27, Joel 2:28-29), and Jesus refers to Him (the Spirit) as the "promise of the Father" (Luke 24:49). 
But also note that the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' and the Scripture's own words, can't come unless He goes to the cross and then ascends back to heaven (see Jn 7:39 "those who believe in Him were to receive...the Spirit...(but it) had not been given (yet), because Jesus was not yet glorified", and also Jn 15:7 "it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.").  And when the Spirit comes, He will "guide (believers) into all the truth" (Jn 16:13), dwell in the believers as Christ's presence (see Jn 14:16-24, and read it carefully), and He will cause them to bear witness about Jesus (Ac 1:8, and note the structure of the sentence). 

Do you see what I'm saying?  The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is what drives and fuels all of the Christian life, and from it we derive all of our life and identity and worth and focus.  But without the Cross and Resurrection as an explicit and definite event that happened, approached in reverence and humility among the people of God, the benefits of it's work will never be understood clearly, and so Christianity will be lost among those among whom it has no reason to be lost.  Legalism (on one polar end) and relative love-ism (on the other) will be the message to be preached.  And while the intention of the proponents of either might be as good as can be, neither message is a Gospel.  And so neither message is Christianity.  Because neither depends on Christ.