Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

A Church Full of Losers Who Shall Be Declared Winners

 

Brothers, 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.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

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.

Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

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he world considers those who adhere to the Faith to be losers … cripples in need of a crutch in order to live.

They see themselves as strong while viewing us as weak.

They think of the church as a bunch of losers; and perhaps they are correct.

So far as this world is concerned, we are losers.

We do not belong here.

As /aliens and strangers/, we abstain from that which characterises the world [cf.

*2 Peter 2:11*].

The inhabitants of this dying world consider it /strange that /[we refuse to]/ plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation/ … thus their abuse [cf.

*2 Peter 4:4*].

Yet the saints of the Most High God seem willing to sacrifice their relationship to Him who calls all things into being if only they may achieve a degree of acceptance by the inhabitants of this world.

Attitudes which characterise this perishing world have infiltrated even the hallowed precincts of the churches of Christ.

We adulate the great of this world, thinking that God must surely appreciate any help they can give to disseminate the message of life.

We will do almost anything to gain a patina of respectability before this corrupted world.

If we should be able to induce some noted individual to say something “nice” about God, about Christ, or about the Faith we convince ourselves that we have done God a favour.

Frankly, I find it pathetic to watch the professed saints of the Living God begging the rich and famous of this decaying world to say something “nice” about Jesus.

Somehow the spectacle of an athlete who undermines the Faith by drawing adoring fans to forsake worship so that they can watch his moves in a game each Sunday serving as a spokesman for the Faith is pathetic.

Such action conjures up an image of a gladiator in the Roman Circus induced to say something “nice” about the Christians just before they are fed to the lions.

The image of a contemporary musician who entertains in the bars and lounges of this world thinking they honour God because they conclude their show by singing *I’d Rather Have Jesus Than Silver or Gold* is disgusting.

We are not winners, as this dying world counts winners.

We are not called to invite the world to provide input into the Faith.

We are called to be holy, forsaking the accolades of dying men that we may honour Christ.

We have forgotten the admonition of the Hebrews author, which confronts us.

/The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.

Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.

For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come/ [*Hebrews 13:11-14*].

We have decided that we can remain within the gates, let Christ suffer alone outside the camp, and yet somehow please Him.

It cannot be done!

I am not called to please the saints.

God appointed me to demand of His people holy lives worthy of Him.

Part of that commission is to remind us that we must please Him.

This present world and all that live therein shall perish.

Nor should we imagine that the desire to be great in the eyes of this world is some new affliction for the church.

Since the days of the Apostles, saints have sought approval from the world instead of seeking God’s commendation.

We need to be reminded of our calling, seeing ourselves as God sees us so that we may serve Him without failing in the task we were assigned.

In order to accomplish our calling, I invite you to review the Apostle’s forthright words written to a church eager to be great in the eyes of this world … the Corinthian saints.

*Our Condition When Christ Found Us* — /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.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him/.

Lady Huntington is reputed to have said during a Methodist testimony meeting that she was saved by the letter M.  Making reference to this verse, she observed that it says not many, instead of not any.

We praise God for those among us who are considered wise by human standards.

We rejoice in each saint of God who is recognised as influential.

We glorify Him for every Christian who is of noble birth.

But we are nevertheless constrained to confess that it is true that not many of us hold such credentials.

It pleased God to choose men and women who are not recognised for the most part as wise, or influential, or of noble birth.

Without specific reference to the socio-economic situation each one of us occupied at the time Christ found us, it is nevertheless true that he found us as sinners.

There are nice sinners, and there are sinners who are not so nice; but we were each yet sinners and under condemnation of Holy God when Christ found us.

Such confession is not readily acceptable among polite company.

We labour to find euphemisms to explain away our need of salvation.

We were not that bad.

We were perhaps bad, but we were not sinners.

We had a few faults or even a few problems in life.

However one states the proposition, it remains that /all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God/ [*Romans 3:23*].

Those words Paul penned in the encyclical we refer to as Ephesians still sting the proud heart.

/As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions/ [*Ephesians** 2:1-5a*].

The situation painted by these words is bleak.

All alike are sinners, and each Christian looks back on a life of condemnation when he or she was under sentence of death.

It is precisely because we were awful sinners that God’s grace is so magnificent.

/It is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast/ [*Ephesians** 2:5b-9*].

Read the pages of the whole of the Word and you will find no comfort for the thought that some among us were deserving of salvation.

Scour the Word ever so carefully and you will discover not a hint that perhaps some deserved mercy or grace.

One of the more humbling verses found in the whole of the Word of God is *Romans 11:32*.

/God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all/.

Someone has well said that *the ground is level at the foot of the cross*.

We can only claim to be sinners saved by grace.

Since all were sinners, which of us can claim to be better or more valuable than another?

Since all alike have received mercy, ought we not to not receive one another as worthy of respect?

Though we would each agree that we were sinful and deserving of rejection by Holy God, we do not often think of the historical composition of the membership of the churches.

In part this is because the complexion of the churches has changed during this present century.

Within the churches of this nation are some which are generally viewed as churches for the elite of society and others which are less socially desirable, but generally the churches are a place where nice people are to be found.

If we wish to search out a new pastor we will make every effort to ensure that he is a graduate of an appropriate school.

Our pastor must have the highest degree possible.

Within one fellowship of pastors among which I once served, not a single preacher was to be found who was not Doctor somebody.

The amusing aspect of this desire to be great in the eyes of this world was that only two of those individuals had earned the degree.

All alike, except for the pastor under whom I served and myself, had purchased their title.

I was compelled to observe for the benefit of those opthamologically challenged men that the Master cautioned against seeking such adulation when He spoke against being called Rabbi [*cf.

Matthew 23:8*].

The attitudes I witnessed within that isolated group over twenty years ago are systematic within the Church of the Living God in this day, however.

I recall challenging on one occasion a greatly respected leader within his denominational that he, and the various power brokers within that denomination, were more focused on credentials than on character.

What I said to him could likely be applied to every religious movement.

Certainly it applies to every denomination with which I have had contact.

He, of course, denied that such a thing could be true.

It was almost two years later that he suffered a disastrous reversal of fortune and was removed from the ministry.

His colleagues decisively rejected him, and Lynda and I, with but one notable exception, were the only people to reach out to this wounded man to minister to him.

In casual conversation some time after this he suddenly reminded me of my challenge from several years prior.

He said that though he had resented my confrontation, he was compelled to admit that I was right.