Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Foolishness of the Cross

We just began the season of Lent.

The whole purpose of Lent is to focus on Jesus (which we should always be doing), but in particular, Jesus’ suffering, his sacrificial death on the cross - and the culmination of his work for us, rising to new life, ascending into heaven.

This is the very center of the Christian faith, these works of Jesus are the way in which God is reconciling the world to himself, through Jesus.

So we want to take time to reflect on what it means, what it offers us, understand it more fully and to root our lives more fully in the cross.

It’s also what distinguishes us from the world.

Cross has always provoked world - because what Jesus did for us makes no sense.

And this has been true from the very beginning, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25...

For the message of the cross is foolishness 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; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person?

Where is the teacher of the law?

Where is the philosopher of this age?

Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Paul talks about how both the Jews and Greeks didn’t get the message of cross, it made no sense to them - it was, in his words, foolishness.

It was foolishness to Jews because they wanted signs, miracles.

They wanted to see God act in power.

They were an oppressed people, under the heel of the Romans.

They wanted God to raise up King, the promised Messiah, who would - in God’s power, take it to the Romans, give them their just deserts and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel as a great nation.

A King, crowned with thorns, being executed by the Romans as a common criminal, was not what they were hoping for.

That was weakness, utter foolishness as far as they were concerned.

Greeks, on the other hand, looked for wisdom.

They wanted deep and profound teaching, some great philosophy that would explain life’s great mysteries.

They didn’t see much wisdom in a itinerant Jewish peasant who had no formal credentials, much less one that got himself killed on a cross.

Where’s the wisdom in that?

Seems incredibly foolish.

Paul’s point is that there has always been resistance to the message of the cross.

The idea of the God of all creation, enduring humiliation and suffering - death by crucifixion was considered a shameful way to put to death, has long been something we’ve balked at - we want bigger, stronger, smarter, faster, more powerful, richer.

Even Jesus’ disciples couldn’t even fathom it.

Every time Jesus tried to explain what was going to happen to him (and he did it often) they rejected it.

Bible tells us that the “disciples did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.”

It was so foreign to their way of thinking, so unfathomable, so foolish - they didn’t get it.

The first time Jesus told them, Peter rebuked Jesus - no way, not on my watch!

Jesus then rebuked Peter by telling him that he’s thinking too much like man, not like God.

Because for God, this is the way.

The way to life.

The way of Jesus is the Via Crucis, the way of the cross.

I share that all because it’s no different for us today.

Like the Jews, like the Greeks, we want to find another way.

But when we talk about this idea of moving out of shallow Christianity to deeper discipleship, one of the things that’s absolutely essential is that we get to the very crux of the matter, which is to embrace the cross.

As Peter Scazzero puts it, we must move away from following the Americanized Jesus to following the true Jesus, the crucified one.

Like all cultures, there are aspects of the cross that seem utter foolishness to us.

We may love and be genuinely grateful for Jesus’ willingness to die on the cross for our sins, his embracing of the cross.

But we shrink back from idea that we follow him into this - that we’re to embrace the cross in our own lives.

Helpful to think about what Scazzero means by the Americanized Jesus - what have we made following Jesus to be more palatable, more to our liking?

In American mindset, what is it that we value most?

What are the things we focus on?

How do we define greatness or success?

How do we deal with the difficult aspects of life, pain and suffering?

Central to American mindset is personal happiness.

We want to live life in our own way, under own terms, so it suits us.

If you haven’t noticed - gas prices have shot up.

Much of that is direct result of war in Ukraine and the economic sanctions the world is imposing on Russia.

Internally, I’m already griping about it.

Compared to what the Ukrainian people are suffering right now, it’s a small sacrifice.

But pain and suffering don’t fit in well with American mindset.

We think that more and more is going to make us happier.

Consider the homes we live in - since 1950’s, homes have more than doubled in size, with half as many people living in them.

And it’s still not enough space - how many storage units exist for us to store more stuff!

Why we have more of a consumer church culture here - we “shop” for churches (interesting that we use that language - customer is always correct).

Look for churches that meet my needs.

What I like.

It’s no surprise that the prosperity gospel got started here in the United States - health and wealth, baby!

If you confess it, you possess it.

That is not the way of the cross.

These are signs we are more influenced by our American culture then by the way of the crucified Christ.

We could go on to talk about the way as a culture we think about success, our love affair with fame & popularity, our focus on appearance.

All these things have influenced our following Jesus.

But if we’re going to move toward deeper discipleship, to be disciples as Scazzero has so wonderful put it: An emotionally healthy disciple slows down to be with Jesus, goes beneath the surface of their life to be deeply transformed by Jesus, and offers their life as a gift to the world for Jesus, then we need to follow the crucified Jesus.

We need to embrace the cross, in all its fullness and the implications for our life.

That’s our main point this morning - embrace the cross.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:2 - For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I want nothing more than to know Jesus and him crucified.

I want to embrace the cross - that’s what Paul is saying here.

Way of the Cross

Jesus Christ and him crucified

To get an idea of how foolish the message of the cross is, it’s an interesting exercise to think about how story of Jesus would be different if it happened in kind of great American tradition, not how God actually did it.

I think Jesus would still have come from very humble beginnings, we love a true rags-to-riches story, underdog who overcomes all odds.

In this version of gospel, Jesus certainly would have had setbacks and challenges to overcome.

But he would have continued to win the crowds over bit by bit.

They would have been cheering for him in the end when through his sheer ingenuity and the force of his will, he defeated the religious leaders, beating them at their own game, making them look very foolish.

Then he would have mustered the Israelites together to win a seemingly unwinnable war against the Roman oppressors.

It would make for an epic movie.

This would have been a very tough and gritty - and of course, handsome, Jesus, with a bit of soft side to him.

Motley crew of disciples right alongside with him.

Love interest, for sure - we’re all about romantic love.

Single and content Jesus wouldn’t have cut it.

But that’s not Jesus we encounter in the Gospels - if you look at life of Jesus closely, it’s clear that the way of the cross didn’t come for Jesus right at the very end of his life, his life had always been informed by embracing the cross:

His willingness to speak truth, even when it offended others - and cost him.

In John 6, we see Jesus teaching to a crowd of folks.

Jesus talks about how he is Bread of Life, and in order to gain eternal life, you must eat his flesh, drink his blood.

Crowd starts grumbling.

People start walking away.

It’s not just random folks listening, it’s people who’d been following him.

“From this time forward many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

That does not seem like a recipe for success if you’re trying to build a movement.

But Jesus was not concerned with likes, with popularity.