The Message Part 1 (2)

Good Morning!

Welcome to church this morning! and belated happy Canada day!

Let’s begin our time in God’s Word together with prayer:

Pray

To start our time in God’s word together, I came across a little story I wanted to share with you from Charles Spurgeon:

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Lion of the Gospel (Psalm 119:165; Mark 16:20; Revelation 5:5)

A great many learned men are defending the gospel; no doubt it is a very proper and right thing to do, yet I always notice that when there are most books of that kind, it is because the gospel itself is not being preached.

Suppose a number of persons were to take it into their heads that they had to defend a lion, a full-grown king of beasts! There he is in the cage, and here come all the soldiers of the army to fight for him. Well, I should suggest to them, if they would not object, and feel that it was humbling to them, that they should kindly stand back and open the door and let the lion out! I believe that would be the best way of defending him, for he would take care of himself; and the best “apology” for the gospel is to let the gospel out. Never mind about defending Deuteronomy or the whole of the Pentateuch; preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let the Lion out, and see who will dare to approach him. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will soon drive away all his adversaries.

Let the lion of the gospel out, and He will defend Himself. It’s a an interesting principle, isn’t it. I encourage you to keep it in mind for now, because we’ll refer back to it later. This is our second week in our six week series in 1 Corinthians 1-4, focusing on "what is church” and what it means to be a part of it. Last week we started by discussing who we are as the people of God: People who are empowered by and united in Christ. This week we are continuing our study in 1 Corinthians by discussing our message - the message of the cross. Our text today is from 1 Corinthians 1:17-31. Let’s start by reading this text together. I’ll be reading from the ESV, you are welcome to follow along with me in your Bibles, or on the screen beside me.

1 Corinthians 1:17–31 ESV

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 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. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

The main point of the sermon today is that

Christ is the Power of the Gospel

Christ is the Power of the Gospel. Paul’s entire point in this section of text is to show us how the message we preach is completely centered on Christ, to the glory of God. It is an action plan devised by God and God alone. And it is accomplished through Jesus Christ. The gospel message is powerful, but not because of us or our words, but because of Christ, and because it is the truth. We’re going to be looking at three reasons for why Christ is the power of the gospel, and our first reason is:

Christ Achieved What We Could Not.

As we look at vv. 17-25, we see Paul transition from the section we looked at last week into our section this week. In doing so, he the heart of everything he is going to talk about through to the end of chapter 3. Paul says that he is called to preach the gospel, without eloquent words of wisdom. Why? so that the cross of Christ - the gospel message - would not be emptied of its power!

Then, as Paul continues on in vv. 18-19, he expands upon this idea, saying that the gospel is folly to those of this world (the perishing), but to those who are in Christ, being saved, it is God’s power! Amen?!

Then Paul quotes these two lines from the OT.

1 Corinthians 1:19 ESV

For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

This is not quite a direct quote from Isaiah 29:14, and Paul uses it skillfully! He then again alludes to Isaiah 19:22 in verse 20, when he asks:

1 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Why does Paul do this? He goes from a conversation about baptism and unity to now asking where the wise people of this age are? Paul answers this question as we look at verse 21:

1 Corinthians 1:21 ESV

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

We talked about being unified in Christ last week. Paul sees us unified in our preaching of Christ crucified. But, here is the important part of what Paul is saying: The gospel message cannot be seen as coming from any human messenger, but from God! To be sure, we preach the message, but its source, and the source of its power is Christ! Paul says that in God’s wisdom the world could not know Him through means of their own reasoning. The cataclysmic event of Christ’s sacrifice is not a mere philosophy or agenda. It is the best news to ever hit our planet! But it is also one that smashes human understanding, and separates all of humanity into just two groups: The perishing (unsaved), and the saved. Does matter if you are white, black, indigenous, male, female, or rich or poor, old or young. Paul shows that there are just two groups when it comes to your relationship with God: saved, or unsaved. Which is why, as we move down into verse 22-25, we see Paul expands on what it means that the gospel is a stumbling block.

We read of the Jews looking for signs and miracles, and the Greeks looking for wisdom. These two together are meant to speak of all of humanity here. Yet for all of the Greek’s studying, and all the Jews knowledge of God, they cannot get to God without Christ. The gospel is a stumbling block to Jewish religion, and it’s foolishness to Grecian logical. Yet as Paul says, to us who are being save, it is the power of God!

Then Paul makes this comment:

1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Well… what does that mean? Is Paul saying that Christ was foolish, or weak? God is not foolish, or weak! Paul in the first part of this verse recaps everything we just talked about: the supposed foolishness of the gospel in the world’s eyes. Yet is also exposes how Christ, seen as the supposed weak Messiah being crucified really is stronger than any human being, because he accomplished what no human being could: reconciling humanity to God. What God has done in Christ is, as one commentator noted:

1 Corinthians (1) The Wisdom of God and a Crucified Messiah (1:18–25)

a direct contradiction of human ideas of wisdom and power, yet it achieved what human wisdom and power fail to achieve.”

This is our first reason that we find for Christ being the power of the gospel: Christ achieved what we could not. Yet God’s plan doesn’t make sense to human, carnal understanding of wisdom and power. Yet it is how God purposed to save us. Only by Christ’s sacrifice can we be saved, and it is contrary to all human wisdom.

Now, as we move into our second reason, we see that

Christ Chose the Unworthy

This is another aspect of the church and God’s wisdom that confounds human understanding! Paul reminds the Corinthians of their position in the world when they accepted Christ. He says in verses 26-27:

1 Corinthians 1:26–27 ESV

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

Have you ever found yourself caught in the trap of seeing wisdom and and strength centering around those things in life that make us socially powerful: Money, influence, education. Guess what, none of it matters to God. God will use the gifts He has given you sure, whatever they may be. But God doesn’t choose people because they have a great education, or lots of money to fill the church coffers. If we look at the people who made up Corinth in the time of Paul, not all of them were well off. Julius Caesar had populated the rebuilt Corinth with roman soliders, freed slaves, and labourers. Over time other peoples joined the fray, like Jews. Some of them had gotten wealthy and influential in the city. There was no native aristocracy per-say, because Corinth had undergone massive upheaval and a rebuild. So you’ve got people everywhere scrambling to be “on top” of the social ladder. The church in Corinth would have been most likely a cross section of the society, with everything from the poor to the filthy rich. You’ve got people like Chloe (who we talked about last week), Stephanas, and others. Erastus, who was the city treasurer. Paul says in fact that not many of them had a great deal of social standing, leading us to conclusion that many were poorer people, and that a few more well-off folks joined later on. In any case, God chose these people. People who (for the most part) didn’t have a pedigree or social standing. Common people, for the most part.

Paul though says that God did that on purpose. Why? Because God chose the things that are weak and lowly by the world’s standards to shame and confound the understanding of the world. He instead demonstrated His own wisdom, that He calls from every nation, tribe and tongue people who respond to his voice. God takes the unworthy (which is all of us) and makes us worthy through Jesus.

Maybe today you feel unworthy or lowly. There are probably people in this room struggling with understanding what love is, or how God could forgive them for what they have done. Maybe you’re struggling with a financial need, or perhaps you feel like the lowest or most unworthy for another reason. God chose you to be his child, and a co-heir with Christ to eternity. Not because you are so great, but because He loved you that much. He stands and smiles and call you His own. Paul uses the term “things that are not” to encompass all that the world deems not worth its time. God chose the things that are not to shame the world.

This is our second reason for Christ being the power of the gospel message. The God we serve called us not for money, power, good looks, whatever. He did this, as Paul tells us in verse 29:

1 Corinthians 1:29 ESV

so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

God’s chose you so that through you His glory would be shown! The God we serve is all about the unworthy, because He makes you worthy! He does this for His glory, and because He loved us enough to save us, when we could not save ourselves.

Now, as we move into our third and final reason, we see that...

Christ Radically Changes Our Lives

As we move down into verses 30-31, Paul shows the essence of why the Corinthian believers are saved, and why Christ is the power of the gospel. Paul says that because of what God has done, the Corinthians believer are now in Jesus Christ. They have received the salvation that can only come through accepting Him as Lord and Saviour. Paul says that Christ became for us wisdom from God. Then he uses three descriptors: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. How is this connected to Christ as wisdom from God?

These three descriptors are favourites of Paul, especially in Romans. Righteousness means to adhere to a certain standard, like a moral standard. When we sinned as humanity, we broke that standard. We cannot be righteous of our own merit, but Christ impute his righteousness to us through the cross. Likewise, because of Christ we live every day becoming more sanctified, which means to become more like Christ everyday. Redemption here is an equally important descriptor: It means to buy-back property at a certain price. Read Romans 5:8 with me:

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The price to buy us back from slavery to sin was the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son. Christ paid the price for us, so that we can be redeemed. How amazing is that? Christ becomes wisdom for us in that he is the only way back to God. Whereas human beings can try to figure it out on their own, the only way that will actually make you right with God again is Jesus.

So we see that relationship with Jesus radically changes your life. Christ buys us back, freeing us from sin. Christ makes us right before God, taking his perfect record of keeping God’s law, and giving it to us. And Christ gives us the Holy Spirit, so that we might be transformed from our old selves riddled with sin, into the image of Jesus Christ. We need to praise God for this! This is true wisdom, and the best news!

This is why Paul says, in verse 31

1 Corinthians 1:31 ESV

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

This is a quote from the book of Jeremiah 9:24, which reads:

Jeremiah 9:24 ESV

but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

The idea of boasting is connected to worship. Who are we worshipping? If we are boasting in us and our accomplishments, are we just worshipping ourselves? Paul says that Christians should boast in God and what He has done! That is what we do, every time we sing praise to God, or praise Him in any way. We are boasting in how great our God is! God did all of this for His glory, and He deserves all of the glory for what he has accomplished.

Conclusion

The question for us, having looked at these three reason for Christ as the power of the gospel, is who will we boast in? The message of the cross either has to come from God and be all God’s idea, or it is the oddest message ever created! Do you realize we follow a man who lived more than 2000 years ago, was poor as dirt, preached for three years, made everyone important and influential mad at him, and then as punishment was executed in the worst way as a traitor to Rome. To the Greek this would have made no sense, because why would a god ever want to step into lowly, detestable human form? To the Jews, who were looking to a saviour from Rome, Jesus was utter disappointment. He didn’t even get buried in the family tomb. He ended up in a stranger’s tomb. And then to say this man, after three days of decomposing suddenly came back to life, walked out of the tomb, and then started appearing to people? It defies logic, it defies reason, it defies religion, and it doesn’t make sense.

But we know Jesus is fully God, and fully man. And Jesus really did fulfill the law and prophets, thereby fulfilling all the prophecies about the Messiah the Jews were looking to. And Jesus, instead of defeating a temporary kingdom like the Roman empire, singlehandedly saved all of humanity from the greatest problem we have ever faced: sin. And Jesus, who is fully God and fully man rose again, meaning that he defeated sin and death, and made a way for us to be right again with God. Jesus, because He loved us that much, was willing to step into human form, and take our punishment. Nobody, nobody has been able to figure out how to do that. No religion, no logic, nothing.

This is the message we preach as the church. It requires us to boast in God, and to become more like Christ everyday. Remember our story from the beginning, about the lion of the gospel? The message of Jesus is alive and active, and because of it people are being transformed. But friends, it is not about us. It never has been, and it never will be. We are simply humble messengers tasked with telling people. Paul says in verse 17, eloquent words and great speeches, things that make it look like the gospel is about us, actually empty the message of its power. We preach Christ crucified. Is it a stumbling block to some? For sure! But God is saving people through what Christ has done. So you don’t have to be the best orator, or have all the answers. But you do have to GO!

If you are not a Christian here today, you’ve hear me say it before: Come to Jesus. He has saved you, if you are willing to accept the gift. And He has chosen you, no matter your standing in the world. And Jesus wants to re-make you, into someone who is free, and joyfully, and praising God for whatHe has done in Christ. Come to Jesus… it is 100% worth it.

It is communion Sunday today, and as we get ready to share in the Lord’s table together, I want to remind all of us here that we practice open communion at this church. This means that if you know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you are welcome to participate. We have just talked about the gospel message, the message of Jesus Christ our risen Lord. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are welcomed to Christ’s table, to share in communion here with other believers. Communion is a chance for us to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. Jesus’ body was given for us. Jesus blood was spilled for us. Jesus died for us, so that we might be reconciled to God.

We’ll read from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 as we partake together:

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.