Nothing works better than Jesus on the Cross

Recap:

We saw how the tone Paul was taking was that of a father who was appealing to his kids in a loving yet pressing manner

We went over how Paul was urging them to agree in what they say so that there be no divisions among them

We discussed and took a look at how Jesus prayed that we be on one accord

We discussed how cleverness of speech and wisdom had caused division and taken the Corinthians away from being Christ centered.

We went over how the Apostle Paul was urging the Corinthians to think and speak on the same level

We saw how not being on the same level as a church in 2020 can cause divisions and or splits

We took a close look at what Paul meant by some belong to Apollos, some Cephas, some Paul, and some Jesus

We came to an understanding that the people in the Corinthian church were big upping their teacher and or the person that led them to Christ instead of big upping Christ.

We saw how jealousy had crept into the church

We came to an understanding that some of us in the church today have some of the same issues that the Corinthian church had in respect to getting caught up in loving our Pastors over loving god.

How when we see the Pastor as this loving, kind, smart, understanding, likeable guy, we tend to overlook the fact that he is not preaching Jesus and we choose to stay up under something that is not right because this is the person that taught you for however long.

We asked the question is Christ divided meaning broke up into separate parts

And we answered that question with a agreed no...

Then we read Paul say he was not sent to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom so the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

We are living in a time period where churches are beginning to get away from teaching that Jesus is the only means of salvation. We have tons of pastors that are attending whats called seeker friendly conferences. At these conferences Pastors are taught how to get people to come to church by using lights, cameras and concert themed music. This is also known as the seeker friendly church movement… This is how its labeled..... it is associated with some megachurches in the United States where Christian messages are often imparted by means of elaborate creative elements emphasizing secular popular culture, such as popular music styles.

I was reading an article that was published based off a podcast called straight talk about the seeker church movement by Grace to You Chruch with Pastor John McArthur. John McArthur called this movement the philosophy of ministry, which he says and i quote “ it is more entrepreneurial than biblical and the guys who are able to pull it off are the clever guys, the glib (deeply profound) guys, the smooth communicators, the guys who are really savvy to the marketing strategy, the guys who have lots of money at their feet, who can access lots of money and pull this off are becoming the success models for the church.

Pastor McArthur goes on to say “what happened to the man of God? What ever happened to the man of god, who is known as a man of prayer, as a man of deep understanding of scripture; who is known as a Bible teacher; who is known as a godly man, whose life is a pattern to follow, who’s a discipler of others, who’s a builder of spiritual leasers? I mean, even going deeper into the issue, whatever happened to the understanding of the church as the body of Christ which Christ is the head?

Whats taking place is that the want and need for sound biblical doctrine that teaches the Gospel is fading away and people are falling into a desire for philosophical outstretched wisdom when in reality it has no ability to lead to salvation.

i pray that what we here in the text today can shape our mind to understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is power and wisdom.

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Backdrop

During this time period philosophy and it’s philosophers were at an all time high. Majority of the population were following the teachings of philosophers Epicurus and Stoicism which was taught by Seneca the philosopher.

Epicureanism taught pleasure (not necessarily sensual) as the chief good in life.

In other words do what pleases you and don't worry about the rest

Stoicism taught people to attain happiness by being in control of their lives and to live in agreement with nature.

In other word

The Emperor at the time Nero was taught by Seneca for several years. Seneca believed in Stoic Philosophy

The government was governed by Philosphy’

Philosophy was deemed higher than religion or belief in any god.

Philosophy was also taught in the schools

v. 18

v. 18 - For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

What is the word on of the cross?

It is the proclaiming through teaching and or preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Foolishness

In the book of Corinthians the word foolishness carries 3 different meanings.

1) Foolish in a sense meaning not in accord with the though or idea of wisdom at the time which is considered to be Greek philosophers and their philosophy.

2) Foolish in a sense of the Christians behavior being different from that of the non believers. When a Christian acted Christ-like they would call them foolish, because they were acting different from the rest of the people.

I remember when i became a believer, I would still go around my old friends and because of the change that had took place in my life I didnt feel the urge to cuss or say the word cuzz, or smoke and drink like I use too and i remember hearing these words “You got God now you acting brand new”, or they would say stuff like “Look the homie aint on what we on no more,”… because i wasnt into the things that I use to be into it was counted as foolish to those who didnt understand the transformation process.

The Gospel has dividing power.

- look at what Paul says in verse 17- For Christ did not send me to baptiz

on one side you have the people who don't believe and are perishing in their foolishness.

On the other side you have those that are being saved by believing in the message of the Gospel.

In this life there is only two choices that we have… We are either saved or we are not. There is no in between.

Story: I remember before I was saved and at the beginning of my Christian walk I believed that if you were a good hearted person you could still go to heaven even if you did not believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. See I have friends that don’t believe in Christianity, in fact I have a really good friend that happened to be one of my groomsmen in my wedding who believes in the stars and energy. I remember having a conversation with him regarding heaven and hell. I remember telling him that i believed that because he was a great hearted person that i believed that he would make it into heaven just based off of his character. Well...... I was wrong! As i studied the scriptures and became more mature in my walk i realized that there was only one way into heaven and that’s by believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

It says that we who are saved are a fragrance of Christ to God; to one an aroma from death to death and to the other an aroma of life to life.

This means that we are a sweet aroma to God

Ex. Have you ever walked into someones home and they had the door closed and all the windows sealed up and you can tell that somebody in the house smokes cigarettes and they cook chicken all the time and they tend to leave the chicken grease sitting out all the time and it just has this smell of staleness in it. Not like a bout to throw up smell but just a stale smell...

Ex. Have you ever walked into someones home and they had the candles burning with plug ins everywhere and the doors have been open because you can smell the freshness in the air and it makes you relax and calm down every time you go there..

This is the way you smell to God. IF YOU ARE SAVED AND HAVE SALVATION YOU SMELL LIKE A SWEET AROMA!!! but if you not saved you must smell quite the opposite.

The Gospel is the Power of God

Power of God refers to supernatural powers that are opposed to Christ.

Christ is the Power of God and the wisdom of God()

for salvation ()

for us who believe He gave the power to become children of God ()

v.19 -For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.,

For it is written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.,af

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Paul is referencing (read) - Therefore, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

In Hebrew this would read: The wisdom of the wise shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid”

wisdom in this context is speaking of the ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common sense or insight

In other words God will destroy their ability to learn about His Gospel, to experience His gospel, or to have the ability to use common sense in the area of His Gospel.

In other words what the writer is saying is this.... God will shut down your ability to hear the Gospel, learn the Gospel, understand the Gospel, believe the Gospel, and live the Gospel, which in turn means there is no salvation available because it is in believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we are saved.

- 10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, since the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except his spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

v.20 - Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?

Paul breaks this down into 3 groups: The Philosopher, the Pharisee, and the disputer

The Philosopher: This is the person skilled in letters and well trained and or learned in Greek Philosophy.

The thinker: This is the person skilled in letters and well trained and or learned in Greek Philosophy.

In other words this person is well known for understanding the isms of that time period and may even be a philosopher.

The Pharisees: This is the person who is schooled in the old testament law, a well trained interpreter of the old testament law.

The Debater: This is the person who engages in a discussion to propose their argument against an opposing argument.

In other words this person is like a lawyer. They are the ones that go back and forth to come to a conclusion.

In other words what Paul is saying is this “ Where is your top 3? Where are the guys that come out and speak for the multitude? These are your best 3 guys?

v.21 - For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.

What was preached?

THE GOSPEL (Jesus in the Old Testament; Birth of Jesus, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, Christ Redemption of an undeserving people)

:

1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, (Jesus in the Old Testament)

3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, (Birth of Jesus)

4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, (Death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ)

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,

6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ (Christ Redemption of us)

(New American Standard Bible)

New American Standard Bible

v.22-23 - For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

The Jews wanted to see signs and wonders just as they did with Jesus

- Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

- The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

The Greeks seek wisdom

They wanted a philosophical demonstration of Christianity, such as what took place in Athens.

-

17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.

18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

19 And they took him and brought him to the bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?

19 And they took him and brought him to the bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?

20 “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

20 “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Why is it a stumbling block? (go back to )

- But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

I remember when I first thought I was saved… I was practicing syncrotism by mixing Christianity with Confusionism and Hebrew Israel-ism.

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14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

Practicing syncrotism : Confuciunist and a Christian

I use to listen to the Word Network… I believed that the spring water worked, I use to be intrigued by the stories of how the water would bring financial blessings and bodily healing. I use to call and order the water, the oil, and the scarves.... I was a mess yall..

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listen to the word network :

One day I heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ playing in one of my old friends moms car and it broke me to tears and i wanted to know more about Jesus but i had a distorted view of what Christianity looked like.

I grew up in an old baptist church called Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Chruch and in there the Pastor would hoop the whole sermon. I remember he would walk down the isle with the corded mic with his robe on and people would just start yelling and crying.

So mixing my childhood with the TV preachers I found myself being drawn to the same type of churches.

I ended up in a Pentecostal, apostolic, Charismatic, shouting, running, dancing, prophesying, laying on of hands, speaking in tongues, prosperity teaching ministry. (it wasn't all bad because that’s where i met my wife and found out that teaching the word of God was what I was called to do..)

I thought i had struck gold yall

Until one day I linked up with this brother who started pouring the true Gospel into me. Not that watered down stuff but the true unfiltered Gospel.

He started sending me these videos of pastors exegetically breaking down the scripture

I remember when he first introduced me to hermaneutics! (the breaking down of scripture in context according to the history, cultural, economic, and social standing of that day) I started going to the library yall, searching for information. he would send me stuff and I would dig in and search.

After about 3 to 4 months of that, i started walking different, talking different, seeing different, hearing different, teaching different, understanding different.

I began to see the church that i was in as different. Not in a good way but in a way that said…THIS AINT IT DOC!!!

I could tell it was a show! I could tell there was no Gospel there!

I WAS THERE 4 TO 5 YEARS...... AND DIDNT RECOGNIZE THAT THEY WERE FALSE!!!!!!!

I remember my old pastor pretty much calling me foolish the same way they called the Gospel foolish..

He told me that the theology I was learning was foolish because people dont like boring church!

He told me that the way i presented the Gospel was wrong because it didnt have a flair to it.

He told me that the people dont need exegesis of scripture and that its okay to preach them happy sometimes.

He told me to water down the Gospel.

LISTEN!!! ALL THE GLITZ AND GLAMMER CANT SAVE YOU!!!!!! ONLY BELIEF IN THE DEATH OF A SAVIOR NAMED JESUS CHRIST!!!!

STRONG WORDS AND A SHOW CANT SAVE YOU!!! ONLY BELIEF IN THE BURRIAL OF A PERFECT SACRIFICE CALLED JESUS CHRIST!!!!!

LIGHTS AND CAMERAS CANT SAVE YOU!!! ONLY BELIEF IN A RESURRECTION OFTHE REDEEMER JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!

DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!! DONT GET CAUGHT UP IN THE SHOW!!! DONT GET CAUGHT UP IN THE MOMENTT!!!! ONLY JESUS!!!!!!

v.24-25 - Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

To those called Christ death on the cross is the power of god because it overcame sin and allowed us to be redeemed from the law and brought us into freedom, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

So for us that have been called this is the sign and the wisdom that the Jews and the Greeks were seeking but couldnt understand beccause they were hidden.

So if you can fully grasp the concept of who God is! who Jesus is! Why Jesus died on the cross! What it does for you! you have not been hidden from the things of God… (that’s a shouting moment right there!) because God could have kept His goodness hidden from you… So you should get excited when you realize that God has not hidden these things from you...

WHY?

We serve a God that is Sovereign

In other words God possesses all power and is the ruler of all things and this is in regard to creation, human history and redemption.

- 6 The LORD does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths.

in heaven and on earth,

- But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

in the seas and all the depths.

But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned to me. Then I praised the Most High and honored and glorified him who lives forever:

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

and his kingdom is from generation to generation.

35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,

In other words we are FINITE and God is INFINITE

and he does what he wants with the army of heaven

and the inhabitants of the earth.

Finite: having a limited nature or existence

There is no one who can block his hand

Infinite: no limitations, extending beyond, lying beyond, or being greater than any preassigned fintie value however large.

or say to him, “What have you done?”

Even in our weakness He is made strong

-  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Closing

21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)