PRESCIPTIONS FOR A HEALTHY & HOLY CHURCH:
A Study in 1 Corinthians Applied To The Church Today
Sunday AM, January 22, 2005 Rev. Todd G. Leupold
II. DEALING WITH THE OBVIOUS DISEASES - 1 Corinthians 1:4 - 6:20
CANCER (Divisions in the church) - 1:10 – 4:21
2.Limits of Human Treatments (reliance on Christ) - 1:18 – 2:5
INTRODUCTION:
Illustration (adapted from Michael Bird):
For today’s message, it is important that we begin to try to see some things from a different perspective than what we have become accustomed to. If we are to reach the unsaved, then we need to be sure that we understand them and especially how our words and message may sound to them. Therefore, I am going to ask you for a little indulgence this morning. I need you to open up your imaginations as I engage in a little role play (as written by Michael Bird).
“Hello, my name is Jose Samblanco. I have just arrived off the boat from Peru and I have come to proclaim to you and best and most important news you will ever hear! Until now I am sure that you have been living in great despair about your sins and eternal future. But I am here to tell that you need not worry anymore! You see, a beloved (and often hated) Peruvian peasant (some say criminal) by the name of Carlos Hernandez was executed in an electric chair on account of your sins. Why, I’ve even written a hymn about this wonderful deed (clear throat):
Carlos was there on that horrible chair
They tied him down with bots and then zapped him with 40,000 volts
It was for you that our saviour fried and died
Despite the fact that his chair caught on fire, this one is God’s Messiah
The wisdom of the world has been refuted because Carlos was electrocuted
He is my savior and my lamp, because he absorbed every deadly amp
Now I know that God does care, ‘cause he sent Carlos Hernandez to the electric chair.
I’ve also written other hymns such as, “In the chair of Carlos I Glory” and “When I cling to that old rugged electric chair.” Friends, I want you to know, that it has been reported that Senor Carlos has since been seen alive! He has come back, still bald and scarred, to offer you the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life in a special paradise he is building just for you. But you have to believe in him and be willing to reorder your entire life to how he has instructed.
Now, go and spread this incredible news to everybody you encounter. Shout it from the rooftops, write more hymns to honor Carlos. Advertise the symbol of his death everywhere you can. Put great big shiny or illuminated electric chairs on top of your buildings, on flags, and make big bumper stickers. Wear gold electric chairs on your necklaces and bracelets, or as earrings and even hairclips. Design new foods and desserts such as hot electric chair buns. Start new communities of worship you can call Societies of the Electric Chair, The Church of Carlos, The Hernandez Healing House or such. Before and after any important event or endeavor make a big public demonstration by drawing in the air the picture of an electric chair. Create a Pledge to the Electric Chair for every child to recite every day in school. Establish Electric Chair Institutes and schools. Produce movies and videos that help people understand the importance and glory of the Electric Chair. Exercise to the worshipful sounds of the Electric Chair. The opportunities, my friends, are endless. People’s lives and eternities depend on it! Know somebody who is drowning in addiction or depression? Just tell them to attach all their troubles to the electric chair, trust in Carlos and it will all be gone!”
Now, tell me honestly, what would be your response to Jose Samblanco and his message? “That’s the most absurd thing I have ever heard!” “No, that’s the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard!” “What kind of fools do you think we are?” “Who came up with that story, they ought to give him a Pulitzer just for creativity.” “That’s the most stupid religion I’ve ever heard of, only the most desperate and idiotic person would accept that.”
Now, you all know where I’m going with this. Perhaps it even sounds a bit over the top. But you have to understand, that to many unsaved people who did not grow up in the church, do not accept the Bible as the Word of God or presume Jesus to be the Son of God, our message sounds little if any different. WE know that there is a big difference because WE know that Jesus really is the Son of God and did die on the Cross for our sins, WE see how it has fulfilled thousands of years of prophecy, and WE have the benefit of the Holy Spirit to enlighten us so that we may understand.
But, what about the unsaved? How do we witness to people who think that worshipping a man who lived 2,000 yrs. ago, was convicted of treason, executed in the most barbarous way and then is reputed to have come back to life after being in a sealed tomb for 3 days is an absurdity and an offense to good reason and common sense? Who are convinced that even if they do have a spiritual sickness called sin,
there has got to be better ways to seek healing than this?
Now, here is my real point this morning. Much too often us Christians have been intimidated and cowered by such thoughts and questions! In turn, our response has been to go to great lengths (and even expense) to find other ways to make Jesus more palatable to the masses. We listen to hear what they already believe and what they might be most willing to believe. Rather than boldly and bravely infiltrate the culture with God’s direct teachings, we look for and adapt what the culture has already established and seek to show how that is in the Bible too.
And so, we determine that telling people about the cross and salvation is not good for church growth or “the numbers game.” That message is just too confusing, ridiculous and offensive to the masses. But, promise them prosperity, promise to teach them steps to a wonderful life here on earth, fill them with an unlimited abundance of self-esteem and assure that all is good, give them emotional experiences that are devoid of significant content and then you’ll fill the pews and make the headlines. We capitulate. Now understand, it is never anyone’s intent to destroy the gospel. In their minds and hearts, they are simply trying to make it more palatable and acceptable to the secular word. They are concerned about the masses accepting Christianity as a practical, wise and feel-good religion – as the masses define it so.
The problem is that it is impossible to achieve this without at least minimizing if not even ignoring the cross. This might help people to better know how to live in certain ways, but it doesn’t give them the power to do so NOR does it address or solve their greatest disease – sin – or their greatest need – eternal life rather than eternal condemnation. The purpose of the Church is not to fill its pews or coffers, but to bring the lost to salvation and lead the saved to grow in their faith and be rescuers of others!
It’s not just us today, though. This has long been a problem of the church, the temptation has always been so great. Such was also the case in Corinth. In his letter, it became necessary for Paul to point this out and to teach them that there are severe limits on human treatments to cure what ails the soul!
PRAYER
I.DIAGNOSTICS (1:18-25)
In the first century Roman Empire, the cross was even far more despised than the electric chair today. It was a form of punishment and execution that generally reserved only for the worst, most despicable crimes and criminals. It was the most horrible thing and the most horrible symbol of terror that anyone could imagine. Just the sight of a cross would make one cringe and perhaps even physically sick. Historians have uncovered writings and artwork from the period that would be similar to today’s political cartoons and acerbic commentary that mocks and ridicules Christians as being the most absurd of idiots to worship a cross.
It was even more hateful to the Jews. Their own Scriptures declare in Deuteronomy 21:23 that “anyone hung (on a tree) is under God’s curse.” Therefore, according to their interpretations and limited understanding of his, for Jesus to have been crucified must mean that He had gravely sinned and was their as a just punishment from God. The thought of God Incarnate voluntarily putting Himself “under the curse” in order to bear it’s penalty for all never occurred to them. And, so, to worship someone who had been crucified as both Messiah and God was to them an absolute abomination!
The cross was a therefore a symbol of torture, shame, humility and great offence. However, the Corinthians did very highly value and respond to great displays of spiritual power as represented by signs and wonders, wisdom as demonstrated by superior rhetoric, and social standing. The Corinthian Christians, in their immaturity, responded to this by discarding the cross and emphasizing spiritual power as represented by signs and wonders, wisdom as demonstrated by superior rhetoric, and social standing as the basis of their superior religion instead. Let us carefully examine the response of God’s Holy Spirit working through Paul.
A.ABSURD OR AWESOME? vv. 18-21
+ The Word begins by tying in their situation to that spoken in Isaiah 29:14. The context in Isaiah is that God is explicitly speaking against the ever-popular but false man-made philosophies about salvation. God dismisses their wisdom completely.
+ The “philosopher: or “wise” mentioned first would apply to what some today call “the intellectual elite.” Those holding high standing in society because they are perceived as “the wisest of the wise,” or “the voice of their generation.” The “scholar” or “teacher of the law” was a technical term used to refer to the Jewish scholars who were trained to deal with all of the nuances of the law. The “disputer” or “debater” of this sage refers mostly to the Greeks – it was the persons renowned for being able solve every problem and win every argument based on logic and rhetoric.
+ Paul is rhetorically stating that for all their “star power” and human wisdom, in light of the cross, there are no wise men. The fact that they see it as foolishness is indeed evidence of their own lack of insight and wisdom.
+ As Gordon Fee writes: “A God discovered by human wisdom will be both a projection of human fallenness and a source of human pride, and this constitutes the worship of the creature, not the Creator. The gods of the “wise” are seldom gracious to the undeserving, and they tend to make considerable demands on the ability of people to understand them; hence they become gods only for the elite and ‘deserving.’” (TNICNT, 1987, pg. 73).
B.SENSIBLE OR SUPER? vv. 22-25
+ One thing is clear. What the masses consider to be wisdom and evidence of wisdom, and what God knows are two different things!
+ The Jews, based on their human reasoning imposed on the Scriptures, are intent that obvious and super miraculous signs and wonders – of their own expectation – are necessary to indicate and authenticate the coming of the Messiah. The Greeks, on the other hand, were widely renowned as great lovers and devotees of the wisdom of its philosophers. This wisdom was self-centered and predicated on their own rules of logic and reason.
+ Consider: The people have demanded to be given power and wisdom as evidence of God and procurement for salvation. God (who is more than able to deliver on all of those things), instead gave them weakness and folly.
+ The concept of a crucified savior was to Greek and Jew alike something akin to “fried ice cream” – an absurd contradiction. Savior-Messiah-King of Kings represented power, absolute victory, untouchable, riches and majesty; crucifixion represented criminal, defeated and debased, weakness and humiliation.
+ While it may appear to be madness to the limited and sin-clouded mind, in fact God’s work on the cross is His greatest display of power and wisdom! The problem is that we are too much like the little boy who spent his summers trying to catch a glimpse of the circus parade through the knothole in a fence. Until, one day, he had caught a cold and his mom made him stay in his room. While there, he discovered that not only could he see the parade from his bedroom window, but whereas before he could only catch an incomplete glimpse he could now see the whole thing from above in its completeness. Likewise, human wisdom is that gleamed by looking through a knothole. God, on the other hand, looks down from above and sees the complete picture!
+ Again, please consider the words of Gordon Fee: “We simply cannot abide the scandal of God’s doing things his way, without hour help. And to do it by means of such weakness and folly! . . . [forgiveness, the work of the cross] achieves what the god of human expectations cannot achieve – it creates disciples who will trust in him for life. Such ‘weakness’ in God is scandalous to those who recognize themselves as righteous and thus in no need of forgiveness; but to those who recognize themselves as in need of mercy this is the good news that sets us free to follow him. Thus this weakness is also the ultimate power, and therefore the final wisdom of God.” (ibid, pp. 77-78).
II.DOCTORS (1:26-31)
Let’s go back to a little role-playing.
If you are very sick, they’ll seek the medical specialist with the best credentials and perhaps also the most pleasing personality to help you feel at ease, right?
Niw magine that God has selected you to be part of an elite task force whose job it is to develop a profile describing the kind of people that Christ should pick out to fulfill His Commission. Well, that shouldn’t be too hard, let’s think about it. First, it would have to be someone who is physically attractive and charismatic. After all, even our sociologists have shown that they would be most likely to attract the attention, trust and commitment of large groups of people. Second, they’d have to be highly intelligent and learned so that they can explain all of this complicated theology to everybody in a way that makes perfect sense to them. Third, very successful people. After all , if they are successful professionals or businesspeople, then they must be successful ministry leaders, right? And wealthy, it is a sign of success, intelligence and wisdom. Fifth, they must be in positions of power and influence from which they can advance the ministry. Finally, they should be of high standing in society so they already have a high level of respect, contacts and networks. Yes, yes, that should do it!
Excitedly, you present your conclusions to the Most High . . . only for Him to tear them to shreds and throw them away! What?!
A. EFFECTIVE SPECIALISTS ARE FEW v. 26
+ God doesn’t choose the way we do. In fact, very few of the ones we would chose are chosen by God.
B. WHEN THE WISEST ARE CONFOUNDED vv. 27-28
+ Instead, it is mostly the forgotten, the foolish, the overlooked and ignored, the weak and despised, the rejected nobodies and ‘untouchables’ in the eyes of the world that God chooses for His team!
+ Why? (1) Then there is no question it is God’s power, not people’s abilities, that is on display. (2) They are the ones who are most teachable, knowing they have much to learn. (3) They are most willing to recognize and submit to one greater than themselves. (4) They know the heart of a servant.
C. THE PERFECT PHYSICIAN vv. 29-31
+ It was common practice of the day for the sophists and philosophers to greatly boast about their achievements, popularity, intellect and social society. This boasting was considered integral in gaining and maintaining a significant audience. It is quite likely that this practice was continued on in the church at Corinth. They are the limited and ineffective physicians.
+ By contrast, Paul points instead to the Perfect Physician, who is Christ Jesus! He is the only one who can truly and fully diagnose and heal us of all illness! We are, at best, His assistants, but He is the Source of all wisdom, knowledge and power! If we are to boast, let us then boast in Him!
III.DEMONSTRATION (2:1-5)
+ It was also common and expected of the traveling philosophers and orators to start their tour of a new city or place by indulgently declaring great praise upon the city, its people and achievements. Much like today’s entertainers declare that whatever state and arena they are currently performing in is the greatest in the world and has the best fans anywhere. They are then judged by their eloquence in doing so and ability to impress the crowd with their stage presence, charisma, powerful sound and ability to touch all their emotions.
+ This might be a good or acceptable thing for an entertainer, but NOT for a doctor of souls! Instead, Paul tells us, the doctor of souls must understand three important lessons.
A. K.I.S.S. THE PATIENT vv. 1-2
+ It’s all about the patient, not the doctor!!!
+ When caring for the patient, be gentle, loving and remember to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Saint!)
+ It’s about Jesus and the cross, fool!
B. PERSONAL INADEQUECY IS OK vv. 3-4a
+ It is not only OK, but is actually an advantage when it is obvious that God’s messengers are weak and even filled with fear and trembling!
+ All of this time the Corinthians have been boasting in all the wrong things – themselves and their own status and wisdom – taking focus away from Christ and leaving an impression that spiritual success is really only for the elite.
+ Again, our inadequacy is a witness to His Greatness – that He would do all of this for us and then use such as us to be His instruments and associate doctors here on earth!
C. THE HEALING POWER vv. 4b-5
+ The power to heal the spirit is NOT found in our strength, knowledge or eloquence. It is found ONLY in the Person of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the cross on our behalf!
+ Even though Paul did indeed have many strengths (such as tremendous intelligence and learning, a forceful personality, highly skilled in rhetoric), he choose to minimize these things and allow his weaknesses (unattractive, boring speaker, physical weakness) to be seen. Why? (1) So as to not let himself distract from Christ and His message. (2) That it may be clear that converts and disciples were gathered not by his strength, but called and drawn entirely by God Himself!
+ The power of the gospel is found not in the messenger but in Christ Himself and the cross He endured for us!
CONCLUSION:
One of the greatest novels of all time is one called The Idiot by Fyodor Dosteyevsky. Dosteyevsky was a Christian and the whole point of his novel is that those who are most like Christ on earth will consistently be seen by others as nothing more than an idiot. The question then becomes, are we more worried about what the world thinks of us or what Jesus thinks of us?
Even this question begs the fear of inadequacy that so drives us to be accepted and praised by the world. As you grapple with such conflict, I want you to remember Gladys Aylward – a missionary to China more than 50 years ago. She was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng, but she would not abandon the orphans that she had been caring for. With just one assistant, Gladys Aylward led more than 100 children over the treacherous mountains toward Free China.
Along the harrowing journey she grappled with despair and, at times, a feeling of utter hopelessness. One morning on that journey, after Gladys Aylward had had a sleepless night, a 13-year-old girl reminded her of Moses and how he led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea. To which Gladys replied: “But I am not Moses.” Then the little girl said, “Of course you aren’t BUT JEHOVAH IS STILL GOD!”
No matter how inadequate we may feel at any time, we too need to remember that God is still God and we can depend on Him. With Him, we have no excuses! We don’t have to be Moses, Paul, or Charles Anderson. We just need to be our own inadequate selves and trust entirely in His Faithfulness and Greatness!!!
(Don’t forget to remind about Commitment Cards)
