1 Corinthians 1
v18/25.
This morning I want to speak about the Cross, and have chosen a passage from Paul’s 1st Letter to the Church at Corinth.
This morning I want to speak about the Cross, and have chosen a passage from Paul’s 1st Letter to the Church at Corinth.
Paul wrote to
give advice and admonishment to the people there because of the way they were
acting. He is showing us in this passage how the Cross is so important for us
as Christians, and how it is involved in human affairs and thinking.
Each religious
faith has its own symbol. Muslims have the crescent moon; the Jews have the
Star of David, but for Christians we have the Cross.
Some Churches
have a Cross outside and most also display the Cross inside. It is embossed
upon our Bibles and prayer books and ladies particularly wear a gold cross.
Paul said he
gloried in the Cross. He said, we preach Christ crucified, and when writing to
the Galatian Church Paul stated, ‘God forbid that I should boast about anything
except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’, to indicate how much he prioritised
the Cross. He could have boasted about his
own intellect, his mastery of languages; he could have boasted about the unique
birth of Christ or the miracles performed, even the resurrection, but he didn’t,
only the Cross.
The bible tells
that God loves all people and wants then to be saved, and the whole bible from
cover to cover is about salvation. The Cross has always been the standard for
God’s people and the Church.
Let me now turn
to Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians Christians.
The Church at
Corinth was having problems which caused Paul to write to them. Corinth was a cosmopolitan city which has
been described as the Soho of its day, full of corruption and immorality. It
was a trading centre and there was much wealth and a style of living which did
not match up to Christian standards. The Church, which had started with much
power, was allowing some of the culture to invade the Church, and some members
were influenced by the rhetoric of some preachers who were deviating from
gospel, and this caused division and dissension within the Church.
We have a
similar situation here where there are men/women, occupying the most prominent
position in the Church, openly accepting and even encouraging Christians to
adopt the morality of society, despite the fact that the Bible expressly
condemns doing so.
Paul begins this
passage by saying Christ sent him to preach the gospel, not with profound words
and high-sounding ideas, for there is mighty power in the simple message of the
Cross of Christ. I think sometimes that a more social message is preferred.
If you see a
restaurant advertising good class food and you enter, only to find you are
served ‘junk’ food, you are not likely to visit again. People are now visiting
churches expecting to hear spiritual messages, hearing what the bible states
about the moral and spiritual issues of the day, and in too many places hear poor
messages which are in direct contradiction of the bible, leaving them confused
and dejected. We must tell the true meaning of Scripture so they can understand
that which God wants them to know.
Paul always taught there are two distinct points of view, two
black or white absolutes that can never be reconciled, because they produce two
different responses to the gospel. We all have to decide now which we believe.
We have a choice to make for our future when this life is
over. Many people don’t want to think of that and dismiss it from their
minds. Many more believe there is no
need to worry, as long as one leads a ‘good’ life we are all going to heaven.
Apart from the fact ‘good’ has not been defined, how would we know when he had
done enough?
I have taken hundreds of funeral services in the past forty
odd years, and irrespective that the deceased never read a bible, attended
church, and being totally unaware of belief, it was always thought the relatives
of the deceased, the person was heaven bound.
Unless you accept the Cross and its meaning, you are not able
to make an assessment of the future. The Cross is the pivotal point of
Christianity. If you tell people that
all their efforts and achievements will not put them right with God, and the
only way is to believe the death of Christ on the Cross, and we can do nothing
to earn our salvation, they will think it ridiculous.
The Cross strikes at the heart of human pride. Just as the
Jews could never accept that a man hanging on a Cross could save the world, so
today people mock the idea. Those who are blind to the truth of the gospel are said
to be ‘perishing’, which means unsaved and are eternally lost. To them however,
it is absurd, and they refuse to believe the Biblical teaching that states to
achieve eternal salvation you have to believe that a man died on a Cross 2000
years ago, in a little country on the far side of the world, and did so that
our sins may be forgiven.
The other reaction is that the Cross is the power of God to those of us who have accepted Christ’s death on the Cross as our means of salvation.
Why take a risk on your eternal future? If you were due to
fly to America and as you were boarding the plane you were told there was a 1%
chance the plane would not make it across the Atlantic, would you still fly?
Paul said he understood how foolish it sounds to those who
are lost when they heard that Jesus died to save them, but God had said He
would destroy all human plans of salvation no matter how wise they seem to be
to men, even the most brilliant of them. He said ‘you come to me my way, or you
do not come at all’.
If you wear a Cross you should ask yourself, why you are
wearing it, what does it mean to me? Most people just see it as an item of
jewellery, such an idea would have been horrifying bearing in mind the tortuous
death it carried; it would be like wearing a model of the gallows around the
neck. It was so crude a death it was never mentioned in polite company.
Paul asks where is the wise man, where is the scholar,
where is the philosopher of this age, has not God made foolish the wisdom of
the world. Challenging them who
think they can solve life’s problems.
Paul is speaking to those in the Church who claimed to be wise and proud of their wisdom, which they were using to divide the Church and to promote themselves by changing the message of the Cross to make it more acceptable. Paul is telling them it is worthless in the sight of God and will only destroy the Church.
Paul is speaking to those in the Church who claimed to be wise and proud of their wisdom, which they were using to divide the Church and to promote themselves by changing the message of the Cross to make it more acceptable. Paul is telling them it is worthless in the sight of God and will only destroy the Church.
The Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look to wisdom. This
was a stumbling block which could not be overcome by Jews or Gentiles, but to
those who do believe it is a message of power.
The Jews demanded that what Paul was teaching
should be proved by some miraculous sign. Jews could not ever accept that the
Messiah would be crucified; it was totally contradictory to their belief. The
Greeks placed so much influence on human wisdom and intellectual ability to be
the means of salvation.
God chose a way which ordinary people could understand.
Abraham Lincoln once stated God must have loved ordinary people because He made
so many of them. Paul gave them an ordinary and simple message, believe in
Jesus Christ who gave His life to be crucified on the Cross and you will have
eternal life. If we had to be very wise and academic, millions of people would
never have come to know the Lord. Heaven would be only for the clever people.
The gospel message is the opposite of worldly wisdom and is
hard for some to believe, but we do believe. But there are still people who
want to see some proof for what we preach. The Bible states, by grace you shall
be saved through faith’. If you have to see signs or other proof to believe,
you don’t need faith. True faith means believing in what you cannot see.
God said, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the
intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate’.
The message of the world sees us as self-sufficient beings; there is no need of God. We have the ability to think and reason which will prove sufficient to eventually solve all of our problems. Obviously, God doesn’t think so much of it.
The message of the world sees us as self-sufficient beings; there is no need of God. We have the ability to think and reason which will prove sufficient to eventually solve all of our problems. Obviously, God doesn’t think so much of it.
Just where has all the wisdom of the so-called wise brought
us? How well have we done in solving the world’s problems? Have we eradicated
poverty? Has all our research and expertise in the fields of science and
medicine rid our world of disease? Have we found a cure for cancer? There is
more suffering now than history records.
With all the highly educated professional
educators, how can we still have ignorant people wandering our streets,
graduating from our schools and colleges not knowing basic maths or English?
Look at the enormous amount of hatred in the world with many
of the Arab countries wanting to wipe Israel off the face of the map; the
barbarity of Islamic militants. Paradoxically hatred has been introduced into
our society by legislation. The (inequitable) Equality and Diversity Bill has
caused considerable distress. Consider the hate mail and persecution
experienced Christians who do not wish to surrender their beliefs to society’s
morality.
The unfortunate reality is that for all our so-called sophistication,
we have not been able to solve the basic problems of society–– problems that
have been around since the beginning. Certainly, we have been able to see great
advances technologically. We have great new gadgets. But on the really
important issues of life, we don’t even have temporary solutions.
But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles,
Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The Cross upon which Jesus died was not only a place where he bore the sins of humanity and paid the penalty for those sins, it is also a way for our lives by his power. It is saying that God became weak in order to save us. It says that when we surrender our lives, we truly find them. It is the very power of God, concealed from the so-called wise and sophisticated and revealed to those who come as a child, in simple faith and trust.
The Cross upon which Jesus died was not only a place where he bore the sins of humanity and paid the penalty for those sins, it is also a way for our lives by his power. It is saying that God became weak in order to save us. It says that when we surrender our lives, we truly find them. It is the very power of God, concealed from the so-called wise and sophisticated and revealed to those who come as a child, in simple faith and trust.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the
weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength
Today the cross of Christ is still a cause of offence. The message of the cross of Christ is still foolishness to those who are perishing. To them the cross is the weakest link. In the Cross, we see the power of God displayed. God was powerful enough to become weak. And it will take the power of God in our lives to humble ourselves in complete surrender to him. The good news is that God has given us his power. It is now the duty and responsibility of the Church to boldly proclaim this.
There is one
underlying message running right through this passage. ‘There is only one way
to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ’. God gave His only Son that
whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. We do not
earn our right to heaven by all the good things we do, being saved is a gift
from God, if we could earn it would not be free. God accepts us when we believe
in Christ.Today the cross of Christ is still a cause of offence. The message of the cross of Christ is still foolishness to those who are perishing. To them the cross is the weakest link. In the Cross, we see the power of God displayed. God was powerful enough to become weak. And it will take the power of God in our lives to humble ourselves in complete surrender to him. The good news is that God has given us his power. It is now the duty and responsibility of the Church to boldly proclaim this.
May the Cross always remind you of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for the salvation that can be yours.
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