Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Preaching of the Cross: the Power of God*

1 Cor 1:18ff

*Date: * Aug 26, 2007

*Place:*  Faith EBC

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Introduction

What is Biblical preaching?

It is the communication of Biblical truth, which has been recorded in God’s Word which the Holy Spirit uses to convince the preacher through study of the history, language, culture, who in turn shares what he has been taught to his hearers.

The purpose of preaching is to convince another of the truth of Scripture.

The preaching of the Cross is with the purpose of understanding the message of the Gospel – understanding what took place on Calvary and for what reason.

The preaching of the Cross is the message that God so loved the world that He gave His Son so that we might be reconciled with God.

The believers at Corinth seemed to have forgotten the message they received.

This can be evidenced by virtue of the fact that there were many divisions in the church – unity was lost.

Unity is lost when we forget the message of the Cross.

Unity is lost when the power of that message is no longer valued although once understood.

Paul begins with contrasting the Power and Wisdom of God with that of the world.

*I.

**The Preaching of the Cross: Its effect vv. 18-25*

a.        Foolishness to those who are lost, vv.18-20

 

Ὁ λόγος γὰρ ὁ τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῖς μὲν ἀπολλυμένοις μωρία ἐστίν, τοῖς δὲ σῳζομένοις ἡμῖν δύναμις θεοῦ ἐστιν. 1 Co 1:18 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

For the Word (preaching or message) of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved the power of God.

Both to the cultured Greek and to the pious Jew the story that Christianity had to tell sounded like the sheerest folly.

[1]

The message of the Cross is foolishness in that people during Paul’s day didn’t understand why anybody would worship someone who was crucified.

When they heard the message, it would be hard to believe.

What do people put there faith in?

They rely on their works, their position, their experiences, their friends, their family, their money, their jobs.

The message that a crucified man could save anyone is crazy.

Didn’t he die as a criminal, after all only criminals die on a cross?

This is the view of those who are perishing – the preaching of the cross is foolishness.

However, when the story of the cross is told, one would mention the fact that the man who hung there was the Saviour of the world.

The Saviour of the world – the world needs saving?

Yes the world needs deliverance from the penalty of sin, which is death and eternal separation from God.

The message of the Cross is a proclamation of judgment – sin needs to be judged once for all, see 1 John 2:2.

The message of the Cross is a proclamation of our need – each of us is sinful, there is no righteousness in us that will deliver us from the penalty, power and presence of sin.

None of us can deliver ourselves from sin’s penalty.

We can’t do penance.

Our good deeds won’t save us.

Only God has done what is necessary to secure our deliverance.

The message of the Cross is a proclamation of God’s plan of salvation.

It is the message that God sent His Son to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world.

It is by faith alone in Christ alone that one is delivered from the penalty of sin, see Romans 3:24-26.

The message of the Cross is a proclamation of forgiveness (Acts 13:38; 26:17-18; Romans 5:1; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; 1 John 1:9) and peace (Eph 2:14; Col 1:20;3:15) with God.

The message of the Cross is a proclamation of each man’s destiny.

If we reject the message, we will be separated from God eternally.

If we receive it by faith, we receive eternal life, Gal 3:26; cp.

John 1:12; 3:18; 5:24.

Those who are being saved is a reference to the progression of our salvation, which begins with our being declared righteous by the Lord the moment we believer (positional salvation - justification), then moving on to the maturing process where we grow in our understanding and seek to honour the Lord with our lives as the Holy Spirit reminds us of what we have received (progressive salvation – sanctification), then moving on to the day when we will be the Lord face to face and will receive rewards for faithfulness, receive a new body and will be forever with the Lord (ultimate salvation – glorification).

Therefore, for those being saved, the preaching of the Cross is a clear statement on the power of God.

Thiselton notes: “Thus /“the wisdom of the world” is subjected to the critique of the cross/ in both an /epistemic/ sense (the cross defines in what reality consists) and in a /salvific/ sense (the cross defines the pathway to life and well-being).[2]

Therefore, it is in the work of Calvary and the preaching of its message that we see the power of God.

 

γέγραπται γάρ· /ἀπολῶ// //τὴν// //σοφίαν// //τῶν// //σοφῶν/ /καὶ// //τὴν// //σύνεσιν// //τῶν// //συνετῶν// //ἀθετήσω//./ 1 Co 1:19 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I will confound the understanding of the learned.

Paul quotes Isa 29:14, this is the first of at least fourteen OT quotations.

“S.

Lewis Johnson in /The Wycliffe Bible Commentary/ notes that in context these “words are God’s denouncement of the policy of the ‘wise’ in Judah in seeking an alliance with Egypt when threatened by Sennacherib.”

2[3]

The wise of this world would say that this idea that people go to heaven or go to hell for having received or rejected the message is nonsense.

They say, there is no heaven, no hell.

We need to eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we may die.

Some say they will get to heaven by simply doing good deeds, after all God wouldn’t reject a person whose life is devoted to good works.

The wise of this world deny the fact that there is a God, creation all happened by chance.

The fact is God has destroyed the wisdom of the “wise”.

The scriptures describe the wisdom of the world in this way, see James 3:14-17.

It is envious, self-seeking, boastful, deceitful, sensual and demonic.

This can be illustrated in Romans 1:18-3:20.

It is based upon achievements that are designed to allow us to compare ourselves with others, designed to tell God how good we are.

God has destroyed this world’s wisdom with His wisdom from above, which is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits, impartial and sincere, 1 Cor 3:19; Psalm 90:12; 111:10.

God has also confounded the understanding of the learned.

This is clear in the way the Lord Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of His day, John 7:15.

The Lord delights in using the weak, the simple to confound the wise and the strong of this world.

ποῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; ποῦ συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; οὐχὶ ἐμώρανεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου; 1 Co 1:20 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

Where is the wise one?

Where is the scribe?

Where is the debater of this age?

Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Where are those who claim wisdom among the Greeks?

Where are the experts of the Law?

Where are the Jewish and Greek philosophers?

They are no where to be found.

They were never consulted when it came to God’s plan to use the power of the Cross, the power of the Gospel message to reach the lost.

They were never consulted when it came to the sending of His Son.

The truth is the wisdom of world has been shown for what it is – foolish, through the work of the Cross.

b.

Power of God to those who are being saved, vv. 18, 21

 

ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ κόσμος διὰ τῆς σοφίας τὸν θεόν, εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τῆς μωρίας τοῦ κηρύγματος σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας· 1 Co 1:21 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom (its desire to claim that they could know God apart from His revelation) did not know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of (the message preached) preaching to save those who believe.

The power of the message of the Cross (Romans 5:8) can be seen in the forgiveness and peace people receive in response to hearing the message.

The wisdom of this world regrettably doesn’t know God.

The power of God is seen in the lives of those who understood the message of the Cross, which resulted in a transformed life, and now evidenced in one’s ability to love as God loved, to forgive as God forgives.

The power of God is evidenced in that it authorizes us to share the very message we have receive not simply in words, but a powerful demonstration of a transformed life.

ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν, 1 Co 1:22 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

And seeing that the Jews ask for signs and Greeks ask for wisdom.

We can see throughout the Gospel accounts that the religious leaders were constantly asking Jesus for a sign, Matt 12:39; Mk 8:11; John 6:30.

The Lord’s reply is that a wicked and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, Matt 16:4.

The Greeks on the other hand are seeking for answers throughout human wisdom, rational arguments.

c.

Preaching Christ: Stumbling block to Jews, vs. 23

 

ἡμεῖς δὲ κηρύσσομεν Χριστὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, Ἰουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον, ἔθνεσιν δὲ μωρίαν, 1 Co 1:23 (NA27 w~/GRAMCORD)

 

But we preach a Christ crucified, a (or affront) stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles,

 

The story is told of a small English village that had a tiny chapel whose stone walls were covered by traditional ivy.

Over an arch was originally inscribed the words: we preach christ crucified.

There had been a generation of godly men who did precisely that: they preached Christ crucified.