Daily Focusing on Jesus and the Cross – Part 2

Posted by Chris on October 3, 2004 under Sermons

I want to begin by sharing with you some sad and disappointing information about a certaincongregation of the Lord’s church. I won’t name the congregation, but it is one that most of uswould know …
This congregation in danger going through a major split. Some of the reasons for the split concerncontroversies over worship. Divisions within the membership are playing out in the worship andsome are introducing disruptive practices into the worship. Others are altering the practice of theLord’s Supper.
Of course the problems go beyond worship. There are doctrinal controversies. Some of theleaders in this congregation have been advancing unbiblical views of baptism. The doctrinalcontroversies are closely associated with moral controversies. The congregation has becomewoefully tolerant of certain forms of sexual immorality and their teaching on divorce and marriageis not consistent with biblical teaching.
As one might expect, such a congregation is suffering from people who are separating intofactions. These factions are centered around the teaching and ministries of well-known teachers inthe brotherhood. This conflict is threatening to tear this highly visible congregation asunder.

Perhaps it is best that you know the name of the congregation I am speaking about. The church Ihave described is the first-century church in Corinth. We know about it from Paul’s letters. Paulheard about the problems in this congregation from those who were a part of it. In fact, he wasone of the well-known teachers who had a following in this church (and Paul was not supportiveof it). The root of the problem in the Corinthian church was their attempt to adopt and conform toexpectations of their world. Paul’s prescription for the ailing church in danger of destroying itselfin its attempts to conform to the accepted wisdom of the day is to return their focus to Jesus andthe cross. The Word of the Cross gave the Corinthian congregation life and Paul hopes that thepower of the word of the cross will not electrocute the church, but that it will shock their spiritualheart back to life …

1 Corinthians 1:18-31
The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved itis the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence ofthe intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is thephilosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in thewisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him God was pleased through thefoolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs andGreeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews andfoolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ thepower of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Consider your own call, brothers andsisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many wereof noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose theweak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and thedespised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one mayboast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdomfrom God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Letthe one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

The Word of The Cross

1. It is foolishness to those who are perishing(1:18)
   1. It “thwarts” established assumptions – It thwarts our understanding and assumptions. Itnullifies the wisdom of this world. It confounds our best understanding and greatest achievements(Just as God did at Babel — Genesis 11). It sets aside our pretensions and our expectationsbecause they are often flawed and imperfect. And because of this …
   2. It is counterintuitive to our way of knowing the world. Thus, those who are invested in worldlywisdom do not understand the cross. The cross is too risky. It says that those who lose their livesgain it — that is counterintuitive to a world that believes in “survival of the fittest.” The cross istoo humiliating. It says that the greatest is the servant of all and the least shall be first — that iscounter-intuitive to a world that believes that “might makes right” and that it is not “what youknow but who you know.” And those are just some of the ways the Word of the Cross thwartsour knowledge, but it can also upset our deep-seated, gut-level, spiritual convictions …
   3. It also confounds our sensitivities and assumptions. We like to think that God should onlybehave in certain ways, but the Cross shows us that our mysterious God will not be defined byour expectations …
2. To those who want signs and wisdom … (1:22-23)
   1. It is scandalous and offensive — Paul said that Jews demand signs. They want spiritual proof.They believed that the Messiah should come in a display of divine authority, not weakness andshamefulness. God is shamed and defiled? He endures a curse? What will the gentiles think? Butthe cross is not politically correct, it is brutal and not cleaned up. The cross does not conform toour religious sensibilities. When Mel Gibson set out to make The Passion of the Christ, he wasdedicated to being as honest with the scandalous and offensive nature of the crucifixion. Andguess what, people were offended! Not just those who decried it as anti-Semitic, but alsoChristians who believed the display was too gory. For those reasons and many more we mustrecall that the word of the cross is indeed scandalous — a stumbling block. It forces a decision foror against God and his way of salvation. At times the Word of the Cross and the implications ofthat word confront our religious sensibilities and make us decide …
   2. It is moronic and foolish — Paul said the Greeks demand wisdom. They wanted logical proof.They believed in certain categories and criteria and God in Jesus did not fit those. Why wouldGod die? Why would he sacrifice himself to save others? How can the death of a man condemnedas a rebel and bandit save the world? Why do we need saving? Alexandros graffiti – Christianitywas not understood in the first-century. It was viewed as a religion for reprobates and lowerclasses. It was ridiculed.
      
      “Alexandros worships his god”
      First century Roman graffiti.
      Click here to view photo.

   3. In recent times there are many who believe that Christianity is a religion for the unlearned andweak-minded. [Karl Marx — Religion is the Opiate of the masses.] We drain the power from thecross and our gospel when we try to conform it to science or philosophy or the prevailing wisdomof our culture. That doesn’t mean that our faith is unscientific or non-philosophical or that itdoesn’t dialogue with culture — but it does mean that the Word of the Cross tests science andphilosophy and culture, not the other way around …
3. To those being saved it is the power of God (1:18)
   1. It has the power to destroy other powers. The word of the cross reveals something thatshakes the foundations of all other powers. It proclaims and represents a God doing something sounique that every influential power and principle is redefined.
   2. It has the power to create new reality It is redefined because a new reality is created. It hasthe power to transform not only us as individuals — but the world as we know it. All systems ofpower, all structures of relationship, all ways of thinking … And the Word of the Cross recreatesall over again the “new world” created by the event. For like all words …
   3. Words have that power to create and destroy and recreate.
      1. The words “It is terminal” can change life
      2. You’re fired” — (trivialized on Apprentice — it just means you are off the show) — thesewords can change reality for someone
   4. How is it power? It is an apocalyptic event —
      1. Nothing is the same now that this has happened.
      2. There is rhetoric about the political shifts due to 9/11. It has become a decisive event — pre9/11 and post 9/11.
      3. Is it any wonder why our calendar systems used BC and AD — a new rule is in effect!

   The Word of the cross like all words has a power to change — but the word of the cross is notbound by our definitions … in fact it confounds and unsettles the definitions we think are soimportant and so stable …

4. It redefines everything
   1. Our past and future: The Corinthians needed to look back at who they were when God calledthem. It is God’s modus operandi to work with those we overlook and reject in our earthlywisdom. Why do we let our past define us when the word of the cross redefines our past? Whoamong us can truly secure our future? All the best planning and work can be undone in seconds.What wisdom secures the perfect future? Why do we let our efforts for the future define us whenthe word of the cross defines our future?
   2. Our worth and identity: The Corinthians were divided. They were finding their identity inhuman leaders and the acceptable things of this world. Their identity was based on theirphilosophies. What about our divisions and categories? [In 1832, Racoon John Smith proposedunity between the Campbell churches and the Stone churches. Mentioning some of the terms andissues that divided them he said, “Let us then, my brethren, be no longer Campbellites orStoneites, New Lights or Old Lights, or any other kind of lights. But let us come to the Bible andthe Bible alone, as the only book in creation that can give us all the Light we need.”] But nowalmost 200 years later, what terms separate us? Is that the Word of the Cross? What about ourbackgrounds and our status? What makes us wise? What gives us power? On what basis do wefind unity — The Mac Pruitt story — There’s a VP at Dow come to visit a union man — Thosewho are being saved have a worth and identity that seems foolish to the world.
   3. Our values and allegiances: Those who are being saved have allegiance to God even when itis risky and seems foolish.
      1. Carl Spain — race and ACU’s policy not to admit African American students pre 1961 — “Dowe fear Jim Crow more than we revere Jesus Christ?”
      2. Jim Elliot — Through the Gates of Splendor “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannotkeep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Having the Mind of Christ (see Jeremiah 9:23-24)
“Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in hisriches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORDwho is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things.” — Jeremiah9:23-24

Believing in the Word of the cross is the first challenge. But conforming to it and living it out isthe greater challenge. Accepting the very different Word of the Cross is the first challenge, havingthat mind of Christ is the next challenge — and both require the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

The Tightrope Walker — A man walked a tightrope across a windy ravine very slowly but madeit. People gathered around and that tightrope walker asked the crowd, “Do you think I can crossthe ravine again?” There was great applause and every one shouted their confidence in the man.Then he asked, “Well, who then will go with me as I carry you on my shoulders?”

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Morning Sermon, 3 October 2004