The Message of the Cross

Well, good morning. We want to give you greetings in the Lord's name. We're very thankful for all the visitors who are here this morning. It's been mentioned a number of times, but we are truly grateful that you're here sharing in this day with us.

On a dreary day like today, I'm always just thankful for the evidence that God's Spirit is at work. And I've felt that this morning. I sort of feel like the message that the Lord laid on my heart this morning somewhat goes along with what we've been talking about.

You can turn to First Corinthians. We'll continue our study in the book of First Corinthians.

So last time in our introduction to this book, we just looked a little bit at the context in which Paul was writing. We looked at the city. We noted that the city of Corinth was at the time the third largest in the Roman Empire, comparable to maybe Chicago or something like that in our country here. It was a very wicked, evil place and a lot of idol worship. Things were dedicated. There were temples there dedicated to Aphrodite, to Apollo, and many other gods.

Prostitution and sexual immorality was rampant. And yet when Paul goes there, God gave Paul a message and said, "I have many people in this city." And He warned Paul not to give up, not to be afraid. And so we come to this letter a few years after Paul was there, and we see a church that had a lot of problems.

There was all kinds of things going on in the church in Corinth. And I guess what we came to the conclusion last time was that in spite of all that, we see a love that Paul had for the church there. And we see the fact that he did not give up because Paul recognized that it wasn't his church, but it was God's church. And we ended with the pattern that or the plea that Paul gave to the church in Corinth. And I'm going to just start beginning reading at verse 10 of chapter one, and I'm going to read to verse five of chapter two.

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household that there are contentions among you.

Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. That no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That, as it is written, "He who glories let him glory in the Lord."

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

So Paul starts out here with a pattern that he lays out for his desire for the church here in Corinth.

And he's calling them to like-mindedness. He says that, "I want you to be perfectly joined together." And again, I would like to remind you that the word "joined" is the word "mend." It's the same word that when Jesus came across the fishermen mending their nets.

And to me, that suggests that brotherhood and the work of the church takes a continual effort, a continual effort to keep that joined together, to join together things that are apart. It takes maintenance. And he calls them then, he says, to be of the same mind and the same judgment. And he's calling for such a oneness that they actually start to think alike. And we notice that in maybe a marriage where a husband and wife have been together for many years, and we start to say, "Well, you know, they actually start to think. They start to think alike."

And I guess the thing that I would like to encourage us with this morning is Paul would not have called us to this pattern if it were not possible. And I think sometimes we become discouraged and think, "You know, this is pie in the sky by and by. It just doesn't happen." And so he calls us to this, and I believe it is indeed possible for this to actually happen. But like I say, it takes work. It takes that maintenance.

And so then Paul goes on to say that, "It's been reported among you that there's divisions." And these divisions sort of came out in the manner of different factions or people gravitating toward different people. And so he mentions four different factions here that were a part of the church there. Of course, the first one says, "I am of Paul."

And I'd like us to think just very practically. This was a letter written to a real church that were facing very ordinary and real situations. And so when I read a letter like this, it's always nice to try to think about how it would be if someone would send a letter to our church and some of the things that we may face. So we would say, "Well, maybe we don't have these things." But I just want us to think about it. So some were saying, "I'm of Paul." Well, Paul was the founder. He was the one that came and shared the gospel. He was one of the originals.

Does that sound familiar? Well, I'm for the one that was one of the originals that has it all. That's the one. Paul's the one that I trust. Some were saying that they were of Apollos. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria. He was very eloquent.

Acts 18:24 says he was mighty in the Scriptures, fervent in spirit, and he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing that Jesus is the Christ.

So Apollos was a powerful speaker. Maybe he was a younger man. I'm for the guy that has the energy. Some of this other stuff, we maybe feel like we're maybe stuck a little bit. And Apollos, he has the zip and the fervor, and he has the ability to persuade. And so that's who I'm after.

There were some that said, "I'm of Cephas."

There were some Jews that were converted here. And it just is maybe reading in between the lines a little bit. But we know how Peter responded in maybe some and in somewhat of a wrong way there in Galatians, where he wouldn't eat with certain people when the Jews came. Otherwise, he would eat with the Gentiles. And so maybe there was a faction. This is just supposition. But maybe there was a faction in Corinth that sort of leaned that direction and felt like they had a sympathetic ear among the Jews in Peter.

And then there was a faction that said that, "I'm of Christ." And we all are to be one with Christ. However, I think Paul is calling out maybe a spirit here, someone who says, "I get my orders straight from headquarters. I don't need anybody else.

God told me that this is what I'm supposed to do."

And I just asked ourselves, does that sound familiar? Can we relate to that?

And so there were divisions. There were sides. There were loyalties. And I'd just like to take a close look at ourselves.

Could that be possible? Maybe we wouldn't say it. But it's a very real... It was a very real temptation for the people there in Corinth. And I think it can be a real temptation for us as well. And so to get them started thinking correctly, Paul asked three questions. So he says, "You're sensible people.

Is Christ divided?" The church is to be the body of Christ, members of one another. Is Christ divided? No. Christ is not divided.

Was Paul crucified for you?

Did Paul die for you? Who was it that was nailed to the cross? Was it Paul? No.

Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No.

Think back to your baptism. You were baptized in the name of Jesus, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So he's calling them and says, "I want you to think a little bit." You're thinking people. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course, these were rhetorical questions, and the answer is a resounding no.

And then Paul goes into a little bit of a detour here. And as he's thinking about this baptism thing, "Were you baptized in the name of Paul?" I think his mind started to go on... He got to thinking, "I'm actually glad that I didn't baptize very many people, because that would only add to this problem that we have." And so he says, "I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name." And I really like... This is maybe just a little bit of an aside. But again, I'd like to reinforce that Paul was a real human being, writing. And his memory is like our memory sometimes.

They don't serve us well. And I can imagine him sitting there with maybe Sosthenes, who was helping him write this letter. And he says, "I'm glad that I only ever baptized anyone, none of you except Crispus and Gaius." And then Sosthenes says, "Wait a minute. Didn't you baptize the household of Stephanus?" "Oh, yeah.

Yes, I did." And so he goes right on and corrects himself there and says, "Oh, yes. I also baptized the household of Stephanus." And then he says, "I'm not sure. My memory may be faulty. I don't think I baptized anyone else."

To me, it just... It surely reinforces the fact that Paul was a real person and had shortcomings like we do in our memories and so on. It just lends a real realness to this letter. The point that Paul was making was not that baptism wasn't important.

But the point that Paul was making is that he was just thankful that there was not another distraction there that would have caused people to draw the wrong conclusions.

And then Paul goes on to state the work that Christ called him to. And he said, "Namely, it was to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect." And so the title of the message today is "The Message of the Cross."

What is the gospel? What is this message of the cross?

There's something that stands in the way of the message of the cross, and it's the wisdom of this world or the wisdom of man. And it's such a problem that Paul says that if we try to proclaim the gospel with wisdom of man's words, the cross of Christ becomes of no effect. And I want us to think about how serious that is.

The cross of Christ should be made of no effect. He says, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." So I'd like to think just a little bit about what is the message of the cross? It's the gospel message.

And if we think back to the four great messages in the book of Acts, think back... The first one is in Acts 2. There's another message in Acts 3 and Acts 4, and then in Acts chapter 10. There's a consistent theme that comes out of those messages.

The first one is that the time of God has come.

In other words, down through history, God had promised clear back in the Garden of Eden that He's going to send somebody who's going to bruise Satan's heel. And part of the gospel message is, "That has come. Jesus has come. That time is here."

And then there was a summary of the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

There was a recognition that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Old Testament.

There was a call that said, "Jesus is coming again," and an invitation to repent and receive the Holy Spirit. That's the gospel message. It's simple, and yet it's powerful. I think about it. If we read that message that Peter gave there on the day of Pentecost, I wonder what our... If we would judge it by our standards today, what would we think of that message?

Peter basically rehearsed their history and pointed out that pathway down through history and how Jesus was the fulfillment of that. And it was when Peter made that proclamation that said, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assurely that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." And the reaction to that was when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brother, and what shall we do?"

And Peter said, "Repent and be baptized."

Jesus said in John chapter 12, verse 32, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." And He said this signifying by what death He should die. And the point is that the crucifixion of Christ, Christ crucified, is a very powerful thing. It's very drawing.

And I was impressed with the song that we sang this morning, Christ's Everlasting Gospel. It says, "Our King shall come in glory. His conquering cross we hail. The power of His salvation shall never, never fail." So the message of the cross is power.

But to the world, it's stupidity. It's foolishness. And He says that man's wisdom is coming to nothing. "For it is written," Isaiah said this, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

The world looks on at this simple story, the simple gospel, and a lot of them just say it makes no sense.

It's foolishness.

He asked the question, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe or the scholar? Where is the debater of this world?" Again, He appeals to the Corinthians and their ability to think. And He said, "Take a look at these folks.

What kind of success have they had in coming to true peace with the God of the universe?"

And we have a very... I think we have Exhibit A in our world today when it comes to the wisdom of this world. In California, a bee can be a fish. There was recently some bumblebees they wanted to protect through their Endangered Species Act in California. And they were sued saying that the bee did not come under the protected species. And so they read some really, really fine print somewhere. And somewhere about a fish, it said an invertebrate.

And so, ugh, we... And the courts and these highly learned people agreed that a bee can be a fish and be protected under this law. And you know a child... We could ask... We could take a bumblebee here and a fish and say, "Are these two things the same?" And they're going to say, "A child would know." But that's what man's wisdom gets us.

And you know in our society, a man can be a woman. A woman can have a... A man can have a child. And it's ludicrous. And yet these are people coming out from the finest institutions of learning in our society. And if they cannot make decisions like that, how much more is their relationship with God and the peace that Christ brings? How much more is that a disaster? I recently read a story of a man who traveled around all throughout the Mediterranean. And one of the things he would do would be... He would go to the birthplace of some of these great artists and writers and so on. And the thing that just struck me was how much their lives were a disaster.

I mean, pure disaster in their relationships. They couldn't get along with people. Their marriages three or four or five times. Immorality and so on. And yet it's the wisdom of this world. And so God says, "For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God." And what He's saying there is that God in His wisdom designed it. That the way to find God is not through this wisdom. It's not through our... It's not through our own concoctions.

How then are we saved? "It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." Simply believing in Christ, the resurrected, crucified Lord.

And I'm thankful this morning that God didn't, in His wisdom, didn't make it, that we have to find Him through some kind of wisdom.

But that it was through the simple belief in Jesus who came and lived a life here and was crucified and is resurrected again. He says, "The Jews seek a sign. Then the Greeks seek after wisdom." And if we turn back to John chapter 12, verse 37, "But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, 'Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?' Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, 'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts, and turn so that I should heal them.'

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him." And so here it says that Jesus did many signs in front of the Jews, and they still did not believe.

The Greeks, they were looking for wisdom.

To the Greeks, what kind of God can even save Himself? And that accusation was thrown at Jesus. He saved others. Himself, He cannot save. And in the Greek's mind, a God should be able to stand up on His own two feet.

It was a bunch of nonsense to the Greeks.

And it was a stumbling block to the Jews. Deuteronomy... The Jews were looking for a reason to put Jesus out of the picture. And Deuteronomy 21 says in verse 32, "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is of cursed of God." And these scribes knew their scriptures, and they were looking for a reason to put Jesus out of the picture.

And so they said, "Obviously, He's not the Messiah." Because... And so Jesus crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews. And it's no different today.

The whole idea that God came here in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. I think most people, especially at this time, we see these mangers and nativity scenes and so on. But I think in a lot of people's mind, it's a nice fantasy.

Give me Snowman, Santa Claus, elves, and yeah, we'll put a little Jesus here. But it's not a reality. It's not a reality in their lives. And so we face the same thing in our society today. When you really share the simple gospel and say, "It's all about Jesus who came and lived an example here. He was crucified in our stead, and He rose again. And now we have a responsibility to surrender our hearts to Him." And people look at you and say, "It doesn't make any sense.

It's foolishness."

But verse 24, He says, "To those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

And I'll reference back to... When we think about those who are called, I'll reference back to verse 2, "To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of the Lord our... Call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." So those who are called are those who simply reach out in faith and say, "Lord, I need You."

And Christ is the power and wisdom of God. And He goes on to say then that, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Why is this so? Well, He says in verses 26 through 30, and I'm going to reread these verses, "For you see your calling, brethren, not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. That no flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him you are in Jesus Christ, in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

That, as it is written, 'He who glories', let him glory in the Lord." The purpose, the reason God did not ordain that it's wisdom is how we find Him. But it's through the preaching of the cross is so that we can take no glory in ourselves.

That we can only glory in the Lord Jesus Christ, who became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

So how does this message of the cross impact us today in a practical, everyday way? I mean, it's one thing to talk about the message of the cross. What is your view of the cross? And how does the cross impact my life? "You know, to many people, many Christians, professing Christians today, Jesus was crucified and died once for all in my place, so that I would not have to suffer, but could enjoy the abundant life that He purchased for me."

There's a large portion that is left out in that view. Because Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."

Christ died and saved us from the penalty of sin, from eternal damnation. But He did not die and save us from the cross. He died so that we could be glorified, but not to keep us from being crucified. And you know I think all too often in our lives, the cross is relegated somewhere back in the distant past. As David Perso put it years ago, you know it's this little white, small plastic cross that we somehow put on our shelves. Or maybe it's nothing more to me than a sentimental object of song. You know the cross was a horrible thing. It was an instrument of death.

And you know we cannot safely relegate it to the distant past. You know Jesus was soaked in blood. Unfortunately, this is the view of many today. Jesus was soaked in blood so that I can soak in my jacuzzi. The bigger the tub, the more we honor the cross. And that's the prosperity gospel that we live in today.

Jesus said, "No, we have to take up our cross daily." The cross is going to deal a death blow to our own selfishness. The cross is going to deal a death blow to my individualism that I that wants to rear its ugly head.

And it's for this reason that Paul immediately, in the face of these divisions in the church at Corinth, points us to the cross. Because it's going to deal a blow to the sectarianism that that wants to rear its head as well. It's Christ and Him crucified. It's only as pride is dealt a death blow, and we find ourselves at the foot of the cross daily, that the pattern that Paul holds out in verse 10 can be realized, that we all think the same things, that we have the mind of Christ.

Only then can relationships be mended, perfectly joined together, as we collectively look to Jesus, who's the author and finisher of our faith.

So the cross has to have a very practical, daily impact in our lives. And finally then, how does this outlet affect the way that I share the gospel, that I fulfill the great commission? And I'm going to read again chapter 2, verses 1 to 5, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

You know we face a great temptation because the world thinks that this gospel is foolishness.

We face a temptation, as we share the gospel, to try to dress it up, to try to make it palatable to the world. And what do we tend to do that with? The wisdom of this world.

Maybe if we could just have a more clever argument or put on a slick production somehow. And Paul says that he didn't come with excellency of speech or wisdom, deliberately so. And that's what I want us to think about. He made a conscience effort when he came to Corinth, that I'm not going to make my appeal to these people in that way.

You know sometimes you know there's other scriptures that would sort of lend us to believe that maybe Paul was not, in his appearance or maybe even in his delivery, was that great of a speaker. And yet Paul was a learned man. He was taught under the feet, at the feet of Gamaliel.

And I really do believe if Paul wanted to, he could have approached it this way. But he says, "I deliberately was determined, when I came to you, to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified." You know he'd just come from Athens. And in Athens, he was involved a little bit in that debate with these debaters of this age.

And he had very limited success there. Am I saying that we shouldn't be clear or articulate and easy to understand when we share the gospel? Absolutely not. I think we need to do the best we can. But we run a real danger if we're not careful of being marketers of the gospel instead of messengers.

In our attempt to be seeker-sensitive, we begin to intersperse some of man's wisdom. And the challenging part there is Paul says, if we do that, the cross of Christ loses its power.

In doing so, we make the simple message of the cross of no effect.

Paul's whole point in this passage is that the simple gospel message of Christ and Him crucified is where the power lies. That's where the power lies. It's through the Spirit of God, and we'll get into that the next time, God in this through His Spirit.

But it's very easy for us to focus then on the messenger and not the message as well. And I think that's what was happening in Corinth. You know the focus very quickly shifted back to the messenger. You know it was a challenge to me as I thought about this. How often have I said things like this? "You should go listen to so-and-so. He's a powerful speaker."

What about the message? How often do we say, "You should go listen to him because what he has to say will change your life."

And it was because of that that people said, "I'm of Paul, and I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Peter."

I'm going to give you an illustration, and then with this I close. Suppose you just been to a concert where there was beautiful violin music played by a very famous and accomplished violinist. So after the music has left you almost feeling just awed, has moved you deeply. And as the musician walks off the stage, the audience calls for an encore.

What comes back on the stage? Suppose an attendant would bring the violin on a little satin pillow and bring it and say, "What a wonderful instrument this is." It can bring you to tears. It might even be a Stradivarius.

We would say foolishness. It's not about the instrument, but it's the person who's... Well, it is about... The instrument has its part to play, but it's about the person who plays the instrument. And we are His instruments. And without Him, we can do nothing.

And that was Paul's desire. As he looked at the church at Ephesus, he saw all this sectarianism. He saw all the people getting sidetracked with wisdom of this world, with personality. You know it's never been about personality. It's been about the person, but not about personality.

We are His instruments. Without Him, we can do nothing. And so the question that we have left with today is, our desire should be to be used as an instrument for Christ, to be clay in the potter's hands. And why? "So that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Does anyone have any comment?