Staying at the Cross (5)
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14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.
Paul it telling the church at galatia that the work of Jesus on the cross is to stay central in the life of a follower of Christ.
And so we have talked about the necessity of the Cross. Why they cross. why was this the only way for God to redeem mankind.
We’ve talked about what the cross accomplished of Justification, Redemption. and Propitiation for those who would respond to the work of Christ on the Cross.
We are Justified, When God looks at you and I if we have accepted the work of Jesus as our Lord and Savior then God looks at us Just as if we have not sinned.
We are Redeemed Jesus bought us back from the slave market of sin He paid the price to redeem us.
And we have Propitiation which is the turning away of the wrath of God as the just judgment of our sin by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. “Propitiation is used in the New Testament to describe the pacifying, placating, or appeasing of God's wrath”
These are all reasons that we need to live our lives with the work of Jesus on the Cross ever on our minds
And last week we talked about a believers commitment to the cross
27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
And last week we talked about finding our identy in the cross.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
When you and I as Christians find our identity in the cross, and we die to self, we can begin to experience the power of Christ in their daily lives.
So we have talked in this series about what the work of Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross.
and we have talked about our response as followers of christ to His work on the cross.
and the Cross is so vitally important to all that Christ has called us to do in following him.
This week I would like to talk about the power that is found in keeping the Cross central in our lives.
Through out this series we have said that so many people in the church only think about the cross a few times a year.
Usually during easter and when they take communion.
But the cross is something that has to be at the forefront of the mind of those who want to call themselves a follower of Christ.
The power that you and i need for our lives is found by living in light of the cross.
Because the power that is found in the cross in not that of the symbol of the cross, but the power is found in what Christ accomplished on the Cross.
There is power in the Cross because Jesus didn’t stay there.
Paul writes to the church at Corinth who are dealing with a lot of problems in their church.
But in the very first chapter he is dealing with the fighting and division that is happening in the church.
1 Corinthians 1:10–13 (NKJV)
10 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.
11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
12 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.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
There were a few different groups in the church...
So there is disunity and fighting within the church and so Paul is writing this letter to deal with this and many other issues in the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 1:17 (NASB95)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
Paul was concerned that there were things happening in the corinthian church that were canceling the work of Chirst on the cross.
Paul is making a very profound statement here. He is saying that it is possible for individuals and churches to live and act in such a way that they would make void the work of Jesus on the cross.
Talk about voiding or canceling a check....
The Bank of the cross of Chris is always full.
So if we try to cash a check that is written on the back of the cross of Christ it will never come back insufficient funds.
But Paul is making it clear that the cross of Christ can be voided out, another way to say it would be that the effectiveness of the cross can be canceled in our lives.
Now Paul is talking to believers, and he is saying that there are things that the cross of Christ offers to His followers that are being canceled or voided out.
And so today I would like to ask us as followers of Christ are you, am I living under a voided cross, a canceled cross.
This it the concern that Paul was writing to the church at Corinth about.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)
18 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.
Paul says that the Cross is the power of God
if you and I want to see the Power of God in our lives it is attached to the cross
The work that you and i need in our family, in our marriage, on our job, or in life in general it is attached to the cross.
and if we are not seeing that power then there has been a disconnect with the cross.
The Cross has been rendered ineffective in yours and my life not because there is not enough power in the cross, but the disconnect of our life to the cross has made the work of the cross void.
And so that is why we are doing this series Staying at the cross, living with the cross as a central part of the life of a follower of Christ.
Now why does the cross of christ exist?
It exists to address sin.
Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sin.
but that is not the only reason that he died.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NKJV)
18 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.
That is a different group of people.
People who need to get saved are sinners.
For someone to get saved they have to put their faith in the work of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of their sins.
but Paul is talking to a group of people who have already put their faith in the work of Jesus on the cross and they are being saved.
The word saved means to be or become delivered of rescued form sin
When you got saved God delivered you from hell
Now that you and I are being saved he is delivering us from sin of a fallen earth.
When we got saved we were delivered from judgement in the future.
We are being saved from the effect of sin in history on earth.
so what Paul is talking about here is salvation as it relates to sanctification not as it relates to justification.
You see when Jesus was nailed to the cross he was not only nailed their for our forgiveness which is justification, but he was also nailed their for our victory, and deliverance, which is sanctification.
and so Paul is dealing with a group of christians who had not yet been delivered from their old way of thinking.
They were dealing the the same messes that they had before they came to christ, the same mess that many nonbelievers have, and it is because the cross had been voided out in their life.
So what I want you to see that the power of God can be voided out in yours and my life if we become disconnect with the cross , because as it says in verse 18 the power is tied to the cross, to those of us who are being saved.
18 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.
Read Tony Evans commentary 1 Cor 1:18
You see the people at the church in Corinth no that the cross is the power for heaven.
The wrote that check and cashed it,
But what was causing them to have the power voided as they were in the process of being saved.
19 As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.”
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.
21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.
23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.
24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
So the people at Corinth had bend disconnected from the cross thus disconnecting them from the power, And Paul tells us that the disconnect came because they were letting human wisdom into the church.
Paul is telling them and us that we cancel the power of the cross in our life and in our churches when we bring the thinking and reasoning of the world into our decision process.
When you and I bring human wisdom, or mans point of view, into the church and into our lives.
What we do is we cancel the work of the cross, the power, the content of the cross is still the same, the things we do does not change that, but the effects are canceled because we would look to man instead of God.
Paul says in verse 20 has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world.
Paul is saying that worldly wisdom disconnected from God, He has made foolish.
Remember that Paul is talking to believers and he say that if you and I who are being saved want to rely on human wisdom, disconnected from God he is going to make the wisdom foolish, thus canceling the power that you and I need to live the life that Christ has called us to live.
You see Paul is trying to get the people of Corinth and us to see that knowledge disconnected from God is foolish, he says in verse 20 offering a challenge.
20 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?
The danger of education is that now I have arrived and do not need God, and will independently go about life not relying on God.
You see when the wisdom God has the final say in your life and in the church, then the cross of christ can be appealed to for power.
Because the cross of christ exist to deal with sin and when the problem of division had come into the church and thus causing Paul to tell the people that the reason that it was there because of the sin of the people to look to the worlds way of thinking,
im with paul, im with appous , im with cephas , im with christ
Paul says I preach christ crucified.
What does scripture say
The cross can be appealed to for power when we deal with the sin .
The reason that the world and many in the church today do not see the power of the cross at work in their life is they don’t want to deal with the sin.
Which is the only reason that that the cross exists.
If you have been dealing with the same issue over and over again for years it is probably because you have not dealt with the sin.
18 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.
so if you and I find our selves not being saved, rescued, changed , not seeing the power then it is probably be cause we are stuck on the problem, and not dealing with the sin.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The cross gives us power when we confess the sin.
Read Tony Evans 1 Cor 1:19-25
James 1:25 (NLT)
25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
Read tony Evans commentary 1 cor 1:30-31