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Sermon:
The message of the cross
ILL. There is a story about a little girl who proudly wore a shiny cross on a chain around her neck. One day she was approached by a man who said to her, “Little girl, don’t you know that the cross Jesus died on wasn’t beautiful like the one you’re wearing? It was an ugly, wooden thing.” To which the girl replied, “Yes, I know. But they told me in Sunday School that whatever Jesus touches, He changes.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
ILL.
There was a program on television a while back about women Having Affairs With Married Men. There were several people who were having affairs giving their comments on how they felt about it.
One lady responded very positively, saying that her affair with a married man had been a long-standing affair, & she was very happy in it.
Then someone raised the question of morality. Instantly, the woman took offense. "Wait a minute," she said. "I’m a Christian, but I want everyone to know that my personal life & my religion don’t interfere with one another."
Then she went on to say, "I believe in a God who wants me to be happy. And if this man makes me happy, then God approves of the relationship."
Wow!
I wonder where she found that at because it’s not in the Bible.
People have always wanted a God who will place His stamp of approval upon their life-style and never require any change from them.
They've given all kinds of terms to try and cover up there sin
Living together outside of marriage used to be called "living in sin" now it's called "a committed relationship."
Abortion used to be called "murder" or "killing the unborn" now it's called "pro choice."
Home sexuality used to be called an abomination to God which is what the bible calls it but nowadays it's called an alternative lifestyle.
People want to live in sin but still call themselves Christian
They want to make it out like Gods ok with what there doing because he is a loving and gracious God which he is but he is also a just God and he will punish sin
Jesus encountered these kind of people in His day.
He looked at the Pharisees & Sadducees & called them "hypocrites" & "whitewashed tombs." On the outside they appeared to be religious & prayerful & obedient to God. But inside they were rotten to the core
There are people like that today.
There are far too many people who want a God who doesn’t require any changes
& who places His stamp of approval on however they want to live.
But sooner or later, they will bump into an old rugged cross. There they meet a God who says, "I don’t like your sin. It is so horrible that it requires me to go to the cross & suffer & die to free you from the punishment you deserve."
Paul declares, "The Jews stumble over the cross. And the Greeks think it is foolishness. But others see in it the power & wisdom of God."
there are still those kinds of people in the world today.
So let's look at the these groups of people that Paul spoke of and see what we can learn from them
I. THE JEWS
The Jews stumbled over the cross because Jesus wasn’t the kind of Messiah they wanted. That’s strange, because the Jews had been carefully picked by God. He had watched over & protected them down through the generations, & had prepared them to be the nation through whom the Messiah would come.
But when He came, they crucified Him. The Bible says that
Jesus came to his own and they did not receive him
Why? Why didn’t they receive Him?
Because the "Jews demanded miraculous signs…" They were expecting a Messiah who would perform miracles on their behalf.
the amazing thing is that Jesus was doing exactly that. He was performing miracles - giving sight to the blind, straightening the legs of the lame, cleansing the lepers. He was ministering to them, reaching out to meet their needs.
But those weren’t the kinds of miracles they wanted. They wanted signs of power & success. They wanted a Messiah who would overthrow the Romans & re?establish the Kingdom of David.
If He had built a mighty army, & led them into battle, & defeated the Romans - if He would have shown them that He was successful & victorious - they would have marched behind Him.
But Jesus didn't come for that reason he came to die so that we could live
So to the Jews the cross got in the way.
You see, dying on the cross doesn’t look like success or power.
It doesn’t look like victory.
It looks like weakness. It looks like failure.
It looks like defeat.
So they kept stumbling over the cross
It kept getting in the way.
Not only did they have a false concept of the Messiah, they also had a false concept of salvation. They thought that the way to salvation was through their own righteousness. So they were busy keeping the Law.
But they weren’t keeping God’s Law. They were just going through the motions, going to the synagogue at the appointed times, saying their prayers loudly so that all could hear, & giving their offerings in such a way that everybody was impressed with their generosity. They appeared to be a religious & prayerful & generous. And I’m afraid that there are people just like that in our world today, too.
in their own minds, they didn’t need a Savior.
They didn’t need anybody to die on the cross for them.
They thought the way to salvation was through their own righteousness which they carefully defined to their own liking.
As a result, they kept stumbling over the cross.
II. THE GREEKS
Vs. 22 says that the “Greeks look for wisdom."
They were the intelligent people of their day.
They produced men like Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle. Great thinkers.
we read their works still today.
ILL. Socrates said, "The secret to a successful society is education. If we can just give everybody a good education, then it must follow that the world will get better & better."
Does that sound familiar. We have been told that for generations. "Education will solve all our problems. All we need is more education, & mankind will become better & better." But we haven’t, have we?
I am not opposed to education.
But it’s just that we can learn everything there is to learn, & still have a fatal flaw.
that fatal flaw is sin.
ILL. The 17th chapter of Acts describes the scene when Paul came to Athens. The Athenian philosophers met on Mar’s Hill, they sat there all day, thinking their profound thoughts. And The author of acts says that they “spent their time doing nothing but talking about & listening to the latest ideas.” (Acts 17:21)
Then one day the apostle Paul went up on Mar’s Hill & started telling them about a God who was unknown to them. This God came to earth, walked among men, died on the cross, & rose again.
But it was all foolishness to them.
there are people who think like that today
The so called smart people
They say things like
Reason tells you that babies aren’t born to virgin girls.
Reason tells you that God doesn’t become flesh.
Reason tells you that almighty God will not allow puny men to nail Him to a cross.
Reason tells you that when a man dies he cannot be resurrected back to life again.
None of that makes any sense.
So the Greeks looked at the cross as foolishness.
They also had a different concept of salvation.
The Greeks believed that all souls are immortal. Therefore, when you die, you automatically go to be with the gods. If your life was good enough, then you stayed with the gods But if it wasn’t, then you were reincarnated into another body, & you get another chance. And you keep trying until you get it right.
That way everybody is finally saved. Nobody is lost. You just keep being reincarnated until finally everybody is one with the gods They didn’t need a Savior, because, in their thinking, everybody was going to be saved.
So when it came to hearing about a cross, that was foolishness. "Why does anybody have to go to a cross & die? We’re all going to be saved anyway."
Does that sound familiar? We’re hearing some of that same kind of thinking today. It’s not new. It is as old as Mar’s Hill.
People today are saying that God is love and he wouldn't send anyone to Hell
Well God doesn't people send themselves their by not accepting the salvation that is offered by Jesus
Provided by Christ on an old rugged cross
III. WHAT ABOUT TODAY?
Man hasn’t learned anything new.
We’re still sinning the same sins,
still thinking the same false thoughts,
still stumbling over the same cross.
We’re still laughing at the wisdom of God, & treating it as foolishness.
ILL. Michael Bird, a minister in Australia, tells about a well-known American preacher who gave some advice to an Australian congregation. He said, “Don’t tell people about the cross, it doesn’t work. That’s why the Franklin Graham crusades are no longer effective. Just tell them that God loves them & has a plan for them.”
his advice was that “The message of a crucified Jew is ridiculous to the modern mind... So move on to something better. A crucified Messiah is stupid, but promise them prosperity, give them emotional experiences, provide them with self-esteem – then you’ll fill the pews.”
Well I say that is a nonsense style of preaching but sadly its the messages that are being preached today by all those motivational speakers out there
I say make no mistake about it. The Christ who confronted Saul, the persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus is the same Christ who confronts us today
And he confronts us with the same unchanging message of the cross.
The same bloody brutal message of the cross
that's the message we need to hear
That's the message of salvation
The message of the cross is the only message of hope available today
Summary: Paul declares, "The Jews stumble over the cross. And the Greeks think it is foolishness. But others see in it the power & wisdom of God." And there are still those same 3 kinds of people in the world today.
ILL.
I have Story That I got from the internet it's a true story of a modern day Damascus road experience this story is about a Muslim woman, a university professor, attending an English class taught by volunteers.
she tells her story to one of those volunteers
“I started to go to sleep & suddenly my bedroom filled with light. At the foot of my bed stood Jesus, & I thought He had come to kill me!”
You see, the day before, she had stormed out of the English class after the teacher had begun to answer questions & to speak about Jesus to his students. As she stormed out she cursed the teacher.
“I cursed you all the way home,” she told him. “I went home & I lay in bed & I was praying, ‘Allah, I want you to kill those people because they are not English teachers – they are missionaries & I want them out of my country! Kill them!’”
It was then that she saw the vision of Jesus standing at the foot of her bed. “I knew He had come to kill me because I was asking Allah to kill His workers. So I got out of bed on my hands & knees. I was trembling & I crawled to the feet of Jesus, waiting for Him to slay me.”
“As I was trembling at His feet, I started to feel warm all over. I started to feel love wash over my body – love & mercy. I looked up at Him,” she said. “Jesus was so beautiful, I had to give Him my heart.”
Today, that woman, a university professor, is a Christian who earnestly tells her students that Jesus is real, & that He is her Savior & Lord.
You see this woman was confronted by the Christ of Calvary
The Christ who died on an old rugged cross so that we all could be saved
The Christ with the power to save and to change a broken life into something beautiful
CONCL.
God accomplished what was impossible when He went to the cross & died for our sins.
He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.
I have an invitation to offer you
An invitation to stand by the cross, to see the one who suffers & dies there,
to submit to one who says,
"I don’t like your sin, but I stand ready to forgive you. And to prove that I’m sincere, I’ll pay the price, if you’ll accept it. I’ll grant you my pardon. I’ll forgive you & love you for all eternity."
If you will just let me
It's been provided by Christ and the finished work at the cross of Calvary
