A Nobody Telling the World About Somebody

A little about myself

Oaxaca Mexico

Born in Oaxaca

My dad migrated to the US when I was 8 yrs old

My mom migrated to the US when I was 10 yrs old.

My parents became believers at this time.

Norfolk NE

When I was 14 yrs old, my dad brought me and my brother Jose to America (Norfolk, NE)

Undocumented

Spoke no English

Mom, “You never know what God can do and how he could use you”

I also became a follower of Jesus at age 14. I was baptized the next year.

Attended Nebraska Christian College and graduate in 2004

Elbow Lake, MN

How did I end up in Elbow Lake, MN?

I met a girl from Wester Central MN in Bible College on her last year of Bible college.

We got married on February 21, 2004.

After I graduated from Bible College we moved to Elbow Lake while we got my immigration status adjusted. It was supposed to take a couple of months. It ended up taking four years.

My plan was to attend Dallas Theological Seminary

God had other plans. A Spanish speaking church was started in Morris, MN in the spring of 2010.

Morris, MN

I showed up to attend the first Spanish service.

After Kevin Rosendahl left I was asked to do pulpit supply while they found a pastor for Latino ministries.

13 years later… I have been recommended to become the next senior pastor at MEFC.

I want to spend the rest of our time this morning sharing with you God’s Word.

I picked this passage last year. I resonate so much with what’s in here.

The passage that was read this morning could be broken into two sections: The message and the messenger. “A nobody telling the world about Somebody”

The message: Christ crucified

1 Cor 1:18 “18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Two responses: some reject it while others embrace it.

What would make some reject the word of the cross? It is folly for those who are perishing.

Paul explains it this way in 1 Cor. 1:23 “2but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,”

Christ crucified sounded like a contradiction in the first century.

Christ is not Jesus middle name. Christ is a title. It means anointed. It connotes strength and victory.

Crucifixion connotes shame, weakness and failure.

According to ancient historians such as Cicero & Josephus, crucifixion was the the worst type of death that Romans would use as a punishment due to the excruciating pain and public shame it would create. Crucifixion was reserved for dangerous criminals & slaves. Crucifixion was considered crude & shameful to the point that people wouldn’t even joke about it let alone mention it in polite company.

Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews.

The Jews expected the Christ to deliver them with strength and power. Anyone who has crucified meant that God had cursed that person.

Dt 21:22-23 “22 “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

Galatians 3:13 “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—”

Christ crucified is folly to the Gentiles (non Jews).

One commentator puts it this way,

Greeks sought what they perceived to be rational and beautiful and thought crucifixion signified a criminal’s defeat, so they rejected a crucified Messiah as absurd and ugly. (Andrew David Naselli, ESV Expository Commentary)

[Graphic] “Alexamenos worshipping his God.”

This 2nd-century graffiti from Rome mocks Jesus & his followers by depicting him with the head of a donkey. The inscription reads, “Alexamenos worships [his] god.”

The world deems the message of the cross, the one on the cross and those who worship Jesus as fools.

What would make some embrace the word of the cross? It is good news of salvation

“but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

“but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

“it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe”

God saves what is foolish in the world, God chose what is weak in the world, God chose what is low and despised in the world. No room for human boasting.

1 Cor 1:31 “31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

Here’s why the message of the cross is good news: Jesus Christ took my place on the cross.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see, for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me.

Application:

As a congregation: Our message is not very impressive by the world’s standard. One temptation we need to fight is to dilute or add something in order to make the message of the gospel appeal to the masses or fit with the culture in order to be accepted.

As individuals. Offering the gospel to unbelievers but fail to the offer the gospel to our own lives. “It is the power of God to us who are being saved.”

The messenger: Not very impressive

1 Cor 2:1 “1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.”

Paul lived in a Greco-Roman society. You could do well for yourself if you were good at rhetoric and philosophy. They were called sophists (Gk, wise). The Apostle Paul calls them: the wise, the scribe & the debater. (the philosophers, the scholars and the world’s brilliant debaters). We would call them, “the experts.”

These Sophists (experts) would travel around. Whenever they entered a city they would put on display their rhetoric skills “with words or eloquent wisdom or lofty speech”

Paul is not endorsing showing up to preach unprepared. Rather he was speaking against self-reliance on his own skills, which apparently were not very impressive by the world’s standards.

Paul understood his calling. He was not be a sophist, that is sophisticated eloquent wise lofty public speaker. Rather he was called to be a herald (1 Co. 1:17). A herald is a messenger who simply convey’s someone else’s message. A herald would take the king’s message and share it with the people. Paul doesn’t say, “Behold me and my message” but “Behold Christ crucified.”

Paul’s message was not very impressive according to the world’s standard, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Paul’s delivery style wasn’t very impressive according to the world’s standard, “ When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech and wisdom.”

Paul’s physical appearance was also not very impressive,

Great writer, poor speaker.

2 Cor 10:10 “10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.””

NLT, “in person he is weak, and his speeches are worthless!”

1 Cor 2:3 “3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,”

Weak and fearful

Acts 18:1 “1 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.”

Acts 18:9-10 “9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.””

Paul says to the Corinthians, I was so afraid when I came to Corinth to the point of trembling”

Personal story: my journey with anxiety and preaching.

What made Paul go from weak and fearful to confident?

The power and confidence for a sophist came from within, but Paul’s power and confidence came from without.

1 Cor 2:4-5 “4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

NLT, “I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit”

Our church mission: Investing in people to experience Christ’s transforming power, together

What would it look like if we became a congregation that relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit to see transformed lives?

Expectant prayer

“If you want your life to experience divine power, it needs to be a praying life. If you want your church to operate in the full gifts of God’s Spirit, it needs to be a praying church.” Sam Storms

Luke 24:49 “49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.””

Acts 1:8 “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Paul says, my fear and weakness was not a hindrance for God, but the platform on which the power of God was displayed.

Only those who abandon self-sufficiency and self-reliance can truly experience Christ’s transforming power

2 Cor 12:9-10 “9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”