Preaching the True Gospel

Introduction:

In life there is an order to things. Certain things matter to us:

We value family

We value financial security

We value relationships

We value purpose

We value love

We value tradition

We value knowledge

Our culture is very protective of these values.

The Corinthian culture wasn’t much different from ours, they valued status, knowledge, purpose, and financial security as well.

And for the most part, many of these things are good things to value, we all agree, that knowledge or relationships are good things for us to pursue.

The point is, sometimes, the Bible challenges what a culture says is valuable.

We have to make a choice, is the Bible the final authority on what our purpose in life is, or do we only live the Bible when it lines up with our expectations.

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 KJV 1900

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. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Because God’s Wisdom is Superior, We Can Trust His Plan of Salvation.

Sometimes in our lives we will have the chance to share the gospel and our audience will not understand, will we run from those situations or will we preach Christ no matter what?

God wants us to set aside other other forms of “salvation”. - vv. 18-19

On the surface this seems like a point for unsaved, but this is a challenge for every believer. The world has things that it offers and if we’re not careful, we will pursue those things more than Jesus.

These verses are telling us that we must get the gospel right for ourselves. We may know the facts of the gospel but if we don’t live them out than we are misusing the gospel like the Corinthians struggled with.

Here is how the Corinthians struggled with this:

God rejected the Corinthians pursuit of “salvation through wisdom”. - vv. 18-19.

The Corinthians lived in a culture that pursued wisdom more than most cities in existence at the time. Paul wanted them to be very careful to not find their security in the knowledge they had accumulated.

They may have found security in the pursuit of knowledge.

They enjoyed the process.

Or perhaps the striving - there was always more to hope for.

They may have found security in their accumulated knowledge.

They compared themselves with others and felt smarter.

They felt like they had the answers.

Modern Application:

We can feel the same way about ourselves in other areas.

Just like the pursuit of knowledge gave the Corinthians security and purpose, we can find security and purpose in the fact that we have a job and the ability to pursue wealth.

Just like the Corinthians felt security during their process of learning more, we can find security in the process of building our personal kingdom

Just like the corinthians had an accumulation of knowledge, we can find security in the money that we have accumulated in our bank account.

We must be careful to find our security in God’s plan for our life, not in whatever our culture tells us is valuable.

God wants us to preach the gospel message even when the world doesn’t understand. - vv. 21-23

Explain:

The idea of a man being crucified as a means of salvation and redemption did not made no sense to the world, but God’s wisdom is higher than ours. He knows things that we didn’t and with his knowledge, he decided that the most effective way to redeem the world was through an offensive means to the hearers at the time.

Isaiah 55:8–9 KJV 1900

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.

Illustrate:

A great example of this is in basketball, sometimes a team is playing poorly or maybe really well, and in certain situations, a coach who knows his players well will pull one of his best players for a few minutes.

A person who is new to basketball looks at this and thinks the coach is crazy to pull out his star player. But the coach has spent enough time around the game to know that players need rest, they need a minute to step out of the game, gain mental clarity and jump back in with a new burst of energy.

Argue:

Again the culture of the Corinthians made this a challenge for them. The Corinthians were a highly educated culture. Even today, we remember the greek era as an era of immense research and intellectual progress.

This meant that hearing a new idea that didn’t line up with logic was a challenge for them.

Apply:

The word preach is used twice but the heart of the text goes deeper than preaching. For each us we are called to tell others about Jesus.

For some, we are literally called to preach messages about the gospel.

but even if you’re not called to preach, everyone of us is called to preach the gospel, maybe by becoming friends with our lost neighbors, or by spending personal time with coworkers, or by having conversations with some other parents at kid’s soccer games.

Conclusion:

Because God is completely knowledgable, We can trust God’s plan because Jesus is the power and wisdom of God.

We can trust God’s plan by holding to the gospel over whatever our culture tells us to do.

We can also trust God’s plan by preaching the true gospel no matter how we think it will be perceived.

The question we must ask ourselves is, are we willing to treat God as completely knowledgable no matter what the circumstances.