1 Corinthians 1:17-18

Introduction

Not including the introduction to 1 Corinthians, in the first four chapters, Paul deals with divisions that were created over people following preachers or strong personalities within the church. These factions or cliques were ripping this church a part at the seams. The Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians resembled a grotesque and mangled body that had been torn into four pieces. In dealing with these toxic and destructive cliques, Paul asked the Corinthians three questions:

Is Christ divided? The answer is no! If His church is His body and Christ is not divided, then why are you divided?

Have I been crucified for you? The answer is no! If I was not crucified for you then why are you distancing yourself from Jesus by allegedly following me, Apollos and Peter?

What name were you baptized into? You were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. It is not important who baptized you, but whose name you have been baptized into.

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 (“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”) Paul changes his approach as he deals with the toxic and corrosive divisions within the church. He transitions from the last question about baptizing in the name of Jesus to the message of Christ and the meaning of His earthly ministry.

How did we get from baptism to the message? Paul thanked God that he did not baptize many people (1 Corinthians 1:14 “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius). His reason was he did not want people to believe that he baptized in his own name ( 1 Corinthians 1:15 “Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.”). However, v.17 Paul explains why he did not baptize many people (1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect”).

The first phrase in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ sent me not to baptize” can be paraphrased “Christ did not send me to be a baptizer.” A. T. Robertson noted that in Paul’s wording he was contrasting his ministry from John the Baptist’s ministry. There was nothing flawed in John the Baptist ministry. Paul’s point was they had different aspects of ministry. Paul was not attacking the sacrament of baptism nor did he minimize believer’s baptism. He did baptize a few of his converts but not most of his converts. Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy would have been the baptizers of Paul’s converts. His basis for delegating baptisms to his coworkers in ministry was “Christ sent (Him) to preach the Gospel.”

This morning, I want to focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as presented in the next several verses.

The Gospel is good news

1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

The meaning of the word “gospel” is “good news.” Therefore, the person who preaches the gospel is a messenger that brings good news to people. The good news that Christians bring to people is Jesus Christ. Christians in the first century asserting that Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the Gospel (good news) was in direct opposition to the first century Romans and Greeks. They attached the gospel to Caesar. His heralds or proclaimers would go throughout the Roman Empire proclaiming the good news that came from him. Beginning with Caesar Augustus (He was the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus’ birth), Caesars were good news. An inscription that was written around 9 b. c. declares Caesar Augustus to be the Savior, god and the beginning of good news or the gospel to the world because he brought peace to the empire.

Though the terminology between Jesus and the Caesars was similar, there was nothing similar in why they were called the good news. “Unlike Caesar’s ‘gospel,’ which was founded upon war and violence, Jesus’ gospel is a gospel of the cross—a gospel of self-giving, enemy-embracing love (1 Corinthians 1:17-19; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 23:34).”

How does Paul highlight the Gospel of Jesus Christ being good news in the first 17 verses of 1 Corinthians?

The Gospel of Jesus is good news becasue of grace - 1 Corinthians 1:3 “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Grace” speaks of love from a completely divine perspective. The predominate theme of grace is loving the unlovable and undeserving. God the Father through Jesus Christ has loved the unlovable. Everyone of us likes to think we are lovable people. Perhaps we are lovable people to one another but our sins causes us to be unlovable to God. Sins are an open testament that our pleasure for sin is greater than our pleasure for God. The Psalmist wrote: (Psalm 97:10) “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.”

Unconverted people do not recognize the destructive impact that sin has in their life; especially, as this relates to their relationship with God. Therefore, they delusionally dismiss God’s true nature, character, authority and attributes. Regardless of how people are blind through their sin so that they cannot see or understand the holiness of God, does not change who God is or their desperate and critical condition. R.C. Sproul had said many times “that the smallest sin is an affront to the holiness of God and brings down the thundering wrath of God upon us.”

Paul puts God’s grace into perspective in Ephesians 2:3–5 “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” The Gospel is good because God’s grace transforms a person from children of wrath to children of mercy.

The Gospel of Jesus is good news because God the Father makes us our heart, mind an speech wealthy with Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:5 “That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” Before God saved my pastor, he had a foul mouth. Shortly after God saved my pastor, he began to question the power and reality of being saved. One day while working in a welding shop, while hammering, he missed the target and hit his thumb. If this happened before God saved him, he would be in a cursing rage. However, this morning would be different. As his coworkers looked on to see what antics would follow him putting a hammer to his thumb, they were shocked. Instead of screaming curse words, he began to praise God because while holding his thumb, he was not cursing. Even as a new convert of Jesus, his mind and mouth were enriched by Jesus. The Gospel of God is good because He changes us. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The Gospel of Jesus is good news because of God’s power to make us alive in Him so that the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus can be confirmed in our lives. 1 Corinthians 1:6 “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.” The testimony of Christ that was confirmed in them was the Gospel preached by Paul. The reason the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them was the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit: Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.”

The Gospel of Jesus is good news because he graced us with spiritual gifts to accomplish ministry that brings Him glory. 1 Corinthians 1:7 “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:” Spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit empower us to do Father’s will.

The Gospel of Jesus is good news because He is coming back. 1 Corinthians 1:7 “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:” When He comes back, He is not coming back as a suffering Lamb but a sovereign Lord. He is not coming back to be humiliated by His creation but to sit on His throne and rule from Jerusalem. He is not coming back to serve but to reign. There is a new day coming when truth, righteousness and equity will be the norms; rather than the exceptions.

The Gospel is good news because God is faithful. 1 Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” The security of the believer hinges upon the faithfulness of God. There are different kinds of assemblies that affirm a Christian’s ability to lose their own salvation. For them, the security of the believer rests on their own faithfulness. A faithfulness that can and will never measure up to God’s faithfulness towards us. If my security in salvation rests in my constant and never ending resolve for God, then I will be a mess. Though I should want to have a constant and never ending resolve for God, there are times when my resolve for God is less than my resolve for sin. In those moments. I am grateful that God is faithful to whom He has “called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul wrote to Timothy regarding God’s faithfulness 2 Timothy 1:12 “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Paul was convinced that God had the ability to guard, protect, preserve Paul’s entrusting God to save him through to the end.

The Gospel’s centerpiece is the cross

Paul defined the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” In the Gospel, there are three centerpieces: his death, burial and resurrection. Without any of these three events, we have no gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul focuses on Jesus dying for our sins, and in 1 Corinthians 15, he highlights the resurrection of Jesus.

The shame of the cross - What did Paul have in mind when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”? The answer is the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:17–18 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

In the Gospel narrative, the Biblical view of the cross is what people dislike more than any other aspect. Generally speaking, what makes the Gospel so hard to preach is Jesus died on the cross for our sins! People may mock our assertion that Jesus resurrected from the grave (Acts 17:32 “And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter”), but they become bitter with the notion that Jesus died on the cross because their sins are deserving of the worst kind of punishment.

Late last week I heard a sermon preached from John 19. The theme was focused on the next to the last statement Jesus uttered from the cross: (John 19:30) “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” His sermon had three points. The first of his three points was “What is missing from the cross is us.” We should have been on the cross and not Jesus.

He did not want to preach an empty and powerless sermon. The phrase “should be made of none effect” means “empty., void or neutralize.” It is the same word Paul used in Romans 4:14 “For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:” People who live by the law void faith, and people who use worldly wisdom make the Gospel of none effect.

A person can get the church and the rapture wrong, but they cannot get the cross wrong. Paul was so focused on not getting the cross wrong and ensuring the sting, shame and humiliation of the cross was projected in his preaching that he did not preach with worldly wisdom words (1 Corinthians 1:17 “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect”).

In Greek and Roman culture, oratory skills were important. Carson writes that "A first-century orator or public speaker was expected to produce carefully crafted speeches which drew attention to his skilful use of rhetorical conventions. Oratory was called ‘magic’ because it was seen to bewitch the hearers. The content of the speech was immaterial, only the performance mattered. They spoke to gain the adulation of their audiences.

His words were not soothing, appealing, acceptable, or uniting to the people’s hearing. He was not concerned with cleverness but truth. He preached the unadulterated Gospel of how Jesus died on the cross for our sins in shocking terms. “(L)est the conversion of the world might be attributed to...human means, and not to the power of God, and of Christ crucified.

Decades ago, there was a famous pastor within the IFBC that taught his preacher students the art of public invitation. He wrote: “After observing for nearly fifteen years the preaching of hundreds of preachers across America, I have come to the conclusion that many of us need intensive help in the conducting of a public invitation. Many wonderful Gospel messages can be rendered ineffective by a weak invitation. On the other hand, many average preachers can be rewarded greatly with the use of an effective, pungent public invitation...Do not reveal the closing of the sermon. When the sermon reaches a high point or a climax, then would be a good time to close abruptly! Even if the sermon is not completed, sometimes God may lead one to close prematurely in order to start the invitation from a high spiritual plane. This also prevents the unsaved from digging in, so to speak, before the invitation is given.” How different this is from the Gospels, Book of Acts and Paul’s writings. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

The Romans viewed the cross as an instrument of shame in punishing the worst of criminals. Yet, Paul preached that the Savior of the world, Son of God and the Good News was nailed to the cross for their crimes against God.