Caring Enough to Go

I’m curious about the number of miles driven and the amount of time invested by parents and grandparents in Graduation activities this weekend. I am fully aware of some of our families with multiple events in multiple locations.

I realize that sometimes sports events mean hours of bleacher time for less than 5 minutes of mat, court, or track time and that showing up in support can sometimes seem a burden.

I only played in 1 little league game my entire childhood so never became a multi-sport athlete, but I was in band, orchestra and multiple choirs and I can’t think of a single concert at which as least one of my parents was not present.

I don’t know if it is more painful to watch junior get crunched by that lineman who is 100 lbs heavier or listening to first year band students squawk out a tune.

On this Mother’s Day I am aware that parents show up because they are motivated by love so that the burden doesn’t seem so great.

The last month we have been looking at a prophet who lacked the love or compassion to show up. As we think about the affection of a parent and the apathy of a prophet, I’m asking each of us to consider our compassion for our neighbors.

TRANSITION: In contrast to Jonah’s apathy toward the Ninevites, today’s text describes the Apostle Paul’s compassion for the Corinthians.

Compassion Prioritizes Our Activities (1 Corinthians 1:17-19)

Didn’t baptized (1 Cor 1:17a )

We should not read this as Paul considering water baptism to be unimportant! Romans 6 honors the practice of water as a picture of our identity with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Vv.10-16 reveals the potential problem with baptism – it divides. V.11 says there was quarreling because v.12 says they were baptized by different individuals.

Today the quarreling is not in the individual, but in the timing or denomination. Some of our brothers and sisters see baptism as an identification with a particular church, while I believe the bigger picture is not identity in a church, but in Christ.

Preached Christ (1 Cor 1:17b)

If baptism can be twisted into something that divides, Paul specifies there is only ONE (true) Gospel so he would focus on that.

I have some friends in ministry who have an affection for “fencing the table” and “guarding the pool”. Their respect for the seriousness of the ordinances requires a “credible confession” for baptism and requires baptism and church membership for communion My own father was water baptized as a believer in a particular Baptist church in Wichita, but when he drove truck for an uncle during wheat harvest, he was denied communion in another type of Baptist church.

2. This is the very mindset that Paul addresses in these verses. Our priority needs to be on the one gospel that is available to all, rather than the divisions that emerge when opinions develop over practices of believers.

3. Our compassion for our neighbors is not primarily to get them to adopt our “brand” of Christian expression, it is to offer them the good news, the Gospel, that the cross of Christ has power to change their lives!

TRANSITION: If you care enough to show up at graduation, I ask “do you have enough compassion to show up with the gospel at your neighbor’s home?” Compassion doesn’t only prioritize our message, also…

Compassion Shapes Our Identity (1 Corinthians 1:20-26)

Worldly Expectations (1 Cor 1:20,22 )

The world in Paul’s day honored wisdom, prestige, influence, and supernatural signs.

The world today honors wealth and influence.

Warren Buffet’s, Jeff Bezos’, Elon Musk’s, or Oprah’ Winfrey’s money does NOT provide expertise in faith or morality! Athletes, Politicians, Musicians, and Actors are not authoritative in matters of doctrine or witness. Just because a person holds a sign or spends a night in a tent, it does NOT grant the right to shape policies regarding Ukrainians’ right to live in their own land or Israel’s right to punish terrorists.

3. The pathway to persuasion is not through worldly means, it is based upon compliance to the plan of our Creator.

God’s Design (1 Cor 1:21,25)

Notice the words folly & foolishness. Both of these words derive from the root word μωρός (moros) from which we get the English word moron. To those who remain blinded by Satan, our proclamation of the gospel make us appear to them to be morons.

But then, to us many of the laws that they pass or the ideas they promote appear to us to be equally moronic.

2. We must choose if we prefer the power of cultural acceptance or the power and wisdom of God. Proclaiming the simple Gospel will not get you clicks, follows or likes, but it will accomplish the design of God to adopt lost sinners into His family for eternity!

3. I participate monthly in a pastors group that keeps me centered on the purpose of God. Last Wednesday we discussed the role of politics in our shepherding. We concluded that the words of Christ DO call individual believers to be salt and light, but nowhere in Scripture do we find that political power is the key to God’s will being accomplished on Earth. Each of us has the privilege (dare I say obligation) to season as salt and shine as light in the ballot box. But we must be mindful that God’s design for power in these verses does not depend upon those whom the world considers influential.

TRANSITION: Choosing to proclaim the gospel does not only call upon the power of God, we also find…

Compassion Lives out God’s Calling (1 Corinthians 1:27-31)

Up until this point of the sermon I have been describing our compassion toward our neighbors as an attractive option. For the remainder of our time I hope to escalate that option into our obligation.

Last week we saw that Jonah had convinced himself that he was just in having no pity on the Ninevites because they were not the covenant people as Abraham’s descendants.

God demonstrated that His Amazing Pity shamed Jonah’s selfish pouting. Likewise God’s compassion for the people of Chase County means that…

God Chose you (1 Cor 1:27-29)

I don’t know one of us that the world would consider wise, powerful or noble, None of us have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize or Pulitzer Award, but take consolation in your calling.

God chose what is foolish (in the world’s view)

God chose the weak

God chose what is low and despised

Can I get an “Amen”!?!

ESPN broadcasted those who make thousands in the WNBA and millions in the NFL because they were chosen by team officials. But you were chosen and called by God

God Surrounds you with Christ (1 Cor 1:30)

Paul started this passage by downplaying his role in baptism. Now he concludes by playing up what happens in baptism.

By going into the water, one picture is of the washing away of sin. But a more prominent picture, especially in the picture of immersion, is the identity as being in Christ in his death, burial and resurrection as a new creation.

The body that came out of Jesus’ tomb was the same body, but it had new qualities. When you are born again, you still have the old person, but you have been bequeathed with new qualities. Baptism is a public testimony of this new creation that Paul describes as in Christ JesusIllustration

3. When God looks at me, He no longer sees David the sinner. He sees David wrapped in Jesus who is righteous, sanctified and redeemed! Hallelujah! That ought to “bless your gizzard”!

Conclusion:

If I cooperate with the calling and power of God, If I permit His compassion to move me to my neighbors, If I care enough to show up…

If my neighbors remains blinded by Satan I may appear foolish. But if God’s Spirit is working in that individual, and my proclamation is focused solely on what Christ did, I appear as God’s power unto salvation.

You may have heard the phrase, “it is better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”

I choose to heed the wisdom of a martyred missionary who wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Contrary to the rebellion of Jonah, modeled by the love of our Mothers who care enough to show up. Today I call us to care enough to proclaim the Gospel and gain eternal brothers and sisters in God’s family.

Response Song......................................... Go