1 Corinthians 1

“Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche,

"Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world." - Voltaire

It seems that we are living in an age and a culture in which Christianity seems to become more hated and scorned by the day

-Our politicians openly repudiate the Bible and its teaching

-Our TV Shows and Movies openly mock God and His Word

-And in general, the people and culture around us seem to drift further and further away from the message of the Gospel

How are we called to reach people in a culture like this?

-Is there some kind of approach that we ought to take that will appeal to people like this

This morning, Paul is going to help us see exactly how we are to go about reaching a people in a culture like ours.

Background

The city of Corinth was strategically located in the Roman Empire

-To the East was Asia Minor, with the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum

-To the Southeast was Palestine, where the people of Israel lived

-To the West was Italy, and Rome, the capital of the Empire

The city was a thriving city of culture, wealth, and opportunity

-The city was sometimes called around this time “wealthy Corinth

Opportunities for climbing the ladder, both socially and in economically abounded!

-Materialism often reigned in wealthy Corinth

-And because of this, the city was a city of self-made individuals and winners . . . at least in their own minds

-The city was seeped in competitiveness, each person looking to climb the ladder and get to the top

The city was almost a little like modern day NYC or LA

-Not in size necessarily, but in the opportunity and competitiveness

-Whenever someone aspires to “make it” as an artist, a musician, a journalist, an actor, where do they go?

-To one of these cities that’s full of opportunity!

-People go there to make it big!

And Corinth was the same way

People in this city also highly valued rhetoric

-And what I mean by rhetoric is people who were exceptionally skilled in oratory, or public speaking

-These people impressed and entertained the crowds with their exceptional debating and theatrical force of words

-Corinth was also home to the Isthmian Games

-These games were similar to the Olympic games that went on in Athens at the same time, and were almost equal in magnitude and popularity

-Athletes from all over would come and participate and compete in exciting events, seeking to win the prize

Furthermore, with the diversity of people there, there was also a wide range of gods being worshipped

-Religious tolerance reigned as people worshipped what they chose to worship and how they chose to worship

-Religious pluralism and tolerance was they way of life in Corinth

-When you step back and look at it, Corinth had it all! In their own eyes, the people of Corinth were wise, rich, and winners

-Each person was pursuing their own goals, careers, opportunities, wealth, and their own religious beliefs

Does that sound at all familiar?

-Competitive, wealthy, materialistic, love their sports, think they’re so awesome and wise, worship how you want . . . ?

Now how do you reach a culture like that?

-How do you get converts made and fill up church buildings in that kind of city?

-I mean, these people are not easily impressed

-They’ve got money

-They’ve got sports

-They’ve got careers

-Some of the most talented and smart people alive are here

-They’ve got phenomenal and powerful speakers all over the place

-How do you build a church here?

-Well, unfortunately, the Christians in the Corinthian church had let some of the destructive aspects of their culture infiltrate their church

-This competitiveness, self-centeredness, arrogance, and lack of care for others had been brought into the church and causing havoc

And the main theme of this book, as one pastor has called it, and I think nailed it, is: “Called to Consecration in our Culture”

He wants to show them that Christians are called by God to live consecrated lives

-And in order to live these kind of lives, it will often require Christians to live and conduct themselves in a way that goes against the grain of our culture

-Living a live of holiness, a life devoted to the Lord and His Word, will at times have us looking like weirdos

-or like fanatics (you Christians actually believe that the earth is a few thousand years old??)

-or like hateful, judgmental bigots (you all believe gay people and trans people are going to hell?)

-or like arrogant know-it-alls (you Christians think you’re the only ones going to heaven and everyone else will burn?)

But this is what we are called to: to live a life devoted to consecration to the Lord in the culture in which we live

-If you’re goal in life is to be “cool”, then maybe Christianity isn’t for you

John 15:18–22 NKJV

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Notice how Paul begins his letter in 1:1-2

We talked about this this morning in Sunday School

-Who’s church is this?

-It’s God’s Church!!

-The church doesn’t belong to the community!

Are we called to preach the Gospel to our community?

-Absolutely!

But as Paul clearly shows here, it’s not the community’s church

-We’re not here to please our community or make them happy necessarily

-We hope that happens, and even this week we’ve spent the whole week serving children in the community

-Playing games with them

-Feeding them snacks

-Doing crafts

-Making the church look like Australia

-All in an effort to preach the Gospel to them and be a blessing to them and their families

But do you think it’s possible for a church to be fully obedient to God and His Word, and be hated by their community?

-Maybe look at what’s happening to churches in India and Pakistan, where church buildings get burned down by their communities

-So Paul wants us to know that we are God’s church at Corinth

-God’s Church at Staten Island

-God’s Church at Thailand

-God’s Church at Lake Wylie

The first problem Paul deals with in this church is their division over their spiritual leaders

Look at vs. 10-12

One of the ways that the culture of Corinth was brought into the church was in a dispute over the God-given ministers of these believers

-Some of the believers were “Paul-kind of people”

-Maybe the simplistic and rugged way he went about his ministry appealed to them

-He was a blue-collar worker, supporting himself with his hands through tent-making on the side

-Or maybe his credentials as one of the rising stars of Pharisaism appealed to some of his audience who were from Jewish backgrounds

-Or maybe that was the person who led them to Christ and discipled them! That was their first pastor in their Christian faith, and so that’s who they were loyal to

-We’re not exactly sure what the reason was, but some people in the church really favored Paul and were loyal to him

It seems that sometime after Paul had planted the church and moved on, a guy named Apollos came along and pastored the church after Paul

-And what we know about Apollos from Scripture is that he was known for being a man who was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures

-Apollos could preach!!

-And it’s not hard to see how Apollos would have been popular with the Corinthians, being a man who was eloquent and powerful in a culture that placed a high value on rhetoric and the ability to impress people with public speaking skills

-And maybe also, there were people in this congregation who go saved and baptized under Apollos’ ministry, and they were loyal to him

And then there were some who were loyal to Peter

-Peter was in many ways the head of the Apostles

-He was considered the spokesperson of the Apostles and the face of Christianity

-And it’s not hard to see how some would be loyal to him and prefer his ministry

And then, those who were “more spiritual” would say: “I belong to Christ!”

Here we see that the competitive and arrogant culture, as well as possibly a love for rhetoric and powerful public speaking, has infiltrated the church

-And here’s how Paul deals with it:

Vs. 13-16

Paul here rebukes these Christians for their immature thinking

-Was I crucified for you?

-Were you baptized in my name?

Paul here expresses thankfulness that he himself didn’t baptize more than just a handful of the believers!

-He’s like “man, i’m so thankful that I didn’t baptize more of, or else this might be a bigger problem!”

But in the next sentence, Paul takes an interesting turn that gets to the very heart of what he wants to base this whole epistle on

-Something that’s so foundational, that everything that’s to follow in the epistle is built on the premise that he’s going to build out in the following chapter and a half

Vs. 17

-Notice here: what is Paul called to do?

Preach the Gospel

-does everyone see that?

But notice this negative clause that Paul uses to clarify how he’s to preach the Gospel, or actually, how he’s not supposed to preach the Gospel:

not with wisdom of words

other translations would say:

“not with clever speech”

“not with words of eloquent wisdom”

Now, what’s he saying?

-Remember, the Corinthians are living in a culture that places a high value on rhetoric, the ability to wow a crowd with your persuasive powers and breath-taking public speaking skills

-They’re in a culture that has smart, talented people

-That has much in the way of entertainment, and money, and wealth, and worldly philosophy and ideas

And Paul here, deliberately rejects this kind of preaching that places emphasis on human brilliance, and cleverness, and “wisdom” as their culture in Corinth would define it!

Why?

Lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect

What’s Paul saying here?

-What he’s saying is this: that there is a way of appealing to the crowd and the culture in Gospel presentation, that puts an emphasis and on the speaker and his wisdom and cleverness, that actually detracts from the Gospel and lessens its impact

Let me say that again:

that there is a way of appealing to the crowd and the culture in Gospel presentation, that puts an emphasis and on the speaker and his wisdom and cleverness, that actually detracts from the Gospel and lessens its impact

Let’s let the Apostle Paul unpack exactly what he means in this text, and also teach us how to minister the Gospel in a culture like this, like ours:

The Message of the Cross

Vs. 18-19

-Now, our first question should be this, and I’m sure you all will know the answer:

-What is the message of the cross?

-Look up in verse 17

-It’s the message of the Gospel, with an emphasis on the bloody, torturous death of the Messiah on our behalf

-glance down at vs. 23

-Paul says that we preach Christ Crucified

-So, the Gospel message that because of the sin of Adam, all of us stand guilty and condemned before God

-We are deserving of His wrath on our sin and therefore there is atonement, appeasement that must be made to God

-God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh

-Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life

-He then died a bloody, violent death as a common criminal at the hands of the Romans for insurrection

-But in so doing, He was actually dying as our substitute

-God was wrathful towards us, and yet Jesus appeased God’s wrath on our behalf as our substitute

-This is the doctrine that we call penal substitution or substitutionary atonement

-Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf

Christ did not stay dead, but rose bodily from the grave with a glorified body, and has ascended to the Father and stands as the Advocate for all those who repent and put their faith in Him.

-Now, I want you to understand what I’m going to say next, because it’s very important

-One preacher I was listening to through this passage stated it this way, and he’s absolutely correct:

There are 2 effects of the proclamation of the gospel from this passage

and guess what?

They’re both God-intended effects

There are 2 God-intended effects that happen when the Gospel is preached or proclaimed

What’s the first one?

-some people will think it’s foolishness

Does everyone see that?

Who are the people who find it foolish?

-Those who are perishing

-Those who are unsaved, those who are currently heading towards eternal hell to be rejected by God forever, they find this message FOOLISH

In this Corinthian culture of materialism, competitiveness, immorality, and entertainment, the message that a crucified Jew who allegedly rose from the dead and could forgive their sins, kinda sounded foolish

-There is a now well-known work of graffiti from the first century that was found in Rome

-And it’s of a worshipper standing in front of a someone on a cross, and the person on the cross has the body of a man and the head of a donkey

-And underneath, an inscription is written, “Alexamenos worships his god”

-Many people in the first-century thought the message of a crucified Messiah was foolishness

-Let me ask you something: have you experienced this while witnessing before?

-Whenever I’m witnessing to someone, at times it occurs to me how foolish I must sound to certain people who don’t know the Lord or His Word

“You’re telling me that this guy who died 2,000 years ago can forgive all of my sins and take me to heaven, but if I don’t believe that, no matter how much good I do, I’ll burn in hell forever?”

-I mean, doesn’t that sound foolish to some people?

-I was watching a short clip on youtube at one point between a Christian and an atheist and the atheist gave his understanding of the gospel, and said something to the effect of “if this is your good news, I’m just saying, I could come up with better!”

-To some, the Gospel isn’t good news, it’s just foolishness

-I was spending time with one of my unsaved friends

-He’s an older gentleman whom I befriend playing basketball at the Y, and he and I get together every 2 or 3 months at Waffle House, and we usually end up going round and round about the origins of life, morality, the Bible, and the Gospel

-And my friend hates the the Gospel

-And one time as we were going back and forth on this, he leaned over and asked me “so what you’re telling me is that someone can be a horrible person their whole lives, but then accept Jesus on their deathbed and go to heaven . . . while someone who lives on an island somewhere who’s never heard of Jesus will die and go to hell?”

-I told him “that’s exactly what I’m telling you”

-And he said “that’s ******”

It’s foolishness!

-And for many of you who seek to be faithful in witnessing, you’ve had similar experiences I’m sure

-Friends or family members who laugh at you

-Or who look at you like you’ve lost your mind

-Many of you know this first-hand!

That the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing

BUT . . .

notice that 2nd phrase:

“but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”

-The phrase is in the present tense here, just like the previous phrase

-We are being saved

-We are currently moving towards our ultimate salvation, when we will be free from sin and guilt and pain and death

-And we’re not there yet! But we’ve accepted Christ, and He has changed us into new creatures

-And to those of us who are on this narrow road leading to ultimate salvation, the message of the cross is the very power of God

-When we look at nature, we see some incredible things

-there’s a star that’s 5 billion times larger than our sun

-Did you know that there’s another start, a WR102 that is 35 times hotter than our sun? our sun on the surface is 10,000 degrees farenheit, and it’s 27 million degrees at it’s core

But you know, it’s been pointed out that none of these things are ever described in the Bible as the “power of God”

-But the Gospel is

And to those of us who are being saved, it is the very power of God

-If you are truly born again, then you have experienced its power first-hand

-You went from being a child of the devil, lost in your sin, to having your life turned around completely

-You were dead, and now you’re alive

-And to you who have placed your faith in Christ, you have found the message of the cross to be the very power of God

Now, I want you to see from verse 19-21, that both of these effects are God-intended effects

**Vs. 19

-Paul here quotes from Isaiah 29 and verse 14

-This is the exact same passage of Scripture that John quotes from in His Gospel when describing the hard-hearted unbelief of the Jews

-Yahweh is denouncing His people for their superficial lip-service that pretends to honor Him and give Him praise, but is actually performed by a people who do not love Him or seek Him

Isaiah 29:13–14 NKJV

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”

And back in Isaiah’s day, the hearts of many of the Jews were hardened to God

-They did not love Him or seek Him

-They were perishing

And so because of that, God says that He will destroy the “wisdom” of those who consider themselves to be wise, and set aside the “understanding” of those who claim to be prudent

And so it was in this Corinthian culture, and so it is in our day as well:

So, back to what I said earlier:

When the Gospel is preached, there are 2 God-intended effects of the unadorned Gospel message being preached

Dr. Mark Minnick, a professor at BJU seminary has put it this way, and I completely agree with Him:

-The problem is, when we preach the Gospel, we only want 1 effect

Don’t we??

-We want people to get saved! We want people to see and understand God’s wisdom!

-And for sure, when the Gospel is preached, there will be some who get saved! That is a God-intended effect!

-But what will also happen, is that some will hear the Gospel and think: that’s foolish

. . . and we don’t want that effect, if we’re being honest, do we?

And so what do we often do?

-We find subtle ways to change the message

- “Let’s make the Gospel more about God having a wonderful plan for your life! And the way to have your best life now is to accept Jesus! Let’s have our church give a more happy message!”

-Or, “let’s tone down the whole sin thing. Let’s not talk about homosexuality, the dangers of materialism, or things like that”

-“Let’s make the Gospel more about how Jesus came to bring racial, ethnic, and socio-economic reconciliation! Jesus wants everyone in the community to love each other, and so let’s make that the focus of the Gospel”

-“Or how Jesus wants to bring this ‘Shalom’ or ‘Peace’ to everyone on earth

Let me ask you, do you think if our church were to do that, do you think we may have more people come?

-It’s very possible!

-Maybe we could double the size of our church, we could double the size of our income, and we could be more well-liked

-Do you think that’s possible?

-It could be!

But we can’t do that

-Why?

Because the cross of Christ would be emptied of its effect and power

You see, when people a leave a service at church, thinking to themselves: “that was foolishness” . . . that’s exactly what God intends for people to say who think they’re wiser and smarter and know better than God

-And as the church of Jesus Christ, and as this local body here at Kingsway Baptist Church, we are not given the option of trying to find clever ways to make the cross of Christ and the message of the Gospel more appealing and less offensive to lost people avenues of worldly wisdom

-God desires to flip the wisdom of the world on its head and show that their wisdom is folly, and that doesn’t happen when we tinker with the Gospel to adjust it to the ungodly desires of ungodly people

And furthermore, on an individual level, you and I are not authorized to change the message of the Gospel around to make it sound more appealing to our 21st century American culture friends

-We don’t get to pick and choose the parts of the Gospel that sound appealing or woke, and leave out the parts of the Gospel that are hard or offensive to our friends and family members

“I’ll take some “reconciliation” here, and some “God wants to make you happy” here, and let’s keep in all the stuff about love, but let’s go ahead and leave out this part about sin, and this part about those who reject Christ being punished by God in hell . . .”

-We don’t get to do that

Now, let me be clear about this:

-We are not called as a church or individuals to be harsh

-We’re not called to be arrogant, or snarky, or have this chip on our shoulder where we love arguing with people

-It’s been said (and I agree with this) that the Gospel is offensive enough as is, so you and I ought not to add in unnecessary offense to it by our approaches or attitudes

-The offensive message of the Gospel is ought to always be adorned with an attitude and tone of humility, and love, and graciousness towards those who are lost

Why?

Because you and I were once the same

Look at vs. 20 **

Look at all of the people who are wise and woke and considered intellectuals in our society?

-They’re not here worshipping and submitting to God and His Word

Why?

Because God wants to show that this world’s wisdom is foolishness

Look at vs. 21**

What is this verse saying?

-God in His wisdom, has designed a way for people to come to put their faith in Him

And guess what?

-God’s design is that people will never come to know God through their own wisdom

God has designed it to where no one will ever be able to, by their own attempts at wisdom, using their awesome intellectual powers, ever be able to reach God on their own!

-If we were to take all of the smartest, most intelligent people in the world, and put them together with unlimited resources and unlimited time, they would NEVER be able to come up with a way to know God and be reconciled to Him

It can’t be done . . .

So how is it that God saves people??

Through the foolishness of preaching this Gospel message of Christ crucified

That word for “preached” there in vs. 21 is a good translation of the Greek there

-It has the idea of someone standing up and proclaiming a truth!

-Oftentimes in the ancient world, when a king or ruler wanted to get a message out to his people, he would send heralds to go into the public square

-And the herald would get up and unroll the scroll or parchment he was given, and he would shout something to the effect of “everyone listen up! thus says the king . . .”

-And he would give the message

-He couldn’t alter it

-He couldn’t change it

-He just proclaimed it

And in the pluralistic society of Corinth, and in the pluralistic society we live in today here in American culture where all religious opinions are equally valid and all religions are right, that’s not very popular is it?

-But it’s through the foolishness of people preaching, proclaiming the message of the Gospel, that people are saved

Look at vs. 22**

-Jews want a sign!

-They believed the OT!

-They believed in God’s Word!

-But they didn’t want a crucified Messiah! They wanted someone powerful! They wanted God to demonstrate His power in some miraculous way, and if they didn’t get that, then often they weren’t going to believe!

On the other hand, Greeks wanted wisdom!

-They wanted incredible displays of philosophies and rhetoric!

-They were the intellectuals and they demanded that you play by their games or you were a barbarian!

And so what was Paul’s message??

-How would he go about reaching these people??

Vs. 23

WE . . . PREACH . . . CHRIST . . . CRUCIFIED

-That’s the strategy

“But people in our culture don’t want to hear that!”

-You’re right . . . and people in that culture didn’t either

It’s a stumbling block to the Jews

-They couldn’t get passed a weak, crucified Messiah

**shrugging** . . . they couldn’t!

And it was foolishness to Greeks

“you all are just a bunch of idiots who aren’t on our intellectual level”

BUT . . .

**Vs. 24-25

To those who are called by God, Christ is everything

And God is out to show that the “foolishness” of this Gospel message is wiser and stronger than the most powerful and intellectual men in all of history

Application

So brothers and sisters, here at Kingsway Baptist Church, we are committed to preaching Christ crucified

-And it doesn’t matter what our culture or community think about that kind of message

-We have no other option than to proclaim the message that all are sinners, lost in their sin and rebellion against God,

-But that God has provided a way of redemption through the atoning, bloody sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ

-Who died for our sins and was raised the third day and has ascended to the Father

-And there is NO under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved

And if or when people may visit, and some end up leaving a service thinking “how foolish . . . I don’t want that!”

-It’s not that we as a church did something wrong

-that’s exactly at times what God intends

And individually brothers and sisters, let me encourage you:

-Whenever you witness to someone, and they reject the Gospel, thinking it’s foolishness, or it is a stumblingblock to them

That doesn’t necessarily mean you did something wrong

-As a matter of fact, you can be confident in the fact that if you boldly presented the Gospel message the way the Bible describes it, with love and humility in your heart towards that person

-If you present the Gospel in that manner and they reject it as foolishness, it means that you actually did something right

-And so brothers and sisters, we must proclaim this message:

-As a church

-And as individuals

-Don’t change the message

-Preach Christ crucified

When we preach the Gospel, and when we share the Gospel with those around in the way that God intends, not changing the message in anyway, rest assured, there will be those who reject it as foolishness

BUT . . .

There will be those who find it to be the very power of God

There will be a set of twins who bow their head in the Sonic parking lot and find the Gospel to be the power of God like Jer’mon and Kwa’mon

-There will be a man who’s son invited him to church, and a few weeks later, bows his head in Applebees in repentance and faith, and finds the message of this crucified Messiah to be the power of God like John Stephens

-There will be young girl who through the consistent witness of her parents will bow her head as a child and repent and find the Gospel to be the power of God like my mom

-There will be a teenager who’s playing the invitation for a service at church, and leaves the piano to go up to the front to profess Christ and will find the message of Christ crucified to be the power of God like James Dockery

Why?

-Because God’s intention is that through the foolishness of preaching this message, that people find life in Him

And if you’re here, and you’ve never repented of your sin, there is a merciful Savior who died for you

-You’re hopelessly lost in sin without Him

-An enemy of God

-Destined for hell because of your sin

-But Jesus Christ has died for you to offer you salvation

-But you must repent of your sin and trust Him alone for salvation

-He is the only way