Standing Together
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to church today. As you know, we are in a series called In the Word, reading through the books of the Bible. And whether you're here in person or viewing online, I am so happy that you have chosen to worship God today. We're going to be venturing into the books of 1st & 2nd Corinthians with one of the most powerful passages of scripture that the Apostle Paul ever wrote.
I'd invite you to open your Bible if you have it today to First Corinthians Chapter one. We're going to begin reading in verse 18 and following. It is a very familiar passage and yet one of the most powerful passages in the entire Bible. I'd like for you to find it in your Bible, but if you haven't brought a Bible with you today, here it is on the screen.
1 Corinthians 1:18–19 (NIV)
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. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
We are living in an age where the technological advancements have been beyond what we could have imagined. Science fiction books are coming to life all around us. And yet we are also living in an age bankrupt of moral leadership. Everyone is doing whatever is right in their own eyes. In Pasco fully half of all respondents say they have no religious affiliation. We have forgotten that there is an almighty, holy and righteous God looking down on us.
1 Corinthians 1:20–21 (NIV)
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
The Greek word for foolishness is referring to moronic, idiotic, stupid preaching. That's what Paul brought to the world, that's what pastors bring to the world. Our preaching is sheer silliness to people who don't know God. But the Apostle Paul says there is power in the word of God. There is power in the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ to save those who believe.
The Jews demand signs— jump off a building, walk on water, do something miraculous and then we will believe. The Greeks looked for wisdom. Like many people today, they said, show us something logical. Show us something that makes sense. Talk to us about philosophy. Show us something that makes everything fit together in this world. But Paul says, I don't do any of that. He says we preach Christ crucified—A stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to gentiles,
but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
God can do more in a moment than all of humanity can do in all of the lifetimes that they posses.
1 Corinthians 1:26–27 (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
God chose you. God chose me.
To God, be the glory. Great things He has done.
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
You know the wisdom that comes from God, and now we come to three very heavy theological terms that we're going to unpack today, hopefully in a very simple way “…that is our righteousness, our holiness and redemption.” Jesus is our righteousness; Jesus is our holiness. And Jesus is our redemption,
Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Background
Background
Let me give you a little bit of backstory. When the Apostle Paul went to Corinth. He went to one of the most pagan, intellectual, and immoral cities of the then ancient world. It was the Las Vegas of the ancient world. And after he left and ventured on his journey to preach to other cities in the ancient parts of the world He began to hear negative things about what the church members in Corinth were doing and teaching.
Around 55 to 57 A.D. Paul wrote them a letter from the city of Ephesus. It is one of the most powerful and instructive and rich letters out of everything that he ever wrote.In that letter He poured out his heart in prayer for the church family in Corinth because he realized that they were a divided church with four different factions that were fighting for power.
Not only were they divided, they were a defiled church because there were church members who were committing sexual immorality.
There were church members who were involved in drinking parties and drunkeness.
And it was a disgraced church because some of the people began to not even believe in the doctrine of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And worse than all that, for Paul personally, they began to question his authority that he even had any right to preach anything. They said, “you're poor, and when we listened to you we’re bored.”
It was a church that was filled with depravity, dissension, and discord. And Paul, with agony in his heart and tears in his eyes prayed and asked God how to best minister to these church members in Corinth. In this church that he had founded. In this church that was one of the largest congregations of the then-known Christian world. In this church that was supposed to be a lighthouse to share the wonderful good news of the gospel, but was now hindering that very work. In a church where the actions and behavior of the church members almost wiped out the good name of Christian. He poured out his heart to God on their behalf with tears in his eyes and you know what he called them? Saints.
First Corinthians Chapter one and verse two, he said you're called to be saints.
He had a different vision for them than they had for themselves. And he was determined to point these Christians who were struggling in sin to the only solution for a sin-sick soul. And that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said what he said. He said, “for the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But it is the power of God for salvation to those who believe.” You see, the cross of Jesus Christ is the only answer and antidote to the suffering and slavery of sin. There's only one message that can truly change people's hearts and lives. And it's the message of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!
And so this morning, I ask you. Why does the cross matter? What's the cross all about? Why did Paul and why do Christians today make such a big deal over the cross? Why does the cross of Jesus Christ matter? Think about it for a moment. The cross is a horrible symbol of someone dying through a terrible form of execution. The equivalent today of being hanged or given a lethal injection. And what difference does that make? How could that kind of a horrible and shameful death have any power to save the Corinthians or to save you and me at all today? Why does this cross matter? And why did Paul glory in the cross?
In 1 Corinthians 2:2, the very next chapter, he says this,
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
He said, I don't want to talk about anything else. I don't want to focus on anything else except the cross of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And when he was in Galatia, a city not too far away, he wrote
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Paul could have boasted in many things. He could have boasted in his own education. He was very highly educated. He could have boasted in his religion. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. He could have boasted in all of his abilities. He was a world traveler who started many churches. He was an author. He spoke several languages. He was a Roman citizen. He could have boasted in all those things. But he said, no, I only boasted about the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ and him crucified.
He could have glorified many other things besides the cross of Jesus Christ. He could have glorified the spectacular, miraculous birth of Jesus Christ in a manger, born of a virgin. He could have glorified all the teachings of Jesus Christ because Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever lived. He could have glorified all the acts of kindness and compassion that Jesus did for the poor, the downtrodden and those who were hurting and helpless and hopeless in society. He could have glorified how Jesus even raised people from the dead. He could have glorified the resurrection of Jesus Christ: one of the most powerful and eventful days in human history. He could have even glorified the future reign of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who will one day reign in heaven and on Earth, forever and ever. Amen. He could have glorified all those things put together if he wanted to, but he said no, I glory in the cross of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Why? Because Paul understood the power of the cross of Jesus Christ.
You see, the cross of Jesus Christ shows the love of God like nothing else can. The cross of Jesus Christ shows us the depth of our sins. It shows us the length, width and height of the love of God almighty for you and me. The cross of Jesus Christ gives us the power to live out the Christian life. The cross of Jesus Christ motivates us to serve other people in this world and to sacrifice just like Jesus did.
The cross of Jesus Christ saves sinners from sin. It shapes people's lives so that they become more like Jesus.
Have you experienced the power of the cross in your life, my friend? Have you experienced the incredible power of the cross and the difference that it makes in human history and human hearts?
There are people all over the world today who are experiencing emptiness. They are lost and confused and nothing in the American dream is satisfying their soul. No success or amount of wealth or pleasure or convenience or possession is solving their heart longings. The cross of Jesus Christ is the answer to that emptiness.
Many people are experiencing loneliness today. They seek companionship and fulfilling relationship and when they find someone it satisfies their loneliness a little… for a while. But the real truth is that there is a loneliness that only God can fill. Are you experiencing loneliness right now? That spiritual loneliness can only be answered by the love poured out on the Cross of Jesus.
Lots of people are dealing with guilt. It happens to people inside and outside of the church. Guilt and remorse tears at our lives. Regret can take a devastating toll on your life. When you look back at your life and all of your failures and shortcoming and all the people you’ve hurt, you may feel guilt today. But friend, the cross of Jesus takes care of your guilt—all of it. All your filthiness can be taken away before you leave this place today.
There are a lot of people in our world today who are afraid of death. Are you afraid to die? As we age we get closer and closer to that moment, and we think about it a little more often. We try not to focus on it too much. There are a lot of people in this world who wonder what happens when you die? But maybe they're worried about what comes after death—the judgment. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…” People are worried about that possibility.
But my friend, I'd like to suggest to you this morning that whether you're dealing with emptiness or loneliness or guilt, or whether you are afraid of death or afraid of the judgment, the Cross of Jesus Christ takes care of all of these things. And there’s room at the cross for you. Whether you’ve been in church for 25 years or this is your first time, there is room at the Cross of Jesus to solve your emptiness, loneliness guilt and fear.
I believe with all of my heart that once you've been to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will never be the same. And it's because of this verse:
It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Whether you realize it or not the power of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is essentially the fact that Jesus is our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption. That there is no such thing as salvation by works in any way. It is all salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s got nothing to do with you or me at all. It is all about Jesus Christ. It is all about Jesus in the beginning of your journey, in the middle of your journey and at the end of your journey. It is all about Jesus.
Jesus has become our righteousness. Righteousness has to do with a right standing before God in court. But the problem with that is the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things. The Bible says that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. Well, the Bible is essentially trying to tell us is that God is truly and totally righteous, and we are truly and totally the opposite of righteousness. We are filled with sinfulness. Humans will never have any righteousness of our own. We never can. 2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
He took our place. He was sinless and he became sinful so that we who are sinful should become sinless. Jesus, the son of God, died on Calvary’s cross to blot out all of humanity’s sins. He died to make us righteous.
There’s a story of a judge who was seated in court when the bailiff brought in his own son. He had been speeding—way over the speed limit—and driving recklessly. The son pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and the law demanded a $1,000 fine or seven days in jail. The boy couldn’t pay the fine but before the bailiff took him to prison, the judge stood up, took off his robe, and walked down beside his son. He opened his wallet and took out the money the law required and gave it to the bailiff. His son was free. Not because of anything he had done, but because the Father, the righteous judge, paid his fine. That is what Jesus has done for you and me. He died to wipe our record clean. He paid what you and I could not pay and made us legally, righteous.
Secondly, the cross matters because Jesus has become our holiness. You see, there's much, much more to the cross of Jesus Christ than just the forgiveness of sins and God declaring us to be righteous. Because even when he declares us to be righteous, we know we're not. God has a plan, my friend. God has a plan to not only make us righteous, but to make us holy, pure, and clean. The salvation that Jesus offers to everyone isn't just legal paperwork where he declares our sins to be paid for and calls us righteous even though we’re not. God's plan was not just to declare his children righteous, but to help them to become holy through the power of the Holy Spirit of God working in their lives. God's plan has always been to save us from both the curse of sin, the indebtedness of sin to the law and to the court, but to save us from the very presence of sin in our lives every single day that we live. Because he who has begun a good work in you wants to complete it.
This is a brand new pair of work gloves. They don’t have any rips or tears or smudges even. Like a baby that has just been born and has no experience with sin, these gloves have no experience with work. Yet, that baby is a sinner. These work gloves have been stitched together just right. They feel good. They’re leather. They’re work gloves. But if I ask these gloves to pick up this Bible, they couldn’t do it. Well, maybe the work gloves need to be inspired. Maybe they need to hear a good sermon or be trained more in the Christian walk. Maybe they need to be disciplined and then they’ll be able to pick up the Bible. Will that work? Maybe they need some fellowship and small groups. Nope, none of that will help. You and I have no power to keep God’s law of love in our own strength. The only way that the gloves can pick up the Bible is if there is a living, powerful hand that goes inside the gloves and empowers it to pick up the word of God. We receive that same power of God’s living spirit filling our lives and moving in us because of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
The cross of Jesus Christ speaks to the human heart. In Romans 10 and verse 17 the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When we as humans pick up the Bible and read it, it has the power to cleanse us and make us holy and pure in Jesus Christ. It is through our surrender to the Word of God every day the hand of God enters inside of us like, we are gloves. And the hand of God begins to shape our lives every hour of every day so that we can become more and more like Jesus. So that he not only declares us to be righteous, but we begin to become more and more like Jesus over the process of our lifetime. More and more holy not because of anything that we have done but because the hand of God is touching our lives and shaping us every day to become holy. Jude 1:24 and 25 says “Now unto him (Jesus Christ), that is able to keep you from falling, (back into sin) and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
Jesus, my friend, became our righteousness. Jesus became our holiness. Why else does the cross matter?
Jesus has become our Redemption. Redemption is about buying something back. Job said “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Sometimes when we're going through bad stuff in our lives we cry out, “where are you God?” Job went through hell and back, didn't he? With all the troubles that came upon him in a very short period of time. If anyone you know could have blamed God and complained against Him or cursed God, it was Job. But even Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand on the Earth.” He will stand victorious over all the troubles in my life, over all the trials in my life, over all the terrible sins in my life. He will stand at the end.
How is Jesus our redemption? This is a true story:
It happened on December the 17th 1968. Barbara, the 20 year old daughter of a wealthy businessman, was at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia. An outbreak of flu happened on the campus, and she got sick. It was close to Christmas, so her mom, Jane, decided to drive from Florida up to Decatur, Georgia, to pick her up and to bring her home for the holidays. Well, she was so sick that afternoon when mom picked her up that they decided to go to a hotel room at the Rodeway Inn. And while they were there apparently someone had been watching them. They came knocking on the door of their hotel room dressed as police officers—a man and a woman. And they said, “Hi we're looking for Barbara Mackle.” The mom opened the door wider as Barbara came to the door.
“We have something very important to tell you about your fiancé, Stuart. Can we come in?” The mom stepped aside as they entered the hotel room. Big mistake. In came this man and woman. And they said, “Stewart has been in a traffic accident and he's near death. We need Barbara to come with us to see him at the hospital.” The mom turned around and that’s when they used chloroform on her and she immediately fell asleep. Then two people posing as police officers led Barbara to their car at gunpoint and kidnaped her. They whisked her across town to a carefully planned hiding place. They'd rigged up a large fiberglass box with oxygen, a water supply and food. They put her inside and then they buried her alive.
Those of you that have claustrophobia don’t want to image it, but think about it. You're in a coffin and you're looking up at the lid and you hear shovels and then there’s dirt and stones smashing against the fiberglass. You're anxious, wondering how you’re going to be able to breathe. The thud of dirt is less and less as the hole fills up. And you’re thinking that this box is going to be your final coffin. How can anyone find you? How can anyone rescue you? Then everything gets quiet. They’re gone.
After they leave, they write a ransom note for Robert Mackle. One of the wealthiest families in Florida. They asked for $500,000 ransom. That would be 4.5 million today. The first attempt to drop off the note was foiled by two police officers so they fled on foot, leaving their car. A second attempt to drop off the ransom not was successful, but by then the police had uncovered clues about the male kidnapper. They found his home and discovered that he built ventilated boxes for a living. Somehow they were able find something that helped them find the area where they had buried Barbara. Two hundred police officers went to search the woods outside of Decatur, Georgia until they found Barbara.
Inside that coffin, Barbara was scared, but confident she would be found. She called out, but the only voice that she could hear was her own. And it was dull, as if her voice could only be heard inside her box. You can imagine it was like a soundproof room that she was in with all of the dirt on top of that box. With no one to hear her and no hope of getting out on her own, she began to cry. 24 hours passed, and then 48 hours. She felt alone. She felt afraid. She wondered about why this happened to her. Guilt. Pain. Heartache. A day turned into two days, and then three. 80 hours went by. She couldn’t hear anything. She ate the little bits of food she had. She drank the sedative laced water. And she watched as the little light they provided began to dim as the battery died.
But on the eighty-third hour she heard something. Voices somehow filtered through the dirt, and she heard people scratching and clawing at the ground. Soon she felt the coffin move and jiggle a little bit, and then she felt it lifting up out of the ground. You can imagine now, being in that coffin in mostly darkness for 83 hours, when that lid opened up it was just so bright she couldn't see a thing.
I bet that’s what we’ll feel like on that day when Jesus comes—a brightness that’s so brilliant that everything else will feel like it was the flickering light of a dying flashlight.
Barbara felt strong hands reach inside that coffin and lift her out. And then she felt the incredible warm embrace of her dad, Robert. He said, “Honey, I love you. I'm so glad you're safe. Let's go home.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
My friend, this whole planet that you and I are living on is our coffin. All of us are going to die on this planet. There's only one solution to the cost of sin, the penalty of death… That solution is coming to the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has paid the ransom and redeemed us from sin and death.
The cross of Jesus Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, dying in the coffin of planet Earth. But to those who believe it is the power of God for salvation. He is your righteousness. He wants to be your holiness. And he will be your redemption.
If you want facts, if you want something that makes sense. Something that's wise. Then you need to know that Jesus Christ died a real death on a real cross for real sinners like you and me, so that we might be forgiven of our real guilt and shame and be able to stand before our God with real righteousness, real holiness and real redemption. The truth of the matter is that there is room at the cross for you.
And when we each come to the cross to be with Jesus, we end up standing together. Side by side. We cannot help but be together if we’re with Jesus. This is what church is. All throughout the books of 1 and 2 corinthians Paul invites the church to lay aside their squabbles. To lay down their sin. To give up their pride and prejudice. And to be united in love. When we realized we are redeemed by our father we can’t help but realize that all the other people our Father has redeemed are our brothers and sisters.
There is room at the cross for you. And as you come to the cross you’ll find a loving family who have also been redeemed.
———
Let’s stand together as our worship team leads us in our theme song for this month, The Jesus Way.
If this morning you've fallen in love with Jesus Christ even more and you just want to say I repent. I want to receive this power in my life through the cross of Christ. I want to be redeemed from the coffin of this planet and to go home with my daddy when He comes. I'm going to invite you to do what millions of people have already done all over the world. Whether you just want to come because you want to rededicate your life to Jesus or whether you want to give your life to Jesus for the very first time that's entirely up to you. And if there's anyone here who's wanting to be baptized, to be born again and start the journey with Jesus then we're planning a baptism soon. We are willing to study with you and tell you much, much more about the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I invite you to come to the front as we sing, there's room at the cross for you. Come just as you are. Let Jesus be your righteousness, your holiness, and your redemption. And I'm going to be the first to come to the cross.