The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 5: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; "Terminally Weird? Or Divinely Powerful?"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 5: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “Terminally Weird? Or Divinely Powerful?” Oh, the voices we hear today. Religious ones. Moral ones. Congratulatory ones. Like this one from John Rhys-Davies. While he was at the Movieguide Awards event at the historic Avalon Theater in Hollywood last month, he made this declaration: “The world owes Christianity the greatest debt of thanks for making the world a better place. Even as a rationalist and a skeptic, I find myself constantly defending Christians and Christianity. We seem to forget that Christian civilization has made the world a better place than it ever was. One of the great glories was the abolition of slavery, for instance.” Who is John Rhys-Davis? He played Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was the voice of Evangelist in Pilgrims Progress. “Join the cause!” says Rhys-Davies. “Make the world a better place!” “Christians are leading the way!” Here’s another voice—one that well over 5 million have actually spent money to purchase a book that captures his words on paper: “Expect God to do good things for you,” he says. “Perhaps you’re searching for a parking spot in a crowded lot. Say, ‘Father, I thank you for leading and guiding me. Your favor will cause me to get a good spot.’” Also, expect other people to do good things for you. “I’ve come to expect to be treated differently. My attitude is: ‘I’m a child of the Most High God. My Father created the whole universe. He has crowned me with favor, therefore, I can expect preferential treatment.’” We need to develop a healthy self-image this author continues. “Just like in the case of Gideon, God sees you as strong and courageous, as a man or woman of great honor and value. So stop thinking of yourself as a loser with a bad job, a small apartment, and a lemon of a car. Start believing that you can become what God says you can become. Take Sarah, for example. It took a long time for God to fulfill his promise that she would become pregnant. Why so long? The key to the promise coming to pass was that Sarah had to conceive it in her heart before she was able to conceive it in her physical body.” “Discover the power of your thoughts and words. If you think negative thoughts all the time, how can you expect God to bless you? But when you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled toward greatness, inevitably bound for increase, promotion, and God’s supernatural blessings. The Bible tells us that we need to ‘transformed by the renewing of our mind.’ If you will transform your mind, God will transform your life”. Finally, this writer says that God has great things in store for you, “so start living with some enthusiasm. If you will do all these things—follow these steps—then God will take you places you’ve never dreamed of, and you will be living your best life now!” This voice tells us that we need powerful, positive, self-talk in the name of God and Jesus. Here’s a 3rd voice, very popular in our culture. In 10 years, this person’s book sold over 10 million copies and has been translated into 26 languages. Like many authors she did not write this book overnight. This book is a culmination of a number of personal, life altering experiences, and dialoguing with God. “Soon after I had asked Jesus to save me from my sins, I found myself leaving the warmth of our cozy chalet in Switzerland to walk alone in the snowy mountains. I went into a deeply wooded area, feeling vulnerable and awed by cold, moonlit beauty. The air was crisp and dry, piercing to inhale. Suddenly I felt as if a warm mist enveloped me. I became aware of a lovely Presence, and my involuntary response was to whisper, ‘Sweet Jesus.’ This utterance was totally uncharacteristic of me, and I was shocked to hear myself speaking so tenderly to Jesus. As I pondered this brief communication, I realized it was the response of a converted heart; at that moment I knew I belonged to Him. This was far more than the intellectual answers for which I’d been searching. This was a relationship with the Creator of the universe. “The following year I had another encounter with the Presence of Jesus. I was grieving the loss of a serious dating relationship and wondering whether being a Christian made much difference in the quality of my life. As I read a book by a Christian author, I no longer felt alone. I felt an overwhelming Presence of peace and love come over me. I knew that Jesus was with me and that he sympathized with my heartache. This was unquestionably the same ‘Sweet Jesus’ I had encountered in the snowy splendor of the Alps. “Sixteen years later I had another vivid encounter with the Presence of Jesus. I was in prayer and visualized God protecting me and my family. All of a sudden, I was enveloped in brilliant light and profound peace. “The next step in my spiritual journey was where I received a copy of “God Calling”, a devotional book written by two anonymous ‘listeners.’ These women practiced waiting quietly in God’s Presence, pencils and paper in hand, recording the messages they received from Him. And I began to wonder if I, too, could receive messages during my times of communing with God. I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more. Increasingly, I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally. So I decided to listen to God with pen in hand, writing down whatever I believe He was saying. I felt awkward the first time I tried this, but I received a message. It was short, biblical, and appropriate. It addressed topics that were current in my life: trust, fear, and closeness to God. I responded by writing in my prayer journal. “From that time on, my journaling thus changed from monologue to dialogue. This new way of communicating with God became the high point of my day. Of course, I knew my writings were not inspired—as only Scripture is—but they were helping me grow closer to God. This became a delightful way to encourage myself in the Lord. “This practice of being still in God’s presence has increased my intimacy with him more than any other spiritual discipline so I want to share some of the writing I have gleaned from these quiet moments. In many parts of the world, Christians seem to be searching for a deeper experience of Jesus’ Presence and Peace. The devotions that follow address that felt need. “The Bible is the only infallible, inerrant Word of God, and I endeavor to keep my writings consistent with that unchanging standard. I have written from the perspective of Jesus speaking, to help readers feel more personally connected with him. So the first person singular “I,” “Me”, “My” always refers to Christ; “you” refers to you, the reader. “I have included Scripture references after each daily reading. As I waited in God’s presence, Bible verses or fragments of verses often came to mind. So I interwove these into the devotions. Words from the Scriptures (some paraphrased, some quoted) are indicated in italics. Certain Bible verses figure rather heavily in my writing. That is because God often uses these passages to strengthen and encourage me, raising my sights from my “light and momentary troubles”-- 2 Corinthians 4:17 -- to His eternal perspective. “The devotions in this book are meant to be read slowly, preferably in a quiet place—with your Bible open.” And the title of Sarah Young’s book, “Jesus Calling” communicates a lot: Jesus is calling you, through Sarah Young, to have a mystical encounter with Jesus. Ten million people have invested money to have the same kinds of mystical experiences that Sarah Young had. So, what are these voices saying? “Be part of a cause!” “Speak powerful, faith-filled words to yourself—in the name of Jesus.” “Jesus wants to speak directly to you!” It’s been said that if you want to hear the voice of the Lord, read your Bible. And if you want to hear an audible voice, read your Bible outloud! And you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I just walked us through several voices in our Christian culture today which has served to distract us from what really matters. There were distracting voices in the church in 1st century Corinth as well. Paul called the voices, “human wisdom.” Remember how Paul described them? “One says, ‘I follow Paul. Another says, ‘I follow Apollos.’ Still another: ‘I follow Cephas.’ And others, ‘I follow Christ.’” Leadership in the house churches all around Corinth vigorously emphasized a leader they were excited about, so much so that they were beginning to split into factions. And the factions were not of the simple “agree to disagree” kind. They were like the Fundamental Baptists and Roman Catholic kind of division. We’re not going to get into the differences between these denominations today—another topic for another message. But the point is that there was a lot of fighting amongst themselves. This infighting was what greatly concerned Paul. It was a major threat to the unity of the church. Paul also saw a grave danger as well. And let me give us the bottom line of today’s message right here. We will unpack it some throughout our time together today. But if you get nothing else, get this: what was the foundation upon which the Corinthians’ faith rested: human wisdom? Or divine power? A timeless question. Let me ask you: What is the foundation upon which your faith rests? The loud voices spoken in the church in our day that we can describe as human wisdom? Or does your faith rest in the power of God? And lest we even here at Grace United think we are immune, millions of people around the world listen to these voices. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:12: “if anyone thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” Let’s take a look at Paul’s testimony addressing his concern about human wisdom and divine power in our passage for today, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5: And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Let’s go through this passage. First let’s take a look at Paul’s priority vv.1-2. Paul had one thing on his mind when he arrived in Corinth. From day 1 til he left 18 months later, Paul proclaimed only 1 message: Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, Paul preached this message with no props. He refused to allow anything to block the plain, clear, proclamation of who Jesus is and what he did. Now, Paul could have used human wisdom to gain a hearing. Remember how the Corinthian culture was? They placed a very high value on speech performance. Debate. Persuasive argument. Even fake news! See, the talking heads were passionate about their craft. Often, truth took a back seat, if it was even in the vehicle at all! And again, the more things change—the more they stay the same. I think about some of the actors today. A good example is Matt Damon. He spends seemingly a lot of time promoting the environmental movement. It appears he is all in regarding the notion of man-made climate change. I don’t know him at all. But here is my question: Has he done his homework and come to a settled conclusion about this issue? Is this why he is all in regarding man-made climate change, or is there some other reason? A lot of people listen to him and buy into what he says. My hunch is that people listen to him not because he is an expert on climate change, but because of name recognition. But what does he do for a living? He plays pretend! Unlike Matt Damon, Paul preached truth. He had the best message in the world! The gospel of Christ. If Paul wanted to, he could have blown away the people with his message. Before he became a Christian, he was a religious leader of the highest order. Doubtless, he had a way with words and could move an audience. But Paul chose not to use his skill. And part of the reason for that was because of the subject matter. How can one use soaring rhetoric about one who was crucified, for that is exactly what the testimony of God was about: Jesus Christ, the Son of God and him crucified. Let’s think about this for a minute. In our day, crucifixion is about as far away from us as the north pole is from the south. Certainly, we know about crucifixion. It is what happened to really, really bad people a long time ago. It was so barbaric that Constantine ended the practice about 400 A.D. It is what happened to Jesus Christ. Let that sink in. Here’s Paul, having made a decision to not use persuasive words to win people over to become disciples of Jesus. He proclaimed the story of the Son of God having been crucified. This form of death was considered by the Jews as only happening to those cursed by God: “cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”. To the gentiles, crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst criminals, and only rarely was it done to a Roman citizen. Not the kind of message that would win people over. But it was this message, straight forward, that Paul preached. It was the only message Paul preached. No wonder he described the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified a stumbling block for unsaved Jews and moronic for unsaved gentiles. So, in vv.1-2, Paul had 1 priority: preach this message that was repulsive at best. In vv.3-4 we see Paul not exactly presenting himself as the most powerful, persuasive spokesman for this hideous message. He leveled with the Corinthians and told them that when he visited them, he felt weak, fearful and even trembling. Anything but a powerful preacher with a powerful presentation. Does this surprise you, this transparency of Paul? I would have thought that this guy would have been a strong man. With a booming voice. Almost prophet-like. This message was rough! And the way Paul presented it did not help to convince his hearers. But aren’t you glad for Paul’s transparency? He freely admitted that he was scared. Can you resonate with this? I can. It was about 2 weeks after my new friend Steve shared the gospel with me. The director of the Christian Servicemen’s Center in Denver invited me to go on a trip with him to tell my story of how I became a Christian. I agreed to do so. But I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. There must have been a hundred people that night in that room to hear my story—or it seemed to me that there were. Talk about trembling! For the life of me I don’t remember anything I said. I’m glad it wasn’t recorded! Those who do the studies say the fear of speaking in front of people is so strong that most people would rather die! But look at what Paul discovered in this ordeal. Given that the message he preached was hideous, and that he was scared in delivering it, he realized that if anybody would receive this message it would have to be a supernatural demonstration. Look at v.4: Anybody receiving the message of Christ and him crucified would have to be a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Once again, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The truth of the matter is that not only the Corinthians in the 1st Century but even we in the 21st Century cannot come to Christ apart from a demonstration of the Spirit and power. Regardless of how comfortable, or uncomfortable a Christian is in proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified, the only way anybody can go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive is through the conviction and the new birth brought about by the Holy Spirit. I wrestled with what I’m about to show you. But brother Paul Washer explains it so much better than I can about the demonstration of the Spirit and power in salvation. The video is not the best. But take a look. That’s what I’m talking about! The Holy Spirit worked a conviction in this man. He went from “I just don’t get it”, to “I’m saved!” “How do you know?” “Haven’t you read this verse before?” In the case of this man, the Spirit of God worked through the word of God, in conjunction with the man of God! Amen! A true demonstration of the Spirit and power. This man, the Corinthian Christians in the 1st Century, indeed, all of us in this room right now who are born again, we are saved because of a demonstration of the Spirit and power. To God be the glory for the salvation of precious souls! So, Paul came to Corinth as a man on a divine mission: to proclaim to them 1 hideous message: Jesus Christ and him crucified. He came to them scared to death—in weakness, fear and much trembling. And all who came to Christ in Corinth did so because God demonstrated his good work by the Spirit and power. And all this, for what? Why should the Corinthians hear the plain, unadorned truth with no frills? For 1 reason. Just as there is 1 message of salvation, there is 1 true foundation upon which saving faith rests: the power of God. To those who are perishing, the message of the cross is moronic. But to those who are being saved the message of the cross is the power of God. In other words, human wisdom, slick and clever, and powerful to tug on heart strings, is no match for the power of God unto salvation. The truth is human wisdom does not cut it when it comes to real salvation in the hereafter. And even in the here and now where life and death moments often strike with no notice. How make it a habit of waking up in the morning singing that old 70’s song “American Pie”? Part of the lyrics go like this, “this will be the day that I die.” No one wakes up thinking this is their last day on earth. It is the farthest thing from our minds. But what goes on in the lives of those who have completely bought into human wisdom, with no hope of salvation, and live their lives as best they can? They live their lives in a satisfying way, in their own estimation, unaware that devastation is just around the corner—and then tragedy strikes. Radical atheist Christopher Hitchens was one of those men. In the summer of 2010 he was diagnosed with cancer. He died a year later. This is part of an article he wrote for Vanity Fair. I am badly oppressed by a gnawing sense of waste. I had real plans for my next decade and felt I'd worked hard enough to earn it. Will I really not live to see my children married? To watch the World Trade Center rise again? .… To the dumb question "Why me?" the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: “Why not you?” He continues: “I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient. Allow me to inform you, though, that when you sit in a room with a set of other finalists, and kindly people bring a huge transparent bag of poison to plant into your arm [his chemotherapy treatment] and you either read or don't read a book while the venom sack gradually empties into your system …. You feel swamped with passivity and impotence: dissolving in powerlessness like a sugar lump in water.” Can you sense the hopelessness of a man whose faith rested in human wisdom and not in the power of God? On the other hand, Christians are full of hope, for their faith rests not in human wisdom but in the power of God. Rodney Stark's book, the Rise of Christianity, argues that one of the main reasons for the success of Early Christianity was the Christian emphasis on caring for the sick. During the late Roman period there were a number of devastating plagues: the Antonine Plague (165-180 AD), the Plague of Cyprian (251-270 AD), and the Plague of Justinian (541–542 AD). These periods coincide with some of the most prolific growth of Christianity in the known world. Stark says that Christian communities would have had better survival rates during these plagues because of the healthcare they provided for one another. Christians also cared for the sick in non-Christian communities, which would increase the likelihood of their conversion, especially in times of death and uncertainty. In other words, where the pagans literally ran for their lives, Christians gave their lives in caring for others. Why? Because their faith rested on the power of God. Human wisdom, good words, moved emotions, do no good when a person has to deal with life altering, even life and death issues. And it is happening today. You may have heard about a certain disease that is affecting a few people in the world as of late. It is called the Coronavirus. It began in China. You may also remember that we have been praying for the brothers and sisters in China who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ. Church buildings are being destroyed. Pastors are told to preach Communist propaganda rather than the Scriptures in their worship services. They are also jailed and mistreated as a matter of course. Well a strange thing is taking place. A man I trust, an officer in the Israeli Defense Force, Amir Tsarfati, who is also a very strong Christian, has received some information about how the Coronavirus is affecting the witness of Christians in China. Because our brothers and sisters in China rest their faith in the power of God, the cross of Christ and the true gospel—that our God reigns and not the Communist Party, they run toward the danger. They understand that this life is temporary. They follow in the ways of the crucified, resurrected Son of God who said, “If I live you shall live also.” Today, when the voices are calling out, “Join the cause! Help us make the world a better place!” Or, “just speak powerful self-help words to yourself in the name of God!” Or, “Jesus is mystically calling for you” with the help of Sarah, of course, it is tempting to listen, and be drawn away to these things. But what good are good causes when the world is getting increasingly dark and it will not become light until the Lord returns? And I don’t think Dominion is going to give us preferential treatment when the power goes out due to a massive storm just because we mumble the mantra, “I’m a child of the Most High God. My Father created the whole universe. He has crowned me with favor!” So, my brothers and sisters, let’s continue to rest our faith on the foundation of the power of God. The world will look at us as terminally weird and will continue to do so. But when the worst of times happen to us the Lord will give us what we need to see things through. And when would be a better time to proclaim “Jesus Christ and him crucified” than when we are going through the most difficult of circumstances? And when it comes time for our own departure, rather than live in despair, like Mr. Hitchens, we have hope. The Lord Jesus told his followers, "If I live, you shall live also.” Let us rejoice today! Our God reigns! Jesus Christ was crucified, and raised, and our hope lies in him! Greg mentioned at the beginning of the service that I want your help in finishing this message. Where does your faith lie? In human wisdom or in the power of God? How so? Our message is one of hope: Jesus Christ and him crucified. The world thinks we are weird. But they are not able to deny how Christ has affected us. Let’s take a moment and share these things. We are among family. Let’s rehearse it in here, so we can boldly share it out there.