IMPRINTED
Text: 1 Corinthians 2:1 – 11
1 Corinthians 2:1-11 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. (2) For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (3) And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. (4) My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. (6) Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. (7) But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (8) None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (9) But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"— (10) these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (11) For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God.
"When a speaker would first come to a city (1 Corinthians_2:1), he would advertise a meeting where he would declaim (normally praising the city); if he proved successful and attracted enough students, he would stay on in the city. Paul points out that he did not come to them like such sophists, pandering to popularity (see further 2 Corinthians 2:17)." [Note: Keener, p. 34. ] as cited by Constable Commentary.
Paul’s sermon to the people of Corinth was not considered the most popular to the the audience who heard him that day because of their presuppositions. They were accustomed to hearing people who were eloquent speakers as opposed to Paul who followed the lead of the Holy Spirit to preach in the manner he did.
Corinth was an interesting place and was called “a brilliant but godless city where people glorified in human ability and human attainment” (H.A. Ironside. First Epistle to the Corinthians. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1952, p. 78). . Paul’s purpose was not to make an impression by his human ability and attainment but to let the Holy Spirit make an impression on them through his preaching.
Today we want to talk about credentials and impressions.
CREDENTIALS
Do you think someone’s credentials were a big deal to the Greeks?
1) Picking favorites: There seems to be a hint of that as we have seen earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:12 (Apollos, Cephas or Paul) when they made a fuss who about who the better preacher was. Since the Greeks looked for wisdom, it made it it obvious that they held wisdom in high regard. Therefore, it makes sense to see how they would pick favorites between Apollos, Cephas and Paul. Do you think people still pick favorites today?
2)_Paul’s Resume: Paul’s resume would have made many disqualified because of his impressive credentials. “Paul was a double graduate, having graduated in the Greek colleges of Tarsus and the Hebrew universities of Jerusalem, a member of the Sanhedrin, standing at the front of the world, both literary and ecclesiastical. Yet he died to all the majesty and splendor of his former self, coming down to the level of the illiterate fishermen of Galilee. He appears before the people simply “proclaiming the testimony of God.” (Godbey). But, Paul was not there to sell others on his credentials or as someone said “to peddle the gospel” but to preach the gospel the way God intended which was to preach Christ crucified.
3) Paul’s creed: This verse of scripture reminds me of my preaching class in seminary in 1990. Like the crowd Paul preached to that day, many in my preaching class were more interested in form than content. Paul wanted the content of his preaching to be something that rested not on the power of human wisdom, but on the power of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to make impressions on the hearts of those who heard him preach.
What are the only credentials that God wants Christians to have?
1) Success: Does God want us to chase idols of success, wealth, materialism or prestige? How many are there today who place their trust in human accomplishments and human wisdom, ratings and likes on Facebook as opposed to God’s wisdom? Are not these things doomed to perish?
2) Perspective: There were traveling preachers, teachers and philosophers in Paul’s day who were as Warren Wiersbe said “spellbinding” to the crowds who heard them. We have some in modern day who seems to “peddle” the Gospel rather than “preach” the Gospel (1 Corinthians 2:17). There is a huge difference between “peddling the Gospel” and “preaching the Gospel!” Warren W. Wiersbe. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 1. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books , 1989, p. 573).
3) Paul’s preaching style: For Paul, preaching the Gospel did not rely on human wisdom or “spellbinding speech”, crafty speech” or “plausible wisdom speech” but on God’s wisdom and the influence of the Holy Spirit, preaching “Christ crucified” (1Corinthians 2:2)! What Paul was talking about here is leaving an impression of someone’s heart and and life where God is magnified. (Wiersbe, p. 573).
“A certain church had a beautiful stained glass window just behind the pulpit. It depicted Jesus in the cross. One Sunday there was a guest minister who was much smaller than the regular pastor. A little girl listened to the guest for a time, then turned to her mother and asked, “Where is the man who usually stands there so we can’t see Jesus?”
Too many preachers of the Word so magnify themselves and their gifts that they fail to reveal the glory of Jesus Christ. Paul gloried in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14) and made it the center of his message.” ( (Wiersbe, p. 573).. Unlike other preachers who were peddling the Gospel, Paul wanted to preach crucified because of what Jesus did on the cross to save us!
How many do we see peddling the Gospel in stead of preaching the Gospel? How many use their celebrity status to peddle the Gospel instead of living as genuine disciples?
IMPRESSIONS
Have you ever observed natures way of imprinting?
“Imprinting is the psychological condition where an animal (usually seen with animals that come from eggs, like birds) will follow the first moving object it sees, believing it to be its mother. Mistakes happen, naturally, as there have been times where ducklings have followed cars, plastic bags, humans (who used this to experiment on the full aspects of imprinting) or, in some cases, its own brothers or sisters. Some baby birds will even imprint on animals of a completely different species, such as ducklings imprinting on goslings or cygnets (baby geese/swans) or even larger mammals such as cats and dogs”.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Imprinting
Didn’t a spiritual form of this happen in the New Testament blind leaders led the blind so that both of them fell in a ditch (Luke 6:39)?
How often have you heard people use the word “impression”?
That word has been on my mind often this week as I prepared for this sermon. That word is not in every Bible translation but the concept of it is.
1) Impression: The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Impression as a a stamp from from physical contact, a favorable influence or a memorable, or visual mark or remembrance. How many times do we see the religious leaders in the New Testament trying to impress those around them because they wanted the praise of men (Matthew 23:1 -6)? Paul used to be one those people as a former Pharisee.
2) Haunting impressions: Back in her high school days my wife had a friend whose mother name Kathryn Altman was a concentration camp survivor. It was obvious by the numbers imprinted on her arm. Most of the time she tried to hide those numbers because of the memories attached to that unwelcomed tattoo.
3) Salty and bright: Jesus told us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, because both of those things leave an impression (Matthew 5:13 - 16). How often have people been able to observe the salt and light of our witness?
4) Paul’s desired impression: What was it that Paul desired to do more than anything else in his preaching? Paul’s desire was that he would preach about Christ and His crucifixion so that it would be the impressing factor brought about by the influence of the Holy Spirit in those who heard him preach about the cross of Christ!
5) Crucified in context: In his commentary on the book of 1 Corinthians, Richard B. Hayes gives the grammatical context that explains the intended theology of the word “crucified”. He said, “The word “crucified” is a perfect passive participle in the Greek … the perfect tense describes actions completed in the past whose effects continue to the present. Thus, when Paul summarizes the content of the gospel as “Christ crucified, ‘ he is identifying Jesus Christ as the one whose identity remains stamped by the cross. The cross has not been canceled out by the resurrection”. (Richard B. Hayes. Interpretation: First Corinthians. Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1997, p. 35). Paul clarified the point that Hayes was getting at Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (NIV).
6) Imitation: Another definition of an impression is that of someone imitating another. God doesn’t need pretenders. No! God needs disciples who imitate the Lord Jesus Christ by picking up their crosses and following in His footsteps.
7) Follow or flee: A W Tozer once said Cross "We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do--flee it or die upon it." Which one will we do “Will we die on it or flee from it?”
8) Exact Imprint: “He [Jesus] is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3 NRSV).
John Wesley once said, “If I had three hundred men who feared nothing but God, hated nothing but sin, and determined to know nothing among men but Christ, and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire.” Morgan, R. J. (2002). Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook (2003 Edition, p. 33). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. Can God count on us to start that fire in this time?
Are you stamped---imprinted by the cross and washed in the blood of Jesus who died on the cross for you and me? Are you picking up His cross and following in His footsteps?
