The Centrality of the Cross

Worship Service Order:

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5- Bri Buzard

Look and See

Greeting, announcements, prayer-Nick

All Creatures of Our God and King

Dismiss for nursery

We Will Feast

Sermon- (John, Rick)

Communion- Matthew 26:26-29 (stream "In My Father's Kingdom" by Fernando Ortega)

O Church Arise

Benediction- Rick (read 1 Corinthians 1:30-31)

1 Corinthians 1:26–31 NIV

26 Brothers and sisters, 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. 27 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. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 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. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

If you have your Bibles, please turn now to 1 Corinthians 1:18. 1 Corinthians 1:18.

It is a joy and privilege to be with you all this morning.

I am here with my wife Jamie.

and our 3 kids...

Caleb is 9 and in 3rd grade.

Brooklynn is 7 and in 2nd grade.

Amelia is 4 and in pre-school. she will be in kindergarten this fall.

interestingly nobody asks my wife Jamie and I now how old we are. we are just older....

Well, CrossPoint Community Church had their first worship service on February 5, 2012 at the Rally Point Youth Center on N. Main Street in Lima.

Grace Community Church several years prior had sensed God’s call to plant a new church.

And a group of us, sent by Grace Community Church, had been meeting for several months prior, dreaming, praying together, envisioning what God would do, and all those efforts came to fruition on that Sunday and have continued.

We met on Super Bowl Sunday—back then Tom Brady and the New England Patriots played Eli Manning and the NY Giants, and the Giants won.

Back in 2012—10 years ago--

Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in the Presidential Election.

In 2012 — mass shootings made headlines. (Sandy Hook Elementary)

In 2012 — talk of the economy rebounding took place after the recession.

In 2012 — the Olympics took place in London.

In 2012 — most popular movie was the Avengers.

(but in our calendar, most significantly, and by God’s grace—CrossPoint Community Church began that same year.

My wife and I look back on that time and our time in Lima with great fondness. Even though I was pretty worried when we planted—wondering how this would go, we can just see how God provided...

for instance, he provided Rally Point Youth Center—that came about by playing basketball at Robb Park and connecting with some guys who connected us with Jared Diller and Rally Point Youth Center.

I am also so thankful for GCC and for you and the sacrifices made-- remember meeting with some of you, talking about — as you left GCC and came here—what would you miss, and I remember Megan Kinnear saying that her one of her girls would never have the chance to use that little toilet the little potty at Grace...

so maybe Nathan Seidner you need to think about installing a little potty...

I can recall how God provided this building here on Ashton avenue—it was a prayer meeting, praying about having our own space, and one of the gentlemen there came and said, “Hey our church is moving...”

and how God has provided now as you have Nick and Sara and their family.

Pastor John Heyward did a great job talking about 1 Corinthians 3—we plant and water but God gives the growth. That’s a great reminder of how God is the most important part in that equation and that we are planters and waterers.

Let me read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 ESV

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The Cross of Jesus Christ—the message of the cross—is vitally important.

After all, this church is called CrossPoint Community Church...

If this church is going to continue to survive and thrive for another 10 years and beyond—the cross has to be stubbornly put at the center.

why? 2 reasons here...

The cross of Jesus unites us and it divides us. It’s the great distinguish-er of people!

the church in Corinth had a lot of problems; if you ever get discouraged by your church, just read 1 Corinthians and you will be majorly encouraged!

one of the issues they had was division over following certain leaders—I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, and Peter. conflict...

think about our society and nation—do we ever organize ourselves around certain leaders? yes—every 4 years in politics.

but think of church—do we ever organize ourselves around certain leaders—yes especially as sometimes as evangelical churches we following superstar leaders or pastors. and that’s wrong.

but if the cross is central—leaders are measured differently. if the cross is central, we don’t divide ourselves by other criteria—but by the cross.

There were many ways that people divided in the 1st century world—in that culture there were slaves and free, men and women, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor.

in our culture—we often divide among race, or money, Ohio State and Michigan fans, or in the last 2 years especially politics, Covid opinions and factions…it’s been super-challenging. before Covid, unity was challenging, but after even more so. Over the last 2 years I have never seen so much division not just in society out there but within the church over these issues. and it is has been challenging and quite frankly discouraging at times.

What is it that the keeps the church from going off on tangents—from becoming known by our politics or our ideology—it’s the cross of Jesus Christ!

Paul says this is the fundamental distinctions—it centers around the cross It is folly to those perishing, and power to those being saved. 2 groups--

this focus would help them not divide over human leaders—but unite over the leader—Jesus Christ. it would remind them that they are one family—Jesus. that they too have been saved by the power and wisdom of God. It would remind them and us that the wisdom of the world is not true wisdom—and actually God makes foolish such wisdom.

it would remind them that they are the same team with their coach God helping them reach the other team (not looking down on those perishing) but looking to the cross.

it humbles us that God called us through our foolishness...

CrossPoint Community Church, if you want to be a united church—focus stubbornly with a laser like focus on the cross. If you find yourselves becoming more excited about other things—even if they are good—like food pantries, clothing drives, certain ministries—if that distracts you from the cross—go back to the cross.

At the same time, too, it would give instruction on when to divide from the world and in the church. If you focus on Jesus Christ, not everyone is going to respond to or accept the cross, because it is foolishness, it would give them direction for how to respond to the world who refuses Christ.

I remember one gentlemen earlier in our church plant—was responding, starting to change. There was one particular day after a D group, a couple of us sat down with him, reviewed the message of the cross, and this guy loved the forgiveness aspect, but he didn’t love that if Jesus died for him, Jesus was also His Lord and he refused Christ. but this is all part of God working through his means of the cross—uniting, and dividing over the cross.

And in the church, when the cross of Jesus Christ is at stake—that is when you divide from others in the church. It people are adding to Jesus and his grace and the Gospel, if they are dressing it up with human eloquence like vs. 17 says-- that’s when you confront, challenge, and even divide if necessary. And you pray for them and urge them repent with tears, and you call them to submit to the cross of Jesus. When that message is compromised—we confront and possibly divide.

so the cross is the great divider—it unites us, and divides us.

the 2nd reason why we must have a laser-like focus on the cross..

The cross is God’s appointed power and wisdom—it is the means that God has ordained to call men and women to salvation. (vs. 22-25)

The cross challenged cultures back then and today. Jews demanded signs and power (vs. 22)—we saw that in Jesus’ ministry. No matter how many signs he displayed not everyone believed in him. and to the Jews, a crucified Savior seemed like utter nonsense. How could a Messiah, a rescuer die the most horrible shameful death—that’s not power or a sign that weakness.

or the Greeks and Gentiles loved their philosophy and speaking and wisdom. The cross seemed like utter nonsense to them, too. doesn’t make sense.

but in verse 23—Paul just declares so simply—but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. vs. 24—but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

the cross and the preaching of it is God’s plan A to save sinners for Himself, to call sinners to himself.

what seems weak is God’s power—because on the cross our beautiful Savior hung, dying for us in our place—it is the very means by which God saves us, forgiveness us, declares us righteous in His sight. When we put our trust in Christ, it is powerful to save us—we have confidence to believe that Jesus paid it all and we get Jesus’ beautiful righteousness.

what seems foolish is God’s wisdom. At the cross we see God’s justice and his love intersect beautifully—he pays for sin because He is a just God, and he graciously forgives us because He is a loving God. 2 Cor. 5:21 He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

“What the world dismisses with a shudder is God’s means of blessing the world.”

This is absolutely appropriate—so God gets all the glory in our salvation because man’s wisdom is deeply self-centered and rebellious. There is no way man can be saved on his/her own.

sometimes we wonder as as church how can reach a culture—one of the main ways is to faithfully preach the cross again and again and again. to focus on the cross—to sing about it, to pray it, to study it, to preach it and teach it not simplistically but with all its beautiful facets, to share it....

recently in our church back in Berne I was reminded of the power of the cross—we have a couple in their 90’s. John and Bernie. John just recently died. Bernie is still alive in an assisted living facility and she is blind now. she can’t even see me if I am 2 feet from her. one of the things that Bernie will often request one of her nurse aids to do is read the Bible for her because she can’t see, so a few times a week this person would read the Bible 10 - 15 minutes. Eventually one day, this nurse aid came to her and said, “Bernie, how can I be saved? I want to have a relationship with this Jesus.” and Bernie shared with her the message of the cross...

There we see, God using weak, frail, yet faithful Bernie, and his appointed means of the Gospel to call this nurse assistant to himself.

I remember early in our church plant, we had a couple over in our living room, and talking about Jesus and the cross from the book of Mark—pierced their hearts and led them to Christ.

I love creative and evangelistic outreaches and methods…BUT…God’s appointed means to bring people—is the preaching of the cross not just in the pulpit, but for you to go and declare it faithfully.

CrossPoint Community Church....if you are going to be a church that survives keep the cross central....

it will unite you, and properly divide you, and it will remind you that it is God’s appointed means to call men and women to Himself.

We are going to celebrate communion together here and celebrate and focus on the cross right now.

and Nick asked if John and myself would lead.

I want to invite the elders forward—and you guys can begin distributing the bread, and I will lead us together in partaking of the bread.

and Pastor John will lead in us partaking of the cup together.

Just a reminder that communion is open to any believer and follower of Jesus Christ. You do not have to be a member or regular attender—but we only ask that Jesus be your Lord, Savior, and Treasure. and parents, we leave it up to you to discern if your kids are ready.

If you are not a believer, we are so glad you are here, but simply ask that you watch and observe what is going on. That would honor us.

While they are doing that, let me read from Matthew 26:26

Matthew 26:26 NIV

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

The bread reminds us that Jesus gave us his body on the cross. He gave it all.

And he experienced so much on our behalf as he hung on the cross...

as we break the bread—we know that Jesus’ body was broken for us.

as we eat the bread, we are reminded that we benefit so much from Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf. I participate in the benefits of Jesus’ death.

as we eat the bread, we are reminded that we are to be spiritually nourished in our souls.

as we eat the bread, we are reminded that we are united—there is one body we are a part of.

as we eat the bread, we remember we do not live on bread alone but every word that comes from teh mouth of the living God.

and that we will eat with Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

we are reminded that Jesus loves us so.