830 1 Cor.2.1-5 Speak it Straight, Speak it True

- In the OT, the Philistines send out their giant to face some brave Israelite with which he will do battle & this battle decides who wins & loses the war

- When the Philistine champion comes out, he faces someone that is barely much more than a boy whose name is David

- David is a young man who has a big heart for God & is deeply offended by the arrogant Philistine & his boasts

Q. Could a young man of smallish statue actually win against a giant?

- Surely, this would be worthy of Ripley's believe it or not!

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- David knows he is twice his size; he knows he has never fought any battle before with a man, let alone a giant of a man

- As a shepherd, he was pretty handy with a sling – hardly the instrument, though, of warfare

- But David knew something unique – this was not his battle – it was the Lord's battle

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- He trusts in the Lord for victory, because of the word of God spoken through Samuel the prophet & Samuel anointing him as king

- As king, he knew that he was representing Israel & relying on the promises of God to Israel

- This giant of a man was doomed

- David's boldness came hot on the heels of the anointing he received from Samuel

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- Goliath may come out to him with spear, sword & javelin - the mighty weapons of human warfare – but David comes out to him with nothing but a sling & a stone BUT in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel

- While David was far weaker, far smaller, & far under equipped for the battle, he defeats Goliath with a sling & a stone

- In the weakness of this lad, the victory was seen to be totally of God

—47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

1 Samuel 17:47 NASB95

47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”

- and David said this to Goliath before he killed him

1. The Ordinary Messenger

- When we think of the weapons of Goliath – weapons that are judged by the world as the instruments that bring victory – they don't stack up against the work of the Lord through a sling & a stone

- In a similar way, we see the apostle Paul insisting that the unacceptable message of the cross is more than sufficient to bring men & women to God

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- In their love of orators – those with rich, polished rhetoric & speech – the Corinthian church has sought the weapons of the world to win battles for Christ

- But the weapons of the world have brought the world into the church & those weapons are being used to bring one another down

- There is quarrelling in the church; factions have developed

- The apostle has found that they were leaving the cross behind because they think it is unacceptable to the public

- Public opinion has become their standard for what will be acceptable in the Christian church

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- Interestingly, on the Bolt Report, on Thursday night, Andrew Bolt himself an self-confessed agnostic (agnostic is someone who doesn't know if God is true or not) said that the problem with the church is that it's leaders don't want to look to be out of step with public opinion

- He praised Israel Folau for his courage to stand, by what he believes

- He recognises that the church, instead of standing firm on what they believe, are actually changing what they believe to suit the public

- He called out the pope for the way he is adopting worldly premises – the populist views & not holding to Christian truth

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- Last week, we looked at the previous passage in 1 Cor. & saw how the apostle Paul said that God chose them, even though, they were not the choice of the world

- The world judges in very different ways from the Lord

- Paul now puts his own head on the chopping block & says that He, like them, is one of the outcasts

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- What a resumé: weak, fearful, trembling, a self-confessed lousy speaker with no articulation of the worldly wisdom the Corinthians so cherished

—9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

2 Corinthians 10:9–10 NASB95

9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

- He is a model of the work of the cross, just like them

- He is also an illustration of how God is able to use the weak to confound the strong

- We see that in truth because the Corinthians believed his message, in spite of his inadequacies & in spite of his avoidance of their cherished worldly-wise talk

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- So we see that his speech was not worldly wise nor lofty

Q. What does this say about the modern message in evangelism?

- So & so is a really good speaker, we need to listen to him! Why?

- Because he is funny, entertaining or because he has good stories to tell us, or he is inspiring – there's a big one for you – he's inspiring!

- But the apostle did not make emotional pleas, he did not seek to entertain; there were no gimmicks, no smooth or flattering speech – frankly, he was unimpressive

- Paul wants converts, not compliments

- What he proves is that the power of the gospel did not come from its messenger

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- The first “great awakening” - the name given to an incredible evangelical revival that happened in 1730's - 1740's in Britain & it's colonies in America – happened all of a sudden

- There was no showmanship, antics, or populist appeals

- In fact, the prominent minister at the time, Jonathan Edwards, was a monotone preacher and he read his messages to the crowds

- His messages were about 2-3 hours long

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- A wave of repentance swept over the people & he describes what happened in his memoirs

- People were dropping to their knees all over the place & calling out to God for forgiveness

- An incredible change swept the place & it changed the culture for years & years to come – the fruit of that revival continued

- This is what happens when God acts in spite of the monotone reading of a script that went on for 2-3 hrs

- Oh, & his most famous sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

2. The Content of the Message

- A director of evangelism for a denomination in America spoke of his disappointment when a young, bright, but ambitious preacher came forward to be involved in the work

- This young man had a desire for a certain kind of success

- He asked the director, “What do people like today”?

- He went on to say that people no longer like to hear about hellfire & brimstone & that the psychological fad is also fading

- The director said that he felt a “deep sadness” come over him when the young man wanted him to predict the next listeners fad & that he intended to adopt it

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- Politics is said to be the art of compromise

- Perhaps, more true today than ever before

- Rarely do we see politicians, with who would say they believe in God, be faithful to those beliefs, when it comes to enacting legislation

- We tend to see, however, more courage & conviction from those on the godless side of politics

- Thankfully, though, the godly are beginning to stand up for the truth

—37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

John 18:37 NASB95

37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

- “Everyone on the side of truth hears My voice”, says Jesus

Q. What did Jesus mean by that?

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- Truth is not some intellectual exercise which delineates whether a person is right or wrong

- What Jesus has in mind is faithfulness to the reality of what God has done & what God is doing

- I like the word, loyalty – loyalty & faithfulness go together - & this is what Jesus is like

- He is not the thief who comes to steal, kill & destroy, He is the good shepherd who faithfully represents God in His Person & in God's will

- He is faithful, in speaking that, which faithfully represents the truth of God

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- We come to this passage & Paul says that he determined to know nothing except Jesus & Him crucified

- There was nothing fashionable about this message

- On the contrary, it was an offence to the Jew & madness to the Gentile

- This was not the way to gain adherents, as far as the world was concerned

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- Many Christians still think, however, that you need to imitate your culture, for the culture to hear your message

- Now I do think it is important to communicate well & I certainly try to do that

- But WHAT you communicate is another matter altogether

- The apostle is speaking against the downplaying of Christ-crucified in order to win people over to your faith

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- There is a saying that I like & it goes like this – note it carefully

“What you win them with, you win them to”

- In other words, if you win people over with a Jesus other than the Jesus the apostles preached, you win them to that Jesus

- That Jesus may not be the Jesus of the Bible

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- The message of Christ-crucified to Paul's society was like someone at a very fashionable dinner-party, loudly, telling the story about how he'd seen rats eating the body of a dead dog in the street

- There would be an expression of shock, disgust & “how inappropriate” from those at the table

- In their disgust, they would consider that person as uncouth & hold him in contempt & he would be shunned

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- Not unlike the treatment, Israel Folau has come under from certain sections of society

- They have said they will sack him from his 4 million dollar, 4 yr deal with rugby Australia

- Actually, he was faithfully speaking what people truly needed to hear

“Those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him”. — Israel Folau

- We are becoming awash with moral perversity & that is an expression of a cold heart towards God (the list is from Scripture)

- Former Wales international Gareth Thomas, who came out as gay in 2009, responded to Folau’s comments on Twitter...

“To everyone who reads it, don’t be influenced by his words. Be the better person and be YOU. Whoever YOU is..Hell doesn’t await YOU. Happiness awaits YOU.” — Gareth Thomas

Q. Now that's his opinion isn't it? But his opinion has gone public & no one is castigating him for his belief's

- But when Israel Folau gives his opinion, all hell breaks loose

- Perhaps, hell breaks loose because that opinion is what will help empty hell

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- People can think of this in one of two ways: 1. Firstly, that he is just hating these people OR 2. That he is concerned for their life knowing that Jesus came to save them, if & only if, they embrace Him & turn from their sin against God

- I'm certain that it is the latter concern for Israel

- He believes the word of God & is wanting to point out to the people that they cannot mess around thinking they can do whatever they like & all will be well with God

- The message of Christ has always disturbed the world & there has always been those who stand & speak it truthfully & there will be those who will want to avoid ruffling anyone's feathers

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- Paul knew how the message of the cross would be received by the populace

- But that did not dissuade him

- He knew that only the message of Christ-crucified would lead to the redemption of the hearers

- Only the message of crucified Saviour would bring a person into a right relationship with God

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- So, his strategy was to not get side-tracked

- He refused to have his message weakened by worldly appeals

- The message of Christ-crucified but risen from the dead was the very message that stung the philosophers in Athens

- They disputed with him, but they still wanted to hear more

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- No wonder the Christian is to consider themselves dead to the world

- If you didn't, you would be so concerned about acceptance from the world that you would never say anything to offend anyone because you want everyone to like you

- That was not the apostle's way – everyone can hate him, even though he loves them & wants to tell them the truth

- The story of Jesus-crucified becomes the story of His followers-crucified – because the world rejected Christ, the world will reject His followers

- The attack against God's people is nothing more than their attack on Jesus

3. The Proof of the Message

- We are tempted today to trust certain flamboyant messages to turn people to Christ

- We look to trust a great event to stir up hype & get people enthused about Jesus

- We look to emotional appeals, passionate & emotionally charged words to bring a person forward to respond to Christ

- Oh yes, & play the last verse of that hymn over & over again until someone responds to Christ

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- Now I don't want to disparage anyone for sincerely wanting to see people won to Jesus

- We ought to have the freedom to minister as best we can

- However, if we take, seriously, what Paul is saying here, then we cannot escape the fact, that fancy words & appeals are not what brings people to Christ

- It is the offensive message of the cross & the foolishness of preaching such a message, that is the way

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- Here we see that the apostle is looking for the church to place their trust, to ground their faith in the fact that God brings people to Himself even though the people dislike the message

—5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction

1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 NASB95

5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

- They received the word of the cross with full conviction because the Spirit of God pressed home to them, what their minds could not accept

but, in fact, disliked

—11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

Matthew 13:11 NASB95

11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

- In other words, those who repent will see & those who remain unrepentant will remain blind

- There is a sovereign action of God which goes beyond our understanding

- He calls us, He has chosen us – words like this are incredibly precious to the Christian

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- But this does not mean that a person can say, “I haven't been chosen”, “I haven't been called”, therefore, God is unfair

Q. How do you know that you haven't been called?

Q. Do you hate God; do you distance yourself from Him”?

- If God says that “it is not His will that any shall perish”, why would a person complain that He excludes them?

- The fact of the matter is, that “all who come to Jesus, He will not cast out”

—37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

John 6:37 NASB95

37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

- So prove that you are the called & chosen – do what Jesus says

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- The proof is in the pudding, Paul writes here

- The demonstration of the Spirit & of power is simply, the demonstration of the Spirit's power

- The Corinthian's believed, in spite of themselves; in spite of their objections

- They embraced a message that was considered madness by their society

- They could make no claim to accepting Jesus since, in their minds, they had disdained the message

- But in their hearts, the Lord overruled their objections, & brought them to Himself – conversion was the demonstration of the Spirit's power

—14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

Acts 16:14 NASB95

14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

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- The truth of the matter is that conversion is solely a work of God

- We need to learn; we need to trust, that the spoken word of Christ-crucified is what bamboozles the hearer & brings opportunity in their life for the work of the Spirit

- Remember, “what you win them with, you win them to”

- We want them to be stripped bare of any self-reliance & pride & to humbly accept that Jesus Christ is Lord

- You can only achieve that when you speak what is true – Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world

- As Paul says in

—17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Romans 10:17 NASB95

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

- People need to know the truth & so take courage in the truth of the cross & resurrection of Jesus